Tata Nano AMT Long Term Report : February 2016

I’m out on the open road and the Nano’s speedometer needle is hovering around the 100km/h mark. The needle then reached 110km/h and stayed there – then, all of a sudden, and rather violently, the limiter kicked in, cut the throttle, and brought the needle back to 100km/h!

That was a rather strange experience indeed, as my first reaction was that something had gone wrong. It’s fine to limit the speed of a car of this nature, but a more gradual limiter would really be appreciated.

Nevertheless, the good part is that the Nano doesn’t feel out of place on the highways as it handles decently at high speeds and its easy-to-drive nature makes the journey quite relaxed. We still feel that the brakes need to be more effective and the pedal needs to have a more linear travel and provide a better feel.

Other than this, it’s been pretty much smooth sailing with the Nano in the month gone by. Apart from the USB port for the stereo, which has nearly stopped working, everything else is in good shape. So, while I really miss playing my own music on the go, at least the radio still works. I’ve also found a clever way of placing my smartphone in the glove box ahead of the steering wheel. This gives me a clear view of the phone when I’m using navigation while driving.

This is our final long-term report for the Nano AMT, and while it may have its shortcomings, you simply can’t ignore the value proposition of India’s most affordable automatic car – and one that’s reasonably well equipped for its segment. If only its real-world fuel efficiency were better…

The other day, I went to a friend’s place and there was no parking available, except for a somewhat narrow gap between two cars. Of course, with the Nano’s petite proportions, it was no problem at all to squeeze into the tightest parking spots. Now where am I going to park once the Nano’s gone?