That said, as a city car, the Datsun Go is
quite good. The steering isn’t too heavy and the clutch is light. The top-end T
model gets speed-sensitive steering, further adding to the drive experience.
Shifts are precise and the lever slotting into place is a rather nice feeling.
First gear is rather short and gets the motor on the boil rather quickly, shift
into second and everything cools down. That’s good for economy, but not so good
for the drive; second could have been better. Shift up and the experience
leaves nothing to complain about. The 1.2-litre three-pot petrol motor from the
Micra feels peppy at most times, even breaching audible comfort levels often,
even for a petrol head. NVH levels are definitely not one of its strong points,
with road and tyre noise getting worse as speed goes up. However, stay light on
your foot, and everything seems to be well-contained. There is, after all, 68
PS coming in at 5,000 revs, rather low and good for economy. Of greater
interest is the hefty (for the segment) 104 Nm of torque, which means chunks of
driveability across the rev range, once you get a good idea of the seemingly
complicated relationship the gearbox and accelerator have, especially when
life is stuck in second gear.
The
door pockets can hold bottles up to 1.5-litres with some extra space for knick
knacks
A few minutes in, we were literally going
in circles. The Go has a compact turning radius and that makes its easy to
park, as well as manoeuvre in heavy traffic. It can be light on its foot when
you want it to be and that makes it very versatile. So, as a car to drive, the
Go definitely has everything going for it. It isn’t a slouch either; 60 comes
up in just 5.6 seconds with 100 taking just over 14 seconds. A top whack of 156
km/h isn’t too bad, considering we have an 80 km/h speed limit on our express
highways. And it’s not bad with the anchors either. Shedding 80 km/h to come to
a standstill takes just 2.7 seconds and about 32 metres. However, it was quite
a tense atmosphere, the like of which would be eliminated if the car were to
have anti-lock brakes. We wondered aloud if the D, A and T variants would
eventually have an N for company, with all the essentials to offer peace of
mind as standard.
275
litres of substantial boot space, which is best in class, rear seats flip
forward
The good news actually continues because
one of the most talked-about numbers in the country is also commendable. The
Datsun Go returns 13 km/l in the city with a significantly higher 18 km/l on
the highway. That’s 14.25 kilometres to the litre overall and a range of 500 km
can be considered without a second thought.
The
Datsun Go comes powered by a 1.2 litre engine that produces 104 Nm of torque at
4,000 RPM that is more than sufficient to rapidly accelerate and place the Go
at 100 km/hr in under 13.3 seconds
So, will it go the distance? It has the
brawn, it even has the brain. It’s a fun little car which does almost
everything right at a rudimentary level. As a driving package, you couldn’t ask
for more at its price. Speaking of which, the Go begins at $5,200 for the D,
with the T costing $6,110, both ex-showroom, Delhi. I don’t think many would
mind paying a bit extra for better safety and a more up-to-scratch set-up for
rear occupants. Go forth then, it’s good enough to make you wake up early and
drive only to catch the sun rise.
