[condor]

LonelyPlanet : How was the performance on inclines ?

As per the reviews, one needs to use the accelerator as soon as "D" mode is engaged (when you take your foot off the brake, apply the accelerator)

LonelyPlanet : Moderators - when is the only authentic review of AMT scheduled for ?

@Lonelyplanet, the review will be out very soon.

[condor]

TD's are now open !

Had a quick TD of the AMT version today. Wasn't a long one. But was able to quickly check a bit of acceleration, braking, creep functions, suspensions & steering.

1. Looks - the car looks nice. Doors open and shut nicely. The grille up at the front is functional - the radiator is right behind that.

2. Handling - very easy ! Got used to it in a jiffy, esp the basics of the AMT system.

3. Acceleration: Is fine for city traffic. A mild jerk seems to be there between 1st & 2nd gears, but it is Not as bad as the reviews seem to make it.

4. Steady acceleration works just fine. But if you press on the accelerator to make it go fast, you feel some jerkiness and lack of response. It is not a problem with the AMT system, but just the characteristic of the manual gear system that is at the heart of the transmission. Just like what happens when the speed is low and gear is high (eg: driving in 3rd gear at say, 15kmph.)

Let's remember that this pretty much a regular gear box with automated gear changes. The gear changes take a second or two to complete. Now, as in any regular (Non-AT) geared vehicle, if your gear is high, and speed is low, there is a little jerking and lack of response. The vehicle takes some time to pick up speed, before it starts accelerating like it should. The Nano AMT behaves pretty much like this when we try to make it pick up speed quickly.

Things looked a little better in S mode.

I did not test the manual mode.

The entire drive was with A/c on.


5. Braking looked sufficient. The feel of drum braking will definitely be different to disc brakes, but did not seem toooo lacking.

6. Operating the AMT Gear box to "change" gears - the AMT box operates smoothly

7. A/c - as good as ever. It's a Tata !

8. Creep function - useful ! Worked fine on a light gradient too. No roll back.
(Wil do a better TD next week on a couple of steep inclines in BLR. Will update again then).

9) Sport mode - Wish the mode was displayed a little more visibly.

10) Steering - very light. !

11). Suspensions seemed a little stiff when going over sudden changes in surface. Otherwise, no complaints.

12). Seats can do with a little more cushion. Especially the rear seat base. The under-thigh plank was a little short. The cushion extended a little beyond the supporting sheet inside.


Other points:

13) The foot well looked cramped at first. But when you consider that only the right foot will do the work, it actually isn't. The two pedals are spaced such that they don't get fouled by the foot when operating the other pedal.



The dead-pedal wasn't required at all. Esp because if we keep the left foot on it, we are likely to foul the left leg with the right foot during braking.

14) Audio system:
Output was a little bassy.. Please don't expect high levels of SQ.



Summary:
Nice little car for city. Now all in the hands of Tata bosses to price it - hopefully well.
But I am not placing any bets on this aspect, yet.

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by condor

Summary: Nice little car for city. Now all in the hands of Tata bosses to price it - hopefully well. But I am not placing any bets on this aspect, yet.

Did the SA say what sort of timelines could be expected from booking to delivery?

Cheers,
Vikram

[avingodb]

Originally Posted by condor

TD's are now open !

Thanks for the review.
It looks like the car you drove was Persian Rose colour looking at the exposed section behind the accelerator.

[condor]

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

Did the SA say what sort of timelines could be expected from booking to delivery?

No, Vikram - didnt ask that.

Originally Posted by avingodb

It looks like the car you drove was Persian Rose colour looking at the exposed section behind the accelerator.

It was the Sangria Red. I too want to see the Persian Rose color, but they all only seem to have got the S Red.

[jacs]

Thanks Condor for sharing a hand own experience. Subscribing myself to this thread being a guy waiting for NANO AMT from almost a year now. Its going as a gift to dad though.

Its yet to land in Cochin and showroom guys are clueless on details except for the news that its landing soon! Let me make a visit over the weekend and explore what's happening there.

happy to see the below points. And how about the little hatch on the GenX? Roughly 100L boot space?

Originally Posted by condor

3. Acceleration: Is fine for city traffic. A mild jerk seems to be there between 1st & 2nd gears, but it is Not as bad as the reviews seem to make it.

5. Braking looked sufficient. The feel of drum braking will definitely be different to disc brakes, but did not seem toooo lacking.

7. A/c - as good as ever. It's a Tata !

8. Creep function - useful ! Worked fine on a light gradient too. No roll back.

11). Suspensions seemed a little stiff when going over sudden changes in surface. Otherwise, no complaints.

[Fx14]

Await the official review - keen on the GenX AMT provided its priced right.

Few observations on the strategy adopted, which are apparently giving an impression of going awry (reasons in brackets).

• The official site announced the GenX nano and sought name / email details with promises of sharing privy details / features etc. to those registering their details as the chosen few (not a single email has been received till date whereas numerous updates / reviews of the car are already available all over the place).
  
