[arjab]

Got the chance to test drive the 2012 Nano, albeit for a short distance.

Jotting down some first impressions:
1) Fit and finish seems to be better. Panel gaps looked tighter and overall paint quality of high order

2) Full wheel caps (the demo car was a top end LX) secured by the three wheel bolts - not "plastic-wheel-trim-slapped-on-the-wheel-rim" type. So i guess, chances of wheel trims flying off should be nil

3) Both sides outer rear view mirrors. Now you don't have to pull / push the housing to adjust your field of view. Only the mirror moves within the housing. Remember the first lot of Maruti 1000's ? same type. However i found this to be a little inconvenient as every time you have to poke the mirror with your finger to adjust it. There's no internal adjustment lever.

4) Interiors. Being the top model, the dash was beige. Dashtop did not reflect very much in sunlight. Steering wheel is now black (being the top model it was 3-spoke)

5) The HVAC centre stack had a silvery finish. Ho-hum. Nothing to write home about - because the beige dash and silvery finish was very close to each other in terms of colour shade. Maybe a "faux carbon fibre" look would have given a sportier , more contrasting look

6) Door pads: Big improvement. Beige / Black combo looks and feels genuinely nice for such a budget car. Fabric insert quality is also good.

7) Seats: Beige seats. Good quality fabric. The seats have been reprofiled and shoulder support is slightly better. The integrated headrests sport a slightly different look - not adjustable though. Rear seat backrest height now has been increased and provides good shoulder support.

8) Rear seat folding mechanism: Kudo's to TML. Now its a "single-lanyard-pull-type" reclining mechanism. Accessible from the left rear, you pull the single nylon-pullstrap and the seat effortlessly tips forward. The "pull-effort" has also been greatly reduced. Its a one finger operation. No need to grapple with two nylon-pullstraps like the earlier Nano

DRIVE: (very short)
Idling: impressively quiet. no vibration, jiggling, gearlever nodding etc
Exhaust sound: dampened. at idle the infamous "pumpset putter" has gone. if you rev it you are reminded of the two cylinder thrum but its not annoying.

Acceleration:
1st & 2nd pretty peppy. 3rd is now definitely taller than earlier. The little Nano pulled away smoothly and even on trailing throttle there was no "hunting" or jerkiness.

A/C:
Bone chilling. Started it on the second notch, then down to the first notch, then i shut off the compressor as it was getting very cold.

Handling:
For the short distance that i drove, i found the front end bite has definitely increased and the steering felt a lot crisper than the earlier Nano's.
The stubby nose turns in with a eagerness that was not present in earlier NANO's. Steering effort is a lot, lot lower than NANO-1. You will not miss the absence of a power steering system.
The rear also felt well damped and there was no discernible suspension thump over the few medium sized potholes that i managed to drop the wheels into. Also tyre noise was non existent - the demo car was shod with JK's. Not MRF's like old Nano's

With Tata Motors offering a 15,000 discount for the month of November plus the low, low down payment of 15,000, the NANO-2, is worth a very hard look as a city runabout.

[damodar]

Spotted this cutie today.The perfect urban runabout.

[amtak]

^ thank you for the above picture. this car looks cool..

[Maverick79]

The new 2012 nano has given a good impact to the sales figures of Tata Motors.
A total of 6401 nanos were sold in Nov'11, as per their press release today. May be, by Jan'12, the true figures might turn up, considering the year end lean sales month.

Hope it regains its expected position in the sales charts.
Keep going!

[download2live]

Originally Posted by arjab

Exhaust sound: dampened. at idle the infamous "pumpset putter" has gone. if you rev it you are reminded of the two cylinder thrum but its not annoying.

If true then Nano will get more acceptability with women.
Nano seems to be on right track finally. Coming months sales figures will be very interesting.

[girishglg]

Awesome news cheers Nano! Over 6k sales numbers are no mean feat given that people started noticing the promos in the 2nd half of Nov. Now we have to see if the numbers sustain and grow MoM.

[silverado]

Originally Posted by sahakar

Brakes, the road noise and heavy steering while stand still are the only things that I really don't like in this practical A to B kind of a vehicle.

