[vishwas]

Great review. Please add the Honda City specs to the comparison table. This car seems closer to Vento, City and SX4 rather than the DZire.

[C300]

Great review mobike! The rear bench space is just awesome.
For me safety is paramount on Indian roads and Nissan has done a commendable job in offering ABS + Airbag standard across all variants.
Class leading space and safety features make the base variant serious VFM under 7L OTR.

[Raosaheb Desai]

Thanks for the superb review,
Pricing is well suited for the segment.
Diesel should be launched as early as possible to generate the volume.

[sahakar]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

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.

I think Nissan has got the 3rd parameter too sorted out atleast in Bombay.

I visited the showroom last Sunday and they were one of the most courteous visits to any showroom till date. Knowledgeable salespeople and very polite. It was past their closing time and still they attended us.

For service and stuff, they would pick up the cars, get all the service done and return the car back. This is something that Honda also does and works well for the customers.

Now they continuing expanding this through out India and they will become another Hyundai and maybe better.

Cheers

[Irish]

Nissan Sunny Diesel Arrives In January

Nissan launched the Sunny sedan today at a very attractive price. The base XE variant starts at Rs. 5.78 lakhs, which is exceptional value considering the space on offer. Now Nissan will launch the diesel powered Sunny early next year (probably at the Auto Expo), which will be powered by the 1.5-liter, K9K motor which is expected to produce close to 85 BHP of power at 4000 RPM and 200 Nm of torque at 1800 RPM. The dCi engine is used by Mahindra in the Verito, Renault in the Fluence and Nissan itself uses it in the Micra.

Now many are pondering over the fact that why did Nissan not launch the diesel Sunny, when they have the engine ready for it. Currently Nissan has a wafer thin dealership network of just 45 and they plan to expand it to 100 in 2012. The Sunny diesel will get volumes for the Japanese automaker and the company wants to be ready to handle the sales. The Sunny diesel is expected to be have a starting price of Rs. 7.2 lakhs (for the XL variant), considering Rs. 40,000/- separates the petrol and diesel Micra. If Nissan manages to pull this pricing off, the Toyota Etios and Maruti Suzuki Swift DZire have alot to be worried about.

It should be a good news for all those waiting for the Nissan Sunny Diesel.

Source: Nissan Sunny Diesel Arrives In January

Cheers!
Irish

[saleem_k]

Mobike bhai,

I can only say 'Awesome Review'. You have maintained the high standards set by GTO and others. Now about the car, I felt it is a well-rounded package both in visual and practical terms. I would have loved some more information about the engine, since you consider it one of the weak points of this car. My questions would be...

1. Would 100kmph be the absolutely comfortable cruising speed of this car as you have mentioned somewhere? HOw does the car behave if you accelerate suddenly from this speed or want to cruise at around 120-130kmph?

2. What is the maximum speed it can go up to?

3. Can you compare with the cruising abilities of Dzire, Etios and Manza petrol versions? something like Dzire<Etios<Manza<Sunny?

4. Also, I believe with the spacious interiors and people buying it especially if they have medium sized family with 5 fully grown adults, how well can the car transport 5 medium to well-built people with all their luggage? Would highway cruising still be comfortable at 100kmph or it would be worse in such a scenario? In short, can this be a good weekend family car?

5. Which segment of the population do you see the potential customers coming from? People who need a big-car image irrespective of performance, people who prefer practical cars, Enthusiasts, people looking for budget sedans?

I also did not see you mention the ground clearance. Sorry in case I missed it.

It would be great if you can answer these questions as I'm seriously looking at this car as my next one and I don't want the petrol engine to be a deal-breaker for me.

[skuz]

Thanks to these exceptional reviews - I have completely stopped buying the auto magazines for a long time!

Have been looking at sunny for a friend and for my bro.

Both are not keen on 0-100 accelaration figures, but consider the smoothness/ease of operation of engine/geabox, and the overall ride quality to be important.

How good is the engine/gearbox with respect to say swift or jazz?
And can we compare the ride quality to the ANHC<Vento?

