Review : The good and bad things if you buy Tata Nexon AMT

News24xx.com -  After launched about a year ago, until now, the Tata Nexon came up as an affordable option for those willing to own a sports utility vehicle (SUV). 

The Tata Nexon is available in both petrol and diesel variants, and had a lot to offer from unique looks to a competitive pricing. 
 

Tata motors introduced an economical clutchless alternative in the form of the automated manual transmission (AMT) to its six-speed gearbox a few months ago. Initially, the auto gear shift option was available only in the top-spec XZ Plus variant in both petrol and diesel variants but later the company extended it to the mid, XM trims as well.  We drove the XZA+ and here's what we thought. 

Is there any change in the looks? 

In terms of design, the Nexon AMT is nearly identical to its manual counterpart. Except for sporting an XZA+ or XMA badging; the additional 'A' for automatic and a striking orange colour option with grey roof. 

Power figures remain the same as the Nexon AMT in its 1.2- -litre Revotron engine delivers 110PS and 170Nm of peak torque. The 1.5-litre Revotorq motor also continues to churn out 110PS of power and 260Nm of torque.

What's new is the automated manual gearbox which, unlike a regular AMT, comes with three driving modes, city, eco and sport. The technology has been synced well with the six-speed transmission for spot-on shiftings and you hardly get to use the tiptronic manual mode. However, it is not a regular automatic transmission like a CVT (continuously  variable transmission) of DCT (dual clutch transmission) which means the transition in gears is hard to ignore like any other AMT. 

While the City mode is favourable for driving in traffic, the Eco is more frugal but felt quite underpowered. The Sport mode is the one that brings a smile to your face with a sharper throttle response and a strong power delivery. 

On the highways, it is quite easy to maintain 100kmph in any mode. However, the City and Sport help to attain the three digit speed faster and even cross that without any sweat. 

 
The petrol version of the car delivered a combined efficiency of 13.3kmpl while driving mostly in the Sport mode, which means it can go up in the City and Eco. 
 
The combined efficiency of the diesel version, while driving in the Eco mode, is 22.8kmpl. The diesel efficiency in the Sport mode was a little below 20kmpl and lies between both these figures while driving in the City mode. 
 
Besides the standard features of the XM and XZ+ variants, their AMT counterparts feature a few additional transmission features, such as creep/crawl function, anti-stall, kick-down and fast-off. While these are not completely new for an automated manual transmission, they do help in various conditions. It also gets a Hill Assist control feature which prevents the SUV from rolling-back on uphill drives during bumper-to-bumper  traffic. 

If you are planning to buy an automatic car in a budget of IDR 163 million up to IDR 247 million.

The SUV has a strong build -- rated four-star for adult passenger safety in crash test by Global NCAP -- along with very practical features and a very refined powertrain in the diesel version.

You may feel the petrol version a little underpowered after driving the diesel one, however, it still has a stronger output when compared to its direct rival. 
 

 

 

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