Image: Nissan press kit
India's most affordable seven-seater delivers genuine practicality and decent comfort, though the underpowered engine and missing modern features hold it back.
The Nissan Gravite is essentially a rebadged Renault Triber with a fresher face, updated grille, and slightly sharper cabin trim. Priced from Rs 5.65 lakh to Rs 9 lakh ex-showroom, it stakes its claim as India's cheapest seven-seater. The catch: a 1.0L naturally aspirated petrol that struggles when fully loaded.
The Gravite is a careful nip-tuck of the Renault Triber rather than a ground-up design. A larger, more aggressive piano-black grille carries Nissan's updated logo, while C-shaped LED DRLs, LED headlamps and fog lamps clean up the face. Indicators remain halogen. The blacked-out LED tail lamps look genuinely handsome, and the dual-tone flex steel wheels mimic machined alloys until you look closely. At 4 metres long, 1.7m wide and 1.6m tall with 182mm ground clearance, it stays sub-4-metre for tax benefits. The Launch Edition adds orange bumper inserts, body decals and Gravite badging, limited to 1000 units. New earthy colours like the green and blue shades suit the car better than the Triber's brighter palette.
Cabin packaging remains the Triber-Gravite's headline trick: extracting genuine seven-seater usability from a sub-4-metre footprint. The third row is removable, the second row splits 60:40 with slide and recline, and AC vents are provided for all three rows. The suede-and-leather upholstery in hexagon pattern feels a class above the price, and a dedicated driver armrest is a welcome addition. V3Cars rates the steering wheel as the cabin's standout: light, sharp and well-sized. However, telescopic steering adjustment is missing, the IRVM feels flimsy, ambient lighting bulbs are visibly exposed, and charging ports are stuck on Type-A with just one outlet in the second row. The dashboard layout is carried over from the pre-facelift Triber.
Under the bonnet sits the familiar 1.0L three-cylinder naturally aspirated petrol making 71-72 PS and 96 Nm, paired with a 5-speed manual or AMT. Both claim around 19 km/l. Low-end response is acceptable for solo city commuting and the clutch is light, but the engine feels reluctant below 2000 rpm and noticeably vibey and noisy inside the cabin. With six or seven occupants on board, the powertrain visibly struggles. The AMT, as MotorBeam notes from extensive Triber experience, is laggy and jerky. Reviewers unanimously question why Nissan didn't offer the Magnite's 1.0L turbo petrol here. A dealer-fit CNG variant is due shortly. Real-world mileage settles around 10-11 km/l in city and 14 on highway.
Ride quality is a clear strength. McPherson struts up front and a twist-beam with coil springs at the rear, tuned for Indian roads, soak up broken surfaces with composure. The Gravite stays stable over poor tarmac and passengers don't feel jostled, though a slight airy feel inside the tall cabin is unavoidable. The steering is feather-light, ideal for city traffic and tight parking, but offers little weight build-up at highway speeds. The clutch is light on the manual, though V3Cars flags long pedal travel that forces the seat further back, compounding the missing telescopic adjustment. Braking hardware is discs up front and drums at the rear with ABS, EBD, brake assist and hill-start assist standard.
Build quality is acceptable for the price but reveals shortcuts under scrutiny. Plastic quality on the dashboard is decent, the JBL six-speaker setup in the Launch Edition sounds reasonable, and panel gaps are consistent. However, the orange bumper inserts feel rubbery and pull off easily, the ambient lighting looks aftermarket with exposed bulbs, the IRVM feels flimsy and the central locking levers feel obsolete. Safety kit is genuinely comprehensive: six airbags, ESP, traction control, TPMS, hill-hold, ISOFIX, three-point belts for all and front belt pre-tensioners with load limiters are all standard. The 8-inch touchscreen supports wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay but lags noticeably and uses a dated interface. Auto climate control is absent.
Value is where the Gravite makes its strongest case. With an ex-showroom range of Rs 5.65 lakh to Rs 9 lakh and the Launch Edition at roughly Rs 9.76 lakh on-road in Mumbai, it is the cheapest seven-seater on sale and around Rs 11,000-12,000 cheaper than the equivalent Triber. Nissan claims a 40 paise per km running cost, offers a 3-year/1 lakh km warranty extendable to 10 years/2 lakh km, and 3 years of roadside assistance. The closest rival is the Maruti Ertiga LXi at around Rs 10 lakh, which offers a larger four-cylinder 1.5L engine and more space. As a budget people-mover, however, nothing else comes close. Stablemate Nissan Magnite remains the SUV alternative.
"Comprehensive walkaround highlighting the Gravite's segment-leading feature list and seven-seat flexibility at a sharp ex-showroom price."
"A genuine value-for-money budget MPV that's let down by an underpowered engine but excels at practicality."
"Feels like a more upmarket Triber alternative with a great steering, but the missing turbo petrol and telescopic steering hurt."