After much research booked TATA NANO special edition.

dhawald3

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Hi guys,
I have booked Tata Nano special edition after doing much research on the car.
was to be used mainly in city driving and some occasional highway use.

In the special edition I am getting Alloy wheels + Blaupunkt music system + 2 glove boxes + body decals:eek:hyeah:

Great space, Great mileage, great AC and very comfortable.


will post pictures when I get the delivery.
 
I too want one ... but, am facing stiff resistance at home! No toy cars, they say! It would tear apart their 'stiff upper lip'! Peer pressure, bah! But, I would get one, for sure ...

Makes me proud to think that one of the key Nano designers (Sandeep Karyakarte ... he is in the NaT Geo video on the Nano) is a Mechanical Engineering classmate from my college.:D Well done, mate! :clapping:
 
I too want one ... but, am facing stiff resistance at home! No toy cars, they say! It would tear apart their 'stiff upper lip'! Peer pressure, bah! But, I would get one, for sure ...

Makes me proud to think that one of the key Nano designers (Sandeep Karyakarte ... he is in the NaT Geo video on the Nano) is a Mechanical Engineering classmate from my college.:D Well done, mate! :clapping:

People have lots of misconceptions about the car, I blame it on the way TATA marketed and positioned it.

It is a proper car and it costs less because it is not designed and engineered like any other car.

Make your Peers read my Blog on Nano and most importantly let them test drive it themselves, if possible let them talk to someone who owns a Nano.

I remember this nice quote by someone on Nano....
"The only people who seem to be having problem with Nano are the ones who have not driven it"
 
I too want one ... but, am facing stiff resistance at home! No toy cars, they say! It would tear apart their 'stiff upper lip'! Peer pressure, bah! But, I would get one, for sure ...

Makes me proud to think that one of the key Nano designers (Sandeep Karyakarte ... he is in the NaT Geo video on the Nano) is a Mechanical Engineering classmate from my college.:D Well done, mate! :clapping:

I don't blame them not wanting to ride in a 4 wheel rickshaw :lol:
Jokes aside, having extensively driven friends Nano, I'd say yes & NO!!!

:cool:
 
I don't blame them not wanting to ride in a 4 wheel rickshaw :lol:
Jokes aside, having extensively driven friends Nano, I'd say yes & NO!!!

:cool:

There is no such thing as a 4 wheeled rickshaw, and how do you compare a thing which has no doors and a canvas top to a proper car.

just see on youtube the video of Aston Martin DBS exhaust which does not sound any different when Nano is revving hard, will you call it a rickshaw too??

I do not blame people if they have only seen rickshaws in their life.

Aston Martin V8 Vantage : LOUD accelerations and revs!! - YouTube

exhaust of Nano
Tata Nano, what a sound!!! - YouTube

The exhaust sound in the new 2012 model has been greatly reduced.
 
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Congrats! However I'd not buy one for my near and dear ones until tata sorts out the cars spontaneously self combusting issue. There have been way too many cases of cars burning to a crisp for no known reason.

There have been over a dozen individual cases of fire and if this had happened in the EU or US, the car would be banned by now as a safety hazard. You can discount one or two for after market audio and similar stuff however over a dozen cases is too just much.
 
Congrats! However I'd not buy one for my near and dear ones until tata sorts out the cars spontaneously self combusting issue. There have been way too many cases of cars burning to a crisp for no known reason.

There have been over a dozen individual cases of fire and if this had happened in the EU or US, the car would be banned by now as a safety hazard. You can discount one or two for after market audio and similar stuff however over a dozen cases is too just much.

The fire issue is history now after what happened in 2010.
after tata gave free upgrades to the then existing Nanos for protection against fire, the fire issue has been solved and no new cases have been reported.
 
