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72,000 km with my Nissan Magnite in just 2 years: Overall experience

12th August 2023, 16:05 by Ananth Iyer

I used to get a mileage of 13-15km/L in the city and 17-21km/L on the highway.

BHPian madmax_rak recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

While I'm writing this review, my beloved black beauty has crossed 74000 km and is still going strong. This is my first car, and very close to my heart for the same reason.

Phase 1 : Thoughts of owning a car

Right after my graduation, I joined one of the TATA companies and got placed at their HQ in Mumbai. I had worked in Mumbai for around 4 years and got transferred to my home state, Kerala, in April 2017. I have started thinking of getting a car on my own. This was just a thought, and I did not seriously start looking for a purchase. My job requires travel across the state, and I used to hire self driving cars for local travel. I never liked manual transmissions and was always fond of automatic cars. I used to hire a Nissan Micra CVT for my local travel and I loved the car. I was impressed with its smooth CVT and compact size. So I had visited the Nissan showroom at Kalamassery and they had the Nissan Micra UCB edition in their stock. I had almost made up my mind and discussed it with my family. This was in mid-2018.

But for some reason, the final decision was not made and the Micra was discontinued from Nissan's lineup.

Phase 2 : Restarting search for a car

Once Micra was discontinued, I did not actively search for any cars. I did like the Ford Freestyle. But it did not have an automatic variant. Figo was not to my liking and never considered as an option. Then Covid happened and almost two years have passed without any progress. So finally, I have restarted searching for a car in mid 2020. By that time, compact SUVs were trending and I have considered compact SUVs from Ford, Renault, Hyundai, TATA and Mahindra. Maruti Suzuki was not on the list due to its poor build quality and absence of proper automatic transmissions. So the brands I was looking at were Ford, Renault, Hyundai, TATA and Mahindra. The TATA Nexon and XUV 300 were rejected due to AMT. Renault did not have any compact SUVs at that point in time. Duster was almost out of my budget.

So finally, I have shortlisted Venue and Ecosport. I did not like the look of the Venue and poor back seat leg space was also a reason for rejecting the car.

Ecosport had ticked all the boxes and the only thing that was pulling me back was the poor mileage of the TC variant. So I was very confused and could not make a final decision. So at that point in time Kia was about to launch Sonet and I had registered an interest through their website. I got a call from the dealership and he had shared the brochure. The tentative on road price was close to 13L for top end petrol. This again caused a dilemma.

Phase 3 : Launch of the beauty..! Magnite..!

In November 2020, news started floating about the launch of a new car from Nissan. I watched the launch event live and it was the first time I watched a launch event without skipping a second. I liked the car very much and decided to go ahead with the booking. I have made the booking on 2 Dec 2020 online by paying Rs. 11000. This was well before the price announcement. I was ready to stretch my budget as I had really liked the car and having already driven Nissan's CVT was also a reason to fix Magnite as my first car.

Phase 4 : Booking and waiting for delivery

I have made the booking on 2 Dec 2020. I was supposed to get a callback from the dealership "EVM Nissan, Nettoor". I did not receive any calls from the dealer even after 3 days. I tried to call their number, which is available on the Nissan website. The number was incorrect and I have sent a mail to Nissan customercare stating the same. But there was no response from them.

Finally, I got the contact number from one of my colleagues and contacted the dealer. The dealer had assigned a salesman and he had called me back and informed me that the booking amount was not yet reflected in dealer's account. It took another week to get a booking confirmation receipt from the dealer. Test drive vehicles have arrived at dealer point and I was totally impressed after the test drive. CVT was butter smooth and sport mode was giving an adrenaline rush. I found Magnite's CVT far superior than the one that was there in Micra.

So after the test drive I was eagerly waiting for my car to arrive at dealer point. So it was January 2021, and deliveries have started across Kerala. I have inquired in dealer ship on the status of my booking and they were saying Black colour was yet to get allocated. I have escalated the matter to Nissan management. But there was no help at all. They were directing me back to dealership for updates.

Finally, in the third week of February 2021, I got a call from a salesperson saying that the car was allocated. Car loan procedures were already completed and it was ready for disbursal. I have transferred the down payment amount to the dealership and informed them that the loan amount will be transferred once the vehicle has reached the dealership. The car had reached dealership during the last week of February and they have started registration formalities after receiving the balance payment from my end. The total on-road price was around 11Lakhs which includes the extended warranty and gold pack.

Phase 5 : Delivery Day :1st March 2021!

I have bought a black t-shirt to wear on this day. I reached the dealership in the afternoon and distributed sweets to all of them. It was a small ceremony and the manager handed over the key to me. A few pictures from delivery day are shared below.

