Datsun Go Plus India’s most affordable seven seater. Okay, it’s more like a 5+2, but even so, it is the only vehicle of its kind under Rs 6 lakh on the road in Mumbai. And it will be part of our long-term fleet over the next six months. We have the Go Plus in T trim.
Now, for all its unique proposition, the Go Plus hasn’t done too well. According to Datsun, the primary season for it has been the lack of awareness regarding the product. The company also says that the conversion rate among prospects that test drive the car is pretty high.
Our plan over the next six months is to experience the Go Plus is the city as a daily commuter; take it out over the weekend with all seats taken; and finally tell you what the Go Plus has going for and against it when it comes to the ownership experience. But, before we get there, here’s a little introduction to the car itself.
The Go Plus was the second Datsun product in India after the more conventional Go hatchback. And like the Go, the Go Plus too is designed for first time car buyers. So, the idea here was to have a car that was easy to drive, fuel efficient (that’s why the puny wheels and tyres), low on maintenance and while the Go was meant more for young couples, the Go Plus was meant to help families live their dreams.
The Go Plus was the second Datsun product in India after the more conventional Go hatchback. And like the Go, the Go Plus too is designed for first time car buyers. So, the idea here was to have a car that was easy to drive, fuel efficient (that’s why the puny wheels and tyres), low on maintenance and while the Go was meant more for young couples, the Go Plus was meant to help families live their dreams.
And to achieve this, the Go Plus is light, it has decent visibility, and the torque spread is tuned such, it delivers good driveability in the city. The Go Plus uses a 1.2-litre engine borrowed from the Micra but is tuned to deliver 67bhp of max power and 104Nm of peak torque. The engine is mated to a 5-speed gearbox and comes with an ARAI claimed mileage of over 20kmpl. We, of course, will be testing this claim in the duration of our long-term test.
In terms of features, there’s power steering, air conditioning, front only power windows and an instrumentation that throws up info on average fuel consumption and distance to empty. It gets some stowage areas too, though they aren’t the closed type. There’s an interesting front bench like seat and an oddly positioned hand brake as well. What the Go Plus misses out on though is airbags and ABS.
In terms of features, there’s power steering, air conditioning, front only power windows and an instrumentation that throws up info on average fuel consumption and distance to empty. It gets some stowage areas too, though they aren’t the closed type. There’s an interesting front bench like seat and an oddly positioned hand brake as well. What the Go Plus misses out on though is airbags and ABS.
In our next report, we will tell you how the Go Plus is to live with in the city; its real world fuel efficiency figures; and some of its salient and quirky traits.
With the Indian car market only headed towards hatchbacks, compact sedans and crossovers, fewer wagons are on the road than ever before. From the looks of it, the Go+ is the last of its kind. To give you an idea of the practicality, there are a very few cars that photographers don’t complain about using as their rig, and this is one of them.
See, photographers have bags and lots of them. Lenses, tripods, reflectors each have their own bags, if that’s not enough there is a bag for the photographer’s hat too! So where am I getting with this? These bags need place and they fit comfortably in the Go+. What’s more is that the low loading lip height enables easy access too. The first thing most car buyers in India look for is fuel efficiency, no worries there, the 1.2 litre engine has got you covered. The second thing is practicality and trust us this Datsun has got you covered there too. We don’t see a reason why this car is not managing higher sales figures.
Or do we? As soon as you get in the car, there is that basic (only aux) music player. Along with a flimsy mobile holder which does not stretch wide enough to hold any modern smartphones. The unit has a USB slot but that’s for charging only. This simplistic unit would be just okay on a car half its price and could be a major factor in giving potential buyers that Datsun has chosen to cut costs wherever possible. Another problem that has us hassled are the outside rear view mirrors, they are a little short in the height department. If adjusted to backing up, one has to re-adjust them for rear viewing while driving and vice versa. However, that is not a decision breaker and certainly not something an aftermarket sticky mirror add-on couldn’t fix.
We told you how the car is equipped with puny wheels and tyres but they have surely surprised us. The car has been well setup and manages to take large sized potholes without breaking a sweat. The Go+ has accompanied us on a few off-road shoots and has managed to eat up rough sections of roads without a problem. Another thing this car does a lot of as our main camera car, is take U-turns. The Go+ manages to surprise us every time taking incredibly quick U-turns in a number of tricky scenarios, all thanks to its short turning radius.
In our next report, we will tell more about the unique interior layout of the car and how it is to live with, it’s ride and some of its quirky traits.
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