The article written on 22/Oct./2014, Bangalore - just after a back to back test drive between Nissan Evalia(old version) and Tata Aria 2014. I have tried to give a honest opinion about Evalia and in the process compared it with Tata Aria.
I am seriously spoilt for choices in today’s auto market and stand confused between the over priced Innova, aggressively priced and not-so-well-known Aria and the sobre looking Nissan Evalia.
Frugal engine, great mileage and great space with standard features like ABS, EBD common on all variants and ofcourse the airbags marks its presence too. The executive told me that the service intervals are once in 6 months for the first year and later service is once in a year and the cost of servicing is around Rs.6000. Somehow, this explanation was convincing enough and I thought there is a discrepancy in the information.ok, for ow, lets us put this aside.
For the test drive of the Evalia - I was in Murugeshplaya and the roads not in a very good shape(it had also just stopped raining and the sun was peeking out) - I decided to give it a go. The engine response was quite good and the vehicle easy to drive around. Under-thigh support in Evalia seats could have been way better. However, the engine noise was evident in the cabin and also the body was making some squeaking noises towards the left hand side. The dead-pedal kept coming in my way of driving because of the position of the clutch against the dead-pedal. You see in US, these run on auto transmission and thus there is a wide gap between the dead pedal and the brake and accelerator - not so in the case of manual transmission.
Now let me compare the ride and build quality with that of Tata Aria - its different, yes, I unbiasedly felt that the build quality of Aria is far better than Evalia and the Aria took the rough roads with great pride and opulence. The NVH levels are far more better in the Aria compared to the Evalia. Price of the vehicles almost on the same lines, Aria had an amazing road presence and next I place Evalia amongst the vehicles have test driven.
For sure, the new VARICOR engine in the Aria has a service interval of year or 15000 Kms. With an ARAI mileage indication of 15 kmpl, yes, the Evalia wins in this area(with 19.6 kmpl ARAI). Now, I do not think much about the resale value of the car as there is a lot that we can debate on the used car market. So lets not worry about that now.
Delivery period of Evalia - 6 weeks! Unacceptable, with Evalia doing average numbers, better ensure a speedy delivery.
For now, my heart(and mind.) goes out with the Aria - The Tata Aria, even the looks get a better score and lots of space in both vehicles.
Thanks for your patient reading.:-) Please note, that this is a prospect feedback and the vehicles in this segment have been evaluated based on my family requirements - outstation trips, luggage capacity, seating comfort for my parents, wife and kid. So, Product details with regard to pricing are indicative of the on-road price at the time of writing this review.