Can Indigo LS be my first car & other Dilemma's

[SSenthil_velan]

Hi BHPians

I have read through a lot of your previous reviews and thoughts
but thought I should get an opinion from experts on my situation
exactly.

My initial aim was to go for a santro xing fully loaded but with
the thought of doing 40 KM / day I thought I will have a second
EMI in the form a petrol bill, I hate Indica because of a mental
block that my friend died in an accident in that car it was Indica
V1, so decided on Indigo LS BS III TDI(based on reviews).

The questions that I am unable to answer are

1) can a first car be a Indigo I am quite comfortable in driving
but I have not had a car of my own before nor have I driven for
long duration ? The usual trend I have observed is people first
get a small car and then move on to big car Is it the way it
should be please advise ?

2) Why I considered indigo -I felt the difference of price
between a hatch back and Indigo LS is about 80K to 1Lac but lot of
benefits in terms of space and the soaring petrol prices and
especially the FE indigo gives

3) There is a added dilemma to this that We might or might not
shift to our new house -If we shift I will drive about 40Km / Day
but if not probably be 15 to 20 KM / Day then ,is diesel
maintenance going maintenance going to be worthy with the 15 to 20
KM 's I do / day ?
4) From all your reviews I get to know that Indigo is value for
money especially with my stretched budget of a maximum of 5.5 lac
on Road which is exactly on road price of Indigo LS ,any other car
you all can think suits me ?

5) What will be the maintenance cost of Indigo per year aprrox
after free servicing are over ?

6) Will it be a problem if Indigo LS is not used for long time eg
10 days ,1 month ?

7) Which dealer in Bangalore is best in terms of service and
accessories
a) Prerana motors b) Manipal motors c) Concorde I have been
talking with all of them on negotiating with the free accessories
Please advise ?

8) Is ABS really needed for any car today , What is the Tandem
braking of INDIGO LS got to do with not needing ABS are they not
connected at all? forgive the ignorance .

I know my message it too long but it will be of great help if you
all can share your expert opinion on my case.

Thanks in advance

Regards
Senthil
Bangalore

[revharder]

Originally Posted by SSenthil_velan

but with the thought of doing 40 KM / day I thought I will have a second EMI in the form a petrol bill,

for your kind of travel i.e., 40 km/day a petrol car is suited. diesel car is suited for regular daily travel of about 70 km. anything less and you'll have to opt for a petrol.

Originally Posted by SSenthil_velan

I hate Indica because of a mental block that my friend died in an accident in that car it was Indica V1,

thats too sad.

Originally Posted by SSenthil_velan

1) can a first car be a Indigo I am quite comfortable in driving
but I have not had a car of my own before nor have I driven for
long duration ? The usual trend I have observed is people first
get a small car and then move on to big car Is it the way it
should be please advise ?

no need to get afraid of this thing.
since you are driving cars in past, so i am sure you'll manage the high-dashboard-no-bonnet view of Indigo!

imho, initially people goes for small car coz of higher costs of bigger cars and the fear of driving a "big" car, which can left them with a dented car!

Originally Posted by SSenthil_velan

2) Why I considered indigo -I felt the difference of price
between a hatch back and Indigo LS is about 80K to 1Lac but lot of
benefits in terms of space and the soaring petrol prices and
especially the FE indigo gives

to cover this gap of price between petrol and diesel models and to have the economy of diesel fuel, your run has to be about 70 km daily, atleast!

Originally Posted by SSenthil_velan

3) There is a added dilemma to this that We might or might not
shift to our new house -If we shift I will drive about 40Km / Day
but if not probably be 15 to 20 KM / Day then ,is diesel
maintenance going maintenance going to be worthy with the 15 to 20
KM 's I do / day ?

that will be very unfortunate for you.
coz diesel car needs to get a bit warmed up before using them to their fullest extent. so before you'll be getting it fully warmed up, your travel would have come to an end!
so car will not give you any mileage too!

Originally Posted by SSenthil_velan

4) From all your reviews I get to know that Indigo is value for
money especially with my stretched budget of a maximum of 5.5 lac
on Road which is exactly on road price of Indigo LS ,any other car
you all can think suits me ?

either go for that santro you first mentioned of.
or look for some other car in petrol models.

Originally Posted by SSenthil_velan

5) What will be the maintenance cost of Indigo per year aprrox
after free servicing are over ?

at every service, i guess with your 40 km/day run, i guess, you bill should averag at about 2-2.5K and indigo or any other diesel car needs about 3 services each year.
plus the cost of front 2 tyres. they tend to fade out in 20-25K kms!
plus some other repair bills!!

Originally Posted by SSenthil_velan

6) Will it be a problem if Indigo LS is not used for long time eg
10 days ,1 month ?

yes this might leave your battery dead!

Originally Posted by SSenthil_velan

7) Which dealer in Bangalore is best in terms of service and
accessories
a) Prerana motors b) Manipal motors c) Concorde I have been
talking with all of them on negotiating with the free accessories
Please advise ?

can't help you much on that.

but do ask for some additional discounts. haggle hard.
and ask them to give you cash discount in lieu of those accessories to estimate the exact price of those accessories!

Originally Posted by SSenthil_velan

8) Is ABS really needed for any car today , What is the Tandem
braking of INDIGO LS got to do with not needing ABS are they not
connected at all? forgive the ignorance .

if you can afford ABS model then nothing could be better! go for it.
but TATA didn't makes any ABS models!

