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God ofsmallthingsTatas little Nano put to the big test
Words Sirish ChandranPhotographyGaurav S Thombre, Martin Alva
Awinner. Plain, simple
and without any beat-
ing around the bush
thats the Nano or
you. A sure-shot winner. A car -
a proper car at that - which will
transorm the countrys auto-
motive landscape orever; uel
the car-buying dreams, desires
and aspirations o a billion peo-
ple. We have driven the car and
I cant get over the act that, my
god, Tata Motors has really doneit! This is no joke, no embarrass-
ment o a car. This is an against-
all-odds story; the story o what
the world said was impossible,
what our own count rymen (and
women!) trie d thei r damnde st
to scuttle and o a motivated
and talented bunch o engineers
proving everybody wrong. And it
started with Ratan Tata watch-
ing your average Indian amily -
ather, mother, two kids - rid
through the rain.
Thus began the genesis
the one-lakh-rupee car, Ind
Peoples Car, the car dogged
more controversy and on wh
more has been written than
in the history o the automob
A car that evolv ed rom b
no-rills transportation into
astonishingly normal car. I k
stressing on this because, le
be honest, what do you getone lakh rupees these days
good motorcycle costs a la
An autoric kshaw costs alm
two lakh rupees. And Ind
cheapest car which is as no-r
as you can get, costs over
lakh rupees. I expected a che
compromised, utilitarian o
wheeler. W hat I drov e was a
that I will, eyes closed, reco
mend to anybody.
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STYLINGIt all starts with the way the Nano
looks because (and these are Tata
Motors own words) there can be
no better USP than love at rst
sight. Over the past year Ive seen
countless Nanos being tested all
over Pune but the novelty value
has yet to ade. So when ten
Nanos bumbled on to the test
track at Tata Motors Pimpri ac-
tory, all in light and bright shades,
seasoned, hardened journalists
let out whoops o joy. Its a happy
ace. You might have issues with
it (Singur, environment, conges-
tion - take your pick) but just like
a happy meal puts the glint back
into a childs eye, so I guarantee
when you rst see a Nano on the
road you will smile. It melts your
heart. Its like the brat with the
mischievous glint in her eye; you
know you should slap her into
shape but all you can do is hug
her harder. You will want to give
the Nano a big bear hug rst thing
in the morning.
Justin Novak when he was
with IDe A (now at Triton design
along with most o the crew
that worked on Tatas projects)
penned what will go down as a
design classic. Like all cars born
o unctionality and shallow wal-
lets, the Nano is inherently right.
It has a simplicity to the design in
which lies its ultimate appeal. No
matter what your nancial ability
you will love it. This w ill become
the ultimate classless vehicle;
something that will appeal to
rich, middle class and poor olk
alike - and which could spawn a
whole rang e o cool mug s, toy s,
T-shirts and more stu.
For a cheap car there are very
many hints at sportiness nota-
bly in the side air-intake (like
Porsche and Ferrari), fared wheel
arches, rear roo spoiler and cen-
tral exhaust. The sharp crease on
the nose (cant call it the bonnet
because theres no engine under-
neath) and vertical tail lamps link
back to the rest o Tata Motors
amily. All Tata cars are also
amed or their interior space and
to achieve that the Nano is tall and
upright though those proportions
are well masked by the drooping
roo, egg-shaped silhouette, or-
ward visual bias and the wheels at
the extremities. Next to no over-
hangs gives it a robust stance and
prevents the Nano rom looking
like a toy car on toy wheels (and
giving rise to questions on saety
and stability). O course hav-
ing the engine at the rear means
theres practically nothing at the
nose allowing the driver and
windshield to be pushed r ight up
ront creating a perect mono vol-
ume shape.
INTERIORSThis will really shock you the
space inside is huge! The Nano
measures 3.1 metres in length, is
1.6 metres wide and 1.65 metres
tall. The wheelbase is 2230mm
and track widths are 1325mm at
the ront and 1315mm at the rear.
