[sahakar]

Nice review, folks.

Top end is a bit too pricey to my liking.

Not liking that the 1.6L engine and auto transmissions do not make it here. All these car makers in their quest for higher fuel efficiencies really screw up on the bare minimum essentials of engines and transmissions of other markets.

I blame Maruti for all this.

I hope the diesel is better done wrt the engine tune up.

Else looks like a nice daily commuter car and good one more addition to the C class competition. No point in buying a petrol Dzire / Manza / Etios now. Rather buy this one save for the sickly engine.

Wait for the diesel begins. Jan it is then.

Cheers

[vishnana]

Originally Posted by swiftdiesel

When Toyota has the audacity to launch a tin-can (read Etios) with a T badge, kudos to Nissan for launching a quality sedan with decent specs! The diesel will be the star IMHO. A car with decent interiors, Japanese reliability and a good diesel (hopefully) ticks it all in my list. When I wouldn't touch the Etios with a bargepole, I wouldn't mind queuing up for a Sunny!

+1 to your thought . recently saw the so called Q class sedan in the recently concluded Times Auto Expo here and was horrified to see its quality . I was afraid whether i will break up any thing inside the car till i came out ! Enthusiasts who wants to readline every time they drive are far far less compared to others who want a feature loaded BIG CAR . Top this with competetive price ! great VFM then . Sunny days ahead for Nissan , i hope .

[blackasta]

Well rounded review for a well rounded car!
Should sell well if Nissan can increase their brand recognition.
I see a lot of Versa s in US, and through they surely shall not win any beauty competition, people buy them for the VFM and FE. Should be the same for India too.

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by sahakar

Not liking that the 1.6L engine and auto transmissions do not make it here. All these car makers in their quest for higher fuel efficiencies really screw up on the bare minimum essentials of engines and transmissions of other markets.

I blame Maruti for all this.

I hope the diesel is better done wrt the engine tune up.

I would rather blame the consumers for this. After all, the auto-sector is a consumer-driven market. But then again, you can't really blame them for expecting good fuel efficiency instead of solid internals. The typical Indian consumer has 3 parameters that are of immense priority:

- Fuel Efficiency
- Space (not just leg room, but the boot too)
- After-sales-service.

This is why established brands like Hyundai and Maruti do well in India. They know what to give customers and what would make them happy.

Nissan has done well, and has 2 of those parameters licked! The FE should be good, and the space, well, you can see it for yourself! But after-sales-service needs to improve, and that would improve in time, with establishment of wider service-networks and better customer-care.

[SunilM]

Great review, rated 5 stars!

If you want a Vento/City like car at Manza/Dzire price range, you need to have a closer look at the Sunny. Diesel will be icing on the cake. Japanese reliability will always be there. This car may just do very well. Let us wait for the sales figures, more so after the Diesel launch.

[rosh_aveo1.4]

Amazing review you guys. The leg space is amazing..that alone is the factor for most families (like myself) to go for the car and that too with the perfect suspension setup. I wonder how is the general price of the service/parts and ofcourse, the quality of work? If it's not all that bad, this should ideally be a winner for Nissan.

[theMAG]

Good review.

I cant get over how these 2->3 box conversions -Sunny, Dzire, Manza look equally unbalanced from the rear. That apart, this seems to be a no-nonsense serious car targeted at the Indian family, where a key differentiator would be ownership and running costs - and we need to see how the Sunny performs in this area.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by GTO

C'mon, running out of breath so easily? Noisy over 3,000 rpm?

Is it fair to judge the engine's capabilities so early? The test cars were not even run in cars. I agree that, regardless of the manufacturer, the engine should be at its best right from the start. In the case of the Sunny, it is not. I will give this car some time before I decide on how poor the engine is compared to its immediate competitors.

The best example I have for this is the Fiat Grande Punto 1.2. Every review of this car talks about the lame engine. This is actually true in the case of a brand new Punto. A colleague has this car and I too could not for the life understand why the car never moved. It is without doubt an under powered engine for the weight of the car. Things change though. This same car has now clocked around 18K on the odo and the engine is fantastic. Still under powered for the car. What was once a dead engine is not the same anymore. It responds very well to throttle inputs and no longer feels like its struggling. The change is so much that I can now say that a well run in Grande Punto will be just fine even with the under powered 1.2 mill.

