[golfdude]

Hello,

Very informative thread. Excellent review by OP. I am trying to finalize my AT car. I currently have a 2001 Honda Accord AT which gives around 6 kpl. I want to change to a newer AT car. I went through all threads here on AT cars and am even more confused.

My questions at present:

1) How does the Nissan Sunny CVT compare itself with the Hyundai Accent although I understand they are in different classes.

2) If I want to make frequent family trip between Pune and Mumbai with family of 4 plus mother (so 3 adults and 2 kids), is Sunny a better option than Xcent ?

3) Is Nissan Sunny CVT more VFM compared to Honda City AT ?

Thanks.

[Ford_madhan]

Hi Crazy, how is the ride comfort of the car? i am looking for an AT with better ride quality as i have neck issues. I took a test drive of xcent in chennai and found it to be bouncy on bad batches. Not sure if this is due to test drive car or the suspension itself is like that. I had a ikon earlier and xcent did not feel comfortable as like ikon.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by golfdude

Hello,

Very informative thread. Excellent review by OP. I am trying to finalize my AT car. I currently have a 2001 Honda Accord AT which gives around 6 kpl. I want to change to a newer AT car. I went through all threads here on AT cars and am even more confused.

My questions at present:

1) How does the Nissan Sunny CVT compare itself with the Hyundai Accent although I understand they are in different classes.

2) If I want to make frequent family trip between Pune and Mumbai with family of 4 plus mother (so 3 adults and 2 kids), is Sunny a better option than Xcent ?

3) Is Nissan Sunny CVT more VFM compared to Honda City AT ?

Thanks.

Thanks.

1. As you mentioned, Nissan Sunny CVT is in a different league indeed - specially the exterior dimensions.

The only comparison where Xcent might hold its ground is in the value for money department. It offers decent space (width anyways it at a premium in the Sunny as well), decent petrol engine with AT, decent boot space (407L v/s 490) etc at a much lesser price. Interior quality is at par with the Sunny and the features list - front passenger airbags, keyless entry with push button start, rear a/c vents, rear view camera, electric fold mirrors, ORVM mounted indicators, alloy wheels - Xcent SX(o) AT totally trumps the more expensive Sunny CVT here.

2. Close call. Finance not being a constraint, I would pick the Sunny only for its boot capacity here. 2 kids should mean a lot of luggage. I am yet to take the Xcent near to triple digit speeds so I cannot compare the expressway performance of the car with the Sunny CVT.

Also - one limitation with the Xcent is the cabin width - its almost a four seater bench at the rear. But my experience with the Sunny was not too different either, but yes - better than Xcent. Please check if this would be a deciding factor.

3. Given a strict choice of only Sunny and City CVT, my pick would be the city. Sunny is not known for its performance, specially the CVT which makes it rather lazy on the highway. Also the engine is not that refined either. I haven't experienced the City CVT, but reviews suggest that the iVTEC engine and CVT combo does a much better job for the Honda.

Moreover, City offers similar space and practicality as well. The upcoming Ciaz also would slot right in between your budget and requirement mentioned here.

Originally Posted by Ford_madhan

Hi Crazy, how is the ride comfort of the car? i am looking for an AT with better ride quality as i have neck issues. I took a test drive of xcent in chennai and found it to be bouncy on bad batches. Not sure if this is due to test drive car or the suspension itself is like that. I had a ikon earlier and xcent did not feel comfortable as like ikon.

Thats a negative of owning an european car! Good old Fiesta genes showing in the Ikon.

Xcent is good, a huge improvement over the earlier Hyundai cars. In the city, I find it just as good if not better than my FIAT Punto. But highway speeds are a different matter altogether. The Hyundai still protects you from the road - but it cannot ride FLAT like the europeans over any broken tarmac. I remember driving my friend's Ikon during my college days, and the Xcent cannot match those road manners at high speeds.

For city drives - you will not be disappointed.

[Ford_madhan]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Thats a negative of owning an european car! Good old Fiesta genes showing in the Ikon.

Xcent is good, a huge improvement over the earlier Hyundai cars. In the city, I find it just as good if not better than my FIAT Punto. But highway speeds are a different matter altogether. The Hyundai still protects you from the road - but it cannot ride FLAT like the europeans over any broken tarmac. I remember driving my friend's Ikon during my college days, and the Xcent cannot match those road manners at high speeds.

For city drives - you will not be disappointed.

Agreed. I don't think i will get the same ride comfort as in my ikon. Hope i don't have to regret the decision later. Have almost finalized on the SX(O) Auto. Does the place pricing looks ok?
Ex.Showroom - 733492
Insurance - 24799
Reg - 83300
Total onroad - 841591
This is Chennai price.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

FE update-

Usage conditions: 100% a/c. Used only within city limits. Lot of small distance drives (Less than 1 km from my parents' home to wife's ancestral home) etc.

9.81 kmpl.

Originally Posted by Ford_madhan

Agreed. I don't think i will get the same ride comfort as in my ikon. Hope i don't have to regret the decision later. Have almost finalized on the SX(O) Auto. Does the place pricing looks ok?
Ex.Showroom - 733492
Insurance - 24799
Reg - 83300
Total onroad - 841591
This is Chennai price.