Tata claims the Nano is eight per
cent smaller than the smallest car
in India (Maruti 800 obviously)
but within these constraints
There are three variants o
the Nano standard, CX and LX
the main dierences being the
trim levels. The standard is bog
standard rexine seats, no air-con
and no rills. Our test car, the LX,
gets air-conditioning, power ront
windows (rear remai ns wind-
down), central locking, ront and
rear og lamps, ull abric seats
and rexine/abric door inserts.
But theres no let hand side wing
mirror which I missed through-
out the drive. The air-con uses a
60cc compressor which delivers
enough cooling power to keep
the voluminous interiors cool,
though you might nd it strug-
gling a bit in mid-aternoon drives
on the highway where the engine
is being worked hard.
As with all Tata cars you walk
in and out o the car; engineers
had to ensure Ratan Tata didnt
crouch or scrabble in. Ingress-
egress is easier than even in the
Indica and with the high-set seats
the H-point is naturally higher
and that means you can spend
long hours in the back and not su-
er aches and pains. The seat back
angle is well thought out and head
room is generous, way better than
an A-Star and almost Santro-like.
In act passengers will love the
rear seats, at the ront leg room is
compromised by the wheel wells
intruding into the passenger
compartment.
Every inch o space is optimised
and so the seats are mounted on a
rail running horizontally which
eliminates the need or a seat
rame and enables passengers to
tuck their eet under the seat. The
rod also serves as a side impact
beam reducing intrusion into the
cabin - a novel and cost eective
solution.
On the LX the rear parcel tray
is bolted to the seat back and the
whole set-up tumble s to liber-
ate 80 litres o boot space - good
enough only or two or a maxi-
mum o three shopping bags. The
engine is beneath this and it is
worth remember ing that it can
get a bit hot and best not to leave
any ice-cream. With the seats
olded storage volume rises to 500
litres. The engine is accessed ater
tumbling the rear seats because
the rear hatch doesnt open, the
battery is under the drivers seat
and the spare wheel is in the nose
along with the uel ller cap.
Anot her surp risi ng aspe ct
is quality o the
interiors which
are unexpectedly
good. Having
only a ew mod-
ules means there
arent many
panel gap issues
to deal with but
on this ront it
actually eels bet-
ter put together than the In
Vista. T he plastics are cheap
crucially not nasty while the t
tone grey on the dash and the
our o the seat abrics make
cabin look and eel light and a
In such a small car the centr
mounted speedo actually bre
the monotony o the design
obviously this also means
dash can be used in let and ri
hand markets. Giving the spe
company is a digital uel gau
odometer and a bunch o warn
lights, one o which is a cute l
yellow outline o the Na no w
a spanner running across it;
cutest warning lamp in the wo
The central console is fanked
scooped-out dash which can h
odds and ends and everything
rounded edges to make it sae
a crash. There is no glove box
there are two cup holders
small map pockets in the door
The doors are ultra light (
o course eel fimsy) and h
an integrated armrest, door
and coin hol
The three-sp
steering wh
is unique to
Nano (sta
ard versi
get a two-sp
whee l) and
trimmed in
touch plastics
I GuaRaNTEEwhEN YOu fIRSTSEE a NaNO ON ThEROad YOu wILLSmILE. IT mELTSYOuR hEaRT
theyve managed to liberate 21
per cent more interior volume and
astonishingly or such a small car,
our adults can t in comortably.
It is so spacious inside that Martin
(a giant at over six eet tall) could
sit behind me. And I (not exactly
a dwar at 5 10) was sitting as I
always do; very comortably. The
seats themselves are designed to
be comortable without eating too
much into interior space and both
the ront seats slide and recline
allowing very tall drivers to t
in behind the wheel. The driving
position is comortable and well
thought out, ergonomically eve-
rything is where it would be in a
car and visibility is o course very
good with only the centre stack
hump obstructing the let hand
view slightly.
