The Toyota Etios Liva, Tata Bolt and Datsun Go are three cars made in India and for India, but which among them is the best? We try to find out
Story: Ravi Chandnani
Photography: Sanjay Raikar
The Prime Minister’s ‘Make in India’ campaign has been eliciting considerable response and since we are all in favour of that slogan, we decided to compare three cars that already follow the basic idea behind it. So we are pitting the latest ‘made for India and in India’ car, Tata Bolt, against two other cars that bear the same tag: the Toyota Etios Liva and the Datsun Go. Which is the best ‘made for India’ car? Let’s find out.
These three cars, all dressed in slightly varying shades of red, may not have the style quotient of a hot hatch, but there are people who will find them stylish… well, some of them will. For example, the Tata Bolt looks decent, though some traces of its past are still visible which make it look dated and also very generic. The Etios Liva stands out because of its cheekily different design. The Datsun Go, on the other hand, looks like a hatchback from the erstwhile Soviet Union era.
Toyota Etios Liva
Tata Bolt
Datsun Go
The design of a car is always subjective, but even then one cannot help feeling that these cars lack the overall excitement quotient for the average buyer. And the same is true about their interiors. The Tata Bolt may boast of a snazzy interior with glossy finish and a lot of goodies and the Liva might have a simple and functional cabin, but the fact remains that there is still considerable scope for improvement in terms of quality and fit-and-finish.
However, if any one of these three needs desperate improvement, it is the Datsun Go. ‘Built to a price’ is written all over this car right from the cabin to the sheet-metal down to basic features. Let us hope Datsun realise and rectify these issues and improve their forthcoming products to better serve the Indian customers.
One thing that I liked about these cars is the generous interior space offered by them. Well, at least two of them do. Despite being the tiniest of them all, the Datsun Go has the biggest boot (265 litres). But it can only seat four adults in comfort. The Tata Bolt, which looks the biggest, has the tiniest boot at just 210 litres, though the leg- and knee-room are pretty good in this car and the cabin feels very roomy. The Toyota trumps both the Go and Bolt as it has the most spacious cabin and a good 251-litre boot.
Datsun GO rear kneeroom
Tata Bolt rear kneeroom
