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
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
hyeah:
