This is the updated version of the world’s cheapest car: the Tata Nano. Tata prefers to give its prodigy sequential updates annually to make it more appealing, rather than massive overhauls less frequently.
That’s understandable, as a whole load of updates at once could push the price up – which would never do. So, over the last few years, the Indian domestic market has seen the addition of gloveboxes, a left wing mirror and an audio system for this car, and improvements to the suspension, seats, ergonomics, engine and gearbox. By which means the Nano has become far improved from the one Tata Motors launched back in 2009.
For 2014, there’s just one mechanical update, but it’s a big one. As you may have guessed from the suffix given to this latest version – Twist – the Tata Nano is now available with power steering. It’s a brushless electric power steering (EPS) unit that’s been developed specially for the Tata Nano Twist by ZF in collaboration with Bosch.
In a nutshell, that steering system has made the Nano much better suited to its purpose – of being a compact runabout for the city.
On the non-power-assisted car, you have to wrench the wheel around at parking speeds and low-speed agility is really poor. All the effort and concentration required meant you often preferred not to change course and just dive in and out of gaps in the traffic.
Not anymore. On the new Tata Nano Twist, you can twirl the wheel with your index finger even when the car is stationary. Parking is a breeze, and the sensation of wiggling the car’s teeny dimensions into a small parking slot is now rather gratifying.
