Team-BHP - Nissan Terrano : Official Review

I have booked 85PS top end variant Diesel Terrano on Feb 24th. This is actually my Brother In-Law’s car, since he lives outside Bangalore he has commissioned me to book the car, follow it up and get it before 28th March. He and my sister had decided on Duster couple of months back and they have almost booked it. I insisted them to look at this Nissan’s version of Duster. In my opinion it has better look and greater road presence then its cousin. On my insistence, they test drove Terrano and we went ahead with booking in Shahwar Nissan, Bangalore on the promise that it will be delivered before 28th March.
Here is the price breakup, couple of things I want to highlight here:
Exp Showroom: 11,04,492
Tax: 2,08,418
Insurance: 40,121
Handling Charges: 8000
Std Fitment: 3,830 (Mud flaps, mats etc)

OTR price 13.64 Lakh.
Apart from post budget price reduction no freebies/discounts offered. When I pressed on this, SA’s response ‘sir, this is the car in much demand and therefore no discounts’. But, what surprised me was the insurance price dealer quoted. I am getting it in half the price from outside, so I am easily saving 20K here. I have informed SA that I will get the insurance myself. I have shortlisted TATA AIG and Royal Sundaram, both have quoted around 20-21K. I have a question to fellow BHPains (few of whom have purchased from the same dealer in Bangalore) about handling charges, 8K. Is this standard procedure? SA is not budging on this one, I have asked him to consider atleast reducing that amount as we have also decided to go for extended warranty, around 11K more.

P.S: It took me a while to understand the reason for this grin pasted on my face. Though I have been regular visitor to this forum from last several years this is my first post as a member. You get the point, cheers :).

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueEyes (Post 3391860)

But, what surprised me was the insurance price dealer quoted. I am getting it in half the price from outside, so I am easily saving 20K here. I have informed SA that I will get the insurance myself. I have shortlisted TATA AIG and Royal Sundaram, both have quoted around 20-21K. I have a question to fellow BHPains (few of whom have purchased from the same dealer in Bangalore) about handling charges, 8K. Is this standard procedure? SA is not budging on this one, I have asked him to consider atleast reducing that amount as we have also decided to go for extended warranty, around 11K more.

Regarding insurance, make sure it is bumper to bumper zero deprecation. I'm kinda surprised that you are getting it that low. Is it because of some no claim bonus?

Handling charges are nothing new and you can only bargain if the car is not selling that well but for Terrano I doubt he'll budge as it's fairly recent launch.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueEyes (Post 3391860)

...8K. Is this standard procedure? SA is not budging on this one, I have asked him to consider atleast reducing that amount as we have also decided to go for extended warranty, around 11K more...

Handling charges are a norm every where, though illegal. As said, since this is a new car, it's difficult to get it knocked off, though I doubt on the "demand" of the car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueEyes (Post 3391860)

...But, what surprised me was the insurance price dealer quoted. I am getting it in half the price from outside, so I am easily saving 20K here. I have informed SA that I will get the insurance myself.

On the insurance front, please check what is the IDV offered by both the parties (dealer and the insurance vendor). There could be some substantial difference. Ideally, IDV should be 95% of the ex showroom price for a brand new car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious (Post 3387473)

Please be careful with this statement. I would NOT believe it at all. Seeing that Duster serivces are ~10K per service, there is NO reason to believe Terrano will be any different.

Quote:

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious (Post 3387784)

True colors of the SA?? Please read below.

I cross checked with the SA in person today and he told the same. I do not have any reason to disbelieve him, given the straightforwardness he exhibited during my purchase of the Micra.

The service intervals of the Terrano diesel, according to him is 1 year or 10000 km whichever is earlier. The 1000k service is a hogwash to sell accessories as per him. He is not aware of a 6 month service. The first service costs only ~1.5k for the oil alone. Not even the filter need to be changed for the 1st year (bit unbelievable for me, personally). The second year service costs less than 2k on a normal and 3rd service ~2.8k.

I did also shoot an e-mail to the new Nissan customer care on the service intervals of the Terrano and it seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vinayak007 (Post 3381813)

Got my 110 PS vehicle delivered today. Few first observations (only the meh ones)

1. One needs to use the 'toes' portion of the foot to depress the clutch. If you are used to say pressing the clutch with the middle portion of the foot then it's a tad uncomfortable as the tip of your boot keeps rubbing against the arm of the clutch. It's just not 'deep' enough

2. Squeaks and more Squeaks !. With the music turned off, i see that there are quite some squeaks within the cabin, particularly from the left side of the cabin from behind. Any tips on what could be the issue here ?