Fairly simple das wit central speedo anked scooped side sections. Air-con on deluxe versi
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SafETYA key actor o t he Nano, and a
key criticism, has been saety
and Tata engineers are keen to
stress than she meets all current
regulatory requirements in India
including ull rontal crash, head
impact on steering wheel, body
block impact on steering and seat
belt anchorage strength. There
are crumple zones in the ront,
waist reinorce ment in the doors
(which doubles up as the support
or the door rame) and the Nano
has also been subjected to roo
crush tests.
The base is a unique hybrid
monocoque
construction
in which two
cross members
are welded into
the monocoque
and this robust
understructure
takes most o
the road loads. It
allows the super
structure to use
thinner sheet
metal and thus be
lighter. A side benet is that this
also lowers the centre o grav-
ity and aids stability. Being rear-
engined, the Nano doesnt need a
central transmission tunnel but it
is there to add rigidity while also
allowing or the brake, uel and
air-con lines to pass through. The
roo is ribbed to increase strength
and xed rear glass and hatch also
adds rigidity to the structure.
Scalability is a key actor in
the Nanos construction and Tata
claims it can be easily upgraded
to meet orthcoming rontal
oset and side impact crash
requirements in India. Theres
also the Nano
Europa that will
be sold in India
next year and is
being developed
with the aim o
achieving a min-
imum three stars
in EuroNCAP
crash tests.
ENGINE &TRaNSmISSIONThe engine is a
brand new development - a 624cc
all-aluminium parallel twin pet-
rol engine that makes 35PS o
power at 5250rpm and max
torque o 48Nm between 2500
and 4000rpm. It has all-square
cylinder dimensions o 73.5mm,
runs a 9.7:1 compression ratio
and there are two valves per cyl-
inder actuated by a single cam-
shat. A special low-cost ECU
developed by Bosch handles uel
injection duties and the engine
meets BS III emission norms
while tuning is underway to meet
BS IV norms (equivalent to Euro
III). The engine is unique in that
it uses a single balancer shat to
cut vibrations, the rst time such
a set-up has been used in a pas-
senger car.
On the move, NVH levels are
never bothersome and very little
engine vibrations enter the cabin.
The exhaust note is unique - like
an autorickshaw at idle (only qui-
eter) and then taking on a pleas-
ing phut-phut when revved hard.
Its a unique sound which, rest
assured, you will be hearing a
lot o. That said I wonder how
it would sound with a ew holes
drilled in the exhaust!
The engine is limited to
5600rpm but it revs so well that
invariably I kept hitting the rev
limiter in rst and second gear.
And third and ourth , come to
think o it. The crucial aspect is
that power doesnt tail o ater
peak in the torque curve is hit
and the engine revs cleanly and
strongly till its redline.
The gearbox too is a pleasant
surprise, the our-speed cable-
actuated manual box being sur-
prisingly ree o vibrations. It is
short in throw, precise and its
slick action makes easy work o
keeping the engine on the boil.
Overall its much nicer to use that
the gearbox on the Indica! The
transversely mounted gearbox
can handle up to 50Nm o torque,
has synchromesh on all our gears
and is mated to a single dry plate
clutch. A CVT transmission, mod-
eled along the lines o a scooter
CVT (low cost and no steel belts)
is also in the pipeline and might
be ready by the year end.
The engine has 10,000km
dRIfTING aNaNO mIGhT bEThE SILLIEST ThINGIN ThE wORLdbuT IT ShOwShOw NEuTRaL,baLaNcEd aNdpREdIcTabLE ShE IS
Tree-spoke steering weedeluxe versions, standard gets a two-sp
Wind-down windows at te rear. Notice te batteryunder te ront seat and te orizontal seat-mounting rod
Single wiper saves costs and tewaser nozzle is fxed to te wiper blade
Roo spoiler on deluxeversions adds even more sportiness
Fuel fller in te nose, te cap on te rigt,as is te spare tyre wic is te narrower ront
Side vents cool teengine, and look cool!
