Nissan Datsun RediGO - Quick Review with Video

Happened to test drive Datsun’s RediGo a month back. I was planning to write down the review, but could not get enough time. But today, I decided to pen it down and so, here goes my review report. RediGO is already reviewed in TBHP and it is exhaustive. So as an ex-Alto owner, I shortened my review focusing on comparison with Alto in general aspects.

It all started when I received a customary SMS from Rajeshwari Nissan (local Nissan dealer in erode) when they launched RediGO in Erode. As I am one of their existing customer who owns a Micra, I became curious to test drive RediGO then. Last month, I was in my home town (Erode), and got a few hours to kill. So called the ASM in the local dealership and conveyed my wish to test drive RediGO. We squared upon 2:30PM as our test-drive time.

Me and my niece reached the showroom on time, and we were attended immediately. The test drive car was kept ready. Myself and a show room associate hopped into the test drive car and moved out. I am reviewing this as a ex-Alto owner. I used to own the Alto Lxi, which was sold before Alto 800 was introduced.

Interiors
RediGO’s interiors are ‘economical’. It is not cheap, but it is better than cheap. The quality of plastics is okay considering the price of the car, and it is on par with Alto, or little better than Alto in certain parts. There is space, and it is better than Alto. I always find my Alto to be cramped. The Interior design language in RediGO is more minimal, functional, than form and features less quirky design cues. The dashboard, it’s curves, angles etc everything seem to adhere to one design language. In my Alto, the design language was okay, but it always looked like a mashup of 2 or 3 design thoughts. One good thing in RediGO is the fixed blower, focused to the rear-seats.

Here is a video:

The interior color is a different shade than my old Alto. I prefer the color of my Alto’s plastics than RediGO. The doors are padded completely in plastic. The door panel did not flex, and it was firm. I was bit skeptical on that one, because I thought being a competitor to Alto, RediGO must be using some cheap plastics for door pads. Luckily it is not the case. The door closes with a tinny sound and the famous ‘wobbling’ effect was not felt. But I did felt once, when I slammed the door. Not a deal breaker IMO. I think it depends on how powerful the slam is. The real effect of cost-cutting or cost-saving is revealed in the rear doors. It is a dis-heartening to see exposed bare metal.

There are ample storage space around to store your knick knacks. A car charger socket and a set of cup holders.

RediGO, being a tall-boy design offers convenient ingress and egress. In my Alto, it took a bit of effort to ingress and egress - especially when I just finished a long drive. The seats are decently padded and I could not find any fault with the cushioning. But yet, I could not praise it to be super-duper. It is better and no complaints. The driver seat in RediGO offers decent forward and backward sliding. I was able to adjust the seat to my comfort position within seconds. The rear seats are pretty decent too. Ingress and egress are decent. My 5’9” frame was able to sit upright in a comfortable position, and also I was able to sit relaxedly as well. RediGO beats the Alto here. Whenever I travelled in my old Alto, I despised the rear seat comfort. The under-thigh support was minimal and felt uncomfortable in the long drives.

The steering height in RediGO is pretty decent, I felt no awkward shoulder postures. Ergonomics is okay. In Alto, I always felt the steering is a bit higher, and never liked it. But in RediGO I did not feel that way. The ABC pedals were decently spaced out and I did not brush with my other foot when driving. RediGO has decent amount of boot space. Though I do not know the exact specifications, I guess it can comfortably hold your weekend luggage or weekly shopping stuffs. That’s the good thing, and the bad thing is - The loading bay is bit high than Alto. A little bit of effort is needed to lift things up.

The console is pretty decent featuring a analogue meter for speed, and MID for everything else. There are a bunch of independent status lights too. The MID (depending on the variants, I believe) shows various parameters. The MID features Digital tachometer, ODO, Trip meter, Avg FE, Real time FE and Distance to Empty numbers too. That’s really cool.

The Audio system is pretty basic and sounds just okay. If you are looking for good sound quality I recommend to upgrade.