@ OP: Read your blog, & I don't agree with most of your points. Like your rear wheel traction theory for climbing hills, handling pot holes & off road terrains, pick up, engine power, safety. Like Indica, & most other Tata vehicles, it has quality, reliability and other issues related to state of the art technology as compared to cars 'near' its segment.
Don't agree with your point that Tata has marketed it wrongly or it is wrongly positioned in the market, because if it would have been placed in the tighter A segment, it would have been directly compared to MS Alto, 800, & all other cars under the 3 lac category which would be a perfect disaster for the Nano.
 
@ OP: Read your blog, & I don't agree with most of your points. Like your rear wheel traction theory for climbing hills, handling pot holes & off road terrains, pick up, engine power, safety. Like Indica, & most other Tata vehicles, it has quality, reliability and other issues related to state of the art technology as compared to cars 'near' its segment.
Don't agree with your point that Tata has marketed it wrongly or it is wrongly positioned in the market, because if it would have been placed in the tighter A segment, it would have been directly compared to MS Alto, 800, & all other cars under the 3 lac category which would be a perfect disaster for the Nano.


If you have doubts over the rear wheel drive advantages on acceleration and climbing please see these.

BMW RWD VS. FWD (English) - YouTube

Rear-Wheel Drive vs Front-Wheel Drive vs All-Wheel Drive - YouTube

What Wheel Drive? - Edmunds.com

Automobile layout - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Regarding marketing/placement I never said that it should have been placed in the A segment category, what I want to say is that initially the only marketing point that tata/media used was cheapest car/1 lakh car which made headlines.

Advantages of nano like space, great AC, safety, mileage, ground clearance was not what people got to know, they only thing they knew was that it is the cheapest car.

Effect of which is after the initial craze about nano died down people are not buying the vehicle because they do not want to be associated with cheap tag and are just unaware of the advantages nano provides.

compared to alto nano has much more spacious cabin, very powerful AC, better mileage, powerful lights, higher ground clearance, and is equally safe.
 
Being an 'automobile' and 'internal combustion' engineer first, I am in mostly in agreement to what you have stated.

Being a 'rear-lover', the Nano has totally disappointed :sad:. It does not possess the desired lipids at the right places!
 
@Dhawal:

I am really astonished that you have really compared the Nano to Aston?? The later is a 4000 cc engine with a power output of over 300 bhp which is beyond any comparison with any mainstream car which can climb the toughest terrains in the world where any car can possibly go, leave aside the underpowered nano even for the normal city roads.
Coming to more realism, I have read your points, but will like to point you some tiny things that looks overseen by you:

Tata Nano is not a conventional rear wheel drive system. The major advantage of a conventional RWD system is weight distribution because the engine is mounted in the front bay which is not the case with nano. Its engine is rear mounted which effectively destroys all theory of its weight distribution. & Traction on the rear wheels do not mean that it can always climb hills easily. It has more to do with Power/BHP & torque of the engine. Nano AFAIK has a 624CC 38BHP engine which has only 2 Cylinders, moreover with only 2 valves per cylinder. The torque is only 5. Now these are seriously lacking figures when looking at the next cheapest contender, say MS 800/Alto. The figures that the engine puts out are really not enough for long highway drives. Also the engine in the rear side is well-exposed & not well protected, meaning that even a small collision from rear can damage the engine easily. Also, its a big inconvenience to open all the hype & hoopla fixtures over the engine fixed by buts & bolts, just for regular maintenance like topping up & cleaning.
Its RWD without proper weight distribution due to wrongly mounted engine makes its rear side heavy which can lead to over steer of vehicle & hence cause a mishap due to losing traction on the rear esp. on a turn of twisting roads.

Again, it has only 4-speed transmission which is another cost saving, retrograde step when all cars in the world are running with 5 speed since last decade!

What you say about fuel efficiency may be correct...but to some extent only. This I say because the claimed FE is 25kmpl but as you again know yourself that its not the real life figure. Most modern cars with much higher capacity engines easily achieve 16-17 kmpl in city like the EON, Alto, Zen etc. because of better technology used in fuel management, engine mounting, gear box design & using more valves per cylinder which makes the engine breathe a lot easier. These cars achieve at least 21-22 (or even 23-24 kmpl) w/o a/c on the highways. For gaining 2 kmpl at the max, the lack of power through out the drive & efficiency is a huge trade-off.
Also, if you have pointed out lower emissions (which all cars with EFI have), you have certainly looked over the noise it produces. Like other sorts of pollution, noise is also pollution.

