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Observations on my Tata Nexon EV Max after a month of ownership

24th August 2022, 13:22 by Dev Shah

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The acceleration, quietness and smoothness of EV has won me over completely. My Trailhawk felt down right sluggish when I took it out in the city after 2 weeks with the Nexon.

BHPian spkrnh recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

A short update and review as an owner of a Nexon EV Max.

In relation to the photo below :

The 132 kms between 2 cities was covered fully in City mode with regen off because the deceleration when I lift off was making the passenger sick.
I also had to idle at the same spot waiting for an appointment for nearly 2 hours which consumed 6% charge(from 69-63%).
Reducing that 6% I travelled 132 kms in 60% charge which equates to 220kms range. So even if you maintain higher speeds like 110-115kmph, 200kms can be easily covered in the EV Max.
I drove pretty enthusiastically and maintained 110-120kmph on the expressway. At that speed and with 0 regen it was showing around 190Wh/km.
I drove 2 weeks earlier in Eco mode with regen at 2 and it showed 160Wh/km at speeds around 90-100kmph.

Some other points i want to share in query to some posts posted earlier:

Suspension is very good for the segment. I dont find much of a difference between the ICE and EV Nexon. I had an Ecosport earlier and compared to that car, the build and highway stability of Nexon is slightly inferior, but suspension is definitely superior at low and medium speeds. Steering feel is not uniform. It is responsive at speeds upto 60kmph. At high speeds it tightens up but it comes in steps and not in a naturally progressive way like Ecosport or Compass and feels unnecessarily heavy at times. Also on uneven roads and expansion joints it gets very slightly unsettled. But again this is only when you compare to cars a segment above. Comparing to City and Kia, i would say it is slightly better for ride/handling.

Also for the chauffeur driven who do not need that extra 40–50kms, the Prime is a better option for rear seat comfort due to the lower floor and v good thigh support.

I saw lots of great figures at 90-100wh/kms from other owners. I can understand that when you are driving an electric car anyone would want to eke out the best figures. But i am enjoying the acceleration and response so much i find it hard to drive like a saint. I saw one of the youtube videos showing a 8.6sec 0-100 and it feels as fast.

Suffice to say, whatever I am posting are likely to be among the lower ranges one would get driving the EV Max.

I saw some posts against EVs regarding range. Maybe for someone using it as an only car it might not make sense due to the low range but for my running of 1600-1700kms / month within my city primarily and 2 trips/month to another city 180kms away it makes perfect sense. (That is one of the main reasons i opted for Max over the regular EV. 180kms might make me change my driving style and give range anxiety in the regular Nexon EV, whereas I am confident i can easily make it in my Max.) Also how many drive continuously at 130-150kmph on expressways when after 120kmph you get the warning beeps. Even though Max does 140kmph, I find it irritating to cross 120 with the beeps.

Though I am someone who loves to drive and we have owned and driven many driver centric cars like the Jetta, Octavia, e250d, Fiesta, Ecosport Ecoboost, old Figo and Compass extensively, after my one month with Nexon I've realized my future purchases will be only EV. If this car can go 200kms easily, an 80kw battery in an i4 and XC40 Recharge should do 375-400 km effortlessly and for those who can afford the 110kw in the Merc EQE/EQS can go 450 plus kms easily.

I for one am not going to travel more than that in a single drive. The acceleration, quietness and smoothness of EV has won me over completely. My Trailhawk felt down right sluggish when I took it out in the city after 2 weeks with the Nexon. (But again, I've started hoping and praying Jeep comes out with an electric Compass at the earliest with similar or faster acceleration. With the build, suspension and feelsome steering of the Compass it would be an absolute blast.)

Let us hope my ownership experience over the next 6-7 years is mostly trouble free.