Exteriors
I think RediGO is the only car in this segment to feature a proper Tall-boy design. Eon too features a tall-boy design but I never felt it that way, when I rode Eon years ago. To me, Eon features a semi-tall boy design. Correct me if my observation is wrong. Coming back to RediGO, the exterior design is better. It is modern, with no offence design language. The quirky grill looks out-of-design, I never liked it in GO and GO+. In RediGO, it is just okay. Hate it or love it.The paint job is okay for the price. The tyres are good, but a bit thin. I was wary about this, but I changed my opinion after the test-drive. One thing I did not like was - the three bolt design. Why Nissan why? this may put off most buyers. But all the shortcomings are mended by the superb ground clearing.






Overall I liked the exterior design of RediGO. More modern and bit fluidic too. My old Alto had a offensive-to-none design and it usually grows in you. And the new Alto 800 is a “like it or loathe it” design. In my video clip, a white RediGO with optional cladding accessory is shown. The cladding is part of the OE accessories which need to be purchased separately.

On the road - ComfortWe took the test drive car through some rough roads and good roads. To my surprise RediGO handled the rough roads very decently. Body roll is minimal and my body was not thrown around when travelling over bad roads. The good ground clearance and the suspension handles most roads well and the passengers will not complain, if not praising. This was on par with my old Alto. Though both cars belong to different class (Tall-boy vs. standard), I do not find any complaints with RediGO's suspension. It may not win accolades, but one could not find fault with it either.

On the road - PerformanceThe clutch is light, and requires very less effort to operate by foot. People who prefer light clutches for city-drive will like it. The test drive car’s clutch was bit abused, but yet it offered a comfortable experience during gear shifts. The gear box is okay’s and light. The gear shifts are a bit rubbery as expected in this class of car. I do not find any odds. The engine’s power is decent and the 3 pot motor is quite sufficient to drive around the city. And yes, ff course the characteristic “raise the engine RPM to move” which is native to 800cc engine is there. If you are looking for spirited performance, you will be disappointed. RediGO is best driven sedately. I was able to move in the top gear at around 35-45 and it did not hiccup much. I find the drivability is on par with Alto if I am not wrong. The pickup seem to be decent to me. The let down is the linear nature of the pick up speed. Like Alto, over taking requires a bit of planning and needs upshifts to keep the momentum. Steering is effortless and can be operated easily. The horn is audible, but do not expect people to move to the sides. The engine noise is felt and noise-insulation is sacrificed in favour of cost cutting. Overall I find the RediGO’s engine performance to be decent.


Major Likes+ Looks and Tall boy design
+ Easy ingress / egress
+ Decent engine and gearbox
+ Adequate power on tap
+ Interior Space
+ Decent comfort
+ Neutral Ride quality

Major Dislikes- Engine Noise
- Exposed metal in rear door
- Three bolt tyres
- Less spread dealers and service network across the nation.


ConclusionRediGO and Alto / Alto 800 are targeted as entry level cars. RediGO excels in few places and matches in most places with Maruti Suzuki Alto. Overall IMO, RediGO fares a bit well than Alto. Given a choice between RediGO and Alto, I may choose RediGO for the ingress/egress and space it offers, over Alto.

I really wish Nissan/Datsun to improve their service quality, than the current level. Currently they are okay atleast in this part of the state. Yet current customers still face a hit-or-miss service quality in most parts of the country.

Prologue
I also test drove the Datsun GO back to back, post the test-drive of RediGO. It really felt very different in a positive way. GO is much more spacious than RediGO. It also offered better performance on road - but that is due to the 1.2L engine plonked into it. Ergonomics wise - I find RediGO to be much better. But GO featured better quality seats than RediGO.

It was interesting to hear from the associate that some prospective buyers who walked in to check out RediGO actually cross-shopped and bought GO. One prime reason being the price gap between RediGO variants and GO variants is not too wide. So it seemed logical that people cross shopped between models. After the test drive and mini-video shoot was over, myself and my niece hopped into our Micra, and it felt leagues better. Haha.

So, in my opinion RediGO is a good car for those who look for their first car. If you have a little more budget to spend, and prefer to buy from Nissan-Datsun then, Datsun GO/GO+ or even, Micra Active are decent options.

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Published the same in www.team-bhp.com