[Stratos]

The Tata Indica Vista Refresh has been launched in India at a price of between Rs. 3.88 - 6.11 lakhs (ex-Delhi).

What you’ll like:

• Variety of engine options (Tdi, Quadrajet, Safire65, Safire90). Take your pick!
• Well-equipped from the second variant & over
• New interiors look and feel much better in terms of overall quality
• Improved gearbox, light clutch and light steering make for effortless city driving
• Spacious interiors. Roomiest in the segment; beats some sedans from 2 segments up
• Absorbent, comfortable ride quality

What you won’t:

• Fit and finish need improvement. Exterior panel gaps are inconsistent too
• Soft suspension setup. Best driven sedately
• Centrally-mounted instrument cluster takes some getting used to
• Niggling issues & irritants persist (as reported by existing Vista owners)
• Tata’s after-sales-service remains a gamble

The Vista D90:

Team-BHP's Review of the Vista D90 is located at this link

NOTE: Click any picture to open a larger higher-resolution version in a new window.

[Stratos]

Since the Tata Indica Vista has already been reviewed by Team-BHP, this report will only focus on the changes vis-à-vis the older Vista. For easy reference, here are direct section-wise links to the full Tata Indica Vista test:

Exterior Design & Build Quality

Interior design, space, practicality & features

Engine & Transmission

Other Pertinent Points

[Stratos]

The Exterior Changes:

The black strip appliqué improves the look of an otherwise bland rear:


New headlamp cluster, straight from the Manza:


New grille & larger logo on a mesh-net background:


Fog-lamps also get a chrome contour:


175/65 R14 tyres on dual-tone alloy wheels, standard on the GZX / ZX:


Chrome garnish on window sills, door handles and rub-rails:


Spacing between the letters of the TATA logo has increased:


Expectedly, with the new branding, the Indica badge gets smaller now:


Dark outline of the tail-lights matches the black strip nicely:

[Stratos]

The Interior Changes:

New dual-tone interior looks & feels good. Steering-mounted audio and bluetooth controls:


New electric switches replace the regular sliders for HVAC air-circulation modes. Only on the top variant:


Integrated audio system with Blue5 standard from the second variant (GLX / LX) onward:


2-way adjustable lumbar support:


Tata Motors has usually provided their cars with minor / major modifications through the product life cycle, timed perfectly with intensifying competition. The Indica Vista has had a reasonable market run, thanks to the variety of engines that the hatchback is offered with. Still, too-similar-for-comfort looks to the 1st generation Indica, and the Indica branding, have kept high volumes away. With impending launches in the B-segment space (new Swift, Liva diesel, Brio etc.), Tata decided to give the Vista some enhancements, and boy they have played it well. Unlike Maruti which refreshes their cars by replacing frosted lamps with crystal clear ones and re-launches it (we buy them too!) as an "all-new" car, the engineers at Tata Motors actually seem to have put far greater effort into the revamp process.



The most significant change is the Manza look-alike front end. Although Tata engineers say that it was a design change due to the market response, I personally think that the Vista and Manza should have gotten the same front end from the time of launch itself; just like the last generation Indica and Indigo. Changes on the Vista’s face include triple-barrel headlamps, a new grille with a larger company logo over a mesh-net background and a new bumper with fog-lamps. The rear end has also been slightly played around with. A glossy, hard plastic black strip runs under the rear windscreen. At first glance, this strip looks delicate & brittle, but it actually isn’t. The tail-lights have been subtly smoked, providing a dark outline which goes well with the black plastic strip. The Indian customer loves chrome and Tata knows this well. Chrome runs all over the body of the face-lift Vista, including the bumpers, door rub-rails, door handles, window sills and fog light contours. Even though there is an ample amount of chrome usage, it does not look ostentatious. The top-end variant gets 14 inch, multi-spoke dual-tone alloy wheels. All these exterior changes make the Vista look that much more mature.

Tata has shelved the older variant badges of Terra, Aqua, Aura and Aura +. These have been replaced with LS, LX, VX and ZX for the diesel models, and GLS, GLX, GVX and GZX for the petrol cars.

