Driving a Nexon petrol AT for the very 1st time: 11 observations

The other SUVs which I sat for a good amount of duration are the XUV700, XUV500 and Jeep Compass and didn’t like the wobbling in those cars.

BHPian amit1agrawal recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I drove my friend’s Nexon Petrol Automatic from Bangalore to Udupi & back last weekend. I have never driven Nexon before. My observations:

1. I was pleasantly surprised by the ride & handling and high-speed stability of the car. The car had the manner of a European car rather than the Koreans/Japanese.
2. I sat on both the front seat & rear seats. I usually hate the wobbling effect of SUVs. In Nexon, the wobbling was in control, the seats were quite comfortable. It was like a tall sedan. I didn’t feel fatigued even after driving for 9 hours. The other SUVs which I sat for a good amount of duration are the XUV700, XUV500 and Jeep Compass and didn’t like the wobbling in those cars.
3. The AC is a chiller. On a hot Udupi afternoon, the AC was set to 25 degrees but still, we felt cold. I actually think a less powerful AC will also do.
4. The touch points like buttons, AC know, windows up/down button, modes control, etc all are of top-notch quality. Windows up/down motor was nearly silent. These are better than the next segment cars Harrier & Safari from Tata.
5. All-around visibility is good & there are hardly any blind spots. Driving on single-lane roads on ghats, I was always aware of the dimensions of the car (was driving for the first time) and never came too close/too away from the vehicle passing by.
6. The high-speed stability is very good. The car masks the speed very well and I was doing unmentionable speeds without realizing it only to slow down after seeing the speed. Crossed those surprise array of small speed breakers (whatever it’s called) at high speed without the car losing its line.
7. I liked the suspension setup. It’s neither too hard to cause discomfort nor too soft to become bouncy at high speed. Bad patches were crossed without causing discomfort to the passengers. The car stayed in the line when cornering at a fairly high speed.
8. Coming to negatives: Tata should have launched this car with a more competent TC gearbox. AMT sucks in City mode didn’t bother trying Eco mode. In City mode, the gearbox upshifts sooner than it should leave the rpm below ~2k thus there is a temporary loss of power and when the power comes back it gives a slight jerk (more noticeable in 1-4th gears). I never could ‘adjust’ to this behaviour of the car. The Sports mode is better but I found it was holding on to 3-4-5 gears when an upshift would do just fine. I switched to manual & drove in it most of the time.
9. The headlights need an upgrade. Tata should fix this ASAP. Till then, this is the first upgrade that you should plan straight out of the showroom. The Low beam is very dull & I couldn’t drive it even within city roads. The High beam is just about adequate. On properly marked highways with reflectors, it was fine but on single-lane highways, it’s difficult to spot the movement of far objects.
10. Uneven fitment of the rear bumper. The alignment of the rear bumper with the fender was off. At first, I thought some vehicle had hit from the rear but the friend confirmed it was like that from day 1 and other Nexon owners also had the same issue.
11. The fuel efficiency figures are not very exciting. The Bangalore-Udupi trip was 12 km/l & return trip was 14 km/l. Surprising given that we were going down the ghat on the onward trip & climbing the ghat on the return trip. It’s a new vehicle so maybe the fuel efficiency figures will improve. To be fair, I am not a sedate driver nor do I race on highways.

I am averse to SUVs but If my budget was strictly limited to 15L on road & I wanted an SUV, I would have brought Nexon Petrol Manual (whatever the best variant) with my eyes closed.

Hope this helps.

Keyword: Driving a Nexon petrol AT for the very 1st time: 11 observations