It all started 6 months back when I had no option but buy a more comfortable 4 wheels.
Actually I was researching to buy a bigger car for years now, but nothing was to my liking.
Did a lot of test drives, spent days on Tbhp, spoke to a lot of people, kept waiting for one launch after the other, but it seemed like it was a task which will never be complete.
I had a lot of expectations and no car in the market could fulfill my needs.
I always came disappointed after the test drive.
Cars I considered for the buy -
VW Vento diesel
Hyndai Verna Fluidic diesel
Chev Optra diesel
Skoda Rapid diesel
Toyota Etios diesel
Maruti SX4 diesel
Honda city
Every car had most of the things to my liking but all of it fell flat on 1 or 2 of my basic needs
Vento diesel Liked -
Looks elegant and professional
Brand VW
Good engine
Disliked - From the front there was no way to differentiate from a polo
Poor service network
No space inside the car
Not a comfortable ride
Expensive
No idea of the maintenance cost
Long waiting period
Hynudai Verna fluidic Liked -
Amazing looks ( i don't think anyone will disagree)
Fully loaded with features
Hyundai (own a 11yr old Santro with no problems)
Comfortable ride
Easy drive inside city
Disliked -
Long waiting period
Poor back seat comfort
Claustrophobic feeling at the back
Poor handling on highways
Expensive for what it offers
Chevy Optra Diesel Liked - Simple big car look
The space inside
Ddriving comfort
Disliked -
Dated model (makes you look older too)
Poor mileage
Possibility of been faced out very soon
Expensive maintenance
Skoda rapid (Did not TD)
Liked -
The look (signature skoda front profile)
Disliked - Nothing new to offer than the Vento
Guessed the space will be equally bad
Toyota Etios
Liked - All the hype
All the news on the perfect car for average Indian
Toyota brand (Durability of the car)
Disliked -
Average to bad looking
Unbelievable waiting period
Maruti SX4 Liked - The definitely male look
Massive size and good space
Upright seating and drive
Disliked -
Dated model Honda city
Liked - The looks
The comfort and designing
Honda brand
Disliked -
No diesel option
Underlined the main reason.
There are many more likes and dislikes in each car I TD, but these were the deciding factors. Even tried Mahindra scorpio, disappointing.
So I was convinced that there is no perfect car in the market for the money I was ready to spend and I will never get to the point of buying any car.
It frustrated me that no car in India was value for money compared to most of the places I know.
I started getting realistic and was ready to compromise on certain things which I could live with.
Basic needs ( realistic)
Cost less than 10 lakhs
Spacious
Comfortable back seat
Brand new looks
Nissan SUNNY was launched. It looked a little bulky. The ads on TV didn't ring any bell. Did not see many on the road.
On fine day, heard that the diesel sunny is launched.
Suddenly my curiosity over this car increased.
Started looking up the internet, but not much information.
As I was busy asked my parents to do a TD (just take a back seat ride)
They called me to inform that it is the car. Even my dad who always said there is no car as comfortable as an Amby was sold for it.
I had all the information on its looks, interiors, quality (petrol version TD) thanks to Tbhp
All I wanted to do was to drive the diesel engine to see how it performed.
First time I saw it up close and it immediately put a big smile on my face. Got into the car and wow what a space and comfort. Without wasting any time I held the steering and started driving. The car moved effortlessly and I drove effortlessly, It was unbelievable how the car handled in medium traffic. The engine, clutch and transmission was butter smooth. And as I floored the accelerator I could feel the engine zoom the car forward.
NISSAN SUNNY Liked - Massive size
Brand new model on the road
Subtle yet desirable look
Amazing space - front and back
Engine power and tuning
Easy drive inside city traffic
Cost around 9 Lakhs
Least waiting period
Disliked- The oddly designed dashboard
The audio system remote on the steering is a protruding
disturbance
Little skeptical about service network , but I was not
that worried
It was just a 10 minute test drive and I saw myself writing a cheque for INR 100000/-
I was guaranteed 3 weeks delivery.
Mean while I started processing the loan for the car. It was hardly an half a days job to get my loan sanctioned from SBI (Free of cost).
Thanks to the holiday season - Christmas and New years I had no clue how time flew and suddenly one fine day on the second week of January I get a call from the sales guy saying my car has arrived.
