Here Comes Our Nano!


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How this Nano bug bite me:
This all started with an ad in Dainik Bhaskar featuring Nano and some huge discounts mentioned below the ad. Owning a Nano has always been in my list from the time it was launched. Call it some sort of attachment with the car. Straight I went to the showroom and took a formality test drive that was offered. Liked the peppy and revv'ng nature of the engine. The first thing in my mind were the discounts that I was about to get, I had a mighty figure of 1.5 L onroad for the top model in my mind. Then came a shock, when the sales person told me that the top-model costs 2.4L on-road. I was disgusted with the pricing and thought it would be better to buy an Alto by putting some more bucks rather than blindly chasing the Nano. I was about to leave the showroom when the sales person told me that their computer is showing a Dec-2011 (manufactured) model Nano being in their stockyard. He immediately told me that he would give me a discount of 20K for the almost 10 months old model plus 5K miscellaneous discount plus 15K 2 wheeler exchange bonus plus 5K some corporate discount plus 5K a goodwill discount. The discount was a whopping 50K, I told him to hold-on till I get information about loan from govt. bank. Days past by....................

Got the cutie-pie : 6/6/2012
Got the loan sanctioned with an EMI of 3300 INR for five years, took the delivery @4:00 PM evening. Followed by some regular Indian gestures of Pooja, mithai baato andolan.... blah blah.

As till today:
The Nano has clocked 1090 Kms with first service done a few days ago. As usual I had few problems and as a daily routine TASC was too lazy to get them fixed. With enough faith in the customer care of Tata, I shot a mail and their came an aaahhh... from the TASC. Then, I was followed by innumerable calls and then the process of fixing finally started, they got the warranty confirmation, but I took the vehicle back as I had some important works tobe done, will take the vehicle again on 13th for getting the things fixed.

The problem areas were:

1) Rust in silencer
2) RHS RVM had some marks which were manufacturing defects and were hindering the visibility.
3) The LHS fog lamp had itself started accumulating fog inside it.

The mileage I am getting so far now is 15 Kmpl with AC ON all the time in city. Another problem area is the car takes hicc-ups sometimes with no specific pattern.

Here, I present a little of what I think about the ride of Nano:

Engine : The 600cc motor just feels fine enough to push the vehicle in city and a li'l bit of highway driving. The vehicle with 4 onboard and AC ON feels a little underpowered when you start, but revv it in gears and the Nano flies. The engine at the back with no protection at all except the rear bumper, god knows what will happen when an auto rickshaw or car rear ends, and rear-ending is too common a thing in India. The spirited driving has its own negatives when we talk about mileage and Nano is nothing different, it returns 14-15 Kmpl which as per me low for a car which was claimed tobe Lakhtakia\people's car and now it is no more a people's car as the top model with AC and heater which as per me are essential in Indian conditions costs almost 2.5L. Tata's, if they want this Nano car to be a seller, they have to work on improving its mileage further.

Gear-ratios:
The 1st and 2nd gear feels alright, the problem start with the 3rd and 4th gear. The car can't crawl at speeds of 20 Kmph in 3rd gear which is ofcourse due to the low torque from 2 cylinder engine. But what more can you expect. I have been having a really tough time to choose between 3rd and 4th gear as the 4th gear is only tobe used at or above 40 Kmph (which is hard to get in city conditions) otherwise the vehicle knocks.

Brakes:
The brakes have very good response till about the speeds of 60 Kmph above which I have'nt driven the car due to break-in period. There feels no need of disk brakes, the drums on all the 4 wheels are on spot-on in bringing the car to halt but again my experience is for speeds below 60 Kmph, hardly the car crosses 40 Kmph in city, thanks to the wild Indian traffic.

Suspension: The suspension is a tad above tobe called as soft and just below stiff. But, this car is a strict no for bad roads due to the low ground clearance and with the engine behind the driver one has some difficulty in judging the clearance between the engine and potholes.