3. Turbo lag hits you quite hard ( i guess the effect is even more accentuated by the fact that drivers follow the engine running in instructions quite seriously - atleast on day 1 :) )

4. Been having a bummer moment as i still haven't been able to figure out how to flick onto the high beam mode. I would have expected the flick in and flick out action would toggle between low beam and high beam modes. But i haven't been quite able to establish this. What am i missing ?

~Vinayak

Congratulations on your new buy. Terrano (110) is great to drive on highways....and I have no complaints with city driving too.
Regarding the 'squeaks'...Yes..there seems to be a problem with build quality. My doors used to squeak & the dealer said they would 'adjust' and 'grease' them. Made no difference. But after driving it for almost 3500 kms (did a road trip to Rajasthan from Mumbai) it seems the panels are 'settling down' - sounds strange but the squeaks have reduced.
Regarding turbo lag - you'll have to modify your driving & it's a matter of time you'll get used to it.
High beam - gets locked when you pull the stick hard towards you.
Happy & safe driving !

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueEyes (Post 3391860)

On my insistence, they test drove Terrano and we went ahead with booking in Shahwar Nissan, Bangalore on the promise that it will be delivered before 28th March.

Just trying to understand here (so don't shoot me).
On the previous page, there are posts about how Hover Automotives does not even respond to pre-sales queries and here you are ready to take delivery.

Has the issue between Nissan and Hover been resolved? Is everything good for the customer now?

My BIL is interested in the Terrano and I cautioned him about the dispute.

Quote:

Originally Posted by K Matharu (Post 3394125)

But after driving it for almost 3500 kms (did a road trip to Rajasthan from Mumbai) it seems the panels are 'settling down' - sounds strange but the squeaks have reduced.

Indeed, even i've noticed that the door squeaks have reduced with about 1K km on the odo. Either that or our ears have got tuned to the squeaks ;)

One thing that i must mention is that i find the stock speaker system to be quite remarkable ! It's better than the Amp + Boston Component speaker setup that i have in my other car, for sure !

Ride quality is top notch and suspension does a good job of throttling bad patches of road.

One another point that i would like to mention is that i've decided against getting the 'mandatory' art leather seat covers. I feel after market seat covers are overrated and anyway in pursuit of giving a good fit, these guys remove the original cover or stitch their covers on the stock fabric and cushion. I would rather have needles pumped into the cushion after 3-4 years.

The stock leather steering grip is pretty lame and sloppy and it's nowhere near the quality that i managed to get from Karlsson in my Ritz. Even after 4 years it feels so taut and meaty. I would have gladly thrown away the stock ones had it not been for the fact that the Airbags would have to be fiddled around with to have them replaced. Alas...

Headlights and Horn quality is strictly average. Planning to get them upgraded soon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by neel911 (Post 3392178)

Regarding insurance, make sure it is bumper to bumper zero deprecation. I'm kinda surprised that you are getting it that low. Is it because of some no claim bonus?

Quote:

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious (Post 3392396)

No there is no NCB, and it’s not bumper-bumper (0 Dep). I was comparing dealer and insurance vendor’s standard comprehensive insurance quotes. And yes, I have made sure in the beginning itself that IDV is 95% of the Ex showroom price.
Dealer: 40,121
TATA AIG: 20,600
Royal Sundaram: 21,750
HDFC: 21,000

Even the bumper to bumper zero depreciation insurance quote has 17-20K difference :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by S_U_N (Post 3394167)

As I see it, Nissan and customer relationship is as good or bad as it was few months ago. After Nissan terminated Hover deal in mid Feb, for customers nothing changed except for the fact that all Nissan dealers are now procuring vehicles directly from Nissan, not through Hover anymore. So, the sales and services are now directly under Nissan. It’s too early for end user to see any change.
The issue between Nissan and Hover is far form over as Hover as taken legal route claiming termination from Nissan is illegal. The whole issue is badly handled by Nissan, instead of handling it behind closed doors they went public with ads in the news paper about the dispute. That’s hardly a confident booster for Nissan customers. They seem to have learnt the lesson hard way. Now with Datsun launch, hope Nissan is well prepared second time around.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sridhu (Post 3400528)

Folks

Looking for a Duster/ Terrano with the 85 bhp diesel engine and the rear AC. Is this actually available or do I have to go for the top-of-line 110 bhp to get the rear ac?

I also have no issues getting it as a factory/ dealer installed option. Is it possible?

The info is impossible to figure out in any quick way on either site. Hence asking folks here.

The SA at Renault informed that the Adventure series, which is top end 110 bhp has the rear AC intentionally removed after customer feedback. The rear middle seat becomes uncomfortable to sit with the protruding AC unit. So think about this customer feedback and judge if you will be using the rear middle seat a lot and then take a call.