I purchased my Indica Turbo DLG in July 2006 and the car stisfied my need of a low running cost car that offered good space also . Fuel consumption is decent 16 to 17 Kmpl on highway and 13 kmpl in city driving. Space for five adults is OK only the boot space is less. Everything was fine till 17000 kms when it started showing its true colours:
17000 kms one of its diesel pipe in FIP area leaked at a petrol pump.
21000 Kms Ac & Powersteering belt snaped
23000 Kms FIP deisel pipe leaked again
42000 kms Engine Seizure due to oil strainer getting loose .
I emailed reg service personal who refused to accept this as thier manufacturing fault and offered as goodwill gesturean amount of Rs.5000 on an estimated expense of Rs.60, 000/- I contacted the customer care cell pune for an honest introspection into my case. As I was victimized because of poor product quality as the strainer which got loose is purely a lapse at manufacturing process or due to poor design.
The response of customer care was in form of an email promising action and communication from thier side which never happened.
I was not in mood to spend close to 60000, on an unreliable car as there was no suriety of future performance. I taped local market & found that spare parts were priced ehorbitantly high at dealership. Turbocharber of Mico Bosch was available from Mico outlet at Rs 14000 while at Tata dealership the same costed Rs.35000.
With all genuine parts and work from a good workshop my repair bill came at 22000 as compared to 60000Rs. and the car is running fine and I have run 8000 kms post repair.
After this horrible experience I have concluded that tata products are good for Truck & Taxi operators only. The Technology platform and service levels of Tata Motors are one generation behind the competition. Apart from Indica I am using Innova & Wagon R. and I replaced santro with Indica turbo. The satisfaction levels these vehicles provide are simply on different Plane. That is why tata products are at bottom of JD Power survey. Tata motors products are never in direct competition in Market they have thier products positioned against market gaps, you cannot get a deisel hatchback at 4 lac, you save money but compromise on technology, comfort & Image.
I have vowed to never buy a vehicle from Tata Motors in My life