• There have been 4 calls received post expressing an interest for a Test Drive of the GenX on the site :

1. from the call centre
2. from another office as follow-up and seeking the city (unsure why this was not sought in the first call)
3. from another Mumbai office seeking the location (again unsure why this was not sought in the first call)
4. from Wasan Motors

• All four callers were keen to know which variant - AMT or manual - was of interest.
• All were trying to persist on explaining the features, despite me telling them each time that I was aware of them.
• My only queries were for a Test Drive for the AMT and the estimated price.
• Surprisingly, none of them had the answer to even the Test Drive schedule (though the request placed on the official site was for a TD).
• Atleast expected the subsequent callers to have the information ready when calling, post the lead being passed on by the previous caller (that was not to be).
• The last caller from Wasan did state that TD for the manual was available but AMT has not yet arrived (no clue when either).
• Each of the callers still signed off by asking whether I would like to book the AMT or manual (without the price differential ? )

Appears it is a strategy for getting as much feedback of the prospective demand for the AMT and price it accordingly on 19th.

They need to keep in mind however, that the Renault Kayou with rumoured pricing below Rs. 4 L, is proposed for revelation just a day later (20th) with a comparatively bigger engine (800), size (evident from spyhots), SUV styling and AMT as an option too.



Perspectives on pricing

The Nano Twist XT is currently quoted @ Ex-showroom price (Mumbai) of Rs. 256,130/- with Offers in May of Rs. 50,000/- translating to an effective Ex-showroom price (Mumbai) of Rs. 206,130/-. Discounts could be to clear inventory or create space for pricing the new model aggressively.

If an additional 30-40K is the premium considered for the AMT, an Ex-showroom price (Mumbai) for the XTA below Rs. 2.5 L could be a possibility.

The rumoured pricing of the Renault Kayou below Rs. 4 L and proposed revelation just a day later reduces the gap for error in pricing the GenX too high.

[condor]

Originally Posted by Fx14

Perspectives on pricing

The Nano Twist XT is currently quoted @ Ex-showroom price (Mumbai) of Rs. 256,130/- with Offers in May of Rs. 50,000/- translating to an effective Ex-showroom price (Mumbai) of Rs. 206,130/-.

If an additional 30-40K is the premium considered for the AMT, an Ex-showroom price (Mumbai) for the XTA below Rs. 2.5 L could be a possibility.

Very Unlikely. Indications are that the pricing of the AMT would be about 40k more than the regular price of the Twist. The non-AMT version would be a little above the current Twist. Actually, may be I should revise my estimate of the AMT pricing to 50k over the Twist :-(

The rumoured pricing of the Renault Kayou below Rs. 4 L and proposed revelation just a day later reduces the gap for error in pricing the GenX too high.

Kayou should be targeted @ the Alto 800. If the lowest variant is @ 2.5L ex-showroom Delhi, the OTR prices would start from 3 - for the lowest variant. Any AMT version will be close to the 4L mark.

[ashutoshb]

I had gone to Concorde Motors, Mathura Road in Delhi, looking for a TD. Unfortunately, the AMT version had not reached that particular showroom yet. Though the GenX manual version was on display.

In the past one year, while contemplating on which car to buy, the Nano has surfaced in the list quite a few times. It serves my needs for a small point to point mode of transport . But due to a few reasons, I have always put the Nano on the side and wait for something better to come.

I really like the car, the way it looks, the way it drives. But, only wish it could offer some more.

Without going into the costs involved and the engineering challenges, thinking simply as a customer, why can't there be a 'halo' variant of the Nano?, with all the bells and whistles and more creature comforts.

Why can't a Nano 'VX' have features like all four power windows, a remote boot release, an integrated infotainment system with navigation, a steering with integrated controls?

Even after adding, say, 50k to the top variant, there will be no car which will match the number of features Nano will offer. It will only touch the base variants of cars in the higher segment. And 50k, when talking EMIs, is not much.

Tata learnt a thing or two from Hyundai by offering great value on the Zest and Bolt. Why not then take that forward to the Nano?

If Tata wants to project the Nano as the ultimate city car and not just a cheap mode of transport, what is stopping them from doing it?

Lack of some features even now, makes a customer think of the 'cheap car tag', the tag Tata Motors is trying to run away from. They are going in the right direction, buy they need to do a bit more.

[McTurbo]

I visited the showroom near Hebbal, Bangalore today and had an opportunity to see a Sangria Red GenX. As I was headed somewhere else, didn't have time to take a test drive, but that car is available for test drives. The sales person gave a very good account of the features of the car, all of which are of course, already available on almost all automobile webpages. Personally, the audio console did not impress me on quality, though it do have the bluetooth connectivity.
Some interesting information as heard:

• Price expected to be around 3.75 L
• They could be getting about 35 cars in the first batch, which is expected to be available after 20-25 days of the launch of May 19th.
• They already have bookings for about 30+ cars - looks like some good interest have been raked in already.

