Re: Tata Nexon : Official Review Recently I had the opportunity to testdrive the new Nexon Petrol BS6. I was checking out the car for one of my friend. He was looking for a Petrol cSUV in below 10lakh range.
I have an Ecosport, he likes it but was not considered due to rear space constraint. For a five member family with three kids, rear seat comfort is of paramount significance to him. According to the space on offer, features for the price and all electronic safety aids, the new Nexon was the primary contendor on our list. The XM variant appeared to be a VFM variant with all the neccessary comfort features and with the ongoing festive season discount here in Kerala, we had almost finalized on the car and the variant. Called some showrooms,which brought us the first revelation. Most of the TATA showrooms are still lingering in the bygone era as far as the customer relationship and experience is considered. SAs are too busy, no follow up even after repeated calls and reminders, and such a low level of enthusiasm from them that would at times makes you rethink your decision. But as GTO says, we shouldn't let go of a good car because of a bad sales experience. We continued our enquiries until we could find one(the better among the worst).
He gave as a good offer and obliged to our testdrive request. Asked him for a Petrol manual testdrive, brought home a petrol AMT. Well, atleast its a petrol, on to the testdrive experience.
Whatever I have felt is my personal opinion and no offense to the owners or prospective owners. All the comparisons are based on my Ecosport.
Looks and Exterior: Looks big and wide from the front. Loved the discovery sport like headlamp design, over all a macho feel. Not a fan of the rear design though.
On a blue car, the white ceramic inserts appeared to be too loud. This ceramic lines are the cheapest looking and worst finished part on an otherwise good car. Body lines and gaps are the most misaligned around this part. Overall, around the body, panel gaps were almost uniform. The doors and hood felt heavy but not as heavy as an Ecosport though. Its a well put together car, no doubt.
Interiors and Seating comfort: Overall the interior fit and finish felt good, but the quality of the items! I lost the impression of the interior when I saw the "push button" for starting. It was all worn out just like in an old TV remote controller. The plastic(black colour) coating was peeling off from the switch of this particular vehicle. On a fairly new car costing nearly 15L and with just 8K on the odometer, this is not expected. The all digital instrument cluster was also not to my taste. The ICE felt small, laggy and dim compared to SYNC3 in my ecosport. Rear view camera quality was also below expectation.
You sit high up and have a good view up front. Seats are big and wide, both front and rear. A lot more accommodating than the seats of an Ecosport. The rear seat can accommodate three average built adults more comfortably than an Ecosport, Brezza and Venue. The middle person at the rear bench may feel a bit uncomfortable due to the shape of the rear seat bench. The one thing I noticed is that the seats felt a bit hard cushioned. On a car that touches almost 15L, the all fabric seat felt out of place. Legroom and shoulder room felt great for the segment. The ingress an egress was ok.
The Drive: The engine comes to life without much drama per se. At idle I could feel some mild vibes/buzzing on the steering and pedals. The creep function comes into play a bit slow compared to other Auto boxes that I have driven. Feels like you have to give some gas to make it happen(fueling still a concern?). Initial pull is a bit sluggish compared to my Ecoboost, although I cant pinpoint if it was the turbo lag or the AMT lag. At slow speeds there is some evident lag present from the moment you give acceleration input and the moment the car pulls, even in sport mode. Overtakings would require some planning, especially at below cruising speed. Things flatten out as you attain cruising speed. Engine didn't felt much rev happy and becomes quite audibe inside the cabin at around 4k rpms. NVH levels still need some improvements.
You would feel at ease at cruising speeds. Everything works well then. The Nexon excels in ride quality. It could take the bad roads with ease than an Ecosport ever could. The rear seat passengers would be comfortable. It handles well too. You would feel a bit top heavy on sudden manoeuvres and a bit bounciness, but then again I could say that it is one among the best cSUVS to drive. The steering is also adequately weighted. Overall a better ride and handling balance when compared to a super stiffly sprung ecosport.
But the thing is I couldnt complete my testdrive! I was cruising at around 80kmph on the highway when suddenly the car stopped responding to my accelerator inputs.
I panicked a bit, looked at the instrument cluster and realized that the gear selector has slipped to "Neutral". The car was not able to select any gear. I pulled over to the side, tried the manual mode and nothing was happening, the car wouldn't slot into any gear. The infamous AMT issue in new Nexon. SA was speechless and I didn't bother him with more questions.
By then the "Engine service" lamp had appeared on the cluster with a warning chime. I Switched OFF and ON the car, still nothing. SA called the showroom, we decided to wait. After a few minutes we tried once again and VOILA! The AMT was working again. But I didnt had the mind to continue the TD and returned home. SA called once after that I told him we have'nt decided yet.
I know the review turned out to be a bit on the negative side. No offence to anyone who reads this. But this was what I have experienced from such a sought out car. With all the praise for new TATA cars, these are the things they still need to improve on. The quality issues I experienced may be a one off example, only to be found on that particular TD vehicle, but it didn't leave such a good impression on the prospective buyer. As it is said, "The first impression is the best impression".
We hadn't taken out Nexon from our list yet but had decided to wait till we experience the Kia Sonet and make a choice then. |