[kvish]

Since you havent driven a car a lot, it would be better for you to buy a second hand M800 etc....get used to it...for about 6 months and later go for an Indigo.... Otherwise your heart will be on your mouth all the time you drive a new car... (especially if you arent comfortable with it) ....

[vivek.singh.73]

Originally Posted by revharder

for your kind of travel i.e., 40 km/day a petrol car is suited. diesel car is suited for regular daily travel of about 70 km. anything less and you'll have to opt for a petrol.

- > Not Correct, there is no rule that says that. It used to be the case only when the difference between diesal and petrol used to be huge. In this case Indigo is available at petrol car price so any saving is plus



thats too sad.




no need to get afraid of this thing.
since you are driving cars in past, so i am sure you'll manage the high-dashboard-no-bonnet view of Indigo!

imho, initially people goes for small car coz of higher costs of bigger cars and the fear of driving a "big" car, which can left them with a dented car!



to cover this gap of price between petrol and diesel models and to have the economy of diesel fuel, your run has to be about 70 km daily, atleast!

- > As I said earlier - not correct


that will be very unfortunate for you.
coz diesel car needs to get a bit warmed up before using them to their fullest extent. so before you'll be getting it fully warmed up, your travel would have come to an end!
so car will not give you any mileage too!

- > Not correct again !




either go for that santro you first mentioned of.
or look for some other car in petrol models.




at every service, i guess with your 40 km/day run, i guess, you bill should averag at about 2-2.5K and indigo or any other diesel car needs about 3 services each year.

- > Not correct again, service interval is 7.5 km

plus the cost of front 2 tyres. they tend to fade out in 20-25K kms!
plus some other repair bills!!

- Not correct again..and what repair bills



yes this might leave your battery dead!

- Why?



can't help you much on that.

but do ask for some additional discounts. haggle hard.
and ask them to give you cash discount in lieu of those accessories to estimate the exact price of those accessories!




if you can afford ABS model then nothing could be better! go for it.
but TATA didn't makes any ABS models!

I have put in my comments in above section, some of the comments are not correct. I would suggest..just go ahead with the choice and only downside to Indigo is not very comfortable to drive in neck-to-neck traffic because of tubo lag.

[Rayden]

Get an Indica Turbo
Price of a Santro and FE and space of an Indigo

[tsk1979]

If you can remove your mental block, go for the indica turbo. Otherwise indigo is a fine car. Low on maintainance, if you can live with the small little niggles which come up after 50000kms. Things like some plastic switch getting broken, some random vibration which comes and goes. The bane of that car is its poor quality cheap looking plastics and flimsy electricals. Nothing too much to worry about though.
If you want to steer clear of the Tata stable, go for the Santro. 40kms a day means that you will spend 160rs/day on petrol, and in diesel around 120rs/day in diesel car. This comes to about 1200rs a month extra. But then indigo is a "big car" and pretty safe too.

[Boom Shiva]

Your daily travel isn't enough to justify the higher costs you will pay to first buy, and then maintain a diesel car. I suggest you stick to petrol.

Santro is smaller but will give much less trouble than a Tata. We have owned both cars - Santro and Indigo Petrol. The Indigo was a painful experience, we sold it in less than 2 years. The Santro gave no trouble for almost 4 years. We then sold it and got a new Santro Xing, which my sister is using.

[prince85]

I agree with Boom Shive, the Tata's are troublesome cars. Their engines are crude, build quality and fit and finish is also not upto the mark compared to the other cars in their respective segments. I feel for your kinda use, a petrol car is better suited and at your budget of 5.5L there are quite a few cars which you can consider in the Hatchback, Premium Hatchback and the Entry Level Mid-Size segment.

Hyundai Santro, Wagon-R VXI, Swift ZXI and the Getz GLS Are a few really good cars you can consider in the hatchback and the premium hatchback segment.

Ford Ikon 1.3nxt, Maruti Esteem VXI and the Hyundai Accent GLE are a few entry level mid-size cars which you can have a look as well if you need a boot.

I suggest you test drive the above mentioned cars and then you would be in a better position to deciede. Take care and all the best.

Cheers

[SSenthil_velan]

Thank you all for your replies,

Vivek and RevHarder -I feel vivek is right in saying that since Indigo is available at the cost of a swift VXI or a GETZ i get Indigo LS so my operational cost will be comparitively less for diesel REV what do you feel ?

Vivek i didn't understand about the service interval being 7.5 km is it 7.5 K KM ?
RevHarder did you mean 2-2.5 K as 2000 to 2500 Rs as service cost 3 time a year ? Please advise.

Is the Turbo lag really going to be bad that it struggles to get on top of a fly over or crossing an intersection road ?

The other disadvantage in cosidering swift of getz is it has a very limited ?boot space i have a daughter and luggage is always going to be more and the cost is also same as getz or swift . Vivek I think i am in a position to decide now that i should go for Indigo LS but I will take a test drive myself before I decide .

KVISH-i agree that is what most of them do ,but in the process of buying and selling an old 800 i am sure i will lose some money on it as when i sell it ,it would be third hand right ? actual equation can be loss in selling second hand maruthi= cost of repairing dent of new car (I am hope i limit to dents and scratches only)

Please reply

Regards
Senthil

[goldie_malhotra]

Take a look at esteem - it provides good FE, has a boot, good performance and easy to drive, and has very low servicing and maintainence costs. In the long run, the TCO would be lesser than the Indigo, since you dont drive that much to reap diesel benefits.

Downside would be the aged design and cramped interiors.