Review - ownership and long drive

Recently had trip from Bangalore to Tirupati Balaji (545.7 km return journey) in Nissan Sunny Diesel XL.

It took 6hrs for us to get a glimpse of Balaji in 300/- a ticket, the long queue was due to vacations in schools/colleges.

Ok, coming to caaaar, I had a fantastic experience on highway driving including both 6 Lane and 1 Lane.

The car behaved pretty well on highway, wherever, it required a vroom factor while crossing long trailers, got it from the diesel motor under its hood either by downshifting the gear or by hardening the accelerator paddle.

The top speed approached was 120kmph for few kilometers though. The mileage was checked with traditional tank full method. (Fuel pump also remains the same while re-fueling)

1. MILEAGE The mileage on above said mixed lanes, I got is 21.9 kmpl (say it 22kmpl) with 100% AC ON (not even a single kilometer was driven without AC, including hill area of 15 KMs). Tyre pressure was 34 psi on all 4 tyres.

2. ENGINE I felt no turbo lag with AC ON (3 passengers) while climbing hilltop; just provided right gear at right time. Love the engine noise.

3. GEAR: Gear notchy, I am use to it now, but didn't find any difficulty while engaging the gear. Just followed my regular process of changing gear. (Relax the gar in neutral for fraction of second while downshifting/upshifting)

4. BRAKES Is a great FEAR. The car stops (agreed), but passenger/driver feels jerk while braking, because of too many plusses (+), ABS+EBD+BA, it takes the software close to 0.5 second to engage/distribute proper brakes (EBD Factor). That raises the pressure in Nerves (sometime)

And, I was planning ahead of 2 seconds (and, that kept me awake while driving), whether, I can cross the vehicle or not. ABS was not tested as no sudden brakes were applied.

5. COMFORT Amazing. My wifi use to get neck pain (cervical) while travel, but in this trip, she was as fresh as we were board in from starting point. :) so, it was great trip for me as she was in good mood when we landed back at home and was ready to go out for shopping in the evening. :) The small potholes were swallowed well by shockers.

6. STABILITY As I said, it behaved well on highway, car was fully mannered, I tried cornering at 100kmph speed while co-passenger was asleep. There was no sudden reaction "Pls drive slowly, or be careful etc etc". Obviously, there was little boat like ride (body roll) while cornering, but speed was also a factor to be considered.

7. ACCELERATION Is pretty good, I didn’t cross 2500 rpm, but managed to get 105 kmph speed at close to 2500 rpm (video is uploaded on FB Nissan Sunny Page)

8. TYRE Noise is little audible in cabin once you cross 100+ kmph. But that was not an irritating factor.

9. ACC Automatic Climate Control worked well. It was set on 23 degree, occasionally, I set it to 22 degree, and it was able to keep our minds cool. (No heat control/sun film installed so far)

10. SEATS Are comfortable. But, more prone to get dirty because the fabric is so light in color. I am thinking of additional seat covers on it.

11. STEERING Is responsive and light on slow drive and adequately heavy as speed increases, so gives a good confidence to go beyond 110. ONLY BRAKES CAUSES THE WORRY.

12. Thinking of caaaar now, will add if I find something more.

Overall Experience very good.