How much will it cost? Will it be an embarrassment of a car? Is it worth two 100cc bikes? Is it half an 800?
Will it cause congestion and choke us all to death? We took the Tata Nano out for a full day to find the answers, and here they are.
Tata's Nano looks fabulous. But unlike the cheery exterior, the interiors are simple and functional.
The center-mounted instruments look good and are easy to read as well. The deluxe version we drove had full fabric seats, a three-spoke steering wheel with a soft-touch plastic rim, a two-tone dashboard and very good fit and finish. But what surprised us, is just how much space there is. The front McPherson struts and the semi-trailing arm rear suspension does a good job. The Nano's small wheelbase does affect the ride quality, but it's feel progressive, and no sharp jolts are transmitted into the cabin.
The engine is another surprise. It's adequately quiet with very little vibrations entering the cabin. And it goes! The 624cc all-aluminum parallel-twin petrol engine makes 35PS of power at 5250rpm and a max torque of 48Nm between 2500 to 4000rpm. Weighing just 600kg unladen makes a big difference to the performance of the car.
The prices of the three trim levels of the Tata Nano launched today are:
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The Nano will get to 60 kmph is a respectable 9.8 seconds, and at 105 kmph the limiter will cut in. The slick-shifting four-speed manual gearbox does its bit to keep the engine hard at work.
The 180 mm drums front and rear are adequate on the face of it and except for the basic version, the other two gets boosters as well. The Nano feels a little unsettled under hard braking, but that's about the only obvious negative point of the car.
So, is the Nano worth the money? This is a proper, genuine car in every sense of the word. Plus fuel consumption is claimed to be 23.5 kmpl while emissions are very low at under 110gm/km. This is the most impressive car to sport the ‘T’ on its nose. It makes perfect sense for anybody, irrespective of social strata, looking for a cheap city runabout.
What Tata Motors have achieved is truly extraordinary - the impossible as the world put it - and is something every Indian can be rightfully proud of.
The booking amount of the three trim levels will be the same across the country as follows:
For a more detailed driving impression of the Nano, log onto Overdrive
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