Micra Diesel review after 3200KM - gearbox oil leak

Micra Diesel review after 3200KM - gearbox oil leak

Look and Style-I like the looks, also likes auto closure option for the side mirrors that folds the mirrors while the car is locked, the car has good ground clearance. Nissan should have considered wider tires for the diesel model since it comes with a heavier engine and tragically no ABS. Comfort-Intelligent key is really cool. Leg space is OK, driver seat does not have height adjustment, the seats are low and might not be very comfortable for people taller than 5ft 10. The glovebox is very very small, it has enough space to keep the user manual and nothing else.  Rear seats are comfortable for 2, leg space is good but shoulder space is not good enough for 3 at rear seat. Pickup-Simply excellent. Engine performance is excellent, gear box is also excellent which make this the most exciting diesel hatchback. There is absolutely no turbo lag, power delivery is very good and seamless.  Mileage-Gives me 19.5 kmpl which i think is OK for the driving conditions, but if you drive carefully without accelerating too much, you might get 23-24kmpl. The meter always show 2 kmpl more than actual( calculated based on km run full to full tank) Best Features-The steering is excellent - very soft during low speads and gets heavier as speed picks up.  Needs to improve-I am doubtful of the build quality, my car developed a gearbox oil leak at around 3200KM, the car is taken for repair. My house is 60KM away from the nearest dealer, Nissan should improve their service network, taking the car to a service center 60Km away and get it back can be one-day affair as against 3 Maruti service centers within 5 Kms area. When I bought this car, I was counting on Nissan's brand image & quality (in fact I was over confident in Nissan's quality), I had hoped that I would not need to take this car to service center other than for routine maintenance. However this oil leak has let me down, I would consider this as a manufacturing defect or lack of quality checks at their manufacturing facility.  Nissan picked up by car free of cost with their roadside assistance program. The car is still at the service center,  hope they won't charge me anything since such issues show be covered under warranty , fingers crossed, will update the review with results. Overall Experience-Gear box Oil leak at 3200 KM has let me down, it is not a good feeling to see your car towed to the service center just after 1.5 months after paying 6.4lacs for a brand new car. Another disappointment is Nissan's owner's manual, very confusing and it does not give any specifics about the models in India, they have made common owners manual for all countries. Yet another disappointment is a lack of response from their email support contact (customercare.hai@email.nissan.in), I had asked a clarification on maintenance schedule given in the owners manual but never received a reply. My recommendation is to stay away from Nissan until they have established a good service network in India and prove the reliability of their cars. Until such time Indian car buyers should stay with Suzuki.