Tata Nexon long-term ownership review: Definitely recommend this gem

Tata Motors needs to improve the fit-finish levels. It lacks the quality of a Kia, Hyundai or even Maruti for that matter. But the build quality is unquestionable.

BHPian Biker wanderer recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Recently completed 10k kilometres on my 'Blue Angel'. Sharing my ownership experience of the updated Tata Nexon with all my BHPian brothers.

To give you all a quick recap of the story, I bought the Nexon on 23rd Nov '23 just after Diwali last year. And completed 10k kilometres in 8 months. Most of my commute is in the city limits and I use my car for my daily travel. As I am a sales professional I use my car to move around for meetings in the city, my daily run is around 40-50 kms. Though I had taken a car on a family trip to Baroda and the Statue of Unity for a family trip.

The car has been serviced twice. First servicing was done at 1500 kms. And later at 7500 kms as per the service intervals mentioned in the manual.

I also had a small mishap with the car, where I used my insurance, which I will come to at a later part.

Okay, so this was a brief recap and background info about the car. Now coming to the ownership review.

I had upgraded from a Wagon R and wanted a safe comfortable feature-rich and a bigger car this time around. I was looking for a car with those qualities which my Wagon R missed. Hence safety was the first priority, along with space, features, design, handling, road presence etc. Hence ruled out Kia Sonet and Hyundai Venue on safety grounds, ruled out XUV300 on feature and styling grounds, ruled out Taigun on economics and ownership and service cost grounds. Though I was really tempted to go for the base model of the Taigun, wifey was strictly against it.

So the obvious and the best choice was Tata Nexon.

Though my Wagon R had zero issues I was just bored after driving it for 8 years also thought that it would fetch me good resale value now rather than later and I could invest the same in buying a more luxurious option hence sold it through Cars24, and they really offered me a great resale value.

Coming back to Nexon, I was a bit apprehensive about owning a Tata with all the reviews on Team-BHP, social platforms, word of mouth etc. but still went to buy one as I thought it was the best option for me and my family and to my utter relief and delight it has been a great choice so far.

• The car is absolutely delight to drive around, the handling is superb, the ride comfort is superb, the suspension is spot on, great power in city mode looks absolutely great on the road, has good road presence. Well, I forgot to mention I opted for an AMT gearbox instead of a manual for obvious reasons, traffic chaos in Pune. And mostly city drive. I didn't go for a DCT for one it was around 80k more expensive than an AMT and secondly I thought an AMT would be easy to maintain, have better mileage, give a feel of automatic and thirdly, I was a bit skeptical of DCT offered by Tata, though I had heard good reviews about it and had test drove a DCT and it was absolutely great.
• The AMT has its fair share of drawbacks, paired with a turbo 1.2, 3 cyl engine, don't think that it's an ideal match of powertrain, the initial gear changes are very plucky especially in Eco mode, though it settles down in higher shifts. There is definitely turbo lag at lower rpm combined with plucky shifts. You can literally feel the jerks. Also, the crawl when you upshift in traffic sometimes feels like the car is too eager to crawl forward and you have to be careful in bumper traffic as it lunges ahead.
• The gear knob is borrowed from the Range Rover and is quite cool, looks upmarket and is easy to use.
• The gearshifts sometimes get stuck mostly when you reverse the car. Or shift from reverse to drive mode, which is a bit irritating.
• The 3 cyl Tata petrol engine is noisy and the noise creeps in which is a bit of discomfort though the NVH levels are better managed, no wind noise at all at crushing speeds car feels smooth and quiet.
• The cabin feels upmarket yes, but Tata needs to improve fit finish levels, it lacks the quality of a Kia and Hyundai or even Maruti for that matter, but the build quality is unquestionable.

• The layout of the front dash is quite good. Everything is ergonomically designed, just you have to really reach for the ORVM controls which are placed a bit far out.
• Features like blind spot monitor, 360 camera parking sensors, TPMS, auto dimming IRVM, are boon to have.
• The steering mounted controls are okayish, horn is adequate though the illuminated logo on the steering is a bit of a hindrance to the horn, also the edges of the plastic near the horn are not finished well and have a sharp edge which causes discomfort while driving.
• The HVAC system is very good. The AC works brilliantly and cools adequately, quickly and effectively as it also has rear AC vents, rear passengers are taken care of too. The HVAC panel may be unconventional but it looks pretty cool and does the job efficiently.

• Coming to the 10-inch infotainment screen, Android Auto connectivity is good, connects automatically when you switch on the ignition, has good display quality, very well done by Tata, kudos to their team for it, sometimes it reconnects and the connection is lost but not a major problem. The Harman audio system paired with the infotainment system is one of the best in its segment definitely better than all its rivals. Some more info on car owner's driving analysis can be accessed from the menu in settings.
• The digital instrument cluster is supposed to be 10 inches but feels rather like a 7-inch one. The luminosity of both the instrument cluster and infotainment screen is good. The menu in the digital cluster is easily accessible, can be read easily is customisable, no problems in it all.
• The seats are very comfortable for the city as well as long rides, I have not gone for seat covers and I am using stock garment seats which are comfortable and do the job. The central console could be designed better and I really miss the central driver armrest I think Tata has done cost-cutting which is really not welcomed at all for a 12.8 lac expected showroom price tag, Cool glove box is decent with adequate storage space.
• Boot space is adequate, charging slots are adequate though rear passengers miss them. Door compartments are adequate to fit in 1 litre bottles.
• LED DRLs are good, the throw of stock LED front lights could have been better and more powerful.
• Stock Bridgestones are great have a really superb grip and have low noise levels too. Car has good ground clearance and does a very good job on broken and bad roads. High-speed stability is confidence-inspiring, cornering is good, handling at high and low speeds is superb. Rear passenger comfort is good though 3 healthy people at the back is a bit of a slugfest and not advised for a long commute.
• My both visits to the Tata service centres for regular servicing were smooth and contrary to the critics of service-related issues I didn't face any. The service guys did a decent job and the overall experience was good. The car had an issue with steering movement, it had friction noise when I used to turn it mostly for sharp turns and U-turns, highlighted it to the SA during the service visit, he checked it out and said it looked like a motor issue of the steering, the service guys were not equipped to solve it, he asked me to get back the car few days later as gey would call the vendor team to solve the issue, I called back SA few days later, he arranged the vendors to inspect the car, and it was resolved, though a bit discomfort for me to leave car in service centre for a day but the problem was solved and has not resurfaced.
• I also had a small accident where I dashed into a parking pole, the front was damaged as I was at 30-40 kmph speed so had to take the car to body shop and since the car had a significant dent, had to use insurance to get the work done. Car was delivered in 5 days which is a fair period i was continuously updated on the progress of work done, it was a good experience and the work was done to my satisfaction. No complaints at all.

With a few misses and more hits, it has been definitely a great purchase. I and my family really feel safe and cocooned in the car. I don't have a single regret or an unpleasant experience with the car till now. I would definitely recommend this gem to all who seek to buy a new car. Tata Nexon is a great proposition and with all the fierce competition in the segment with rivals, updated with ADAS and some more features, the Nexon holds its ground with finesse and a proud safety record.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.