Tata Nexon EV Review: What If An EV Was Perfect?

Everything about the Nexon EV is nearly perfect, but the “nearly” has a big caveat attached to it

The Tata Nexon EV is one of two subcompact electric SUVs in India, and its only rival is the Mahindra XUV400. Priced between Rs 14.49 lakh and Rs 19.49 lakh (ex-showroom), the Nexon EV offers a modern design, upmarket cabin, great features, and enough range for you city commutes. However, this EV has some big flaws, which might sway you away from making the buying decision.

Design

Recognizing a Tata car has become pretty easy due to their new design language, and it is also present on the Nexon EV, in the form of the sleek design elements, and obviously the connected LED DRLs. 

This car has a great design, which gives it a modern appeal, and the vertical design elements on the bumper along with the aerodynamic 16-inch alloy wheels, bring a futuristic look to the SUV. 

This design will not feel old very soon, and it also allows the Nexon to have an eye-catching road presence, which will not go unnoticed.

Boot Space

On paper, the Nexon EV has a boot space of 350-litres which is enough for a full suitcase set (small, medium and large), and fitting bigger suitcases is not easy. We recommend you keep smaller suitcases/bags here to make the most out of its boot.

If you have more bags, you can fold its rear seats in a 60:40 ratio, which will allow you to keep more luggage at the cost of rear seats.

Interiors

Just like the outside, the cabin of the Nexon EV also looks modern but with a touch of minimalism. This no nonsense design comes with a smooth flowing dashboard with a sleek look in a dual-tone white and black theme, which makes the cabin look airy. However, it also makes keeping the seats clean a difficult task.

There are close to no issues with the quality, as the plastics used here are sturdy and do not feel scratchy. There is also a generous use of gloss black elements on the dashboard, steering wheel, and centre console, which adds to the premium factor of the Nexon EV. But, keep in mind that these elements are dust and fingerprints magnets, and need to be cleaned properly. The buttons used on the steering wheel and centre console also feel pretty solid and tactile.

But, there are some areas where the quality and the premiumness could have been better. The drive selector and the centre console are a little flimsy and can be moved pretty easily. They do not feel as sturdy as the rest of the cabin, and while there is a lot of soft touch padding in the cabin, there should have been a better use of such padding on the door pads.

The front seats here are comfortable, they hold you properly, and there is a good amount of headroom. But, for a taller person, the seatback can feel a little short. It won’t be uncomfortable, but noticeable.

Features

The first major feature you’ll see in the cabin is the 12.3-inch touchscreen, which works exactly as its support to. There are no big glitches in the screen, and it works smoothly and lag free. Tata’s user interface also makes it easy to use with good graphics. This screen also supports wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, which work seamlessly.

Then comes the 10.25-inch digital driver’s display, which has good graphics, it is easy to understand, but the best thing is that you can use navigation on this screen, so you don’t have to turn your head towards the touchscreen while driving. 

Then there are other features like automatic climate control with rear AC vents, ventilated front seats, wireless phone charger, electric sunroof, and a 9-speaker JBL sound system. It also gets vehicle-to-vehicle charging support, which can be used to charge another electric car or an electric bike, and lastly, it has vehicle-to-load support, which allows you to use small appliances like an electric kettle.

But, if I had to choose one feature for me, which I like the most, it would be Arcade.ev. This piece of software in the touchscreen allows you to stream videos on platforms like YouTube, Hotstar, and Amazon Prime Video. This can be used when the car is stationary, and is pretty useful to pass the time when the car is being charged. If you don’t want to watch videos, then you can also play games on this screen.

In our opinion, this is a very useful feature and should be present in every electric car, so that you don’t have to sit idle while waiting for your car to be charged.

Practicality & Charging Options

While the features in the Nexon EV are great, the practicality could have been better. You get the basics like bottle holders in all four doors, an average sized glovebox, and storage phonein the armrest in the front. But there are no cupholders in the centre console, instead, they are placed in the glovebox, which can’t be used when the car is moving.

At the back, apart from the bottle holders in the doors, the rear passengers only get cupholders in the centre armrest, and no seatback pockets. As for charging options, apart from the wireless phone charger, the front has a 12V socket, a USB type-A port, and a 45W type-C port. The rear seats get a 45W type-C port and a 12V socket.

Rear Seat Experience

When you sit in the rear seats of the Nexon EV, you feel that you’re sitting slightly taller than the front, and that is due to the placement of the battery pack. This is common in EVs, where the floor is raised due to the battery, which results in compromised rear seat space. 

The compromise is that you have to sit with your knees up, along with less underthigh support, and that results in discomfort. However, even after sitting this tall, you still have a good amount of head room, and even the leg room is good. From these seats, you also get good visibility, due to the small front headrests, and large windows.

