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Old 14th March 2009, 22:20   #31
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Hmm...

We have an Indica and Indigo in our family.

The Indica is used by me and by mom, mainly in the cities, with the weekend highway runs. So, it is decently maintained except for a huge dent (which will be hopefully repaired soon).

On the other hand, the Indigo is dad's office car, thorough workhorse, chauffer driven, does five times the monthly mileage than our Indica. Although, it is just over a year old, it looks older than our five and a half year old car.


Dents and scratches on Indicas
The Indica is a pretty bublous car with a decent number of blind spots and protrusions. So, getting a dent on it is pretty easy. :(

General bad maintenance
As most have pointed out, most of the Indica/go etc. users are taxiwallas who have migrated from Ambys, Mahindras, Sumos etc. Hence, the bad maintenance.

To quote my uncle, who is an enthusiast himself and has owned a host of Tata cars: "A Tata Car... buy it, thrash it for two-three years, sell it and buy a newer one!"
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Old 14th March 2009, 22:32   #32
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Another big factor here is the frequent upgrades that have happenned to the Indica platform.

To give an example, a cousin of mine bought the NA Indica diesel. He was proud of his car. Within a year or so, there was a Turbo version in the same pack and his car became a bit outdated. He was still with it.

A few months later the Dicor was released on the Indigo. We began speculating the eventuality of that percolating down to the hatch. I could easily observe that he was losing interest in his proud steed.

Then Dicor did happen. Infact after having driven the Dicor Hatch, the NA felt like a road roller (apologies to both the hardworking machines, the road roller and the NA Indica).

Result: He drives a Swift Diesel now. The Indica, though not sold, is subjected to abuse duties.

Last edited by 1100D : 14th March 2009 at 22:33.
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Old 14th March 2009, 22:32   #33
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hey I'm not talking about the taxiwallahs , who are already excused. this is about people who can ( and in some cases , do ) look after their cars well, yet treat tata vehicles like crap. I guess your uncle's answers it.

Yes, I too was taken aback when the Dicor happened. I knew it would happen soon, since my car's manual was a shared indica turbo/dicor one.
but then again, posts over at TIUG and elsewhere about the complexity of the dicor engine, and the way it needed better fuel, and more ways that could go wrong ( and had , too )

Then the Indigo CS happened. Just a 40k more and you could have gotten a sedan, and more importantly for me , the rear anti roll bar which makes a world of difference, but then again, it looked identical, so not a lot of love lost. then the indigo CS got the Headlight and grille upgrade. I do like those headlights. Those single reflector headlamps do look boring. god forbid, say if an accident should happen to them

then the vista TDi was launched. identical engine, next generation product, at the exact same price.Again, that's still okay, because the bugs still havent been ironed out, and it is a vastly slower car.

Of course , If i could afford to , I too would switch to another car, but in the meanwhile , that doesnt mean i get to trash the car.

You dont see ford ikon owners neglect their cars when the nxt and the recent facelift was released.
you dont see OHC/baleno owners love for their cars diminishing NHC/ANC/SX4 notwithstanding
I dont see many palios or matizes getting trashed despite the stile/MJD and the spark

the worst case is the m800/first gen santro/esteems which are still mostly well looked after by their second owners

I guess its a tata specific disease. Seen a lot of trashed first generation safaris and sierras as well

Last edited by greenhorn : 14th March 2009 at 22:47.
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Old 14th March 2009, 22:33   #34
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I think its just a combined effect of the niggling issues, the rattles that never go, the agricultural pedigree noisy engine, the gear that hangs loose after some running and the very aspect that people going for the indicas are mostly looking at a very practical mode of transportation from point A to Point B. Most people i know who own an indica treat it just as a machine. The other extreme is the FIAT owners who mostly drive with their heads outside the window trying to figure out "where is that sound coming from?". And you can be sure that most others might not even hear this very minute vibration.

And the irony is that these two cars are being sold and serviced at the same places
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Old 15th March 2009, 00:01   #35
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Yesterday I asked the service adviser whether it is necessary to idle the engine for some time after starting and before turning off. He said yes. Then I asked him why the Quadrajet user manual doesn't mention it. He answered he doesn't know. Then I asked whether he advises the customers to do so. He said no since they will get angry and tell him not to teach since they have been driving for so many years and know better than him.
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Old 15th March 2009, 00:09   #36
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 1100D View Post
Another big factor here is the frequent upgrades that have happenned to the Indica platform.....