Personal opinions aside, this car should be a hit. We like lots of space, efficiency & value for money and the Sunny is spot on. Apart from the puny tires, there is no sign of cost cutting anywhere on this car. I won't buy this car but I am sure there are many who will.

[ajmat]

Great review

Having used the previous Versa in the US, I can concur - it is terribly underpowered, so much so some colleagues in the car with me were bemused at my ranting when trying to overtake.

This one looks less gawky.

Is it me but are the front doors identical to the Micra?

[geeash]

@mobike008

Did you come down to chennai for the Review. Looks like you were at mamallapuram( mahabalipuram) with sunny for the TD. ( from the pics)

[Monaro CV8]

Great review mobike008 and Rehaan !

Just in time, the official media release (newspapers et al) has been today whilst the T-BHP review being released a day earlier!

When I saw the full spread 2 half page ad in the times of India, I thought this car could easily compete the vento, new verna, new honda city segment.

But its the other way. I expect to see a better, higher cc engine in the sunny which would enable its competence is the above segment.

[heman_369]

Great review. Very unbiased and detailed as always. Thanks Mods. Looks good for chauffeur driven types. As said by GTO wouldnt appeal to me as the enigne gearbox combo doesnt look upto the mark

[dkaile]

I somehow feel surprised when people including some esteemed senior members compare this car to say a Tata Manza. No offence meant to any Tata vehicle owner, but seriously you cannot compare the build quality of the Japs to Tata in my humble opinion. Also when people rubbish quirky looking Etioses/Livas and call them tin cans, I would like to remind them that it is one the first cars in their segments to use 'stainless steel' in corrosion prone areas, a fact we will never come to notice which usually stops at the 'stupid' centre console and 'horrendous' seats. These cars have beauty which run more than skin deep.

I wish a well built and well priced car like the Sunny should do very well even though it may be slightly under-powered but that is more than adequate for our roads and traffic conditions. We forget we have very few roads in India where cars like the vRS can actually be run and that is the point which these Japs have well understood unlike their European counterparts.

[k_nitin_r]

Originally Posted by theMAG

I cant get over how these 2->3 box conversions -Sunny, Dzire, Manza look equally unbalanced from the rear. That apart, this seems to be a no-nonsense serious car targeted at the Indian family, where a key differentiator would be ownership and running costs - and we need to see how the Sunny performs in this area.

I'm not really sure if the Nissan Sunny is a 2-to-3 box conversion because the Nissan Sunny has existed as a sedan internationally for quite a while. Their hatchback in UAE is called the Nissan Tiida and its modern features took buyers away from the Nissan Sunny.

The model being launched in India was introduced (the body is the same but the engine is different) in UAE several years ago as the "new executive Sunny". BTW, the Nissan Sunny was quite popular as the vehicle of choice for motor driving institutes in the UAE. Just as the Toyota Camry has a taxi-car image, the Nissan Sunny carries the driving-institute image among the local folk.

[heman_369]

Originally Posted by dkaile

I somehow feel surprised when people including some esteemed senior members compare this car to say a Tata Manza. No offence meant to any Tata vehicle owner, but seriously you cannot compare the build quality of the Japs to Tata in my humble opinion. Also when people rubbish quirky looking Etioses/Livas and call them tin cans, I would like to remind them that it is one the first cars in their segments to use 'stainless steel' in corrosion prone areas, a fact we will never come to notice which usually stops at the 'stupid' centre console and 'horrendous' seats. These cars have beauty which run more than skin deep.

I wish a well built and well priced car like the Sunny should do very well even though it may be slightly under-powered but that is more than adequate for our roads and traffic conditions. We forget we have very few roads in India where cars like the vRS can actually be run and that is the point which these Japs have well understood unlike their European counterparts.

+1 to this. We being petrol heads should appreciate the fundamentals of the car like engine, gearbox, clutch etc rather than rejecting cars on basis of interior color and so called 'Tank like build quality'