I was totally not prepared for it. I really thought that the guy was pulling a fast one to take the cheque out of me that day.
Then began all the problems from the dealer.
After all the negotiations the caaaar finally arrived home.
Its been a busy couple of months at work and could not give enough attention to the caaar.
After finishing 1500 Km on the odo, my review of the car.
Its one of the most spacious car I have ever driven. In bronze grey it looks the best and adding a hot wheels will definitely make it a head turner (I will, may be sometime after 10000km).
I am 6 feet and with the driver seat in completely pushed back I have to extend my knee to reach the pedals.
There is so much space inside there I just can't stop bragging about it.
The seating position is fairly between the santro/indica and the verna/city, so its basically comfortable.
Adjusting the height of the seat helps to set it to your comfort.
The steering is the sore spot on the car.
The remote is designed to be round and its bulged out, so it keeps disturbing you while you drive.
The horn pad is only in the center and not like in the Micra where it extends to the sides also. Using it in Indian driving culture is difficult. After a 500km drive my palm and thumb are sore when every other parts of the body are pampered inside the sunny
The steering remote is indeed handy (my first car with a steering remote)
The A/C ranks very high.
Don't like the round control panel of the A/C on the dashboard.
It cools the car swiftly and never have I heard any complaints from the back seat passengers thanks to the
blower at the back
The automatic climate control is really nice to have (my first)
The audio system
Inbuilt Cd player with speakers is good, clear, crisp and loud enough for basic music. The fit and finish gels
with the dashboard and I did not have to fiddle or waste time on ICE.
It badly lacked USB input, but I solved it by buying a USB to FM converter which plugs into the car charger,
works like a charm.
May be sometime down I might get a couple of screens for the back seat and a DVD player.
Accessories - 3m sun-films adds to the cooling effect of the A/C, carpet mats, IND number plates.
To buy - Reverse beeper, Art leather seat covers.
The door pockets are big enough to hold a water bottle on both the front door.
Near the hand brake there is a convenient place to keep you mobile phone.
Lighting inside the car at night is bright enough.
Rear view mirror provides good view through the rear window but reversing is only based on judgement.
The side mirrors gives you a wide angle of the rear sides and the motorized adjusting makes things so easy.
Hand rest in the middle makes it a comfortable seating for 2 at the back. Have not had the option to take more than 2 at the back to get inputs on the mid seat comfort.
You have to be really cautious of getting into the back seat, had an experience of hitting my head on the c pillar which abruptly slopes down at the back.
But once inside the slope did not really bother me nor did my head touch the roof.
The rack behind the seat is of limited use and better avoided as it blocks the limited rear view
The boot is spacious enough to hold approximately 7 cabin bags
The drive and the engine
Driving inside the city is so easy and strain free. The car moves through traffic as comfortable as a roller bladder. The pick up is sweet and you don't feel like you are in a big diesel car.
The engine noise has the characteristic diesel tone in it and increases on the highway.
Findings on the drive to the hills with 4 in the car:
The road noise inside the cabin is higher.
Its slows down at steep curves and slowly picks up. Down shifting and keeping it in the power band was the way to go but then if I was already in 2 gear I was not comfortable downshifting to 1st gear so had to live with sudden drop in power even on acceleration at steep turns on the hills.
Brakes are manageable, not the best in its class.
Mostly it climbed the ghats effortlessly and after a 180km up hill drive to Kodaikanal I was as relaxed as sitting at home doing almost nothing.
Tires made a lot of noise and bad roads added to the problem.
I haven crossed the 1500 RPM mark till 1000km
and now hovering below 2500RPM after 1500km.
Yet to do high speed on highway to see how it handles and reliability on brakes
It sure touches 100+ Km/hr effortlessly but controlling with a quick response steering needs some learning with the car.
The car I should say is a dust magnet, you just can't dust it off, you need a wet cloth to wipe it off
Last week it was due for its top-up service which is the only free service offered by the company, but when I called my dealer he said you don't need to get it done.
My dealer is the worst of Nissan dealers I would need a whole thread to bash the dealership.
Anyways over all HAPPY that we got this car.
Signing off with the Nissan smile