Given that their external dimensions are similar (Sunny & City), am surprised by the tonnes of space in the sunny rear seats! Would be interesting to know how nissan beat honda here, honda being supposedly the masters in space management! (or so i thought)

[amtak]

Good review. Seems like Nissan is ticking all the right check boxes while its sister company (Renault) the wrong ones! Isn't the fan box near the seats a risky item? Also, the digital tell-tale sign meter looks like "inner-wear" design. Who approved it?


Regarding the A**, I would agree that they have sorted it out at least for Mumbai. I test drove a Micra last week and the gentleman was very courteous (had got the car from Orion vashi to Mira Road). He knew that I am not going to buy the Micra (had informed him before hand only) but, i had mentioned to him that i need to see the know how spacious it is, as both Micra and sunny are on the same platform. Still, he got the car (55 kms one way) for a elaborate test drive.

PS: While I was typing this, he just called me to mention that the Sunny is now launched. Those planning to buy the Micra/Sunny from Orion Nissan, i recommend a gentleman named Narender (a fine sardar gentleman). Too humble and polite. Not the typical sales guy!

[Ascari]

Excellent review! Team BHP is making buying a auto magazine redundant!

Just my two cents,I have concerns on whether the Nissan Sunny can deliver a big car feel.This tends to come from my experience of owning a top end Nissan Micra with all the bells and whistles.The car is fully loaded alright but somehow doesn't feel like a mature hatchback.It feels tinny and made to a budget.The interiors lack solidity and it doesnt drive with a lot of confidence.It's not that I hate Japanese or Korean,I adore the Swift and find my i20 pretty acceptable.Its just that compared to its peers it doesnt feel special.

The Micra is basically used by my sister and she liked the cutesy look and ease of use.I tried to convince her to plonk for the polo or the Punto in vain,Ladies!

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by heman_369

+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'

Completely agree with the what dkalie mentioned. And what you mentioned is correct as far as interior colour, plastic quality etc. are concerned. But IMHO, that 'tank like build quality' is as important as the other fundamentals you mentioned - more so on our roads.

Back to the Sunny, in this car Nissan have covered almost all requirements for a regular petrol car buyer. And probably it could be the safest sedan for this price range.

[sids911]

Wonderful review guys,

Hows the turning radius of the car?

I am finding myself thinking about this car because the child car seat itself takes a major chunk of rear space - doesnt leave anyone else to seat comfortably.

Practicality is written all over the place on this car - I dont think it will pull anyone's heart strings the way say a Polo 1.6 or a Punto does.

[deetjohn]

Thanks for the review mobike008 & Rehaan.

Looks like a humongous and boring sedan. Too bad Nissan decided to tune the 1.5L Petrol this way. From the pictures, it's difficult to imagine the Sunny weighs less than a tonne. A good motor would have done wonders along with the mature ride. Nice pricing though. And good move by Nissan to give safety kit across all 3 variants. I still don't get why Nissan left the ABS off the Diesel Micra.

I guess the market will wait for the Diesel Sunny launch. And Nissan will need the Diesel to reach/ cross 2K units per month.

[emkay456]

Originally Posted by dkaile

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.

.

This is news to me. Thanks for it. Toyota uses stanless steel in corrosion prone areas. Absolute must in city like Mumbai and other coastal cities. Is Sunny also using stainless steel !! Car cos. should devise separate marketing strategies for coastal cities. Corrosion is a major issue with salty air and about 4-5 months rains.

[vasanthn21]

Originally Posted by mobike008

As Rehaan already mentioned though the power rating is decent, the engine has been tuned more for efficiency than for outright performance. Sadly, it cant even be termed as peppy.

Another important factor that slots Sunny into an average performer category is the way the gear ratios are built. It's tall and focuses on FE to a large extent.

Mobike: If my driving style is limits revving between 1500 to 3000rpm driving in the city, how would Sunny's engine fare?

Would ECU remap help?

[ku69rd]

Mobike,
Should say a very good review. Crisply written how does this compete/compare with Hyundai Verna Transform? Could you please add the verna to comparison chart as well?

Any inkling on the diesel prices? or can we expect a 10% premium charged over similar petrol variants?