2021 Tata Nexon Facelift Review, First Drive

2021 Tata Nexon SUV from the Tata that aimed to take on the likes of heavyweight champion, the Maruti Brezza is finally here with us. Today in 2021, it has done that, it has taken over the biggest rival in sales by a certain margin and ended capturing the current market share by a big margin!

Tata has an aggressive strategy of giving a lot of passive features to models to make sure they stand out and grab attention and yet offer more to the customer. This SUV is no different either. Be it on the inside and outside, it has what it takes to impress a set of consumers as always. Like always there are core strengths and weaknesses of any product that comes from the Tata stable. We find out what the Nexon offers and doesn’t to its prospective buyers.

On the outside, the SUV is a sub-four meter car, but it is the most intimidating in its class. The height and wheelbase are quite big which does make it the most SUV-type just like its elder siblings. The elements on the car make it stand out. The ceramic window line, the dual-tone roof, the union jack-inspired tail-lamps, large 16-inch wheels, LED DRL and headlamps mounted separately all come together quite well. The build quality on the outside seems and sounds top-notch.

On the inside, the build and quality are good, but it could have been a bit better. The expansive feature list is a surprise and seems to be increasing every year! We have explained time and again in our launch reports. The new steering is a big change and it looks great and feels fantastic to hold! You get every feature possible in the top two variants of the car while the rest of the variants are well-specced too. All though there are a lot of variants to choose from. The number runs in between 30-40! You get automatic lights and wipers, reversing cameras, front and rear parking sensors, foldable mirrors, and projector lamps, iRa connectivity, Harmon Kardon music system, the SUV has it all!

Space, well as any other Tata car, the abundance of the shoulder, leg, head, and knee room in good supply adds more value to the overall SUV’s package. The boot space is good by segment standards. Road and wind noise inside the cabin is also well-controlled than most other budget cars making the Nexon, like any other Tata big SUV, a pleasant place to be. Safety kit continues to be high with electronic stability control, Rollover Mitigation, Brake Disc Wiping and Electronic Brake Pre-fill as standard. Hill Hold Assist is with the automatic variant. ABS and EBD with two airbags come as standard. We all know Nexon now scores 5-star global NCAP rating.

All Tata engines are smooth and easy to live with now to a very large extent. The diesel motor is not free-revving at low speeds but the engine is low on NVH by a big margin than before. The clutch is light and so is the gearbox to operate, which is a good change from the original Nexon version. The diesel motor we had produces 110 PS and 260 Nm of torque. Low and mid-range are good on the diesel and so is the top-end. Sport mode helps achieve all of this at a push of a button! This makes it is good enough for city duties and it cruises at legal speeds and above that also, quite easily. This makes it a very good all-rounder.

The fuel economy continues to be on the impressive side. 14 km/l for the diesel in the city and highway efficiency reaches 20 km/l quite easily. We saw 17 km/l most of the time and we think that number is quite good and can increase because our driving had a bit of heavy foot from time to time. Drive it in Eco mode most of the time and the numbers can rise even higher.

Like most Tata cars, the low to medium ride quality is good and the high-speed ride is downright brilliant. As the suspension has been tuned to remove the harsh edge than before, ride quality is much better now. Body roll still has not increased by a big margin. It does increases a bit as speeds get higher while taking a corner or changing lanes at high speeds. However, it inspires confidence every time you do so!

Steering is light, very precise, and has almost good feedback on offer which makes the SUV the most fun to drive and 100% confidence-inspiring to push even harder. The larger wheels will help you. Brakes are good with good pedal bite. Overall, very easy to drive and fun to drive when compared to all its rivals.

2021 Tata Nexon Facelift Review, Verdict

Tata is offering as much as it can with the Nexon and the efforts paid off. The Nexon continues to establish itself as the new boss in town. Subsequent launches of limited edition, improvements for 2021 have made the Nexon even more relevant. There are a lot of variants to choose from and that is good and can be confusing at the same time.

However, the public has gone past that, bought the Nexon which fits their bill right, and hence the Nexon is a winner. The SUV is now a clear and present danger to all its current and upcoming rivals. The Nexon will be remembered as the SUV that brought Tata glory in the domestic market which helped further to cash on in segments higher and lower!