On the technical side, there have been some changes too, albeit they are barely noticeable. The available engine options remain the same. All test cars in this case had the Quadrajet diesel engine that produces 73.5 BHP @ 4000 rpm & 190 Nm of torque starting at 1,750 rpm. The engine remains immensely sluggish upto 2000 rpm, at which point the turbo kicks in. For a family hatch-back, the diesel Vista has decent sprinting ability, thanks to the Fiat 1.3L engine. The car comfortably cruises at triple digit speeds, keeping itself stable all the time. On the flip side, the high turbo-lag negatively affects city driveability. The rack & pinion steering (which was light to begin with) has been worked upon to provide an even lighter steering feel. The rear suspension springs have been slightly tuned to provide a softer ride.

There are some improvements on the inside too. The top two variants get electric HVAC (in simpler words, this means that instead of a regular slider for the air-circulation, there are two switches performing exactly the task), adjustable lumbar support and "intelligent" rear wiper (which activates as soon as you put the car in reverse gear + when the front wipers are on) and tilt-steering. What comes as a nice surprise is that Tata now offers a 2 DIN Music System with FM / MP3/ CD with 4-speakers and 2 tweeters, AUX and USB port, Blue5 Bluetooth Connectivity, steering mounted audio-controls and keyless entry right from the LX / GLX variants. Definitely, a first in its class! The top variant ZX / GZX get driver and passenger airbags, ABS with EBD (also available in the VX / GVX) and 14 inch alloys wheels.

Two important things that I think Tata Motors should have added are a dead pedal and height adjustable seat belts. Secondly, the lumbar support just doesn't make the cut, and lacks the expected support to your lower back.

[GTO]

Wonderful review, and your 4th this year Stratos . *Rates thread 5 stars!

I've been a fan of the Vista (and Manza) diesel for the space, comfort & improved interior quality. In fact, I consider the Manza to be the best diesel sedan in its segment, more than even the Etios diesel. The only real issue with buying Tata cars are the frequent niggles & problems; trust me, as an owner of a 4 year old Indigo, I know a thing or two about the ownership experience. Nevertheless, I am hopeful that the Fiat engine & drive-train makes them more reliable.

Thanks for sharing!

[adg_andy]

Awesome review Stratos. I thought GTO said 48 hours to go for official review- that was a fast one!! There goes an addition to my list of probables . Not that I am complaining

[driving_smartly]

Really Good Review Stratos

1. How is the overall handling now, is there any improvement ?
2. Why i20 was missing in the comparison list ? I know the i20 is in different league, though having it specifications in comparison would have been good.
3. Also would have loved micra in comparison list
4. Does the gear shift feels smooth ? when i had tried a drivetech4 version 3 months back it was not so good.
5. How does the power window switches and buttons on dashboard feel ( Cheap or Good), are there any panel gaps ?

Last Review by FlyingSpur for vista90 and he had Stated as follows (taken from http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ml#post2112391)

A. "Build quality as well as the fit and finish on our test car was not up to the mark. Several spots showed inconsistent panel gaps, both on the exterior as well as the interior"

B. "Inconsistent gaps around the rear tail lamp "

C. "A brief adjustment of the external driver side ORVM resulted in this happening on one instance. A gentle push and the panel snapped back instantly"

D. "Buttttttt this happened when I was done with driving for the day, and flicked the driver's side window switch up! "

Any improvement Compared to these ?

[sushantr5]

Excellent review. Rated 5*.
I am using Vista QJD for past 2.5 years and clocked 65000 KMs on it. Vista is infact very underrated car and lot of people goes away from TATA brand perception and their preconceived notions. I find really hard to convince people to have at least a look at Vista while purchasing new cars. I would like to add...
1) Tata Service is always considered really bad which is not the case in reality. For me service quality has been always excellent. Warranty replacements are never a problem in TATA service centers. Though I do not get Tea Coffee at service centers but car servicing is really excellent at least at the places where I do.

2) Suspension is fine tuned for superior comfort. It is not not boatish as Hyundais or it is not hard either. Road undulations at high speeds on highways are gobbled up by this car and you never feel those on in car. Though you get little body roll with this but which is manageable.

3) In my case rattling is very less compared to others and this is in-spite of driving this car on country roads.

4) Braking was really bad in previous Vista's compared to others. I think this has been improved in Refresh and adding bigger Discs at front.

5) Spare parts are dirt cheaper. Even cheaper than old Indica.

Only thing is that this car is suffering due to brand image. Had it not named Indica from the first day of launch then it had been market leader by now. Though numbers it is doing are great but not to expectations.