I have not experienced the A/c of the nano so I cannot comment on it.

You say in your blog that it has a ground clearance of 180mm so it can handle pot holes better! Only having a higher clearance doesnt mean that it can handle the torture. BTW excess ground clearance has its own issues on the vehicle stability & nano being a light vehicle, it can prove really hazardous. It has a small wheel base with very narrow tyres. The front tyre is even narrower than the rear tyre. This makes it vulnerable to fall in every rut on the road. Moreover, its front & rear wheel sizes are different & the spare wheel provided with the car only replaces the front wheels. Now, which theory in the world suggests Tata that the rear wheels on the nano are invincible? What would you do in case you have flat tyres at night travelling with your family or on a lonesome highway? Doesnt this compromise your safety? Dont argue that it has tubeless tyres. They also go flat & most cars today are sold with tubeless tyres anyway. Even if not, I would prefer to change them rather than buying a nano.
Also, due to this, tyre rotation is not possible on a Nano.

The vehicle can attain a max speed of arounf 80-85 kmph (though looks like its better for nano not to achieve higher speedsdue to its safety issues which i will came to shortly ) which will be a severe drawback on highways. Also when you are driving at 65+, the fuel economy will be impaired severely you will not be even able to achieve 17-18 kmpl because the engine will be really pushing at higher revs.

The tail gate doesnt open & all stuff has to be stuffed from inside? Now how is it when you ask passengers to get down the vehicle to put or take off some items from the boot!! To add to this, the rear side looks really ugly. Although, looks are subjective, but I have no hesitation in stating that looks cute from sideways but the front and rear is really horrible.

I believe co-driver's seats are non reclining & non- sliding?? Why this when all others enjoy this luxury?

It has only drum brakes which is a joke in this era. This is a serious compromise on safety & hence it is not 'equally safe' with the competition. The fuel tank is placed at a dangerous location, under the seat, near the battery and its inlet is from the front bay. Now, the discomfort & embarrassment of opening the front bonnet for a fuel refill may not be much of a concern for those obsessed by the Nano, but the inlet at that location is 100% safety hazard. So if a front collision results in the vehicle combustion on its own, it should not be a surprise. Even a spark from the battery can ignite the fuel tank. Where is the safety here?
Also, uselessly higher ground clearance, smaller & narrower tyres, its own light weight seriously questions occupant's safety. Also the wheels has only 3 bolts to keep them to the rim, unlike the usual four with others, which is again a trade-off in terms of safety. It is made from thin sheets of metal & and has no engine in front to protect from crash. The entire frontal area will easily be crushed in case of a frontal collision endangering the lives of passengers.

Regarding your fire issues, the company never recalled its older cars for a fix for a known defect. This is severe mischief again which is a severe irresponsibility on the part of the the manufacturer.

& there is nothing like better lights. The legal limit is 55/60 W bulbs & anything that surpasses this limit in India is illegal & attracts penalty on roads. Even if you are not satisfied with the stock lamps of any vehicle, you can without any modification, put 90/100 W lamps but at your legal risks.

Look Dhawal, there are some severe shortcomings in this vehicle & history of this vehicle also shows it. I have pointed out only a few in this post. Also, as you have yourself pointed out that this car is not that cheap as it was announced. So, I would seriously suggest you to think again over these issues before putting your hard earned money on this thing. Slightly increase your budget & go for any A segment 'PROPER' car which is real value for your money. Also, because of its 1 lakh positioning, it will be really really tough to get any decent price for this car in case you want to sell it off later. Why anyway would you buy a car costing almost as much as others but with limited functionality? It will just be a compromise.
Go for any mainstream car. I am open for any further discussion.