Twin-cylinder enginemounted under rear oor
Vertail lamps a
visual link too te Tata ra
Cute little rubber matsare on te options list
Digital uel gauge andcute little engine warning ligt105kmp and tats it!
Narrower MRFtyres at te rontTis is pure simple power-oversteer, assisted o course by
some loose gravel. Its a ridiculous test but yes, you can drit a Nano!
Cup olders and power window on deluxe ver
Rear seats ip dowrelease 500 litres o storage sp
Centrally mouexaust looks
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service intervals, like any nor-
mal passenger car engine, and
the warranty is 18 months or
24,000km whichever is earlier.
Tata Motors is so condent that
the car doesnt need any mainte-
nance that it has deliberately made
it dicult to get to the engine so
that the cover is not opened and
closed regularly (or improperly)
which can lead to noise and heat
entering the cabin. Ease o serv-
iceability is ensured by a blink
code (the engine warning light
blinks the ault code number)
and can be used to diagnose
aults in remote areas where a
Nano dealer is not available. Also
average uel consumption and
average vehicle speed or the last
ve drive cycles are stored and it
is claimed that all the sensors are
robust enough or very rough use.
Theres also a limp-home mode.
The engine is mounted on a sub-
rame that allows quick and easy
assembly o the engine, trans-
mission, exhaust, cooling sys-
tem and suspension on to it and
then to the body. The corollary
is also true - six bolts need to be
undone to slide the subrame out
rom under the body to work on
the engine.
pERfORmaNcEBest not to expect much rom
35PS, but to its advantage the
Nano only weighs 600kg and that
gives it a respectable power-to-
weight rat io. Initial acceleration
is sprightly, it gets going rather
smartly and 60kmph comes in
a respectable 9.8 seconds. This
makes her great un to drive in
the city and worked hard she can
keep pace with ast moving city
trac. However as speeds rise
the engine has to work harder
and to hit 100kmph she needs
almost a kilometre and 35.1 sec-
onds. Theres no tacho but when
you hit top spe ed (105kmph) the
limiter cuts in and the engine
check lamp and temperature
gauge start to blink.
Compared to the Maruti 800
the acceleration is not that ar o,
100kmph is just three seconds
slower. But importantly the 800
can do well over 140kmph and
that makes it ar more suited to
the highway. Peaking at 105kmph
makes it unsuited to any highway
work and in strong side winds the
Nano is all over the place.
Torque is not a strong point
o the engine and in ourth gear
when aced with an i ncline the
car loses steam and requires
downshiting to keep going. Also
because its so light, every extra
passenger, every extra shopping
bag has an adverse impact on
perormance. In act i you want
the astest Nano, youd be well
advised to stick with the standard
version that is 60kg lighte r and is
noticeably quicker in initial accel-
eration; a Nano Super Light i you
wish! This is probably the car
tested (with a eather-light driver)
or their claimed 0-60kmph time
o just eight seconds.
Emission are claimed to be 12
per cent lower than any motorbike
in the country and CO2 emissions
are less than 110g/km. Fuel e-
ciency is also a strong point with
a claimed and ARAI certied uel
consumption o 23.6kmpl. We
couldnt veriy these gures but
ater a whole days driving and
perormance testing, the 15-litre
uel tank had just slipped into
reserve. Back o the envelope cal-
culations put our uel consump-
tion at around 17kmpl which is
damn good or all the sustained
ull-throttle driving we put the
Nano to.
What could be a bit o a bother
is braking; 180mm drums are
used ront and rear and the deluxe
versions get a vacuum booster.
Surprisingly the brakes were more
Egg-saped sillouette is peraps te Nanosbest angle. Note roo spoiler but no let wing mirror
NANO EUROPAThIS cool looking Nano is te Europa, and it is coming to India! Okay, not justyet, but Ratan Tata promised OVERDRIVE tat all te goodies tat go on teEuropa will come to India.