RWD:
This must be one of the very few (infact could be only one of its own) RWD Indian cars. But, I have to admit that the FWD hatchbacks are better as they pull the vehicle rather than pushing it. Daily when I am about to park the vehicle in the veranda, to reach the veranda, the car has to climb a 15-20 degree slope and most of the times I find the rear tyre slipping (on starting to climb) due to lose of grip. The pavement is made of cement, so one can't question the lack of friction.

Now, about the interiors and exterior of the vehicle:

Interiors: The interior is not the thing to talk about in Nano, but one can't ignore them because of the 'more car per car' Indica DNA here. It has acres of space both in front and rear. The seats are a little stiff but offers enough support for the city drives. The half reclining features of the front seats is what I hate the most, I simply can't accept as to why they did'nt provide fully reclining seats. The AC is not that we should talk about, it rather throws cooled air than chilled air like that of Safari, but we can't compare them. The view of road from the driver seat is the best of the hatchbacks. The steering feels just right in hands, I would call close to an ideal size for all the hatchbacks. The instrument cluster in the center hinders the visibility to the center of the car I would have liked the conventional positioning. The cost cutting is evident from the passenger seat, as it has both reclining and push-back levers on the same side which means that it is the same as the driver's one, it does produce a little discomfort, everytime I had to search for levers when on the passenger seat. The power windows switch positioning is the worst, you have to bend your back to reach to them, how their positioning contribute in cost cutting is really not known to me. One more thing I would like to add is the gear positioning it would have been more ergonomic friendly if they had provided it like the Tata Magic IRIS. Things that I hate the most in the interiors are the lack of glovebox, digital fuel gauge which hardly shows the correct reading, the battery placement, the horizontal column just behind and below the front seats, the fixed dickey, they could atleast have provided a opening rear glass instead of the whole dickey.

Exteriors: The boldest and the most likeable part are the exteriors, those BIG eyes like headlamps, the puny tyres, the side profile all of them give the middle-class hatches a run for their money. Adding to that the tall stance gives it a big car and cute plus expensive car look.

EDIT: Pics Attached!

Yours Truly,
Abhishek.
 
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mercidised,

Congrats for the Nano.

Did you get Nano 2012 or old version?

This picture in the link below will be of interest to you and give some peace of mind. (A Nano rear ended by a swift is standing calm without much damages in Mumbai -Pune Expressway)
http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...nano-lx-suggestions-invited-2.html#post212900

Nano Phobia!!! I am sure you did not mean that.

Phobia is an irrational, disabling and persistent fear of an object or situation.
 
Thread Starter #5
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mercidised,
Phobia is an irrational, disabling and persistent fear of an object or situation.
Yeah, I did wanted to convey otherwise, thanks to my poor grammar.[frustration] Mistake is a Mistake indeed!

The picture of rear ended Nano, I am sure the engine would have collapsed on the spot. My Nano is the old one not 2012.
 
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mercedised,

Two days gone and no pictures yet.

Please do post the pictures.


Gear-ratios: The 1st and 2nd gear feels alright, the problem start with the 3rd and 4th gear. The car can't crawl at speeds of 20 Kmph in 3rd gear which is ofcourse due to the low torque from 2 cylinder engine.
Hey, you need come out from your world of high torque big diesels.

A petrol car in most cases won't be able to pull in 3rd gear at 20 kmph.
 
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Congrat's on your Nano buddy eagerly awaiting for the pic's, try to do a photo session along with your Safari.
 
Thread Starter #11
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Got the car back from service center with following works done:

1) Replaced LHS fog lamp.
2) Replaced RHS RVM.
3) Replaced silencer.

Total bill = 0.0 INR.[clap]
 
Thread Starter #13
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Hey merc congrats for your Nano !! why so many replacement so early is anything wrong[surprise]
As you can see in the pictures the LHS fog lamps have water inside them, the silencer caught rust at some places and the RHS RVM had some spots from inside.
 
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Got the car back from service center with following works done:

1) Replaced LHS fog lamp.
2) Replaced RHS RVM.
3) Replaced silencer.

Total bill = 0.0 INR.[clap]
congrats buddy finally your nano came [:)]

so this is your fourth tata right ?
 

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