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Ownership review: My 2021 Tata Nexon XMS diesel manual

7th January 2022, 21:02 by Deepankar Sadekar

This variant is not high on features but checks out most basic requirements of mine and then there is some to show off.

BHPian 400notout recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

After 2.5 months and 4500Kms, I feel its the right time to write about my new car, a Calgary white Tata Nexon Diesel.

Variant: XMS.
Fuel type: Diesel.
Gearbox: Manual.
Booking date: 11th September 2021.
Delivery date: 14th October 2021.
On road cost (Navi Mumbai): 11,70,000 (Inclusive of 3 years extended warranty).
Accessories: Alloys, Rear parcel tray, Front chrome garnish, Mudflaps.
Discount: Rs. 12.780/-
Freebies: Rubber Mats, Ganesh idol.
Planned upgrades: Dashcam, Child seat, Seat covers, 7d mats.

For the convenience of readers, I’ll first write about the car and then follow it up with my backstory on how I, an absolute Tata hater, went on to purchase a tata car in the opposite color of my choice.

First let me start with what happened post finalizing the Nexon.

PDI done on 12th October 2021:

Car had 09 Kms on the ODO. Every thing looked in place. It was an August manufactured vehicle.

The Color Dilemma:

The salesman and the dealership did well to accommodate my request of getting the car on 14th (Day before Dussehra) as my wife was flying to Kerala for about a month and we wanted to have the moment together. We had booked the Foliage Green color, but decided to go for white as it was readily available. My allotted car would have come in 15 days but that would mean either i leave it at the yard till my wife and kid are back or take delivery without them. So decided to go for white as it looked good enough. My choice would have been black, but it was available only in the Dark edition which was way over my budget. Also the fact that Tata's Dark treatment makes the car look smaller since there are no contrasting elements. The Kia Sonet or for that matter even the Nissan Magnite has a far better black shade. The Foliage Green looked good in the top variant but it looked nothing special in the lower variants. Somehow white looked much better as the Nexon has many black elements. Tata really needs to up its color game as there's nothing special about any color on offer now. White became the safe choice.

Now since the car is an XM-S variant, I felt I could share how the mid variant felt like. As the TBHP reviews are usually about the top variants.

Feature wise heres what I got:

Safety:

Dual Airbags.
ABS with EBD.
Electronic Traction control.
Roll over mitigation.
Emergency brake assist.
Hill hold control (I'm yet to understand how this works on my car though).
Electronic brake Pre-fill.
Brake disc wiping.
Driver seat belt with per-tensioners and load limiters.
ISOFIX anchorage.
Seat belt reminders for driver and passenger.
Reverse parking sensors.

Aesthetics:

Projector headlamps with DRL ( Love it!!).
Turn indicators on ORVM.
Digital instrument cluster.
Flat bottom steering wheel.

Electronics:

4 speaker Harman Connect Next Bluetooth system.
Auto fold ORVM with electric adjustment (closes/opens with remote key, Nice!!).
All power windows.
Central locking with remote flip key.
Bluetooth phone connectivity.
Steering mounted controls.

"Premium" features:

Electric sunroof with tilt function.
Auto headlamps.
Auto rain sensing wipers (has a mind of its own, more on that later).

This variant is not high on features but checks out most basic requirements of mine and then there is some to show off. Considering my previous cars were either old (2006 City) or cheap ( Chevy Spark PS) everything was an upgrade. The only sorely missed one is the auto up-down driver side window from the city, that would have been really cool for me.

Now the pictures:

Fresh after the installation of alloy wheels. Cost ~39k or so. I love it. It totally transforms the look of the car. Anyway I've been living with wheel covers and steelies for 15 years, I had decided that alloys were a must! Takes the look of a car several notches higher IMO. Also you can notice a chrome garnish on the front bumper. I thought they would paint it silver like the top variant (insert "imstupid" emoji here) This doesn't look bad though.

Projector headlamps and DRLs give it a sharp character:

A closer look:

And again:

DRLs, high beam and low beam in action:

People have complained about the throw of the headlamps, I actually found it to be adequate.

Nexon branding on the sides:

Front turn indicators:

Lower variants get these turn indicators. Frankly speaking, it looks lame. The top variants get it integrated in the DRLs. Might black this out later.

It gets the tri-arrow pattern:

The most hated design aspect of the Nexon, I like it though.

The British flag inspired LED tail lamps:

Silver/shiny grey? finish on the area housing he AC vents and audio controls. Since this doesn't have the touch screen , the buttons remain:

Interior is well put together. Feels very solid. And frankly speaking, I like this dash better than the white color available in the top variant. The design of the centre console housing the AC controls could have been better. Looks tasteless.

No driver armrest, though the centre area is at a height and you can rest your arm here. The cubby holes are good for storing small objects but not your phone as it will keep obstructing your arm if you keep it there or while changing gears. Frankly speaking this car has no place for phones:

Centre area gets a rubber mat. Good for storing keys and coins:

Only if the gear and the multi drive mode knob could interchange places, would sort one ergonomic mess in this car. Also would make the front charging socket area capable of keeping a phone. Now it obstructs gear movement:

This area looks particularly unappealing in an otherwise decent layout. Charging socket and USB provided. Doesn't fast charge though. AC chills, need to switch it off very often. Blower is noisy even at one. Never needed to put it beyond that. White car means it doesn't heat up that bad. Boot release button is located here. Fun fact; this is the only way the boot can be opened!! the boot has no key to open neither does the remote!! (bangs head). On the upside, the button doesn't work when the car is in gear as a safety measure.

The forward gears foul with your hand if you need to adjust the AC knobs:

A close up of the fit and finish issue at the corner:

Otherwise neatly laid out dash:

Steering feels good to hold. But texture is bad. Need to get it leather wrapped soon.

Showoff feature! I had to go for this as this was the only way to get steering mounted controls. It does impress people though.

Tips of chrome here and there improve the aesthetics:

Chrome inserts on buttons, knobs and separators. Looks nice. The hole for the start stop button looks bad though. Should have been sealed up somehow. Contrary to what I felt earlier, the start stop button would have been a good feature to have. Especially since I have a flip key now.

A close look at the vents:

The driver and passenger side vents can be closed, however some air does seep out. The centre vents cannot be closed.

Pattern to grip the adjuster. Vents have a piano black finish:

Illuminated key ring:

Digital instrument cluster looks nice. Gets chrome at the borders. I know that the cluster is shared from the Tiago and that the cheaper Altroz and Punch get a better cluster. But somehow this doesn't bother me.