Regards,
Saket
 
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The main problem with Nano is that people who have never driven this car themselves tend to be experts about it!

@Dhawal:

I am really astonished that you have really compared the Nano to Aston?? some tiny things that looks overseen by you:

1: I never compared the Aston Martin with a Nano in terms of power and performance so do not give me those figures it was just the comparison of the exhaust sound of both the cars.

inconvinience to open all the hype & hoopla fixtures over the engine fixed by buts & bolts, just for regular maintenance like topping up & cleaning.

2: topping up of oil happens during the regular service intervals so there is no requirement of opening it in between. and the service intervals are just like other cars 1st service 1000-1500 km, 2nd service 10000km, 3rd 20000km.

Its RWD without proper weight distribution due to wrongly mounted engine makes its rear side heavy which can lead to over steer of vehicle & hence cause a mishap due to losing traction on the rear esp. on a turn of twisting roads.
3: the problem of oversteering has been tackeled in Nano by giving wheels having more width in the rear so the front tyres will loose grip first hence preventing oversteer. Front :135/70R12, Rear: 155/65R12

Again, it has only 4-speed transmission which is another cost saving, retrograde step when all cars in the world are running with 5 speed since last decade!
4: Nano has a top speed of 110 km thus 4 speed transmission is sufficient for it.

What you say about fuel efficiency may be correct...but to some extent only. This I say because the claimed FE is 25kmpl but as you again know yourself that its not the real life figure.

5: Based on owenership reviews on nano by people who have driven it in city as well as highway nano gets you 18-20 in city and 23-25 on the highway with AC, these are real world figures given by real people.who said that engine of nano is any less on tech.it has MULTI POINT FUEL INJECTORS, It has ECU. It has air density and humidity sensor, which controls fuel supply according to quality of air, so performance of engine is not affected by change in environment. It has canister, which stores fumes of petrol, so it gives excellent pick-up.

Moreover, its front & rear wheel sizes are different & the spare wheel provided with the car only replaces the front wheels.
6: only the width of the tire is different with radius being the same so the spare tire can go in the front as well as the back without having any speed limitation and tata recommends to replace the wheel at the next service station.

I believe co-driver's seats are non reclining & non- sliding?? Why this when all others enjoy this luxury?
7: Both the front seats slide and recline.

It has only drum brakes which is a joke in this era.
Brakes are designed according to the weight of the vehicle and it's top speed which decide how powerful the brakes should be.both being less in case of Nano drum brakes do the job well.

Now, the discomfort & embarrassment of opening the front bonnet for a fuel refill may not be much of a concern for those obsessed by the Nano, but the inlet at that location is 100% safety hazard. So if a front collision results in the vehicle combustion on its own, it should not be a surprise.
8: Does a side impact on other cars result in fires?? on forums you can see many nanos which have been in accidents and none of them have lead to combustion.
also the fuelling location may be new to you but almost all of the CNG cars running in Delhi, Gujrat, Mumbai have their filling point in the bonnet.

The fuel tank is placed at a dangerous location, under the seat, near the battery and its inlet is from the front bay Even a spark from the battery can ignite the fuel tank. Where is the safety here? .
9: Battery is placed inside the cabin and the fuel tank is outside under the car so they are in no way in proximity to cause any fires.

its own light weight seriously questions occupant's safety. Also the wheels has only 3 bolts to keep them to the rim, unlike the usual four with others, which is again a trade-off in terms of safety.
10: 3 bolts on wheels is not a trade off on safety because for the max speed of Nano they hold equally well.Light weight does not mean that it has less strength, with modern manufacturing process and design you can have good strength with lighter weight.

It is made from thin sheets of metal & and has no engine in front to protect from crash. The entire frontal area will easily be crushed in case of a frontal collision endangering the lives of passengers.

