The Tata Nexon is one of the best-selling SUVs in India and for good reason. It impresses with its styling, space, features, and safety. It scored a full five stars on both Global NCAP and Bharat NCAP safety tests. It is also the only SUV in its segment to come with a petrol, diesel and EV powertrain option. The SUV now gets a CNG powertrain making it the only SUV available with four major propulsion sources. That’s not the big news here. The big news is, the Nexon iCNG comes with a turbocharged motor making it the first turbocharged CNG to go on sale in India. This is besides the SUV featuring all the bells and whistles of its petrol and diesel-powered siblings. So does this move make the Nexon iCNG an SUV without the compromises associated with CNG vehicles?
Design-wise you’d be hard-pressed to differentiate between the Nexon iCNG and its petrol and diesel counterparts. The exterior styling is identical, down to the choice of paintjobs. The cool-looking Creative Ocean colour scheme you see here, isn’t exclusive to the CNG variant either. No differentiation isn’t a bad thing here. The Nexon has always been a good-looking SUV and post its facelift last year, looks even more futuristic and premium now.
The cabin too is similar to the petrol and diesel powered Nexon. It features the same dashboard and seats though, If you look closely though, the instrument console features a tiny CNG fuel level on the bottom left side besides and a CNG mode ratio which shows the percentage of CNG and petrol used during the drive. It even gets a CNG switch button on the centre console touch panel. The Nexon iCNG gets the same features as its ICE siblings and has a feature packed cabin. This includes the panoramic sunroof – a first for a CNG-powered vehicle.
While the Nexon iCNG gets the full gamut of safety features, it gets a specific safety kit in the form of auto cylinder leak detection and a fire extinguisher below the co-driver seat.
One of the major compromises with owning a CNG car is the significantly small or non-existent boot space. The Nexon iCNG uses dual-CNG cylinders instead of a single large cylinder that frees up 321 litres of boot space. That’s just 61 litres less than its ICE siblings. The spare wheel now sits under the vehicle. The Nexon always impressed with its cabin space and it’s no different with the iCNG.
The Nexon iCNG is powered by a bi-fuel (CNG and petrol) 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbocharged motor which delivers 100PS and 170Nm in CNG mode. That’s a drop of 20PS from the Nexon’s turbo-petrol motor while the torque output remains the same. 100PS in CNG mode is quite impressive and translates to a quick drive. The motor is responsive and surprisingly sporty, not a word you’d associate with CNG engines. The driveability is quite impressive as well allowing for fewer gear changes in the city. The motor is refined and it is only when you rev it hard do you hear and feel the three-cylinder thrum.
The only issue here is the engine only comes mated to a six-speed manual gearbox, there is no automatic transmission on offer. The Nexon iCNG offers a claimed 24km/kg so with the 9kg fuel tank capacity, that should translate to a range of around 216 kilometres.
Prices for the Tata Nexon iCNG start at Rs 8.99 lakh ex-showroom, going up to Rs 14.59 lakh, with eight variants to choose from. The lower variants of the Nexon iCNG are priced similarly to the CNG variants of the Maruti Suzuki Fronx and Toyota Taisor and undercut the Maruti Suzuki Brezza CNG.
CNG vehicles have been looked down upon in the automotive sphere as they lack performance and in many cases, features in a bid to keep costs low. The Nexon iCNG seems set to change that. The Nexon iCNG marries the spaciousness and features of the SUV with a powerful and efficient turbocharged motor so you do not get the compromises associated with the CNG. However, it still does not offer the convenience of an automatic. Now this CNG motor with an automatic gearbox would be a hard combination to beat.
