From the moment I laid my eyes on Nexon in 2017, I was smitten. There was something about it which pulled me towards it and I was waiting when I would be a proud owner of one.
Fast forward end of Dec and 2021, I booked Dark edition Nexon with Adishakti Motors, Bangalore with wait period of 2 - 3 months.
Background:
I have driven entry level Hyundai cars extensively so do consider myself having little exposure on how Hyundai cars handle and feel on roads - City and Highway. I believe below context will help:
- My first car was pre-owned Hyundai Accent in 2012 (an awesome car and its a shame they stopped making those)
- Cute little i10 - My parents car which I had driven over highways and in cities between Delhi and Kolkata
- 2016 - My 1st new car - Grand i10 Sportz
Apart from these Hyundai cars, got lot of wheel time on my elder bro's Swift and recently Jeep
My Accent aside, none of the hatchbacks ever inspired confidence when driving on highways and I have driven these hatchbacks over 800+ kms. I am not even going to mention Jeep which is in its own class.
2016 - Tata Tiago was launched around that time and with so many Hyundai in the family, I had decided to go for local and had shortlisted Tata Tiago but had to drop it post booking and go for Grand i10 (another story but very old)
2021 - In Jan, wife and me went on a trip from Bangalore to Nashik which was good and we had fun time but it was in that trip I realized that a new car with good safety features and power is the need of the hour. Still I didn't want to part with my trusted ride of 5 years and wanted to drive it for another couple of years. Over the months, that bug of safe car with more power than my Grand i10 became a constant buzz in my mind which never went away.
Dec 2021 - I was driving back from airport with my wife when I casually brought up our need of a new car. We had discussed this earlier and decided to finally start the process - just a feeler here and there. So 28th Dec was when we started our quest for a new car
Next was to decide on sedan or sub 4m SUV - I wanted the later and it seemed wife was also inclined towards it. Wife told me to show her what options we have and I being so obedient and diligent - gave her 2 options
Our requirement:
Safety paramount - should be rating 5 (no compromise)
Petrol - Manual (I like the control it provides)
No Hyundai or Kia obviously
Indian Manufacturer
Top spec only
So it was really a choice between Mahindra and Tata. We decided to visit Mahindra showroom first and take a look at XUV300. Test drove Petrol and somehow couldn't connect with the car. It was good but felt it wasn't for me. Anyhow we came back and next day went to visit Tata Showroom.
We reached Adishakti Showroom bright and early on 31st Dec 2021. We went through usual hassle of stating what we want and waiting. After a wait of 10 mins, I got to sit on pilot seat of Nexon for the 1st time and I was totally bowled by everything which the car had to offer. I am unsure if that was because of my crush with Nexon for more than 4 years or whatever, but I wanted one now.
Sales executive kept on pointing out features and was knowledgeable but when you have a crush, you tend to read all reviews and see all videos out there so there really isn't much SE could have told me about the car. I was very excited during the drive and found a huge step up from my Grand i10 in all segments - drivability, power, comfort, looks, safety.
I did try to appear nonchalant when SE asked me how did I like driving the car because I didn't wanted to appear too eager. After giving us a run through on all Nexon options and their prices, both Wife and me went color shopping and zeroed on Daytona Grey. We nearly finalized it when I asked if they had Dark edition available and if we can take a look. We got affirmative and were shown a dusty Dark edition Nexon. Result - it took 5 mins of discussion between Wife and me which resulted in us paying a booking amount of 21K INR for Dark edition Nexon. We were given a wait period of 2 to 2.5 months and only request I had is to try to deliver the car before Holi.
2 weeks in Jan 2022, got call from showroom that a dark edition Nexon is on the way which has been allotted to us. If everything falls in place, we could have our Nexon by 24th Jan 2022. Faith had other plans and my apartment complex was put on quarantine due to some of the towers in the complex becoming Covid hot zone and I had to wait for a week before initiating all the process.
Finally containment zone lifted, NOC generated against my Grand i10 (I was lazy to remove hypothecation since Jan 2020 and earlier NOC had expired
), car evaluated and handed over and all financials sorted, we reached showroom on 28th Jan to take delivery. After all formalities, cake cutting, pics and walkthrough of car - I finally got the keys and we were in our new car. That exhilarating feeling, new car scent and reality of taking home that car which was in your mind for more than 4 years - I don't think I can do justice with my words. Wife commented though on my giddiness and my smile which didn't dim the entire way from showroom to our home.