L I had so many doubts about Indica V2. So many reviews made an issue of Indica’s inability to go through the traffic and the need to constantly change the gears. I went to the Malik motors and asked for a test drive. Their driver drove the car through narrow lanes from himayat nagar to the Indira Park gate without changing the gears much and I thought that he might be showing his expertise . Once he gave me the keys at Indira park gate , I asked my friend Vijay to test drive the vehicle and I sat beside him. He zipped through the slums at Indira park and even in that narrow lanes itself he incresed the speed and changed it to the fifth gear. Then on to the lower tank bund road and through a very narrow gap between a truck and very high tank bund of Hyderabad. While zipping through the Indira park slums even while children are playing he told me ’’gopal look. What a surprise. It is even better than my Wagner, but that is a petrol car’ and he took a u-turn in the midst of traffic and driving through he said “this was not indica car I drove some time ago. It is very different.Now it is good , they made a lot of improvements’’ and he drove through the narrow lanes back to the show room. I asked my friend to drive because he is an expert in car driving and also because he owns a wagnor and had not had so good an opinion about Indica. Later I practiced driving and I drove my new Indica V2 car along with family of wife and two grown up daughters through the traffic of Hyderabad at various times just to make sure whether I made right choice of the car. I find that Indica V2 is just going through the traffic without any problem and I drive though the normal levels of traffic in third gear. It picks up quickly after the change of gear. I demonstrated to my wife, while going through the morning traffic, how it is as good as a petrol car. To put it simply you feel comfortable and do not feel strain while going through the traffic. In bumper to bumper traffic it can even pull through in third gear but gives a ’booming’ airplane sound. The most disturbing factor was that I was disappointed while on the high way driving. I drove 2600 km in 25 days. At a stretch I drove 165 km or below. I found that when AC is turned on, the car was not going more that 90 km. This was the case when I pressed the accelerator to the bottom and held on to it. At one point of time on another day I suddenly noticed that it was going easily at 95 kmph and crossing 100 kmph., may be after 15 minutes which was absurd. I could feel the engine struggling and weeping under my feet. Then I switched off the AC. After a very little time it picked up. I rolled down the window panes and it was zipping through. I felt lighter with my feet on accelerator and happier as well. Every time I switched on AC, I went through the same types of feelings again. At one time I changed the gear back to 4th and the car could pick up to 85, 90 kmph easily but off course noise level increased because it was not a proper gear. I expected a problem for INDICA in traffic but there was no problem at all in running along, overtaking or running behind Zen, MARUTHI and a host of other cars in traffic. I did not expect any problem on highways but there I faced a problem with AC on. But I have to confess, without AC it was going extremely well and when I pressed the pedal a little it was picking the speed immediately and I touched 100 kmph easily. And yes the new car of 15 days gave me 18 km per liter diesel with AC on and off several times during a total run of 340 kilometer. When I reached small towns on the way, it was just zipping through the traffic with ease and smoothness all in third gear itself. I could slow down and pick up through the gaps in traffic all in third gear. After seeing the Hyderabad traffic probably the town traffic was nothing for Indica. During the Highway driving, the road grip was really excellent and so a MARUTHI gave me a chase trying to overtake me and then seemed to withdraw and after some time it was far behind. We all five people could sit very comfortably and without wavering or wobbling the whole body and engine was very smooth at high speeds even when the road was not good. And finally superb feature of INDICA V2 is that I can control the car very easily in an emergency. During highway journey at least twice I had to bring down the speed very quickly and it obeyed me so well that I was surprised that the car could be controlled so easily. But whatever the speed in fourth gear it is very easy to control and in fifth gear at the same speed it is not that easy to control the car. In the city Indica is giving mileage of about 13 or 14 km with AC on. The gear shift , you can never be sure, because the gears are not mathematically precise or at least that is what you feel. The gear shift is a bit rubbery and not precise. The Indica I purchased is DLG . The cost including life tax & insurance is Rs.4, 43, 000/= . (as on 04-04-05). The front two doors are automatic, AC & Power steering & defogging & central locking etc., . Additionally to fix a CD stereo (Sony Exploder with remote )it had cost me ( Sony Xploder)Rs.12, 500/= or Rs13000/= and seat covers another Rs.5000/= . So including other fixtures I think the cost has come to Rs.4, 65, 000/= In the interiors DLG version is much better than DLS and the difference is beyond comparison ! The DLS version interiors look very , very cheap. DLG version is soothing with features like automatic doors, anti-glare review mirror, internally adjustable review mirror, excellent child lock, central locking for the doors etc., The Indica is by all means an underpowered car and TATA should think turbo enabiling of Indica. The sooner they do the better it would be for Indica. At the same time Indica must be considered as the native baby , very much suitable to our environment and roads and it must be respected in that category. About the problems -- the horn was gone on day 5th and they replaced it free of cost. Front left side tyre air leak problem(good year) was solved, they replaced it free of cost. Single day journey 360km in intense heat of about 40 cent temperature did not give any problems . A total of 2660 km in 25 days gave no problems at all. While climbing up a hill with steep inclination it was at snails pace and I was happy that Indica could some how mount the hill in first gear !! This is the incident where I felt that Indica is definitely an underpowered car. Even a child could have walked alongside the car while it was climbing. Only mistake I did was I did not switch off the AC while climbing up and I took to the road meant for vehicles to come down and it was very steep. ONE MONTH AFTER FIRST SERVICE After the service the engine seems to have become freed from something unknown. I can drive now at 100kmph and 110 kmph with AC switched on. I have driven 3 and half hours on highway with AC switched on and in fifth gear. When I pressed the accelarator Indica is picking up speed quickly and reaching 100kmph very easily. When I held on to the pedal the speed is going up 110 kmph and more with ease and effort less. Only I had to bring it down. This made me happy.