I had bought this car in October 2004 and have now driven more than 60, 000 km and hence feel like a veteran in writing an Indigo LS review. I think(along with a neighbour of mine, who also owns an Indigo) that it is an excellent buy for its price. I used to drive a Matiz before this and it was a little difficut to get adjusted to the heavy feel of a diesel car in the beginning. but actually it is not so heavy at handling and after a few months of driving it actually became quite good.
The best part of it is the mileage. it has been giving me 17 kmpl consistently in city conditions with AC. I do not drive around in too much traffic as my routes happen to be be less crowded most of the times, but still 17 kmpl in city conditions is actually impressive. On highway at high speeds(90-100 kmpl) it still gave me a slightly better average.
The major downside is the lack of power the moment the AC is put on. It suddenly becomes a bullock cart and all of us indigo drivers have become masters at finding the AC switch reflexly just the way we reflexly hit the clutch when we slow down. so the AC is put off with my left hand even without me realising whenever I have to accelerate or start off at the traffic signal. With the AC on, it may be impossible to start off and one may have to go through the embarassment of stopping the traffic on a green signal!
The power steering is fine and so is the braking. The seats are high and really comfortable. The ride quality is good and the boot space is adequate.
In these 4 years, I have not had to pay exorbitantly for any sparepart and things have been good. THere has been no breakdown and I have been to work every single day on this very sedan of mine. I have been getting my car serviced approximately twice to thrice every year and it is doing fine that way. Only recently I have had to change the headlight bulbs. Lately though, the steering is making a mild creaky sound but I guess it is just one of those things that would be ok after a service.
There is a storage space underneth the steering wheel(the TATAS seem to have made it akin to the ones that they have in their trucks!) - this is an extremely good utility space and is really innovative as I do not think any other car has this feature.
In all. I would say this is a really good car to buy for its price and is highly recommended for people who want to upgrade smalltime from a hatchback to a sedan.