This review might be a little outdated with the whole Indica platform ready for a makeover in the near future. However it should be helpful for future Tata Petrol vehicle owners. So here goes my (rather long) review of my Indica Petrol LGi bought on July 21, 2005 at Pune.
Background: Our family has an old Indica Petrol Carburetted version manufactured in 1999-2000. Its still with us and is working ’fine’. I’ve learnt to drive on the old Indica.
However when I wanted a car for myself I wanted to go for one from the Maruti stable simply because of the percieved reliability factor. With all the Maruti small cars either too small or too underpowered or both, the Swift was introduced at the time when I was on the verge of finalizing which car. Unfortunately as soon as it was launched bookings went thru the roof and Maruti hiked the prices enough for me to start losing interest. I wasn’t in India at the time and by the time I was back there was a 3 months waiting period on the Swift. I wanted a car as soon as possible. With the Swift out of the way, though I did take a look at the WagonR the addictive spaciousness and power of the Indica (as well as familiarity with the car from the older one at home) drove me to finalize the Indica LGi. LXi seemed a little too overpriced for the features it offered.
Buying Experience: I bought it fron BU Bhandari Pashan and buying it was a decent experience. Thanks to some heavy discounts and freebies being thrown around at that time on the LGi I got Alloys and Tubeless at a discounted price. Other things thrown in ’free’ were paint protection, autocop, floor mats, door strips etc. The Vehicle was delivered to me in 4 working days flat including time to arrange for Car Loan. I paid the advance on a saturday and the car was ready next thrusday.
15000+ Kms on: It’s been 16months now and I’ve driven the car a whopping 16627kms in this time. Yes yes I know people are wondering why did I buy a petrol in that case. Only answer is "I like to drive a decently powered car".
Overall experience: I love the car FULL STOP
Service experience: 3 free services done so far. After each visit there was a confimation call form tata motors/ BU Bhandari asking me if the car was running fine. After first service (done in 4months because I had already clocked 5K kms) had to go back because the wheel alignment was still not proper. They fixed it in the second attempt. Second service (done after 8 months) was okay no issues after that. Third service was a fiasco. It was done after 15K kms and 6months from last service. The Indica Manual says change oil/oil fiter after 10K kms or 6 months whichever is earlier. This is a load of . Petrol cars are not meant to be driven 10K kms in 6 months when a much more FE diesel car is around. Worst part, TASCs usually ignore the 6months part and go by the kms. even though Oil was changed only 5K kms back it was already 6 months so they should have changed the engine oil and oil filter. They didn’t. I had to take another appointment to get the engine oil and oil filter changed. They bugled again and charged me labour for it whereas it should have been a part of the third service. They didn’t return the money but gave me a credit note saying it will be adjusted next time.
Overall TASCs still lack the professionalism that is expected for such a large selling vehicle.
There has been a constant gearstick clatter sound that is ’fixed’ every service only to return in 3-4 weeks time. I know its a very much ’fixable’ problem but alas... In the last service they tightened the door panels now there is a constant screeching from the driver side door. These are some very minor issues but they exist.
Major Issue (to be): The biggest bane of the Petrol Indica has been its silencer. A Petrol car is supposed to run less and in short bursts. This leaves water vapour in the exhaust system which eats into the metal and rusts it eventually leading to silencer failures. The old carb indica at home has had about 6-8 failures. We have stopped bothering about it now. The simple solution is to have a Stainless Steel silencer instead of the mild steel silencer because stainless steel is more resilient to rusting. 7 years on and Tata is still to introduce a fully stainless steel silencer. I have exchanged a few mails with them but at best their responses are misleading. At worst they are arrogant.
The Silencer of my LGi rattles a lot. Its been that way since it had run 2K kms. at each service they tighten the ’flexible’ joints but the rattle is invariably back in two-three weeks time. My doubt it that the infamous silencer failure is going to strike my LGi anyday now. When it does, I am going to get an aftermarket Stainless Steel silencer and have peace of mind.
Driving Experience: The car is simply a pleasure to drive. It’s definitely meant for the hightway. Get on a lonely stretch of highway and let it go full throttle. Its simply beautiful. I’ve touched 145kmph on the expressway and it feels steady as a rock.
Overall mileage from the 1400cc engine is 11.9kmpl (16627kms/1388.738litres in till last refuel) as today with about 80-85% time the AC being in operation. Best recorded fuel average is 16.5kmpl (95% AC pune-dadar on expressway) and worst is 8.7kmpl (100% AC and underinflated tires done deliberately for a cushier ’in-cirty’ drive).
My Final Verdict: I am happy with it. The FE is an acceptable compromise for the power and pickup it offers. But power and pickup is not always the criteria for other people. In dry cities like Pune the silencer rots slowly. So not much of an issue. Other than that there aren’t many faults in the car. I really find little difference in build quality of other compact cars. Its ignorable for the ValueForMMoney quotient.