11: A slightly thinner sheet metal may affect the dentability of the car but in case of a crash it is not the sheet metal that protects you but the structure of the car.
not having engine in the front was the advantage as more area was available for crush and hence absorbing the impact, engine is a solid block and does not absorb impact.

see this video nano safety - YouTube

Regarding your fire issues, the company never recalled its older cars for a fix for a known defect. This is severe mischief again which is a severe irresponsibility on the part of the the manufacturer.

12:after the fire Issues the car was not recalled owners were given free upgrades that made the car safer and also got the starter motor replaced in all the nanos.

& there is nothing like better lights. The legal limit is 55/60 W bulbs
13:there is a thing like more powerful lights, scorpio has more powerful lights than a alto, similarly Lights of nano are more powerful that the cars in the lower end.I remember A guy who owns a vento and a nano confessed that the lights of nano are more powerful than his bigger car.

go for any mainstream car. I am open for any further discussion.

If you are open to further discussion I would recommend you to go to a nearest Tata dealer and at least test drive Nano yourself before commenting on it. the car has been very well put together and the interior plastics and fit and finish quality is better than an alto.

And people have confessed that in traffic Nano saves them 10-15 mins of time due to its small dimensions can go in small gaps and it's small turning radius needs to be experienced.
 
The main problem with Nano is that people who have never driven this car themselves tend to be experts about it!

The main problem is somewhere else. Flatly out, You really don't need to drive a junk to tell its a junk. As you dont need to drive a ferrari to tell its an excellent super car! And with the experience & level of expertise I have is enough to judge a nano. Also, one does not need to be a rocket scientist to give you a feedback about nano anyway.

On the other hand, there are people who think that reading some blogs & reviews on the net, they have become the expert of ummm...every thing and laws of physics dont hold any truth in front of their knowledge (gained from blogs), there is no cure for such condition as of yet. The same blog you refer to, the occupants were asked to step out & vacate the nano THREE TIMES as it was not able to climb inclines. The blogger also states clearly that an Alto or even a 100cc motorcycle did not show any such problems on the same inclines and managed them easily.

A technical discussion can hold true only an extent & not beyond a thing called 'Logic'. If you are so much attached emotionally to the car, that its tough to see logical points like those you have mentioned, I believe there is no way out. Then you should not post this in public forum if you are not open to a product's criticism. And if you are hell bent to learn it the harder way, that might be your cup of tea. But should you ever come out of your nano well, you will take other's point of view too & learn to respect them as well before passing ill comments...not much before you passed a comment on someone for not seeing anything except rickshaw in his life and now here as well.
Coming to your last post, your comments, they show that you are technical quotient is quite low in this area...no offence really meant. You might be expert in some other field, but you need to brush up your knowledge in this area.
Even if you obsessed with the space of nano & mentioned its great headroom & legroom (I agree to this point) you failed to mention that Its a 4 seater while all others on the road are 5 seaters. I believe its included in the definition for 'Space'.

Just to clarify other points you made:

1. The sound of exhaust is dependent upon the engine in 'General' which actually 'sources' this exhaust and a car with 4L engine will sound like a 4l engine & not like an diesel auto rickshaw which exactly resembles the sound of nano...yes, a diesel auto rickshaw is what is the closest match to nano's exhaust, there is no doubt about it, not the 4000cc aston martin. Stop misleading the readers.

2. In general, a car's maintenance is not only followed at service intervals. If you are unaware about the User's part here, then you are living in a wonderland.

3. The problem of oversteering is sorted out by understeering the car here!! The front wheel of nana, for those who dont know, looks straight out from a scooter and is very very narrow and that's the point. For nano, its better to loose the front grip first, just to satisfy your ego that it does not oversteers!!...hahaha...To tell you, its equally dangerous, reason I am not gonna tell you technically...but what I can tell is that an accident is accident regardless of the wheel that slipped first.

4. Again, if you think that gearbox is only for top speed, then brush up your facts buddy! Nano's poor gear set up is thrashed all over except in your book.

