Apologies for the long post.
I am in the market to buy a 2nd car, mainly to run errands like bringing groceries, dropping kids to school etc. This will be mainly used by my wife. The mos important requirements are small size for ease of parking and AMT. With Nano GenX AMT being announced, I thought this would be the best fit. I paid a booking amount of 5K for a Nano GenX AMT.
I did a couple of test drives with the existing Nano Twist. The positives first:
1. The thing that impressed me the most was the space management in the Nano. At 5'11", I was initially under the impression that it is going to be very cramped inside. But to my surprise, I found the leg room to be excellent for both the front and rear seats.
2. Also, the 4 speaker audio system with bluetooth telephone was another surprise.
3. The compact size and the 4m turning radius is a great advantage for city driving. I was able to take a U turn in a narrow village road without having to reverse.
Now to the negatives in the order of priority:
1. The biggest let down for me was the brake. I had to lean my whole weight on the brake pedal to get any braking from the car. For me this could be a show stopper. With no other safety features, the minimum requirement is a good brake. I also read all the reviews on the GenX and found almost everyone mentioning the ineffective brakes.
Motorbeam review -
"What is disappointing are the all drum brakes, the company still hasn’t given it front discs. Stopping power is inadequate and the pedal lacks bite." Indian Auto Blogs review -
"Given that the GenX Nano AMT has potential to hit speeds up to 120 km/h, we feel Tata could have addressed the elephant in the room by including front disc brakes. A step in the right direction is that Tata has improved the overall safety quotient of the small car thanks to the added strengthening materials, but the disc pads are a must when engineers intervene again." Cardekho review -
"Braking was another area where the new GenX Nano felt lacklustre. While it always had drums all around, the brake pedal felt quite spongy in the GenX Nano and one really had to apply a lot more pressure than expected to get the desired bite. Going harder on it would just lock up the wheels since the Nano does not come with ABS. We are assuming this is a pre-production car and at least some of these issues should be sorted by the time the car is launched and deliveries begin."
2. The next major negative was the general quality of the interiors and the NVH levels. The engine noise in the cabin was quite harsh and my wife even asked me if this was a diesel.
3. The AMT version of GenX has only 94L of boot space which is too small.
4. They have used the skinny 135/70 for the front wheels. As the car is meant for city drive, I do not consider this as a disadvantage.
5. The last issue is the lack of power. With my wife and two kids, the car struggled to reach 60kph. However, given the usage of the car only in city and for very short distances, this is not a major concern.
In some other threads I found many members considering the Alto K10 AMT. So I decided to check it out as well. I contacted the Maruti showroom and asked for a test drive. They brought the car to my residence in the evening. And I did a test drive of about 10kms.
The positives:
1. The thing that impressed me the most was the power and peppiness of the engine. While the Nano took ages to reach 60kph, the K10 reached 80kph in no time.
2. The K10 has disc brakes on the front. And the braking was very strong and effective. It gave lots of confidence.
Compared to Nano, the quality of the interiors was several grades higher. My wife too felt the same.
3. The K10 has a 210L boot that is more functional than the Nano.
The negatives:
1. The biggest negative for me in the K10 was the lack of legroom. I felt claustrophobic in the cabin. With the driver seat adjusted for me, only my 6 year old daughter could sit behind me. The rear leg room is that bad.
2. Due to the low height, the ingress and egress was quite difficult.
3. The K10 at 4.9L OTR, would be at least 1.3L more than Nano GenX (assuming the OTR price would be 3.6L as many reviews have indicated)
The AMT when in D mode has lot of lag. It up shifts very early (it was in 5th gear at 40kph), and there is a lot of delay to downshift during overtaking moves. However, manual mode is a different story. In manual mode, the shifts are smooth and quick. It offered all the fun a manual would offer sans the clutch. In fact, I found the manual mode more fun than the manual mode in my Jetta DSG.
Overall, except for the space and price, I find K10 to be more practical.
But given the very low usage - less than 200km a month, I am hesitant to spend the extra 1.3L. Because of this, I have not yet ruled out the Nano. I am planning to do one more back to back test drive of the Nano GenX AMT (when the test drive vehicle is available) and the Alto K10 before taking the final decision. If I dont see any major improvement in braking and NVH levels, then I may go with the K10.
Below are some comparisions I made for the Nano vs. K10.
Disclaimer:
The comparision is purely based on my test drive experience.
No offense meant to existing Nano or K10 owners.
I have not yet finalized which of these cars I would buy. I will be deciding after the back to back test drives.