All in all, I feel this one seems a total value for money. I just hope this version is more reliable than the earlier version

Cheers

Its more than a A to B vehicle, you can also go to C and at times D in this

Earlier version is also reliable, we have few Tbhpians with more than 20000k in odo doing well.

Looking forward to pics of your beauty.

[ottocycle]

We are still waiting on GTO's full blown review. He promised us the coming soon review in the start of the month itself.
Could you please give us some clue on the ETA.

[throttleking]

Went to TML showroom this weekend to check Safari. Saw 2012 Nano, and I am really impressed. CX also look very good with dark interiors. Beige looked better than expectation. Overall fit and finish is much better now, to my surprise even the door close sounds nice now.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by ottocycle

We are still waiting on GTO's full blown review.
Could you please give us some clue on the ETA.

Mediocre review = Tomorrow. Detailed review that meets the high standards of Team-BHP = Next week.

Take your pick

Quality takes time. We realise a solid review that will serve BHPians well for the years to come is superior to a hurried write up. Thanks for the patience.

[sridhar-v]

Originally Posted by GTO

Mediocre review = Tomorrow. Detailed review that meets the high standards of Team-BHP = Next week.

Take your pick

Quality takes time. We realise a solid review that will serve BHPians well for the years to come is superior to a hurried write up. Thanks for the patience.

Take ur time.
When I checked out the Nano in the showroom about 10-12 days ago one point struck me- when I moved my leg to press the clutch or brake it almost touched the bottom of the steering wheel. I am 5' 9" so it could be my height. But my driver, who is around 5.5' also felt the same problem. Could be an issue when you need to brake in the middle of a turn. I also felt that the low steering position could be a problem during rapid turns where your hand has to go to the lower quadrants. TD car was not available then & have not got time to do a TD later on.
Pls check this out in details during ur review..

[avingodb]

Originally Posted by sridhar-v

When I checked out the Nano in the showroom about 10-12 days ago one point struck me- when I moved my leg to press the clutch or brake it almost touched the bottom of the steering wheel.

Sridhar: You could sort this issue by pushing back the driver's seat. I also faced similar problem in the TD. However, it was sorted by adjusting the seat.

With Nano I have not attempted any rapid turns so far. So Can't comment on that issue!

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Wish with the launch of CRDI, they even think of giving us an AT option! Wouldn't it be "The-best-car-to-be-in-city-traffic"? Just thinking aloud ....

[Amazing]

Originally Posted by GTO

Mediocre review = Tomorrow. Detailed review that meets the high standards of Team-BHP = Next week.

Take your pick

Quality takes time. We realise a solid review that will serve BHPians well for the years to come is superior to a hurried write up. Thanks for the patience.

GTO, we are eagerly waiting for the mediocre review :-) at least now.

[silverado]

Note from Mod : GTO's 2012 Tata Nano Review has been uploaded at this link. Please continue the discussion on the review thread. Thanks

Went to TATA showroom - Aundh - pune to check out accesories.

Accesories feel expensive here compared to mumbai.
LHS Door mirror costs 1380/1680 , latter for coloured one.
Can anyone let me know about their findings for cost of the LHS mirror?

Saw Nano 2012 in detail for the first time.

Biggest improvement visually has been in seats- fabric and cusion to some extent and the dash colour to beige in LX and black in CX.

LX gets mettalic beige, CX gets silver centre console.
Wheel caps look good, would have looked better with black rims.

Same steering wheel in LX, whereas CX gets a Black steering wheel.

There should have been a bottle holder rather than the smallish pocket which is placed centrally on the horizontal rod, i find that pocket useless.

Also got my AC filter cleaned today, was totally clogged by dirt, was charged rs250 @ autopoint Wakad, but it made a big difference.

The Guy wanted me to get a AC Gas topup, but i refused since there are no issues with cooling as of now.

Also heard from the exec about a Accesory scheme going on for December.

For 5.5k ( Not exactly sure ), you can have seat covers,sun films, door visor and body cover.