[anil_neo]

Great review guys! (as always)

I had booked mine a few weeks back at Bangalore's Shawar Nissan! Looks to be the 13th pre-booking made with the dealer. And I got to know from sources that only the first 80 vehicles would be delivered before Diwali. So as per the dealer's maths I should be driving a Terrano within the "speculated" 45 days.

Was looking to get the XL Plus (85ps) variant, but seems like the Ex-showroom price is peaking over my budget. The Nissan website says1,133,300 for XL Plus & 10,66,300 for the XL. Bit surprised they are charging such a premium for a Passenger airbag + 4 alloys

- Anil

Mod Note:
Please do not use more than 2 smileys in one post.
Thanks

[Maanspeedo]

First of all , a 5 star super detailed reveiw . Awesome.

I have been reading all the comments here and been following 200 odd pages of official Duster review thread since its launch and I must say that we are so in love with " interiors" and " features" that we have lost the basic need from a car , i.e. driveability on our Indian roads. These are my personal observations.

You may call Duster/Terrano cheap , fake SUV, Pseudo SUV, not VFM , cheaters and all that .

But the drive which these two vehicles give you is eons ahead of those feature rich Sedans/ECOSPORT or huge sexy SUVs which give more space and seats and power and snob value than these compact SUVs.

I have a peculiar hobby, I test drive atleast one new car every second week across the price range and I can say this with full confidence that no car below 40 lac can give you the ride comfort of Duster/Terrano and I mean comfort on Mumbai/Bangalore/Delhi potholed /speed breakered roads , not even talking about off roading here .


I drove a logan as my first car, civic, city , safari, XUV after that and can vouch for Logan for the best ride yet and yes it was cheap/boring/bad ergonomics kind of car.

Why I write this , because I feel its a forum where prospective car buyers come to understand and analyze cars and their pros/cons.

If auto enthusiasts/car lovers / BHPians like us keep making statements hovering over beauty of hyundai/space of safari/height of XUV/features of Ecosport over simple pleasure of driving with Duster/Terrano , then I feel disappointed .

I think Terrano is over priced and so is Duster , I think Ecosport is VFM and so are sedans over these Crossovers but then I feel so tempted to sell my 2 year old city right away and go for one of these and specifically for terrano if budget permits ( just for its looks and premium feel over duster), just for the pleasure of driving without fear of scrapping underbody on a speed breaker or getting back breaking jolts on a Mumbai Potholed road.

I say this after a crazy day spent test driving Ford ecosport then XUV then Duster then Storme then Rexton then elantra and then Terrano.

How I wish they could make a car for its driveability and not for interiors and features , features which many of us will never use.

Cheers, happy motoring .

And I am sorry if any of my views are too harsh or hurt anyone, I have no such intentions. I just want to vent my disappointment on preference of auto enthusiats for " features" over" drive"

And yes, I am no Nissan/Renault/other car manufacturer employee or an auto journalist , just a regular professional/car lover from Mumbai .

[achyutaghosh]

Autocar India has an article up which says that the Terrano can have an optional third row of seats. Smalls ones fit for children. Is this legal? Will the car have to be registered as a 7 seater then?

They also say a strap on steering mounted remote will also be available, so that kind of takes back some of the flak it has taken for not providing steering controls.

[motorworks]

Fantastic review! I dont think any auto magazine or Website can be so precise, detailed and unbiased. High standards, Really!
Coming to the Terrano, I'm bowled over by its looks and stance. It looks better than the Duster for sure. But the price it commands is hideous! If I were to buy this, I would probably opt for the 2nd variant with ABS and a driver airbag. And this means I would have to shell out at least 12 lakhs in Bangalore. At this price you could easily get a top end Vento or Rapid or even a Verna. Agreed, you cannot compare these to the Terrano, but with that kind of money being spent, the Terrano just doesnt have it except for its macho looks. I figure it will do moderately well in the first 6 months and then like the Duster it may see its demand dipping. People who are used to be driving B+ Hatch backs like the i20/ fabia may find its interior quality not at par. For some one who upgrades from a entry level sedan like the etios or the dzire the terrano may seem ok. I'm getting a feeling that Mahindra is going to surprise everyone with its sharp pricing of the entry level XUV5OO and that is going to shatter the Terrano.

[9thsphinx]

Originally Posted by achyutaghosh

Autocar India has an article up which says that the Terrano can have an optional third row of seats. Smalls ones fit for children. Is this legal? Will the car have to be registered as a 7 seater then?

They also say a strap on steering mounted remote will also be available, so that kind of takes back some of the flak it has taken for not providing steering controls.

You're right. Nissanterrano.in now redirects to the main company website Nissan.in and they've got a dedicated Terrano portal on it. On this page you'll be able to browse through the different features available on the Terrano and each of them has listed their optional accessories available.