As human I can not stop demanding more...
1) Manza dashboard could have added lot many numbers for TATA. But sad TATA could not recongnise this customer need and still they say we hear customers.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by Stratos

Tata now offers a 2 DIN Music System with FM / MP3/ CD with 4-speakers and 2 tweeters, AUX and USB port, Blue5 Bluetooth Connectivity, steering mounted audio-controls and keyless entry right from the LX / GLX variants. Definitely, a first in its class! The top variant ZX / GZX get driver and passenger airbags, ABS with EBD (also available in the VX / GVX) and 14 inch alloys wheels.

That is great. Couple of queries regarding ICE.

Did you get a chance to experience the ICE to compare it with typical Pioneer HU + JBL speakers system.

And, who is OEM supplier for HU?

[sushantr5]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

That is great. Couple of queries regarding ICE.

Did you get a chance to experience the ICE to compare it with typical Pioneer HU + JBL speakers system.

And, who is OEM supplier for HU?

As per my knowledge Blaupunkt is the maker of this head unit. When I heard the ICE in Manza I was not satisfied with its performance and quality. Speaker upgrade will enhance this by leaps and bounds.

I am having Clarion OEM system in my Vista. It had very radioish quality due to speakers but when I upgraded to JBL speakers, man it is now excellent basic setup you can consider.

[NetfreakBombay]

Thanks for the reply.

Originally Posted by sushantr5

I am having Clarion OEM system in my Vista. It had very radioish quality due to speakers but when I upgraded to JBL speakers, man it is now excellent basic setup you can consider.

Which speakers are supplied out of box? From the pictures, it seems car has provision for :

1. Tweeters
2. Fronts in Door pad
3. Back doors

[sushantr5]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

Thanks for the reply.



Which speakers are supplied out of box? From the pictures, it seems car has provision for :

1. Tweeters
2. Fronts in Door pad
3. Back doors

I could not figure out original manufacturer of the speaker but kinda looked local brand.

[NetfreakBombay]

Oh, I meant count of speakers. Does it come with 6, 4 ,or 2 speakers.

[vista_qjd]

Originally Posted by sushantr5

Excellent review. Rated 5*.
I am using Vista QJD for past 2.5 years and clocked 65000 KMs on it. Vista is infact very underrated car and lot of people goes away from TATA brand perception and their preconceived notions. I find really hard to convince people to have at least a look at Vista while purchasing new cars. I would like to add...
1) Tata Service is always considered really bad which is not the case in reality. For me service quality has been always excellent. Warranty replacements are never a problem in TATA service centers. Though I do not get Tea Coffee at service centers but car servicing is really excellent at least at the places where I do.

2) Suspension is fine tuned for superior comfort. It is not not boatish as Hyundais or it is not hard either. Road undulations at high speeds on highways are gobbled up by this car and you never feel those on in car. Though you get little body roll with this but which is manageable.

3) In my case rattling is very less compared to others and this is in-spite of driving this car on country roads.

4) Braking was really bad in previous Vista's compared to others. I think this has been improved in Refresh and adding bigger Discs at front.

5) Spare parts are dirt cheaper. Even cheaper than old Indica.

Only thing is that this car is suffering due to brand image. Had it not named Indica from the first day of launch then it had been market leader by now. Though numbers it is doing are great but not to expectations.

As human I can not stop demanding more...
1) Manza dashboard could have added lot many numbers for TATA. But sad TATA could not recongnise this customer need and still they say we hear customers.

Completely agree with your statements. Have been driving the vista for over two years now and could not have been more satisfied. No rattles so far and most comfortable to drive in the city and on highways. Only thing missing is the snob factor. In all a very practical, spacious, comfortable, low maintenance vehicle. TASS has been good so far and no major complaints.

[harimakesh]

What is surprising me is TATA not taking its real USP contender & volume siphoning Figo in pricing the Vista instead TATA takes Vista VX with Swift VDi heads on.

Figo Titanium has 21% more boot space 285 liters and features @ 60K less than Vista ZX.

Top model Vista ZX OFFERS against Figo Titanium @ 11% higher Price are 1. alloys 2.steering audio controls 3.rear power point 4.rear power windows 5.fog lamps 6. remote entry key 7. 60:40 split seating as worthy additions .

To me the Vista ZX must have been priced at VX pricing along with removal of center speedo & association with Indica totally which could have generated the required adequacy of magic power to pull more private buyers towards Vista nullyfying woes associated with it.

Tata marketing guys have succeeded in terms of features on TOP two variants but gone a bit optimistic in their pricing! Let us see how the small lettered Indica and center speedo plays its psychic on private buyers as taxi fleet darling 25kmpl old gen is also called Indica!