5. for a 600 CC ENGINE, even if the FE was 30KMPL, I would not be amazed. Its quite low in fact. My 10 yr old zen can easily manage 23-24 KMPL on highways. However, all reviews, including your's own (yes you said it...see ur previous posts/blogs) state the FE to be around 18-20 kmpl:D
As per your MPFI thing, its mandatory for Euro norms to comply & if the nano could have done it with a carb, they would have even not have had EFI!! ...you know to save costs. Even Maruti 800 10 years ago had a 3cylinder 45 bhp MPFI ENGINE with 5 SPEED TRANSMISSION. All MPFI engines have sensors at multiple places. An ECM is an integral part of this system & can be termed as the brain of this system and an MPFI system will simply fail beacause of a failed/absent ECM and IMO, you should not be too much thankful to nano for providing it as complimentary fitments...only if you dont want to run the engine. I think the co. intends to run this engine though, so it provided an ECM & sensors.

6. IF the front wheel can fit on the rear side, safety is not compromised? WHere & how do you now explain your concept of over/understeer?? If you can still justify, then your safety theory & nano theory do not follow our general theories followed in 'our' real world.

7. 'Brakes are designed according to the weight of the vehicle and it's top speed ' WRONG STATEMENT
'EVEN BRAKES ARE DESIGNED TO SAVE COSTS AND NOT LIVES' CORRECT STATEMENT. Experience braking of any other car, chances are you will feel that nano's braking is better but for rest of the world its the other way round. Maruti 800 from its inception in 1983-84, had disc brakes in front, and it was an inexpensive car too. & that was some 30 years ago! This statement really made me laugh!! But on a serious note, there are some places where safety should just not be compromised and Tata has done just that...can you believe it..with the brakes??
The blog on Teambhp, from where you have lifted statements in verbatim in your blog here & in your article lying else where on the web, without giving any credit to the original author also states this fact that the BRAKES ARE DANGEROUS. In case you are the original author there as well, please mention.

8.Fire Issue?? Do I need to say anything or you need more nanos to burn themselves to prove? I really hope that they bring out a roofless/topless nano, so that it will be easier for people to run in case of fire! Thats the only remedy to this problem.We humans should really be afraid of fire as i think it can be little 'dangerous' with the co passenger sitting on the fuel tank.

9.CNG is less inflammable than petrol & its a much safer fuel in case of collission. If you want to argue, first go n read about CNG then you may understand why i say this.

10. Strength & weight are two different things in our view & both are different aspects while designing a car. Strength comes into play in case of accidents, while weight comes into play both in driveability & safety. Without quoting any logic (as it may not appeal to you) I would say that the flipper side of a heavier car is that they are safer than light cars and have better stability.

11. If 3 bolts are not a trade-off against 4, then you can drive with 2 bolts even, or even better with no bolts at all. Please keep in mind that even 30 years old bajaj scooters are riding with 4 bolts. Nano must be special.

12. If again thin sheets dont bother you with no engine in the bay then the world is really living dangerously. To update you, crumble zones in cars unfortunately is not invented by tatas for the nano. THis thing, i.e..crumble zones has been around for almost half a century now...with engines in their front bay.

13. About upgrades & motor replacement, I would prefer a car with no such known problems really. I don't prefer to live dangerously until they discover other such problems.

14. if you remember the guy who got confused by nano 'enlightenment' then go and ask him to ask the nano owner if he had fitted higher wattage bulbs...oh you might have already asked him...and you answer will be no. If you have no vision problems, you should be absolutely fine with even the lights of 'Alto' if you think they were any weaker than nano.

15. I would like the readers to know that the same Teambhp blog mentions that the metals sheets are so thin that it feels like it can be bent with hand. The finish quality of paint job, rough edges, yawning panels are indicators of poor quality control. Its vibration level is so high at idle that even The doors, for instance, vibrate like that of an old Jeep when open. They have mentioned poor brakes, cheap wipers and spray, fit & finish, & other things as well. They say that " It's not just the quality of these materials that's bad, but also the way that they've been fitted." - when some fittings & fixtures intended to stay where they have been sticken in the factory started falling off from here & there.

