After 3.5 years of driving Reva. Review on Reva

Dear All,

I purchased the Reva in Feb 2003 and have done about 22,000 kms so far. I use this for commuting from my home to office. Here are my feelings about this car.

The +'s

1. Real cheap to run a Reva. Driven 22K kms so far and averaging at 15 km per liter, I have saved about Rs.75 K.

   
   




2. I understand the present cost of Reva is quite high 3.10 in Bangalore, but not many people know that there is a subsidy of Rs75 to Govt employees.

   
   




3. Quite rugged for Bangalore roads, today the roads are improving think about Kanakapura road about 6 months back. I drive from Art of Living to Koramangala and it used to be real bad.

   
   




4. Safety of Reva. The Reva has a chassis derived from the design of formula 1 car, with main emphasis of making it light. It is quite STRONG.

   
   




5. The rear and front bumpers are 15 kgs each. (Heaviest on India roads).

   
   




6. Extra tyre being in the front also gives a safety benefit. Defiantly more has to be done by RECC. Wonder they didn't take services of DC for this car; rather they launched the Reva DC NXG, with 200km in one charge and top speed of 120kmph.

   
   




7. The Reva Seva (Customer care) used to do mobile checking and that too free of cost. An advantage to us as customer.

   
   

The -'s

1. Seeing the short incubation period of Reva, I don't blame the manufacturers for the ruff interiors of the car. At that stage it is very difficult to have spare parts manufactured at a cheaper price (moulds etc are very very expensive)

2.

1. This care weighs about 35 kgs more that M80, at 745 kgs.

   
   




2. Due to large size doors it sags in 6 months time. As usual our Reva Seva chaps have JUGAAD for setting it right by lifting it up.

   
   




3. The sliding windows is the biggest uncomfortable thing. Reva has new door with power windows that goes down like a normal car door. Don't know why they are not fitting in the new cars.

   
   




4. The suspension of the car is not good, and has to be improved.

   
   




5. There is no air vent in the car and due to this the window has to be opened when closing the car.

   
   




6. The front glass should be parabolic to make it bit spacey in the front.

   
   




7. The frame of the front seats should be more compact to make space.

   
   




8. The headlight should be flushed with the bumper to reduce the air resistance.

   
   




9. Regenerative brakes are not smooth as it used to be earlier. The mech brakes are fine.

   
   




10. Substantial drop in mileage, the best I got was 78kms, presently I am getting 55 to 65 kms depending on the style of driving.

    
    




11. The battery state meter some times behaves differently, fortunately on on the wrong side. Once in 5 kms range, I manage to run the car 12 kms, indeed at 15 kmph.