Got an Indigo GLS in the family for about a month now.Looked at other cars in the segment like the Ford Ikon Flair, and the new Esteem. We noticed the following shortcomings for the above vehicles.
Flair :OK overall, but uderpowered and considerably less value for money.
New Esteem : Excellent performance slick gearshift, refined and reliable, but terribly
cramped.
Indigo wasn’t even our first choice, because we had lived with an Indica2000 LEi for 4 years and 30000km, and were not exactly impressed. So I was kinda apprehensive about going for the Indigo. We were used to the spaciousness of the Indica, so top of the line smaller hatches were out of question.So, after fretting about it for months, we finally decided upon the Indigo.
Until the day it was brought home, I thought it would be exactly same as the Indica, save for the boot.But I was wrong. Small things, like the way the doors shut, to the knobs on the centre console feel different.
Likes : It has a 1.4L 85bhp petrol engine that offers decent levels of performance. It is no Honda City VTEC, but it is no slouch either. Our car has only about 800km on it, all of it on Pune’s roads, mostly in heavy traffic. The fuel effeciency, though not impressive, is a decent 10kmpl in these conditions with the aircon on. The aircon has to be simply the best in this class.
It chills you to the bone unbelievably fast! This adds to the comfort level of what is already a very comfortable car. The excellent rear suspension works like a dream, and you can waft over potholed roads in limo-like serenity.It is the roomiest in this class with the most comfortable seats. Add to that the very practical large boot, and you will understand why you see so many of them on the highway.Though our Indigo has not had the opportunity to stretch its legs a bit, I expect the highway performance to be pretty decent too.
Dislikes :
It is not a perfect car though, and still suffers from some time honoured Tata problems. Like its engine. Though it feels quiet and refined at low revs, push it a little and it starts getting noisy and unsettled.Not too much though. Second is the gearshift quality. The 5 speed ’box in the Indica felt like it was tryin to move in slush. They have changed this in the Indigo, and now it feels like its been set in concrete. It just refuses to budge sometimes.Then there is the cheap central console.
But one tends to ignore these issues when one takes into consideration its sub 5 lakh price tag. And the spares are cheap too.
Overall a pretty decent car, sold at an indecently low price tag. If snob value is not
important for you, the Indigo is a no brainer!