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Dzire owner gets a Nexon: Buying & ownership experience & upgrades

7th August 2022, 17:10 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

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The engine has enough grunt to pull the SUV effortlessly, however, it becomes very noisy at high speeds, particularly in the Sports mode.

BHPian Valhalla recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello, fellow BHPians,

I purchased a Tata Nexon XMS Red color in May 2022. It has clocked around 3000 KM.

Likes

Handling and driving dynamics.
Torquey yet fuel-efficient engine.
ESP Package and 5-star safety rating
Comfortable suspension and rigid body (no undulations on the highways are felt by the occupants).

Dislikes

NVH Levels at high speeds (had double damping done, but still engine is noisy over 130 KMPH+ in Sports mode).
Dealership and service centre experience.
AMT lag in city driving conditions.
Stock headlights and interior quality

My previous car ownership

I own a Maruti DZIRE ZXI 2015 model. It has clocked about 60000 KM and I wanted to upgrade to a pseudo "SUV" (since most Indian SUVs on sale are crossovers in reality).

New car requirements

Should be a diesel (or an efficient petrol), AMT, 6 gears, SUV stance, high ground clearance, compact to mid-size in length, in the budget of 15-16 lakhs.

Car hunt- Alternatives considered

XUV 300- no black edition in AMT variants, no projector headlights in mid variants (W6 AMT), also Mahindra is reducing features very frequently.
Creta EX & Seltos HTK: AMT in only higher variants, lacklustre build quality. Both cars were not stable at high speeds.
Skoda Kushaq and VW Taigun 1.5 TSI DSG models were out of my budget, 1.0 TSI had air-conditioning issues in both the VAG cousin test drive vehicles.
Tata Harrier was out of budget and only Nexon was the viable option, test drove a high-end AMT Nexon, liked and booked it.

Booking experience

Nexon XMS A Red Diesel was booked on 21-2-2022 and allotted on 6-5-2022. Booking experience was smooth but the delivery was quite rough as I had to follow up with the dealership executives for more than 5 days after the full payment on 17-5-2022. I had to pressurise the MD of the dealership through political interference just to get my vehicle delivered on 22-5-2022.

Extended warranty

Cost about Rs. 21000 - covers 1.25 lakh kilometers, 5 years. Initial warranty was for 75k km or 2 years.

Driving experience

Excellent driving dynamics, superior cornering ability, stable at very high speeds (I tried to get it up to 170 kmph), highway mile muncher- comfortable suspension setup and strong chassis torsional rigidity.

Safety equipment

Full ESP suite by Bosch, electronic stability, cornering stability, traction control system (front two wheels though), hill ascent, hill descent.

Brakes

Disc wiping through ESP, brake pre-fill, bite of the brakes is good, can get the car to a halt from triple digit speeds effortlessly.

Engine performance

Meaty engine with enough grunt to pull effortlessly. Very noisy compared to the competition particularly in the Sports mode at high speeds.

Fuel efficiency

City mode gives an average of 17 KMPL at 120kmph on highways and 13-14 KMPL in city driving conditions.

Sports mode gives an average of 16 KMPL at 120 kmph on highways.

AMT

Very laggy in city driving conditions, takes around 3 seconds to respond after crossing over a speed breaker, I've had to manually shift in order to derive the best out of the engine in city driving conditions. It's a whole different machine on highways in Sports mode though, responds sharply at higher speeds and ensures smooth overtaking.

Build quality & looks

Looks - Subjective. I find the front side better looking but the rear is polarizing.
Solid exterior - all doors felt hefty, mediocre interior, sub-standard plastic quality (felt like Renault Kwid from a few years ago).

AC

Chills up faster even if the outside temp. soar above 40 degrees centigrade.

MID

Felt like a toy car, Tata should've used Harrier or Altroz MID.

Steering

EPS works flawlessly, soft in the city and hard on highway driving conditions.

Niggles

Wheel Alignment issue from the factory (car was dragging to the left side by a point), sorted out during tyre upgrade from outside (not from TASS).
Paint chips here and there across the car (quality control from Tata is worst).3. Clunk sound from the front left side (fixed during the first service from TASS, a loose clamp below the diesel hand pump had been the culprit).

Service center experience

Poorly trained executives and technicians. They gave the car without sorting the above clunky sound. Had to force them again and get it fixed.

Upgrades done

Tyres: 195 60 R16 TO 215 60 R16
Wheels: Neo Royal Series alloy wheels
Tweeters: 4 - JBL
Reverse Parking camera
JK TYRE TPMS
White line painted black to make it look sportier on the sides and back of the car
Lights: Headlight low beam - HID, High beam - LED, Fog lamps - 3 in 1 Bi-LED projector
Manually adjustable IRVM
Horn upgrade
Leather seat covers, leather steering wheel cover, bumpers
Doors - double damping