Insurance qoute seems to be on the higher side. Is this for B2B cover? If not, have you taken qoutes from outside?

[Ford_madhan]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Insurance qoute seems to be on the higher side. Is this for B2B cover? If not, have you taken qoutes from outside?

Yes it is B2B cover. I am yet to get quote from outside. Paid 50k and booked the car for now. lets see how much the difference in quote. Does the registration cost look ok?

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

3000 kms.

As I had mentioned earlier, this car would be used primarily by parents and hence the odo readings are rather less. I'm back home for the holiday season and could see the car cross the 3000 kms milestone. Looks like it will hit around 4k in the first year (Compared to 30k for my Punto 90 in the first year. )



Key Chain -

Got a nice 'H' keychain for the car. Build quality is real good and it looks nice IMO. Weight however is on the heavier side. This is not a problem with the Xcent as the key only needs to be in the pocket and never is dangling from the steering column hitting and damaging other plastics around.



Test Drive by another BHP'ian

The car was driven by senior BHP'ian nkrishnap over a good distance of around 30 kms, most of it being peak traffic conditions. I'm hoping he will post his impressions as well.

Vehicle Gradeability.

Being an automatic - I was not sure how the 4 speed TC box would cope up with stop-and-go situations on very steep slopes. During the above drive, we came across a particular beach road at Kovalam (Trivandrum) where there is a very steep incline with heavy traffic (Being Saturday night didnt help either!).

But the car came out of the situation with flying colours. It climbed effortlessly and was a joy to use. I could slow down or come to a stop, and just gradually push along without any worry of slipping the clutch, braking and using hand brakes etc. Funniest thing was that - there was a Swift trailing us and he was trying real hard to keep going. Braking to standstill, revving hard, handbraking, occassional wheel spins due to over -revving before dumping the clutch etc.

This particular incline is one of the steepest I've comes across anywhere. So I guess the car passes this test without any doubts.

Detailing

Xcent got pampered with a good detailing session today. Starting with a wash (Sonax Wash and Wax concentrate), Amway Silicon Glaze Polish and Meguiars Tech Wax 2.0 to finish it off. The plastic parts also got the 'STP Son Of A Gun' treatment.

Here are some pics of the car afterwards -

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Some more pics post detailing session -









Its not a full happy ending though! There is a deep scratch on the rear left door. Happened when parents could not notice a bike kept in a blind corner inside our residential lane. Nothing major happened, except the silencer of the bike left its mark on the door.

Would require repainting. Will need to take care of it during the next service at 10k kms.

[Rajain]

Hi

Really appreciate the incline driveability piece. I am just back from a Bangalore-Mumbai long drive and can tell you this is a gem of a little car. The ghats at Lonavala were crossed with no fuss while dozens of cars of all makes were doing some extra effort.

A detailed report on the car and the long drive is coming up.

Cheers
Rajain

[nkrishnap]

Got a chance to drive the Xcent in the city with peak traffic. Here are my observations.

1. Simple and easy to use car. Ticks most of the boxes for a comfortable city car (automatic)
2. The automatic has sufficient low end grunt to keep pottering around the city. The car pulls through steep incline without fuss as mentioned by CD earlier.
3. Loaded with gizmos for the segment.
4. Very sharp brakes. This can turn out to be bane as someone who is not alert can rear end you easily.
5. The only situation I found the auto box could be better was under hard acceleration when you find the power delivery insufficient. But hey, this car is not meant for hard acceleration, instead its a comfortable city car.
6. The fuel gauge can come down quite quickly when you are doing bumper to bumper traffic with speeds less than 5 kmph

All in all its a very comfortable car packed with gizmos at a decent price in the segment. The Dzire and Amaze falls short by a long way.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

The Dzire and Amaze falls short by a long way.

Zest doesn't, but when it comes to automatics - TATA has chosen to stay away from offering the AMT box on the top variants. Lack of ABS and airbags on the XMA variant is a huge disappointment.

Else - the Zest diesel AMT would have made a lot of sense over the Xcent petrol AT, considering the similar price points.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Zest doesn't, but when it comes to automatics - TATA has chosen to stay away from offering the AMT box on the top variants. Lack of ABS and airbags on the XMA variant is a huge disappointment.

Else - the Zest diesel AMT would have made a lot of sense over the Xcent petrol AT, considering the similar price points.

Zest XMA variant has ABS but no airbags. Tata should have provided the airbags on the AMT variant. In every other sense Zest matches upto the Xcent. For 8200 bucks all service costs are covered till 45000 kms makes is very cheap to maintain too.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Family Potrait (Together for the first time! )

Apologies for the poor choice of location, but this was not pre-planned. Just happened to park the two cars together.

[DCEite]

Bumping an old thread, had some queries.

Does the Xcent AT still come with the SX(O) variant option?

Does the Xcent AT have creep function?

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by DCEite

Does the Xcent AT still come with the SX(O) variant option?

No. It only comes with the 'S' variant, not even the SX or SX(o). Hope things change with the introduction of the facelift.

Originally Posted by DCEite

Does the Xcent AT have creep function?

Not required to have a creep function separately as its the very nature of the torque converter gearbox. As soon as you engage "D", you are in gear and the vehicle starts lugging against the brakes and moves forward smoothly once the brakes are released.