But, 3 people won’t be comfortable here. These seats are good enough for 2 people, and while you can seat 3 passengers here, their shoulders will rub against each other, which will have an impact on comfort. We recommend that 3 people should only sit here for short distances.

Safety

The safety net of the Nexon is just as detailed as its feature list. You get 6 airbags as standard, and other basic safety features like ABS with EBD, electronic stability control (ESC), tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS), all-wheel disc brakes, hill hold and descent control, and ISOFIX child seat anchors.

It also gets a 360-degree camera, with a good camera quality, which is useful to get out of narrow roads and parking spaces, and this feature comes with a blind view monitor, so everytime you indicate to take a turn or change a lane, the feed of the indicated side will be displayed on the touchscreen.

We also have to note that the Tata Nexon EV has been crash tested at Bharat NCAP, and it came out with 5-star ratings in both adult and child occupant protection.

Performance

There are two battery packs available with the Nexon EV and both come with an electric motor that powers the front wheels. The bigger battery pack, which has a claimed range of 465 km, will give you around 320 km of range in real world conditions, and the smaller battery pack will give you around 220 km. For the review, we had the bigger battery pack version of the Nexon EV, and it is quick.

EVs are generally quick, compared to similarly powerful ICE vehicles, but they also have a sudden initial acceleration, which the Nexon EV does not. This is a good thing because that sudden acceleration can be a little scary for a new driver, or for someone who has never driven an EV before. The Nexon EV’s acceleration is gradual, and it does not take you by surprise.

But it is still a quick EV, and in our tests, it did the 0-100 kmph run in just 8.75 seconds. This quick acceleration makes overtakes effortless, and the drives fun. It doesn't matter if you are driving in the city or on the highway, the power delivery remains smooth and it doesn’t disappoint you. Even on highways, taking overtakes is easy, and so reaching triple digit speeds.

However, in our performance tests, we noticed that its brakes heat up quickly, and start to fade, which results in loss of braking power. Maybe this issue is due to the new design of alloy wheels, because this issue wasn’t present in the pre-facelift model.

Lastly, when in the city, driving in bumper to bumper traffic, no sudden acceleration makes it easy to navigate through, and does not scare the driver.

Ride Comfort

The Nexon EV has a pretty comfortable ride quality. At slow speeds in the city, small bumps are absorbed easily, and you don’t feel any harsh movement inside the cabin. Going over speed breakers and even deep potholes won’t startle you, and the ride will remain comfortable.

On highways, you will get a smooth driving experience, and the car will remain stable even at high speeds. But, because it is heavier than the ICE petrol, by around 200 kgs, you do get a noticeable body roll, which you’ll have to live with. We advise that you avoid sudden lane changes, and sharp turns at high speeds.

After all of this, the design, cabin, features, safety, performance and the ride quality, the Nexon EV seems like a perfect electric SUV, one that can fulfill all your needs, and is also reasonably priced. But that’s not the case. The Nexon EV has some problems that go beyond the brochure and the drive experience, which you’ll only find out once you buy it and spend some time with it.

The BIG Problem

When we had the car for the review, it seemed like a perfect car. Everything was working properly, there were no glitches in the screen, and the drive and comfort was great. This all changed in a few days, when the car stopped working all together.

While we were shooting the review, the car stopped working. When we tried to start it, only the screens started working, and there were all sorts of warnings on the digital driver’s display. Every function of the car, down to its safety features and EV system, failed. The car would not lock, and the electronic parking brake also stopped working, so we couldn’t even move the car. All of this happened when the car was at 51 percent charge.

3 hours later, when the mechanic arrived and inspected the car, we found out that all of this was due to a loose battery terminal. This was a new car, driven only 5500 km, and this issue shouldn’t have happened.

If someone is driving alone, away from the city, this issue can create a lot of problems, and it might take some time for help to arrive. Such an issue should not be in any car, let alone in an AV. This problem could have been caused at the service station, which also raises some concerns regarding Tata’s after sales service.

This unit also had other problems. One of its headlamps was not working from day one, and the 360-degree camera sometimes displayed the wrong feed. We have seen similar problems in a lot of Tata cars that we get, but this was a big one that can cause a lot of problems.

Due to these glitches, breakdowns, and poor after sales service, we have to think twice before recommending a Tata car. We are not saying that all Tata Nexon EVs will have this issue, we are saying that this kind of an issue should not exist in any car, regardless of the brand.

Verdict

If I had to describe the Nexon EV in one sentence, I’d say this: “The Nexon EV is a perfect car, as long as it works”. Because this EV has a lot to offer. It has a modern and eye-catching design, a premium cabin, lots of good features, a great safety package, fun to drive performance, and a good ride quality.

Its cabin does have some minor inconveniences, like less storage options and less rear seat space. But the frequent glitches, breakdowns, and after sales services, really questions the credibility of this car, and the company. Due to these issues, it becomes hard to put your trust in such a car, and we can only hope that what happened to us doesn’t happen to you.