For readers, here is the source of OP's knowledge BTW: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/112835-tata-nano-test-drive-review.html

This review is fairly an unbiased review from someone who is really attached to this car but still open to face the real world problems of this vehicle.

There are other points in my post as well for which you have not put forward your piece of logic like the unopenable boot, underpowered engine, poor weight distribution, noise levels, vibration levels, harshness, placement of rear engine, effect of high ground clearance on stability. I sincerely didnt understand why the company didnt recalled its older cars for a known defect and please do mention what do you mean by 'free upgrades'?

Just in case readers are interested, please read on:

Way back in 2002, Even i was somewhat attached 'emotionally' to the old Indica. Somehow We ended up buying a Zen, which I am glad that I did, else I would have made a big mistake. THis might offend the first lot old indica owners but I hope they will take this criticism openly. Zen has its own shortcomings, as no car is free of all, but it was a great buy @ 4 Lacs & still after 10 years I dont think twice before setting out for even a 1000 kms long journey & thats the test of a real car...peace of mind. Just to tell , its a 993 CC MPFI, 16 Valve/4 Cylinder engine (4 valves per cylinder) All aluminum, world famous G10B engine which puts out 60BHP with a really good fuel economy. It presently rides on 4 tubeless Michelins with alloy rims.
Its biggest downside is lower ground clearance, bothers more when its off road, large speed breakers...admit that I have hit the bottom at least a thousand times, but its I am still to break or damage anything. Rear boot space is limited. Other than these, I don't see any major drawback on this car. superb Braking, enthusiastic pickup (0-100 in 15 secs), butter smooth engine & a 5 speed slick make it an absolutely fun to drive. The design is such that is loved by all, A pillars never extrude in vision through the huge windshield, very efficient A/C, great ride quality...really a nice well-balanced car. Was discontinued after a facelift in 2006, but still its one of the best cars made by Maruti Suzuki stable. Still most sought after car in the second hand market by enthusiasts and racers as its quite mod friendly.
I know its not the right place to share this, just as an old auto enthusiast since childhood, sometimes I let my feelings flow.

Thanks & regards,
Saket
 
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Not really surprised with more nanos catching fire recently. Many caught fire in 2011 too, some even in sri lanka I suppose. One caught fire when it was driven from showroom to home! There are dedicated threads on auto forums for this particular problem with Nano. There are posts which state that how Tata Auth. Ser. centre have almost threatened an owner for not going to media for smoke coming out of the steering coulumn of Nano. Wonder, how many other unreported cases might have happened this way!
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...re-incidents-updated-tatas-analysis-pg34.html

Read on the second last page that how the friend of the poster managed to escape with other 2 occupants from a nano which caught fire while driving on highway. There is no doubt that Tata's response on this issue has been very very bad & awful to say the least. The post says that they have mailed the customer care with no response from them too...is it how a responsible manufacturer should behave? Leave aside a recall of cars, they have not even found the root cause of the problem?? DO they really care about their customers?
Its not to humiliate somebody, but I dont see any reason to willingly take unnecessary risk of life and money. These lives include the lives of your near & dear ones too, & not only yours. Its not that I am purposefully discouraging the OP for the nano, but there are some severe shortcomings & risk factors associated with this vehicle which needs serious look out. The cost is not too less from mainstream A segment cars and whatever you pay extra, you get better value for it & that is a -completely reliable, time tested car.
May be in future, a better, sorted out version of Nano may replace existing ones, like the Indica, but why to become guinea pigs in this experiment? If you are part of this forum, why not take benefit of this forum where there are people who can shower lights on various pros & cons of a particular product to you. This is a wonderful place with wonderful people here with high grade knowledge. This is my way of being here.

REgards,
Saket
 
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The main problem is somewhere else. Flatly out, You really don't need to drive a junk to tell its a junk. As you dont need to drive a ferrari to tell its an excellent super car! And with the experience & level of expertise I have is enough to judge a nano. Also, one does not need to be a rocket scientist to give you a feedback about nano anyway.

