Report 1

I know what you are thinking: I must be stoned or wrongly wired to have a Tata Nano as my long termer. I am a motoring journalist, after all, and that means I have access to any car I choose to hang with for as long as I like!

Now, as much as I would love to believe the ‘access-to-any-car’ bit, it just isn’t true. It’s just a rumour we journalists have spread over time to feel important. Also, the Tata Nano might be small - dimensions, engine capacity, outright performance, showboating, et al - but it is anything but irrelevant. Here’s how…

Because it’s small, it’s easy to squeeze into someone else’s parking. And because it has a turning circle diameter that only measures as much as its tiny wheels, it can make a U-turn just about anywhere; handy, in case one has to make a run for it from the said parking.

It also has a light steering courtesy power assist, high seating, and reasonably good visibility. And I can tell you – given that I have been driving it everyday in peak office hours – that what the Nano loses out in outright overtaking ability, it more than makes up for it in its ability to irritate other road users by picking gaps in traffic every other four-wheeled wonder around can only dream about.

Now, this here is the top-of-the-line XTA version and as the badging suggests, it comes with an automated manual transmission or AMT. AMT – apart from being extremely convenient – is basically a traditional manual gearbox that is operated by some sensors and actuators, so that the driver doesn’t have to. The driver’s experience is that of an automatic, though a slightly jerky one.

So, as you can tell, I am both sober and sensible to have chosen (nah, accepted) this GenX Nano as a long termer; it surely has a lot going for it. The plan now is to find out if these attributes overshadow its shortcomings when you have to live with the car on a daily basis. Our upcoming reports over the next few months will reveal just that.