I am a happy customer using this tiny car for last 3 years now. Mine is a 2012 CX variant with AC and no power windows. This was in 2012, when I brought this car as a make-shift arrangement. My old car was giving problems and I wanted to buy a Safari, however Tata were about to launch the newer model of Safari - Storme and for some reason it was getting delayed. A car was becoming a necessity and I did not wanted to invest 3-5 lakhs in another hatchback as I was saving for the big car. When there were no signs of Storme’s launch, I happened to test drive this small wonder at an promotional event.
I liked it instantly and booked it the next day by paying mere amount of 10k, without consulting my wife or other family members - they were surprised that I was buying a Nano *(my previous vehicles were Daewoo Nexia and Maruti WagonR)*, I struck a deal with Tata to exchange my old car and they would give me a handsome bonus.
The on-road price then was 2.05L *(and 2.30 for a top end model)*, there was an exchange bonus of 40k *(plus cost of old vehicle)*+ 5k corporate discount. I got a handsome deal, I chose Papaya orange the most good looking color on that model.
Delivery was a pain - but I think the local dealer is to be blamed for that. They promised everything and also a timely delivery and started making excuses as the date approached. Finally, after lot of heated arguments and fights, they did the delivery *(not sure why the dealer promises, if they know that they may not be able to meet it - I think the gap is where the sales people okays everything for the customer to get the deal done, and then the pressure is on the delivery group to fulfill it)
*About Car**: I am not going to list the specs and features of the car here as one can easily get them on google and with Tatas, I would just list my observations.
This model was the 2012 one, launched soon after the *’Nano-catching-fire due to battery issues’* episode, so we were a little worried, however Tata have ensured there were no such incidents after that.
I am so far a happy customer, having not faced any issues with the car. Done 30K in 3 years with regular servicing. Fuel efficiency is about 17-18 KMPL, best suited for my office going which I have to go through a thick city traffic, everyday. Very good for parking, turning, grocery shopping. Having said that I have used it for many long rides, longest being 300 kms one way and it has performed well, with AC on for most part of the journey.
AC is excellent, I hardly use the blower on speed of more that 1, the cabin being small, the car chills with the blower just being on speed-1.
power pick up is less, but you can’t expect more. You have to be careful while over-taking as since the pick up takes some time, you need to be fully sure that there is no oncoming traffic and based on your experience you would be able to over-take a vehicle in a planned way, especially long vehicles like buses, trucks.
Safety - to be frank this car has failed crash test and why not, it would definitely fail where most Indian cars are not crash proof, this is a baby car. There is absolutely no protection in front and the car front is so small that if there is a head-on accident, you are high likely to lose your legs - so drive safe.
brakes, clutch - no issues
*Few problems I face are:** - Steering - mine is regular, non power steering, which while in motion is not a problem but while taking out from parking or turning at low-speed is real pain! If a friend of yours, who drive a power-steering vehicle, takes your car for a day, he would surely complaint asking - how do you manage to drive this car?
no central locking, which means as a driver I need to always ensure that all the doors are manually locked before I get out of the car. Because of this practice, I have many a times, locked all the doors, with the keys still in the car:)
This model does not have a key on the driver side passenger door, which means you can have a problem taking this vehicle out of parking if, after you park another car parks next to you so close that you cannot open the driver side door and there is no lock from other side, so which means you need to wait till the other fellow takes his car *(this has happened to me, few times)*.
No Music system in my model.
- There is another minor problem I face is, The way the front is designed, the driver side front pillar blocks your side view, so there are chances that on a cross-road *(4-road junction)* you don’t see a bike trying to cross from driver side from the across road. Not sure I explained this well, its a tricky situation and has happened to me as well.
There are various new models Nano, now have come up with - Twist, Gen-next, Nano-automatic and so on. I do not know why the sales are down of this car, because Nano is a good car if used for the purpose it has been launched for - do not expect luxury of Sedan or performance of a SUV.
The price of the newly launched car, though justified because of the features, is surely not worth! As there are so many better hatchbacks one can get for a little more price and they would be better performance wise.
However, I am very happy with my Nano and if I get a good deal I will look forward to exchange it with the newer version as I need functions like Power steering, Central locking, Automatic, music system etc. Else, I plan to complete at least 50k with the current car.