Pathetic Mileage . Review on Tata Nano

I own a Nano LX model(Sunshine Yellow) purchased at Chennai on 9th November 2009. I have been using this car for the past 4+ months and have covered around 1800 Kms till date.

I am extremely disappointed and upset that the mileage given by this car can only be termed as pathetic.

Believe it or not, I am consistently getting a mileage of just 10.7 Kms per litre which I have calculated three times till now from full tank(nozzle level) to the next full tank(nozzle level) filling. It is absolutely shocking that the car just does not run more than 170 Kms on a full tank(nozzle level) filling of approx 15.8 to 16.8 litres of petrol. I have brought this to the attention of the Tata Authorized Dealership as well as Tata Motors. The Tata Motors Executives at Chennai have conducted two joint trials on 10th February 2010 and 10th March 2010 and therafter orally informed me that I can expect a mileage of only 12 Kms per litre in city traffic driving conditions and 16 Kms per litre in highway driving.

However they are refusing to put this in writing. They have sent me a mail stating that my car is absolutely trouble free and the fuel average of 10.7 Kms per litre that I got in the given(traffic) conditions is quite appreciable. When I replied to them pointing out that there is absolutely no correlation between the mileage of 10.7 Kms per litre that I am getting and the ARAI announced mileage of 23.6 Kms per litre they have replied that   the fuel average in test bed conditions is unachievable in dense and peak time city traffic. However, they prefer to remain silent when I replied asking them what exactly is the fuel average achieveable in dense and peak time city traffic.

As such they have no clue as to how to resolve this problem and are just trying to evade the issue. A mileage of just 10.7 Kms per litre with a 624 cc car which is supposedly The Most Fuel Efficient Car in India(Article dated 10th April 2009) is just not acceptable.

S. Prabhakar

sprabhakar@vsnl.com