I really liked that they offered all the safety features even on the lowest Turbo variant. Within my budget, I could easily get the XV model and with a slight bit of stretch, could go the for XV Premium as well.
BHPian kolrahul recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Hello Friends… this is my first post in Team-BHP and I could not think of a better occasion than sharing my buying & initial ownership experience of a brand new Nissan Magnite Turbo CVT.
I have owned the car for 2.5 months now and, before going into the details, here is a quick list of my likes and dislikes about the car:
Likes
- Good Turbo engine and smooth CVT gearbox with no noticeable lag
- High ground clearance
- Excellent safety features (Brake Assist, TCS, ESP, Hill Start Assist) even for lower (Turbo) variants
- Good range of features, considering the price range
- Great legroom and decent-sized cabin
- Good looks & great on-road presence
- Fantastic price range
Dislikes
- No auto-unlock system for the doors; old manual pull-up locking pins
- Rear seat can be cramped with 3 well-built adults
- Driver armrest is too short, to the point of being useless
- Only 2 airbags
- Rear antenna height non-adjustable
Buying Decision
We are a family of 4 and owned a 2012 Honda Brio (SMT model), which had mostly been used for city travel with the very occasional highway trip and had served its purpose perfectly.
In December 2021, the Brio was still going good (~ 65000 Km), but as the 10-year anniversary was coming near, I was looking for a new car (Petrol) to replace/upgrade and I fixed a budget of approx. 10 Lakh on-road.
My main requirements were:
- Automatic Transmission (I have recently had pains in my left leg when operating the clutch in office-time traffic)
- Good for both city and highway travel (I intend to use it for longer trips this time)
- Safety
- Decent mileage
- Spacious and efficient
- Good on-road presence
I was not keen on a hatchback (personal preference) and my first thought was to go for a Compact Sedan. But going through different forums and reviews I saw that there was nothing new in this segment – all the manufacturers were focusing on CSUVs (based on current popular trends I guess). So I started looking at Compact/Mini SUVs as well.
Based on initial research, I made the below shortlist:
1. Honda Amaze VX CVT
2. MS Vitara Brezza VXi AT
3. Tata Punch Creative AMT
4. Tata Nexon XMA (S)
5. Hyundai Venue SX 1.0 Turbo iMT
Honda Amaze VX CVT
I test drove the Amaze first, considering that Compact Sedans were my first choice and out of some degree of loyalty to Honda. This ticked several boxes – the most budget-friendly of the lot, a decent smooth CVT (with some lag, as can be expected), decent safety features and decent mileage.
What went against it was the lack of a Turbo engine and Honda being no longer what it used to be back in 2012 (when I had bought the Brio). Plus, the Amaze has been around for like, forever…
MS Vitara Brezza VXi AT
Despite the fantastic chain of dealership and servicing options and a (surprisingly) good safety rating, I decided against the Brezza.
Reasons : Lack of Turbo engine and antiquated 4-speed AT gearbox. Also, no Brake Assist or ESP (though these are admittedly rare in cars of a 10Lakh budget in our country).
Tata Punch Creative
The newest car on the block and it did pack a “punch”. 5-star safety rating, good looks and good mileage. In my budget, I could go for the top variant, which meant I would be getting all the available features.
Cons: 3 cylinder non-Turbo engine, possibly jerky AMT gearbox, especially considering regular city travel, less rear-seat space. And once again, missing out on BA/ESP and even the Hill Start Assist.
Tata Nexon XMA(S)
A fantastic car. It had almost everything I wanted, including the advanced safety features.
The major cons I could find were the doubtful performance of AMT gearbox and lack of rear wiper/defogger/fog lights. Also being a low-end variant due to budget limitations, some other nice-to-have features were missing, for example, no LED headlamps, no parking assist, no 1-touch driver window (even my Brio has that one)
Seriously, I don’t know why the Sunroof is provided, but no rear wiper/defogger. I was expecting this from MS/Hyundai, but not from Tata. Our manufacturers and customers both really need to re-assess their priorities
Hyundai Venue SX 1.0 Turbo iMT
I was really interested about the new iMT gearbox. Went through all the reviews in Team-BHP forums and then went to the nearest dealership for a test drive. And I quite liked it. It gave me my comfort of manual gearbox, but without the clutch – so my left leg could rest easy. I liked the car as well – good looks, good Turbo engine, nice interior space and packed with lot of features.
Cons : The safety aspect was seriously lacking. It did not have a crash rating and also, all the safety features (Rear wipers, Hill Start Assist, Electronic Stability, Traction Control) were present only on the top variant (which was way beyond my budget).
Once again, comfort features are prioritized over safety
Additionally, the dealership experience was not that good. They kept pushing the i20 N-Line, even when I told them I was not looking for hatchbacks.
Nissan Magnite
While I was analyzing / test-driving the above cars, a friend suggested the Nissan Magnite. I had not considered this earlier mainly due to the lack of dealerships / service centers. At my friend’s suggestion, I looked at the Magnite in more detail and what I saw, really surprised me in a good way… Excellent looks, good Turbo engine and CVT gearbox, all the safety features as well as convenience features, decent interior space and right within my budget – on paper, it looked too good to be true.
I went through the detailed review on Team-BHP (excellent as always) and also the videos available on YouTube and decided it really was worth a test-drive.