Goodies? Te Nano cannot be sold in Europe unless it meets teirbasic saety norms and anti-lock brakes, electronic stability program andyes, airbags will ave to be engineered. But you can orget te $10 airbagnon-sense; Tata as clarifed it will be ceap, but not so ceap. Otercanges include muscular bumpers to improve cras protection, larger13-inc weels and a wider track to bolster andling. Te aim is to score aminimum o tree stars in EuroNCAP cras tests wit our stars being ideal.
A tree-cylinder petrol engine is being developed or teEuropa and tere migt even be a diesel engine. A CVTtransmission is certain. Tata opes to ave te Europa ready by 2010-2011.
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progressive on the standard ver-
sion, on the other cars it was very
dicult to brake smoothly and
progressively - most o the time it
was either ull braking or no brak-
ing. And on our
brake tests, rom
100kmph, the car
showed an alarm-
ing tendency
to wag her tail
(maybe due to the
42:58 ront-rear
weight distr ibu-
tion) and would
come to a stop
slightly crossed
up. Its the only black mark on the
car, as ar as we could nd.
RIdE & haNdLINGWhether by design or accident,
the Nano is
extremely good
un to drive and
it is rear-wheel
drive, what all
enthusiasts swear
by. I even man-
aged to get her to
powerslide on a
bit o gravel and i
a urther 500rpm
and a ew more
IT IS SO SmaLLThaT IT wILL fITINTO ImpOSSIbLYSIzEd GapS INTRaffIc aNd INThE cITY NO caRcaN kEEp up
One-piece seat backs. holesead rest make it look like a rall
Generous rear knee and ead room, andtats wit a tall driver sitting comortably
Driving position is comortable,ergonomic and visibility is great all around
horses could be extracted rom
the engine, it could develop into a
potent drit tool. Driting a Nano
might be the silliest thing in the
world to do but it showcases how
neutral, balanced, predictable
and orgiving she is. The car does
look disproportionately tall but
hard as we tried there is no dan-
ger o toppling over.
To large part it is down to di-
erential tyre sizes; the ronts are
135-section 12-inchers, while the
rears are 155-section (and lower
prole, 65 compared to 70) 12-
inchers. The tyre slip points are
calibrated so that t he ront tyres
slip beore the rears and so at
the limit it will understeer pre-
dictably and will only oversteer
i deliberately provoked into it.
The spare is a 135/70 and
tyres are tubeless MRFs bo
by just three studs to save
(and allow quick pit stops
The rack and pinion ste
non-collapsible and non-
but with little to no we
ront you never eel the n
power steering except a
ing speeds. Steering is di
quick in responses, almo
go-kart and that makes it
un to drive in the city. Th
dimensions are so smal
will t into impossi bly siz
in trac and in the cit y no
keep up with the Nano -
they tried Tatas enginee
Indica couldnt keep up
Punes chaotic trac. It
inely good laugh-out-lo
Grip is decent allowing it to baround wit surprising verve. Bo
pronounced but it never eels like itll land on
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to drive and the turning circle
at just eight metres allows it to
pull U-turns in impossibly tight
gaps. It also takes some learning
especially since theres nothing
in ront and you invariably stop a
good couple o eet behind trac
- i youve driven a Maruti Omni
you will know what I mean.
The Nano rides on conven-
tional MacPherson struts up ront
while a semi-tr ailing arm is us ed
at the rear. It o course has a very
short wheelbase and that has its
own limitations on ride. On the
road it tends to bounce around a
bit, like it is over-sprung, but the
crucial thing is that everything is
progressive. There are no sharp
spine jangling jolts transmit-
ted to the cabin and the robust
underpinnings and 180mm o
ground clearance means rough
roads can be tackled with ease.
Over roads that will have an 800
running on its bump stops and
murdering passengers backs,
the Nano will be able to motor
through at decent speeds and
that will be a crucial actor work-
ing to its advantage in rural and
semi-urban India.
