In the widely changing automotive landscape, Nissan India found itself in a tricky situation. Its old products had nearly no momentum to take on the newly launched rivals and an the possibility of an all-new line-up was very little. Amidst all this, the company launched the Nissan Magnite, a pocket-friendly sub-four-metre SUV, which, for the last four years or so, has been single-handedly responsible for steering the brand towards a better future. With consistent sales in the domestic market and exports, the Nissan Magnite turned out to be worth the gamble. With the competition stronger than ever, it’s time Nissan refreshed its most prominent product, and that’s what they’ve done. The new Nissan Magnite benefits from a mid-life refresh, which should add some zest to the brand’s monthly sales. We get behind the wheel to understand how much of an improvement this update brings.
Sharper design
It’s not quite an all-new design, the Magnite’s, but rather a nice refresh of the outgoing model’s appearance, made sharper and definitely fresher. The grille is now surrounded by black inserts, the bumper has undergone a design revision, and the new clear-glass taillights help heighten the car’s newness. On the inside, the Magnite has a new leatherette upholstery. Not much has changed in terms of design or equipment (it carries an 8-inch infotainment and a 7-inch driver display, as before) but it now gets USB-C ports and a cooled glovebox. The cabin is spacious and with 336 litres of boot space (which can be further extended to 690 litres with the rear seat folded), it’s bound to be quite a practical car to own.
The new Magnite now gets USB-C ports and a cooled glovebox
You can choose between two petrol engines: a 1-litre naturally aspirated unit which makes 71 bhp and a more powerful (thanks to turbocharging) 1-litre engine which makes 98.6 bhp. Apart from the standard manual gearbox, the Magnite can also be specced with an AMT automatic or a much more sophisticated CVT, which is what we had on test. It’s a solid combination (the 1-litre turbo-petrol engine and the CVT gearbox) and offers smooth power delivery, although there’s some lag. On the whole, the Magnite didn’t feel lacking grunt, and at roughly 18 km/l in the city, it proved to be quite a frugal car to run, too.
Easy to handle
Its size makes the Magnite quite easy to handle both in heavy traffic and on narrow city roads. The steering is light and responsive, and I felt the suspension to be firmer than its rivals’. While not as supple on bad urban roads, the setup is a boon on the highway. Another big positive is that the Nissan Magnite now seems quieter on the inside — the insulation has most definitely seen some improvement. It’s fairly well-equipped when it comes to safety, and while there’s no ADAS to speak of (unlike some of its rivals), the inclusion of useful features like a 360-degree camera is bound to be appreciated by new customers.
With prices starting from ₹6.65 lakh onwards, ex-showroom, the Nissan Magnite continues to be a value-focussed product in the highly competitive sub-four-metre SUV segment. There are some popular features, like a sunroof, which the Magnite doesn’t get, and that might be the only fly in this ointment. The ride is slightly firmer at slow speeds, especially noticeable as some of the rivals offer a better ride-and-handling balance. Where the Nissan Magnite excels is in the spacious interior, decent safety, adequate power, great fuel efficiency and brilliant value. Despite the growing competition, we think the Magnite has what it takes to garner respectable sales — like it did four years ago.