Pretty exhaustive list of accessories to choose from.

[avm]

With the kind of pricing Nissan has done, I think it will only cannibalize its cousin - Renault.
Either the Duster should now drop its prices to a 11 Lac OTR for top end, or else Duster and Terrano will just be fighting amongst themselves and Ecosport will take the cake away.

A change in pricing will also help Duster to attract more attention from the people waiting for their Ecosport.

[anil_neo]

Official price-list just received from Shawar Nissan Bangalore(attached).
Note: For people who don't own vehicles in Karnataka please be shocked with the Road taxes

[W.A.G.7]

5 * review. Good car but I think they went totally wrong with the price. They made the same mistakes again. The car is better looking than the Duster, but then if I am getting more or less the same features for a cheaper price (duster), why would I go and spend this money on the costlier Terrano? Reliability would be a strong point, Nissan cars are good. However I have feeling this car would be in doldrums in the monthly sales.

[anilkumar]

Originally Posted by ask4gautam

I was thinking of changing from the Ecosport Tit (o) to the Terrano but the price difference is just too much and the Terrano doesnt have half the features that Ecosport does.

Only thing going for the Terrano are the looks and the fact that it seems a notch bigger than the Ecosport, but 4 lakhs is a high price to pay for that - not to forget the lack of a ton of features !

Even I was thinking the same changing from my TDCi Titanium to Terrano but after seeing deserted Nissan showroom in Queens road and bad interiors of Terrano along with its pricing felt that it doesnt deserve to be paid 4L extra for 20Bhp extra. I'm 6'2 and completely hated Duster's and Terrano's seat height adjust its such a pity that it comes only in top end but i didn't like the range since no telescopic adjust for steering it doesn't help much
I honestly feel we can buy Ecosport Titanium TDCi and Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 instead of buying Duster or Terrano

[ask4gautam]

Originally Posted by anilkumar

I'm 6'2 and completely hated Duster's and Terrano's seat height adjust its such a pity that it comes only in top end but i didn't like the range since no telescopic adjust for steering it doesn't help much
:

I would have to concur here... the seat height for the driver seat seemed very odd in the Terrano... i somehow felt like i was too low down and would have liked to be seated higher. And this coming from a person who is 6'2.. imagine the state of shorter people.

[poloman]

Originally Posted by Maanspeedo

First of all , a 5 star super detailed reveiw . Awesome.



You may call Duster/Terrano cheap , fake SUV, Pseudo SUV, not VFM , cheaters and all that .

Totally agree. Lot of Team BHPians have off late become cry babies. I fail to understand why so much hate comments on a decent launch by Nissan? Are we expecting budget SUVs to be launched at price of hatch backs or with comforts of C or D class sedans? I once sat in a friend's XUV and was utterly disappointed with the quality of interior materials. I think Nissan has done a much better job than Mahindra. Also why bother, this is re-badged or re-engineered, if it suits your need.

[Kartik Kumar]

Originally Posted by poloman

Are we expecting budget SUVs to be launched at price of hatch backs or with comforts of C or D class sedans?

I often wonder why a 5-seater crossover (compact "SUV") costs so much more than C segment sedan of equivalent size (length and width that is). Both have more or less the same chassis style and more or less the same suspension. The difference can't be in cost of materials. So to me it looks like just a premium for "looks like an SUV".

[anil_neo]

Originally Posted by Kartik Kumar

I often wonder why a 5-seater crossover (compact "SUV") costs so much more than C segment sedan of equivalent size (length and width that is). Both have more or less the same chassis style and more or less the same suspension. The difference can't be in cost of materials. So to me it looks like just a premium for "looks like an SUV".

Government feels that Indian roads are good enough for them to tax vehicles that have ground clearance above 170mm. And engines that are more powerful than 1.5. SUVs are evil

[HillMan]

Originally Posted by anil_neo

Government feels that Indian roads are good enough for them to tax vehicles that have ground clearance above 170mm. And engines that are more powerful than 1.5. SUVs are evil

Although this crossover has more power to weight ratio compared to most SUVs in the price range. Both Terrano and Duster strategically escape this tax slab by the engine size.
Irony is with sedans like SX4 which make into the tax slab.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by Kartik Kumar

I often wonder why a 5-seater crossover (compact "SUV") costs so much more than C segment sedan of equivalent size (length and width that is). Both have more or less the same chassis style and more or less the same suspension. The difference can't be in cost of materials. So to me it looks like just a premium for "looks like an SUV".

In the end, this is the truth. There is a small increase in cost if you compare apples to apples i.e. compact SUV to C sedan from the same platform. The larger tyres and beefed up suspension do add to the cost but it definitely does not come close to the premium being charged for Terrano and Duster.

Both the Verna and Vento are much more luxurious, offer more features have equal if not better performance but the price difference is more than 2 lakhs.