OVERaLLThere are hundreds o ques-
tions everybody will ask o the
Nano, most o which weve tried
to answer. The only one let is
will it be reliable enough? Tata
Motors is condent that it has
cracked this too - three million
kilometres have been clocked
in prototypes all over the coun-
try and as ar as Australia, New
Zealand and Germany to get it
right. And it doesnt look like
there will be any obvious prob-
lems - everything eels right and
well put together. In act the only
time we noticed anything nastily
cheap was while trying to get the
og lamps to switch on (a ddly
knob on the light stalk). And on
our last lap o the Tata Motors
test track, the ront seat worked
itsel loose, holding us back rom
giving it a glowing assessment. I
guess all the pressure and harsh
(and unwarranted) criticisms
have made Tatas engineers put
in that extra eort to get eve-
rything right on the Nano and
it shows.
It shows in the act that this is
no cut-price embarrassment o a
car, this is a car as we know it but
at a price we never thought pos-
sible. It looks lovable, it is huge
un to drive and can seat our
in comort. Crucially there are
no external signs o cost-cutting
(save or the omission o a let
hand side wing mirror, cheap
rubbers and average paint qual-
ity) and thats something that will
make the Nano appeal to every-
body rich or poor, city slicker or
rural armer.
As o going to pres s inal
prices were yet to be announced
(though as you read this reams
o newsprint will have been
devoted to it) but we expect the
standard version to still have a
dealer price (excluding taxes) o
one lakh rupees (steel prices have
crashed). The deluxe version we
tested will top o at Rs 1.5-1.6
lakh and that is still mind-bog-
glingly good value-or-money.
Our recommendation? Jump
on the line and book one today
- the wait or the Nano has been
well worth it.
SpecifcationType 624cc, 2-cylinder
inline, SOhC,
4-valve, petrol
Max power 35PS@5250rpm
Max torque 48Nm@
2500-4000rpmInstallation Rear, RWD
Transmission4-speed manual
Brakes 180mm drums
Tyres(F/R) 135/70R12
155/65R12
MRF tubeless
Suspension (F) Independent
MacPerson strut
wit gas carged
dampers
Suspension (R) Independent
wit semi trailing
arm wit gas
carged dampers
LxWxH (mm) 3099x1620x1652
Wheelbase 2230mm
Kerb weight 600kg
Fuel tank 15 litres
0-60kmph 9.8sec
0-100kmph 34.8sec
0-400m 23.7sec/91.5kmp
Top speed 105.58kmp
100-0kmph 60.17m/4.29s
Fuel e 23.6kmpl
(ARAI fgure)
Price Rs 1.5 lak
(estimated)
+Te ceapest car in te wordl!-Waiting lists will be never end
Tis is te basic one-lak-rupee Nano wit black bumpers, rexineseats, no air-con and because it is ligter it is actually noticeably quicker!
ThIS IS
NO cuT-pRIcEEmbaRRaSSmENTOf a caR, ThISIS a caR aS wEkNOw IT buT aTa pRIcE wE NEVERThOuGhT pOSSIbLE
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Were not trying to be unny ere - armersdont pay tax and will easily be able to aord te Nano
Te solution to parking problems?
Te solution to all our parking problems - two cars inspace o one. Now youll need to learn to drive like Jackie C
hey diddle diddle, te cat and te fddle, tecow jumped over te Nano, te little dog lauged
to see suc un and te dis ran away wit te spoon
Anoter prospective Nanocustomer. And no, were still not being unny.
Small car sould mean al teTrafc ligt grands prix. Not te Nanos strongest suit
Okay, maybe nowanimal ting is getting out o
And tis picture will soon crop upon orums across te worldwide web
Yes, te engine is at te back!
Aree waa,isme AC bi e!Good tings come in small packages
Does lane discipline apply to te Na
Nano takes to PuneAnd stirs up a storm! Everywhere we went the car wasmobbed, a million questions were fred at us and were thisour car we could have sold it at ten times the cost!
Time or an upgrade?
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