Luckily, there is a Nissan dealership nearby in my city. I visited the dealership and the salesperson was polite and courteous. He explained the features available in the different variants and arranged for the test drive. As I drove around in the Turbo CVT car, I really loved it. The Turbo engine was good with excellent power, CVT was butter-smooth with no noticeable lag, the suspension was pretty good and the creep function would be a boon in office-time traffic. The salesperson was fine with me driving around the city as per my route choice for nearly 10 Km (compared to Hyundai & Honda, where they pretty much dictated the route – not more than 1/2 Km at most). I later took a second test drive on the Magnite a couple of days later (this time with my family) on a different route, again ~10Km – once again, not even a frown from the salesperson.
Final Decision
By this time, I had pretty much decided to go for the Magnite. I really liked that they offered all the safety features even on the lowest Turbo variant. Within my budget I could easily take the XV model and with a slight bit of stretch, could go the for XV Premium as well (added features of LED headlamps, TPMS, 360 degree camera, Rear AC vents and Cruise Control).
What remained to be checked was service experience and the wait-times.
Going through Team-BHP forums once again, I found BHPian swiftvxi06’s post (Story of White Beauty | My Nissan Magnite Turbo XL | Ownership Review). It’s a fantastic detailed review and learning about his positive experience with Nissan’s service center filled me with confidence (all the more since he is from the same city). Another relative who currently owns a Nissan Terrano also told me about his decent experience with Nissan’s service – so I was all set on this front.
Regarding the wait-times, the salesperson told me it would take at least 2-3 months. However, he did have a topmost variant car (XV Premium (O) – with added Telematics) readily available.
I was a bit apprehensive about this obvious push-sales technique but it did have some benefits – the car was in my preferred colour (Sandstone Brown), it costs only ~10K extra beyond my original choice of the XV Premium variant and I would (hopefully) get it before the new year.
I went ahead and booked the car. The salesperson readily shared the VIN number. With help from the Team-BHP article, I verified that the car was manufactured in November 2021. I asked for a stockyard PDI and went there the next day – the car looked good (if a little dirty) with very few Km on the odometer.
I confirmed my purchase with the dealer after a bit of haggling on the insurance (they did not fully match the Policy Bazaar price, but did reduce the price to a near figure) and went through all the documentation. Registration and some other processes took another 2/3 days and I finally took delivery of the car on Wednesday 29th December.
Ownership Experience
I am currently working from home and as such, have not been able to drive much in the city in full traffic conditions. The car mostly stays in the garage on the weekdays, with only trips to friends/relatives on the weekends. However, we did do a couple of long drives (both around 500km round trip) and got a feel of highway travel in the Magnite. In all, we have clocked a total of 1300+ Km on the car in these 2.5 months.
The overall driving experience so far has been, in a word, fantastic ! The car has totally lived up to my expectations.
The driving position in the Magnite (with seat height adjustment) allows a commanding view of the road. Upgrading from my Brio, it is a considerable difference.
Ergonomics is good – all the necessary controls are on the steering or easily reachable from the driver’s seat.
Lack of auto-unlock is a pain though – the doors are not unlocked even when the car is set to Parking gear or even the engine turned off. You need to manually unlock, either from the central panel, or the old-age door pins.
The HRA0 1.0 Turbo petrol engine gives great performance with a nice pull and good strong power surge, especially on open road.
The CVT gearbox is butter-smooth and I never noticed any lag in the low/mid range, unless suddenly trying to accelerate to pass another vehicle.
Hill Start Assist is a boon as there are a couple of flyovers near my home where I sometimes get stuck on the incline due to traffic signals. The car has good stability at high speeds and never felt wobbly on the highway.
Regarding build quality, the Magnite feels solid. I had some apprehensions that the lower price may have resulted in a weaker build quality, but really no such worry here. The recently released 4-star GNCAP ratings seems well-earned.
The ground clearance is awesome and the car absorbs potholes and small bumpers easily.
Interior space in the car is awesome with excellent leg room and adequate thigh support in both front and back seats. The rear seat though is best suited for 2 adults and a child or 3 adults on the slimmer side. It will feel cramped with 3 well-built adults.
Internal storage space is good and boot space is quite adequate (although less on paper than its competitors).
Two pain areas – the driver armrest (only available in the XV Premium and XV Premium (O) variants) is short to the point of being useless for me (I am 5’4” in height).
And I have found that I am unable to reach the Fuel tank open level from driver’s seat without opening the door. Not sure if any other Magnite drivers have faced that problem, but I feel it could have been designed better.
In February, I also had my first experience with the Nissan Service Center as the car had its first inspection at 2 months. Their service representative who handled the inspection was extremely courteous and explained all the details of what they would/would not do. He did try to sell me an anti-rust coating though, which I refused (I guess that’s just their standard operating procedure). In all, a decent experience.
To summarize, the Magnite is a genuine “Value for Money”. Considering that it undercuts most of its competitors from the price point, you can get all the necessary safety features and commonly used comfort features, with added good looks, good space and a smooth driving experience. Nissan has done a good job with this car.
I would highly recommend the Magnite to anyone looking for a Compact SUV.
Keyword: Nissan Magnite Turbo CVT: Delivery & initial ownership experience