2021 Tata Nexon XM Petrol: Purchase & ownership experience

Our Tata Nexon SUV has been with us for the last 8 months and has clocked around 3200 km.

BHPian gmhossain recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

This quote sums up the underlying dilemma that forces one to go through a roller coaster ride while “buying one’s next car”. Ladies and gentlemen, please grant me the privilege of sharing the story of our new steed, a Tata Nexon 2021 XM (Petrol), lovingly christened as “the Vagabond”, or “Bhabaghure”, if you know a little Bengali.

Our Nexon on a summer drive through rural Bengal

Nexon on a monsoon drive

The first Autumn for our Nexon

Team-BHP already has a comprehensive review of Tata Nexon, as given here. So I would better not make any attempt to describe its technical details, power figures etc. Rather, I would try to pen down our personal experiences and perceptions about our new steed.

The background:

Purchasing one’s first car is easy. Your soul is pure and your slate is clean. You know a little. You worry a little. Besides, you are supremely confident about your decision. Unfortunately, once you grow older things become a bit complicated! Especially, when the words like mid-range punch, unnerving cornering or the flat-spots in the power-curve start corrupting your soul then there is no escape. Taking a final call between two cars for a confused soul like me is a herculean task but deciding between more than two is pure torture.

For our case, I was looking for a car in the crossover or compact SUV segment where currently there are too many competing choices. Consequently, the situation couldn’t be any worse.

Our first car: A pre-owned Subaru Legacy AWD

The rationale:

After managing to survive in this world for the last four decades, I have learnt a key lesson. Nothing is perfect in this world, be it a man or a machine. At every step in life, one must prioritize some aspects more than others. Buying a new car is no different.

Our previous car, a 2011 Maruti Zen Estilo, was a nice car and we enjoyed every bit of it. You will find many travelogues here at Team-BHP with our beloved Estilo. Nevertheless, we also experienced its limitations. There were a couple of incidents where the car needed to be sent to the body shop. Thankfully, these incidents happened when the car was either stationary or in near stationary situations. However, it was rather unnerving to see the extent of damages to the car, given the minor impacts it had.

Our last car : A Maruti Suzuki 2011 Zen Estilo VXI

Secondly, ten years ago when we bought the Zen Estilo, a visit to our family home at Malda would take around 9 to 10 hours. The distance was merely 270 km. However, the drive was along with the dreaded Kolkata – Siliguri route with narrow roads and an innumerable number of trucks. Fortunately, this highway has improved dramatically in the last few years. We now routinely make this trip in 6 hours. With the expected completion of a few more under-construction sections in a year or two, this drive time would go down by an hour or so. The bottom line is that the average speed on the highway in which we drive regularly has now doubled compared to what it used to be a decade ago. Thus, the urge for a safer car for our highway drives had become a necessity of late. So it was a unanimous decision between me, my better half and our daughter that our next car must be a safer car, with demonstrable data points.

Nexon along with Kolkata – Siliguri (Darjeeling) highway: Once a dreaded highway, is now transforming!

The budget:

This has always been the hardest task for me to decide on the budget for our next car. The reason, however, is simple. We reside on a campus where my office and residence are within walking distance of each other! Frankly, you can ask me, “do you really need a car?”. “Well no, yes or maybe!”

However, we do hit the highways and that too regularly. We are troubled souls who are bitten by the travel bug with no cure in sight! Basically, a car for me is an asset written off from my book on the day of its purchase. So this time, for some random reasons, I decided to write off Rs. 9 lakh for our next car.

Nexon looking towards its parking lot

Continue reading for gmhossain’s Nexon ownership review for BHPian comments, insights & more information.

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