I was curious about this controversial car. So I wanted to test drive this one. I went to Wasan motors, Chembur He showed me cute, bright yellow cute car. It was top end model, power windows, A/C, but no power steering.
My first Impression: Car is cute, small and its a eye-turner. No matter what is the controversy. Its not a cheap car at all from outside.
When I first sat at the driver’s seat, my first impression is that it is extremely spacious car. I am 5"11 weighing 102 kgs and I manage to sit and come out very easily. Consoles were good enough but the centre position took some time to adjust. I switched on the engine and the first thing noticed me is the sound of the engine. Its not that encouraging for a new car.
Almost sounding like a rickshaw but its quite manageable. Power windows up, A/C on . Trust me, A/C is best in class, Very Chilling. Pressed the clutch(Bit hard) and moved it to first gear. Gears are bit tough and not so smooth. But over the time one can be use to it.
I deliberately accelerated hard on first gear and to my surprise, pickup of the car is very good in-spite of 4 people sitting inside car with A/C on. I pushed to it 2nd and 3rd gear and it was quite a breeze. Even in slope, Car managed to do quite satisfactory. I would really love if it had power steering, but considering the length of the car, it doesn’t require power steering and it can manage to turn around or a take U-turn quite comfortably. Over and all. I was quite satisfied with the car.
The sales person told that Car is good enough for long trips as well But I am not sure how it perform on state highways where Engine is accustomed to high speeds for a longer duration of time. Also tyres are skinny, so it doesn’t give any confidence on the state highways or mumbai-pune highway. max speed is 105kmh, fuel efficieny is 18-19km/l. We can push it till 90km/hr but its not at all sufficient for highway drivings. Basic model costs around 1.70lakhs.
I would really buy this car for my kid or my wife considering for city drives only. For highway, its a strict No-No. I bought a Santro XP 2005 model with one year warranty from the dealer at 1.90 lakhs. Its safe, sturdy, reliable, max speed I touched around 140km /hr. I bought it from Official Hyundai showroom. I am driving it for the past 1 year and I have not faced any major issues, I am extremely satisfied with the car There is no comparison between Used Santro and New nano. But if you have a budget of around 2 lakhs, I would prefer to buy a entry level Second Hand car like Alto, Wagon R, Santro considering these cars are offering much more satisfaction like safety, reliability, engine power, max speed, fuel efficiency. If my Used Santro gives me 18km/ltr on highways with 1.1ltr engine, 67bhp power costing me 1.9 lakhs, I would definately go for the Used Santro one.
