The Nissan Evalia
What you’ll like:
• Light steering, gearbox and tight turning radius. Easily driveable in the city
• Fuel efficient 1.5L diesel engine is a proven workhorse
• Generous cabin space, very usable 3rd row of seats and a large luggage capacity
• Features include a colour MID, reversing camera, keyless entry/go, 3rd row air-con etc.
• Safety kit : ABS, EBD & BA are standard. 2 airbags on all, except the lowest variant
What you won’t:
• Boxy looks & sliding rear doors give it a commercial van look & feel
• Middle row missing basics like roll-down windows, A/C vents and door armrests
• Small 1.5L engine has mediocre highway performance. Overtaking needs to be carefully planned
• Thin 165/80 R14 tyres are a joke on an MUV of this size
• Nissan's patchy dealer network & service quality
It's raining UVs (Duster, Ertiga, Q3 etc.) and with good reason too; the Indian market has developed an insatiable appetite for this breed of vehicle. In a significant market development, UVs have started consistently outselling sedans (July sales figures (July 2012 : Indian Car Sales Figures & Analysis)).
After Nissan dibble-dabbled in the luxury & SUV segments with the Teana & X-Trail, it began to establish the brand with the Micra hatchback & Sunny sedan (currently its cash cow). It was only logical for Nissan to want a piece of the ever-growing Indian UV pie too, since the company has a wide portfolio of UVs on sale internationally.
The segment leader Innova (selling 6,500+ units per month) is now thought to be pricey, especially considering the little you get in terms of features. Yet, the Xylo hasn’t managed to snatch much away from it, coming in at an average of 2,400 units a month. Chevy’s Tavera sells at sub-2000 figures, and though Maruti’s Ertiga is a hit, you can’t really compare it to any of these UVs in terms of interior space. There aren't many true 7 / 8 seater competitors that have the solid, reliable and relatively upmarket image that the Innova enjoys. Nissan’s opportunity here is to have the Evalia match it “to the T” on reliability and beat it on features, space, running cost and fuel efficiency. Interestingly, most of the interest in the Evalia during our test drive came from Innova drivers!
source : autocar