Better half is really interested. So will find some time next week for a TD. Willing to wait and watch a month or so to see some real initial road reviews.
Cheers

[avingodb]

Visited the Concorde Motors, Mathura Road yesterday evening to check out the GenX Nano. The sales representative said that the expected price for AMT is 3.1 Lakhs and for non AMT it is 2.85 Lakhs. He said that he had got 4 bookings so far, 2 for AMT and 2 for Non AMT and the showroom had total of 10 AMT bookings and 12 non AMT bookings.

The Persian Rose colour, that we have discussed extensively here, is actually roohafzahish pink as per the brochure. It too much aimed at female buyers. My wife, however, said that she would never sit in a pink looking car :P

Here are some pictures from my phone, sorry for the sub par quality.

My first impression, on first look was that the paint quality of Nano has improved immensely. Its on par with Zest and Bolt's paint quality. Doors close nicely and fit and finish looks much much better than the first gen Nano that I have. GenX will also have different size front and rear tyres.


I also noticed that the rear bumper is significantly bigger and protrudes out much more than the existing versions.




The interiors have improved immensely as fit and finish is better. The new console has lot of information but is really busy for its small dimensions. Speedo goes all the way to 120 and all the lights lit up when the battery is started. The new steering feels good too but the horn pad is not exactly accessible from the driving position.



While the availability of openable hatch door is a good option, it no longer makes zipping past mall security easy. Especially because it can't be opened from inside. I have also had fun more than once after the security guys had insisted that I must open it.




Seat fabric is good and the dual tone breaks the monotonous feel.





OT. There is a serious discount available on Nano Twist right now. 25K cash discount + 40K exchange bonus or 20 k welcome bonus for new car buyers. However, since their priority is in marketing GenX, the discount on Twist has not been advertised.

[ottocycle]

While the availability of openable hatch door is a good option,..., it can't be opened from inside.

So we can't open the door while sitting on driver seat? This could be an embarrassment again as people behind will start thinking it's still a "nano". Hope I have misread your statement.

[freakmuzik]

Originally Posted by ottocycle

So we can't open the door while sitting on driver seat? This could be an embarrassment again as people behind will start thinking it's still a "nano". Hope I have misread your statement.

No! I think all he meant was that the car lacks an internal boot release just like most other budget hatches! You need the key to open the hatch.

The paint quality, from the pictures atleast, looks amazing for such a budget. Will go visit the showroom as soon as the test-drive vehicles gets ready. Is the steering the same size as on the Zest or similar to the old Nano's steeriing?

[ajay_satpute]

Booked Nano XTA (AMT) for my SIL yesterday.

Booking amount was 5001/- INR. The launch is on Tuesday, 19th May 2015. The deliveries will start from 30th May 2015. We are hoping to get ours by 1st June.

The on-road price would be in the range of 3.25 to 3.5 lakhs. Booking procedure was smooth and the SA was knowledgeable and friendly. When i told him that this is our 4th car in the house and I am a Team-BHP member too, he started talking more and better with me. Surprisingly, he did know about team-BHP. I have not met many Tata SAs who are aware of Team-BHP forum.

The car looks really good for what its meant for. The new red shade is rich. Dashboard is kinda good, but nothing that you would not get used to. The boot is 110 litres in volume and usable. The car has great space for 4 adults.

SA told us that ours was 34th booking of the Nano AMT. He was quite excited about the number of bookings of the Nano AMT. Seems its getting slightly better response than the manual Nano.

The XTA variant is quite loaded for the price I feel. Music system with 4 speaks, AUX, Bluetooth with telephone support, front fog lamps and few more features given at the price of ~3 lakhs ex-showroom is excellent.

There was a rumour that Nano might get a new 1.0 litre engine. But thats just that...a rumour. At least the SA had absolutely no idea about it nor his superior.

[condor]

condor : Indications are that the pricing of the AMT would be about 40k more than the regular price of the Twist. The non-AMT version would be a little above the current Twist. Actually, may be I should revise my estimate of the AMT pricing to 50k over the Twist :-(

So gentlemen, as the day draws close, and we wait for the official announcement of prices, I thought let me drop in at one of the Concorde motors showrooms. And here's what I found:

ex-Showroom price:
Nano AMT in Bangalore will be 3.17L
Nano XT (Manual): Approx 2.75L

This would calculate to the following ex-BLR prices:



I have done a proportional calculation for Road tax (at 14.43% of ex-showroom). I did a cross-check with the prices of the Eon, which starts at 3.12L ex-showroom. The Road tax & Insurance figures match.


Note:
Nano Twist is shown without discounts here.



One can expect a 5k discount for referrals. I dont think anyone is going to exchange their Nano for the prices that the dealers are said to be quoting. If they do, then a 20k discount.

Would you like to buy one at this price ? I dont think so..

So, that's it folks. Unless TML springs a big surprise tomorrow, I think we can either wait for discounts to bring the price to more realistic levels, or we start looking for options.

I thought it would be a Tata Nano for me, but looks like it will be "Tata, Nano"