To give an example, a cousin of mine bought the NA Indica diesel....

A few months later the Dicor was released on the Indigo.....

Then Dicor did happen....
Ah! Pretty much sums up what i went through with my first generation Pulsar. It started being uncared for long before my car even arrived, so coiuldnt blame it on the car.

Slightly off-topic
On the bright side, running for thousands of kms without even an oil change, it still revs and pulls well. I am still guilty of neglecting it.
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Old 15th March 2009, 09:16   #37
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I got your point, greenhorn. I'd say this is true of all brands & models. The Indica / Indigo aspect is more visible because they are so many of them. After all the abuse, they still run & do their job - pretty much like the forum's beloved Mahindra UVs.
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Old 15th March 2009, 12:11   #38
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I too have noticed how Indicas are being abused. In my opinion, cars can be viewed as shoes, we all have one trusted, comfortable pair that we put through everything and never take care of. Most of us also have a second pair, more delicate, used only for the more pleasant journeys.

Tata's Indica is exactly that, the comfortable, rugged, abuse-able shoe we all rely on and love somewhere deep down.

cheers
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Old 15th March 2009, 16:53   #39
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My dad owned an indica a couple o years back. He had the opinion that the indica was tough.. real tough. Now, my dad who's normally a pretty sober guy would become a little kid drive the car like it's a SUV. He took it over anything and everything. Maybe, the unrefined nature and NVH make it feel like a tough car..not to mention the soft suspension gives you the confidence not to slow down over bumps...
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Old 15th March 2009, 20:25   #40
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I think one of the main factors is whether owners see their cars as something special or just an utility tool to get from point A to B. Its easy to tell from the moment someone is looking at a new car. There are people who are only concerned about space in the car and whether it will carry luggage. You know most of these people dont know/care about the handling, design or any other factor that petrolheads love. And these people usually mistreat the car due to lack of knowledge or lack of interest.
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Old 16th March 2009, 19:55   #41
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One of the best things about the Tata cars is that they are Resilient to all these torture trails.

in one of my trips to Goa during the good old Bellary mining heydays the car had to travel in the potholed roads (that doesn't sound realistic, better term would be moon craters) for nearly 40 kms from bhatkal to Honnavar during the night, I thought the wheels might come off any time but the car handled very well without any qualms and safely got us to honnavar for the night.
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Old 16th March 2009, 20:59   #42
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Just because a car is built strong is no reason to mistreat it. And I am pretty sure no car can handle bad treatment for prolonged periods of time. Especially idling and warm up. To not give a car a minute to warm up is one of the worst ways to treat it.
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Old 16th March 2009, 23:25   #43
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Quote:
Originally Posted by equinox22 View Post
Just because a car is built strong is no reason to mistreat it. And I am pretty sure no car can handle bad treatment for prolonged periods of time. Especially idling and warm up. To not give a car a minute to warm up is one of the worst ways to treat it.

Not required on all new gen vehicles. However a must for older carb'd vehicles.
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Old 16th March 2009, 23:39   #44
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I owned an Indica once, and took a lot of effort to maintain it in pristine condition. It still gave me a bunch of niggles though. Which brings me to a conversation with my dad yesterday:
(we're planning on replacing the Petra soon)
Me: Pa, why don't you pick up a Linea
Pa: Don't want the driver driving it. Let's go for an Indigo instead. We can use it like an Amby.

Note: My dad said this with a cow-like look of admiration. He considered Tata the new HM, and the Indigo the new Amby, all for positive reasons. Reasons like excellent load-bearing, cheap and omnipresent service, decent mileage, and nothing that a careless driver could really badly totally screw up. Do other people consider the Indica/Indigo as the new Amby?

Last edited by Ice : 16th March 2009 at 23:40.
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Old 17th March 2009, 11:26   #45
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One honourable exception . Indica Xeta owners. Most of them are the exact opposite. Most of the Xetas I've seen are positively glowing with wax/teflon, and are very pampered , with a lot of them sporting mods like stickers, badges, curtains , flowers, which border on the wacky
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