I'm currently driving an Indica 1999 petrol model. It was bought by my dad in Dec, 1999. That time, the Indica was quite a revolutionary car - homegrown, spacious, powerful. It was a family decision. The previous cars had been the good old Amby, on which I learnt driving, and an Omni, on which I perfected driving!
No use going through the years inbetween, as I did not drive it much, as I was in a different city from my parents. I got the car to myself a year back and thats when my story starts.
First of all, let me say that the Indica never gave any problems. Milage was an issue, sure, but then it has an old engine for heavens sake! With regular maintanance and no accidents, it cruised the highways of West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka, survived the city of Kolkata (Calcutta, for old-timers like me!) and putted along the roads of Bangalore 3 years back when most of the road-laying in Hosur road, Bannerghata, Whitefield was still being done. It has been one tough car.
I drove it down from Bangalore to Hyderabad as my sis, who was using the car shifted out of B'lore. Highway milage it gave that trip was 16-17!!! Seriously! Speeds of 100-110 max. The only incident that happened was that the exaust pipe holding broke. Had to tie it with a wire.
After driving it around for a while in Hyd, I got a bit ambitious....(greedy?). I wanted to fit an A/C, Power windows and an CD/MP3 system. First up was the Music system. It was a straight-forward process, Pioneer HUD. Got it done from FastTracks, Minister Rd. Next, was the power windows. This was done by Malik Cars, Tata Motors dealers, with whom I used to get the servicing done. Finally, I fitted the A/C, again from FastTracks. Now, after that the car began to give problems. Within a week of fitting the A/C, the car began refusing to start. On calling a mechanic, he said that the Battery was drained. Fine! Got it charged and after 2 days, again...... Phusss. Car did not start. Reason - dead battery! This time I replaced the battery buying a new Exide one. All was fine for 2 days when again phussss...... dead battery. By this time, I had got well aquainted with the Mallick Cars breakdown service guys and the service station! They finally said that I had to change the alternator as the existing one was not taking the load and hence the battery was not getting chanrged. Had to dish out a hugh amount for it! But I changed it and things were fine for a while. One day belore I was to go on a planned outstation trip, the car stopped in the middle of the road! And that was the begining of my engine troubles! To cut a long story short, I was facing the following repeated problem - The engine refused to pull, and would die if revved. God knows the number of times I got stuck in the middle of the road due to this. It was a running joke with my friends as to whether the car was at my place or in the service station. Got many engine parts changed but still there was no permanent solution. During this time I lost faith in Mallick Car. They finally used to say that it is an old carb engine and nothing much can be done. One part (can't remember the name) needs to be replaced, but there is no stock as the current MPFI engines do not use that part. It reached a point when I took delivery of the car from the service station and enroute home it stopped!!! A friend who was with me does not forgive me, even now, for making him push the Indica in the middle of office traffic!!! After this, I gave up on the authorised Service Centre and looked at the local garages. Finally gave it to one local garage that got it working fine...with a lot of misfires. And they did this by not replacing any part as mentioned Mallick Cars!!! The bill came to just about Rs 1200! The misfiring issue was finally sorted by another local mechanic who replaced the spark-plugs. So that is the saga of my misadventure with my car, which I possibly have been guilty as well! I thought of sharing this with you so that others can learn from my experience.
Ok. Cost till date -
AC - Rs 25K
Power Windows - Rs 11.5 K
Battery - Rs 4.5 K
Alternator - Rs 10 K
MP3 - Rs 6 K
New tires - Rs 2K (one of the OEM tires burst!)
Misc maintainance - Too much. I estimate atleast 10-15K..... most was after adding the power windows and A/C
I estimate, I spent over Rs 70K on the car!
The A/c is currently disconnected, but the power windows are running perfectly fine. Will be giving the car to a garage as I think the clutch wire is loose, as the gears are not catching properly.
All in all, I love the Indica. I personally feel that it will not let you down if you treat it well. It is one tough car. To give an example, the car was once accidently (don't ask! Sis was driving!) rammed through the roll-down steel garage shutters of the previous house. It came out with minor scratches on the bumper and bonnet and windshield (which was replaced). That was it! The steel shutters, on the other hand, was bend outwards. I personally think the old Indica models are tougher then the current ones, although the new ones are more advanced, in other departments, technologically, aesthetics and features. It was in this Indica that I hit the max speed of 155 kph on the Kolkata-Shantiniketan Expressway, over 5 years back.
Would I buy an Indica again? Hmmm. Frankly, I'm spoilt by the space. I cannot sit in any of the other hatches (below Rs 6 L) as I feel cramped! The only other hatch that matches the space in my opinion is Getz. Swift too felt very cramped. (I'm 5-10.5' btw). Note: I've not sat in the U-VA, so cannot comment on that, although I feel it would be spacious as I know the Aveo space well. I'm also not considering the Fusion and SRV which should/would be spacious, but is out of the price segment I mentioned at the start of this para.
Basically, my next car would be a 3 box. but if I were to buy a hatch, I would prefer a Getz over the Indica, as my maintenence experience shook my confidence in the service provided by Tata. But I still cannot feel negative against the Indica, call it owner's bias or foolishness.
Btw, with summer approaching, I'm seriously tempted to reconnect the a/c! But not doing so, as I'm haunted by the past experience. Any suggestions regarding this would be very welcomed.
End of story. Ok.... you can now send the brick-bats.......