But should you ever come out of your nano well, you will take other's point of view too & learn to respect them as well before passing ill comments

Thanks & regards,
Saket

You talk of seeing others point of view when you yourself without driving Nano ever have made a fixed mindset that it is a junk??

when people owning bigger cars like vento, XUV500, scorpio, Ikon etc own a nano too and swear by it's qualities, who are you to say otherwise??



There were fires in Nano between 2010-11, and the problem causing the fires was rectified and there were no new nano fires till this news of fire in Nano in Mumbai.

I think it is a one off case of nano similar to a wagon -R and a Skoda Fabia catching fire recently.

This is the only case of nano catching fire in 2012.
Had there still been some technical problem in Nano which caused it to catch fire then there would have been many more cases in 2012 and not just one, given the fact that now there are many more nano's on the roads than there were in 2010-11.

Maruti Swift car gutted in fire | Watch the video - Yahoo! India

Hyundai I20 catching fire 1

Now Hyundai i20's are on fire!!
 
Tata's been through a learning stage, just like any other manufacturer. Here, they had to fine tune their skills developed on trucks and heavy vehicles to the more intricate car segment. This had to / was to be done knowing that there already exist a bevy of 'phoren' makes who were already 'way-up' there. Have to give an Indian company this minimum credit for making a serious, honest try ... and slowly succeeding!

Yes, some / many Indian buyers could have been used as guinea pigs in the process. Happened during the Indica launch, and Nano too. This is definitely no credit to the Tata Group. Not defending them!

The Indica, is a lot refined now. It always was reliable, with good availability of spare parts and services. The Nano too is following suit. The second version is a lot more smoother with lesser 'auto-rickshaw' audio from its rear! It should only get better from here, from what it is now.

Nano is a thorough-bred city dweller. One should'nt contemplate taking it to the 'steeps' or 'roughs'. C'mon, you can't justify a 2 cylinder 600 cc engine to even match up to the meagre power of the old 3 cylinder Maruti 800 cc (one with 4 gears ... I still drive that!). The Nano is a different segment altogether, more of a competition to the 2 wheelers .... citing safety over induced-balance needed for 2-wheelers. 4 wheels give far more re-assurance on the jam packed city stretches ... some, very fast moving, even though packed.

I would love to have a Nano as my office-going car. I drive myself, am alone while driving to and back from office. Delhi roads are mostly bad ... all ways, no easy parkings possible ..... so, whats the need of a flaming long sedan? Show and pomp, I guess ... huh! Have reached a stage where the wallet does more talking than a car .. :p
 
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^ very nice well balanced post avidyarthy.

Nano is a car which is fair enough for small city use....like travelling to & from office. Occasional trips to the market and that is it. Absolutely No-no for highways...and hence it should not be compared at all to other cars in any aspect. Its target is different, its purpose is somewhat different from other cars on road. That is why i said that it has a limited functionality compared to other cars. In short, it has a segment of its own and hence better not to compare it to other cars.

But on the other hand, Tata, to be termed as a responsible car maker must come out with a remedy to the burning episodes of its car, to save its name, to save lives of owners, should diagnose the root cause of the problem & recall all nanos for modification rather than pushing the matter under the carpet. It should realize that the excess emphasis on cost factor should not surpass the reliability factor. There have been fires in other cars too but the major concern here is the number of fires to the numbers of vehicles on road, that is a serious blow for nano. Some other safety aspects have been compromised which one shouldn't...esp the brakes. One can live with a tiny engine though if he doesn't get too much enthusiastic at any point of time.

One major thing to consider is the cost. I don't know what is the actual 'all inclusive' price to take home this small car. As per some sources, if its anyway near 2 lacs, then some serious thinking has to be done before investing this money in a nano or add about 15-20% more of this money to buy an entry level A segment car...and its the main consideration. Certainly its not a 1 lac rupee car now! The buyers must do a thorough cost-benefit analysis according to their use.

Regards,
Saket
 
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