Review of Mahindra Logan 1.5 Tdi
I was coming to the office today when I passed a Mahindra dealership in Noida, Koncept automobiles, I saw a logan standing there, came to office searched for the dealerships no. and gave them a call for a test drive to which they readily agreed and the car was at my office door within 20 minutes... Nice
Just like the start of a weekday after a great weekend there was no excitement and I was feeling a little cold even before I test drove the car, probably the idea of a “cheap” diesel car wasn’t exciting enough compared to the “go fida” ford or the little wonder 1.3 JTD Swift when I test drove it.
Looks:
The looks are bland, very 80’s and the build quality is OK, not great but not too bad either. There’s a hint of cost cutting everywhere, the insides, the front, back. The front bumper for example is made out of the thinnest plastic possible, its paper thin… well almost. I could easily deform it using my hand, to the point where the chassis frame supporting the bumper comes and stops the progress :P, its useless, because even in a minor frontal collision it will be the chassis that will bear all the brunt. In this day and age where a bumper of a car is designed to absorb small, low speed impacts, it seems renault “had to” put the bumper just because every car has it… so they did… just for the sake of it. The upside is that its easily repairable. The taillights are very simple and do their job without even a hint of flamboyance. There are no starry patterns, no jewel effect, they aren’t even clear lens… and only one reverse light…. they are well “cheap”. The C pillar and rear fender without a quarter glass looks really odd but lends a solid feel to the look of the car.
The only saving grace is the sculpted front hood along with the nicely shaped headlamps and the nicely done wheel arches which go along very well with the taut lines the car has been endowed with. The neat, simple taut lines I am sure weren’t a design brief, but are there to minimize curves and body contours so that it could be manufactured cheaper compared to a more elaborate styling if they had gone for it.
I quite liked the wheel covers though, which give the look of an alloy to a causal eye…. Nice.
Interiors:
Cost cutting is the mantra everywhere, and how can the interiors be left behind. The seat fabric looks very “cheap”, the dashboard plastic quality is average, even the AC vents don’t catch your eye with those cheap silver rings around the circumference but everything seems to be well put together without squeaks or creeks. The front power window switches are on the dashboard which is odd but not much of a disaster compared to the rear one’s which are in the middle of the front seats! A person sitting behind with a back pain will leave the windows as it is, or will ask the driver to open or close them. There are no controls for the driver to operate the rear windows, he/she has to crank her neck and reach for the power windows buttons for the back passengers and operate it if he/she wants to, or perhaps they have stuck a compromise so that the power windows switches could be operated from both the sides, without giving the separate control to the driver and hence saving on costs…. yet again!
Even the AC controls aren’t placed properly, its hard to operate them, while at the same time looking at the road and your back resting on the driver seat, they are placed far too low for comfort. Also the controls aren’t in the same line, the blower switch operates clockwise downwards which causes your wrist to be in a painful position. The carpeting is minimalist, its only the thin carpet which is glued on to the chassis and nothing else apart from that. The steering column stalks feel flimsy when operated. The speedometer and tachometer use the same font, the tacho isn’t even redlined so that they can be used both for the petrol and the diesel... they seem to have taken the cost cutting a bit too seriously.
There are no separate gauges for temperature and fuel, all the information is displayed on the LCD screen (the so called computer) placed b/w the speedo and the tacho… again to cut cost, although I didn’t get a hang of how to operate it neither do the company executive who was with me for the test drive. The column stalks feel flimsy when operated.
The silver finish on the central console is tacky with no finesse. There’s enough room for three adults to sit at the back, but I am not sure how comfortable the middle passenger would be since the seat is flat and with the rear power window control in the middle, there’s no place to stretch your feet either. The exterior rear view mirrors are way too small to be of much use just like the ones on Ikon and the Palio. The steering wheel is nice to grip though a tad larger than I would have liked.The gear shifter though is nice and meaty with a brawny feel with metallic finish in the centre thrown in for good measure. The front seats are height adjustable and also have lumbar support built in, seat belts are height adjustable too which is a nice touch. The AC cools nicely, though a little noisy at blower setting 3 and 4.
The boot space is huge, but again they have cringed heavily on carpeting, with too much painted metal, nuts and bolts visible. The quality and material for the carpet isn’t very good, infact its poor.
Engine, gearshift and NVH:
Just does the job. At idle the engine feels pretty refined and muted with some characteristic diesel vibes, which aren’t intrusive. On the move though the engine does makes it presence felt. Above the 2500 revs the engine starts to sound a little coarse, and as you approach 3000 revs the engine noise intrudes too much into the cabin… again the result of severe cost cutting by Renault. There’s absolutely no carpeting in and around the engine bay to contain the noise, painted metal visible everywhere. The turbo lag isn’t pronounced and the car pulls nicely after 1500 revs but the feeling you get while driving is of a lumpy, lazy diesel at the front. It won’t respond to every movement of your feet, unlike in a Fiesta or Swift and takes time to wake up even above the 2000 rpm. Its not something you would want to drive, and doesn’t have the typical turbo diesel surge that one gets in a diesel engine, (swift almost explodes if its anything above 1800 rpm), it goes about its job almost un-noticed….. no fun.It labors up the revs but to its credit remains tractable even at higher gear at low speeds.
The gearshift isn’t as slick as Swift or Fiesta, but again not imprecise either. I never missed a shift during the course of my test drive….. again does the job but its not involving.
Ride and Handling:
The suspension is nice, not overtly stiff and the car is pretty composed going over bumps. On larger than average bumps the suspension noise does intrudes into the cabin but it’s a thump rather than a thud… kinda reassuring.
Can’t comment on the handling front as I didn’t go corner hunting on it, its just that I didn’t wanted to do it. Driving Logan is as exciting as using your mixer grinder at home.
The steering is precise, but doesn’t provides you any feel. Also I felt the steering to be a bit heavy, I was finding it difficult to change direction fast with just one hand at slow speeds.
Overall:
The car is well put together, feels solid and is cheap but not without a reason. Its not earth shattering value for money, there is a reason why it is cheap, the cost cutting is evident everywhere, from inside to outside, from the top to bottom. There is a reason why ford fiesta or for that matter verna is costlier.
The biggest problem with Logan is that it is awfully boring to drive, there is no surprise and delight, not even remotely. While on the test drive I called up my friend who works near to my office to ask if he would like to come along and drive it. He did and after a kilometer or so of driving turned back to his office and got down…. Sums up the car actually.
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, keep up th good work and looking forward to seeing more reviews from you.
