This would my first review that I have ever written for anything but I could not resist writing one for the TATA Indigo- which I had the pleasure of driving for a month. I had come for a short vacation to my native place in Kerala and one of my friend offered me his Indigo( It was an Indigo LS) for the month time I was there. <P> Very frankly I was very skeptical about the whole TATA -Car thing that comes up as I have heard many comments as TATA cars would be like driving the truck and etc etc.. This happened in Feb - March and anybody who is from Kerala knows the heat and humidity at that time. Driving the car the first time was a surprise and shock for me. It was very spacious and comfortable inside. The seating provided a very good view of what is happening in front of you. Though the Car was parked in hot sun within a minute the powerful A/C changed the condition inside the Car. Soon I was going along comfortably but cautiously. Being used to petrol cars I could feel the difference in driving the diesel engine. It took me three days before I could try the fifth gear (May be I was over worried about this being a Diesel Car). One thing that I noted very clearly is that the Car would be very slow to start and once you pass the 30km/h mark you can feel a gush of power and pick-up feel to be very good. Again as I am not an expert in Car’s or Engines I would attribute that to the Turbo Charger. I used the Car for one full month and drove around 4000Km in all. Mileage was one of the best part- For a long trip that I had to Bangalore I had the Diesel Tank filled (41 Liters) and started from Kollam 700Kms from Bangalore at 6.00 AM in the morning. I had my parents also with me and we had the AC running all along till 6.00 PM when we reached Bangalore and the tank had at least 3-4 Liters left. I would give it an average of more than 18Km/liter. The Length of the Car is on a higher side - though with the Power steering driving the heavy car was a breeze it becomes a problem with U turns as the turning circle is faily high. The Boot is really really big - I mean it.There is lots and lots of space and you can stuff a lot of things in there. This is even after having ample leg room for both the front and rear passengers.<P> Now to the parts I did not like. <P>The console controls were made of very cheap plastic and was of very Inferior quality. May be TATA was trying to cut cost here but for me the Blower knob just came off and then it would not turn. The Cluch pedal is positioned slightly high-( I am not sure if that can be adjusted ) I caused a bit of strain driving the bangalore traffic. TATA dealers/service centers are always over crowded and when there was a small leak with the coolant system ( I don’t know how the leak happened as I found coolant on the floor after I parked the car) we had a tough time having them look at this . I don’t want to name the dealership I went to but it was overcrowded with all the Indica taxis- (which is very popular) for servicing and repairs. May be TATA has to expand its servicing network like the Maruthi.. However when I returned the Car after a month I had a new picture on TATA cars. If you are looking at Value for money this is the Car for you. I had a look at the LX model when I was at the dealership. That was even better in terms of comfort features... <P>
Now if you are not concerned about economics of maintaing a Car this is not the one diesel car for you. May be the Accent CRDi ( I have seen a lot of praise for that) is the one witb performance and style but surely this would be a better bet than buying a Esteem Diesel or Zen Diesel.
I hope there would be a Direct Injection Diesel version of the Indigo soon as that would be the ultimate value for money car.
Pros : Value for Money Car
Mileage, Space and comfort
Cons: Poor Plastic for internal knobs
Service Network
OK I finally bought an Indigo LX EURO3.
The turbo charged engine comes with an intercooler also.
More over the coming days