Ownership Experience

Likes :

Smooth CVT gearbox : I am a sedate driver, and the CVT exactly suits my driving style. There is no considerable rubber band effect. Overtaking can be done without engaging sport mode. I hardly use sport mode. I have never used "L" mode yet. I have travelled through hilly areas of Kerala. Magnite can easily handle the hilly areas with in "D" mode itself.
360 degree camera : This is my favourite feature of Magnite. It is commendable for Nissan to include a 360 degree camera in a budget product. Parking has become much easier. The camera quality is not that great at night, but it does the job.
Isofix mounting point for Child Seat
Sufficient leg space for rear passengers
Charging points and AC vents for rear passengers.
Cruise control : A very useful feature on highways. Could not use this feature on the roads of Kerala. But used in NH of Tamilnadu and Karnataka . Mileage figures will cross 20+ if cruise control is set in the range of 80km-90km

Improvement Areas

Armrest design : The arm rest could have been a little longer. For Nissan micra, the arm rest was longer and it was suitable for my seating position.
No storage space under the arm rest. This started bugging me after driving my friend's Kiger.
Poor graphics of the meter console compared to Kiger.
Limited number of service centers. This will be a problem if you are planning to go on a long trip. When I was purchasing the car, Nissan did not have a service center in my hometown (Kannur). Currently, they have a service center in Kannur. However, compared to other brands, the number of service centers is very limited.

Periodic Service and Dealership Experience

I bought the car from EVM Nissan, Nettoor and I have done all my periodic services at the same dealership. The dealership experience was satisfactory. But there is no "wow" factor or "delight" experience. Service advisors were very helpful. Since I took the Gold Pack and 5 year warranty at the time of purchase, I did not have to pay any amount till 50000 km apart from brake pad which was replaced during 40000km. Other than that all PMS were done in free of cost. Gold pack was valid until 50000km. 60000km and 70000km of service put together came to around Rs. 12000, which included consumable items and oil changes. Maintenance costs are reasonable. I suggest anyone who is considering Magnite purchase Gold Pack and Extended Warranty. I wanted to extend Gold pack, but there was no option to extend it beyond 50000km.

I used to get a mileage of 13km - 15km in the city and 17km to 21km in the highway. If you are using cruise control, mileage will be around 22km-24km.

Issues / Repairs

1. Driver side window one-touch auto-close/open was not working. They have replaced the motor under warranty and rectified the issue. This was during 30000km service.

2. "Check Anti-Pollution System" Error :

This was the one that had caused me a lot of problems to me. In March 2022, I was planning to go on a trip from Cochin to Raichur via Kannur. The journey will be around 2000km to and fro. So before starting the trip, I had gone to EVM Nissan, Nettor for a general check-up as I did not want to have any niggles during the trip. They have inspected the car and I have collected the car back on the same day evening. The next day I started the trip around 7 am from Cochin, just after an hour of driving, "Check Anti-Pollution System" error started showing in the meter console. I had called the service advisor and shared the photo with him. He was not very sure of the reason for this error. He requested that I get the car back to Cochin for Inspection. I drove back to Cochin and dropped the car off at the dealership. It took them an hour to give the car back to me. They did not find any issues. The service advisor was saying it could be due to some loose connection, and this error usually indicates some water content in the exhaust . But they could not find any issue in the exhaust either. However, since the error was cleared, I have started my journey again. I was travelling via Kannur, and when I reached Ponnani, the same error started displaying again. I had called the service advisor again and he was clueless. He was saying that since it is not related to the engine, this won't be a problem for driving the car. But I was not convinced to go ahead as I will be travelling with my family and never want to get stranded in an unknown place. A nearby service center was in Malappuram district and it was owned by the same dealer ship, EVM Nissan. I reached the dealership around 5 PM and have explained all the details to service advisor. But he was saying that they would be able to check the car only the next day. Since I have to start travelling to Raichur next day early in the morning from Kannur, requested him again. I connected with a service advisor at EVM Nissan, Nettoor and they both had a conversation. Finally, he agreed to check the car. They completed the inspection and refixing the sensor wires solved the issue for the time being. But they were also not able to identify the root cause. I drove the car to Kannur and started early in the morning from Kannur to Raichur. By the time I reached the Karnataka border, the error had started displaying again. There was no other option, hence I have proceeded with the trip. I did not face any issues while driving, but the error was displayed on the screen. I gave the car back to EVM Nettoor once I reached Cochin. They have replaced the sensor assembly and the error has been resolved. It was during 30000km. Since then I have not encountered this error.

3. Right side DRL had become yellowish colour. Service center had suggested replacing the DRL. Cost was around 5000. So I have not replaced it yet. It ison hold as of now.

4. Another Car Rear-Ended : This happened at a traffic signal and one Alto rear-ended my car. Alto did not stop and flew away. There were some damages to the boot. Entire repair was covered under insurance. That experience of claiming insurance/ getting the GD entry from Police Station will be posted in a different thread later.

5. Glove box lock broken: This happened around 67000km. Glove box door got opened when I accidently passed through pot hole. I was not able to close the glove box and found that the lock was broken. I had to replace the glove box assembly and it cost around Rs. 4000.

Apart from above, I have not had to undergo any repairs until now. Currently, car has completed around 74000 km.

Tyre Changes / Accessories / Future Plans

Stock tyres were replaced after completing 40000km. Stock tyres were CEAT. I replaced it with Continental UC6 and it costed me around 30000. There was a considerable change in the high-speed stability of the car after the tyre replacement. Wiper blades were replaced with Bosch. I have purchased 3D mats and Sun shades from Nissan. Sun shades are useful, but it would have been great if they had provided UV-cut glass windows by default.
I am planning to de-chrome the car completely and also to repaint the alloys black colour. Will update the progress.

Few photos are shared below

1. Late to office. Did not get a parking spot