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Tata Nano Driven by Regular Car Reviews, It's Garbage

The only reason the western world talks about the Tata automotive company from India is that they own Jaguar and Land Rover. However, back over a decade ago, they made headlines with the most cheaply made car ever, the Nano.
Tata Nano Driven by Regular Car Reviews, It's Garbage 1 photo
Photo: YouTube screenshot/Regular Car Reviews
Now, Jay Leno did have a chance to review the Nano seven years ago, and we will embed that video here as well. But Regular Car Reviews is the first to do an American video with the Nano without company officials breathing down his neck.

The idea for this car was this: many of the hundreds of millions of people on India's roads road bikes, so what if they could make a car for the same money and make them loyal to the Tata brand? in principle, it sounded good. You get rid of all the things which aren't necessary and end up with back-to-basics transportation.

But the problem with that is you're forming a brand known for cutting corners, which can't be a good thing. And if we know anything about Indians, it's that they know a bad deal when they see one. And the Tata is one of those. They used the cheapest materials they could get their hands on, only installed one door mirror and the drivetrain is all kinds of wrong.

Power comes from a 2-cylinder 624cc supposedly making 38 horsepower. It's mounted under the trunk and you can only get to it by removing the rear seats since there isn't even a hatchback opening. 0 to 60? Yes... maybe. RCR wasn't able to get to that kind of speed before the Nano overheated and broke down.

Refueling is done via the trunk door at the front. And did we mention a lot of these caught fire? Also, the handling is downright dangerous, with a tall body, squidgy suspension, and tiny tires. Yeah, it's no wonder they didn't sell that many.

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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