Team-BHP - Indigo petrol?

Hi all,
Would like your views on Indigo Petrol. It looks like a great VFM especially with the current discounts.

From what little reviews there is....the common factor seems to be poor engine refinement. Can somebody explain what exactly they mean by it? please:
What i am looking for is...does it make a major difference from a layman point of view?For example...in what way is the ikon/accent engine more refined than indigo?

The Accent GLE is surely more refined than the Indigo petrol.Not sure about the Ikon Flair though.We have one for close to 18 months now, and apart from the cheapish dash and unrefined at high revs engine, we are satisfied with it. It is very comfortable, great ride, and you get tons of space for the money. Go for the GLX version IMHO, the GSX is not worth it. At low revs, the engine feels quite refined. The FE in the city is a lowly 9.5-10 kmpl, and on a recent highway run, with careful driving, the best FE was 14.5 with AC on all the time. If the poor FE bothers you, u can always get a LPG kit. The boot is big enough for that.

New indigo 100bhp engine which will definately be more refined(Autocar has a short drive) is coming in next few months.
So its better to wait, or if you cant go for Ford fiest 1.4, or the ford 1.3. If you are not very tall then accent is good too

Refinement roughly translates to noise/vibrations that you can feel inside cabin. My main grouch against indigo is its gearbox. Shift is not at all precise and if you rest your hand on gear knob, you can clearly feel all vibrations. Try this during Indigo test drive and compare with other cars you have driven. Another problem is heavy body roll.

If you are fine with this, then Indigo is real VFM proposition. It's cheap (in terms of cost), it's spacious, it's stable in straight line and rides wonderfully well.

Don't buy Indigo, Tata will make you cry. We sold our car in less than 2 years because of accumulated problems and extremely bad service (parts often weren't available for months).

The engine noise level in petrol Indigo and Indica is quite high for a petrol engined car. Reminds you of the Fiats and Ambassadors of yesteryears.

In fact, sometimes I feel that there is not much difference between the noise levels of Indica/Indigo diesel and Indica/Indigo petrol. lol:

It seems in order to keep costs down, Tata made the barest minimum changes while deriving the petrol engine from the original diesel.

Another common problem with petrol Indicas and Indigos is that the silencer develops rust very soon and requires replacement at short intervals.

Well not everyone has teh same experience boom shiva...
I have not driven the Indigo as such, but driving an Indica Petrol with essentially the same engine I can say that engine noise is high at rpm above 3k...if that bothers you as it seems to do to so many ppl, go for another quieter car.
Gearbox is weird indeed but seems to get better with use.
Of course for space, comfort, decent service its a good choice.

directinjection: just saw your post....well while idling a cold car the engine noise is a tad high and also at higher rpm, but other than that I dont see how its the same level as a diesel Indica ???
Yes silencer has got a slight rust (prolly also coz its low height) but I dont need to replace it (after 1 yr)

Quote:

Originally Posted by directinjection

It seems in order to keep costs down, Tata made the barest minimum changes while deriving the petrol engine from the original diesel.

Petrol engine derived from Diesel? How?

@Boom Siva, I know you are pissed off at Tata's for your Indigo. But, it need not be the case with most others. Tsk owned few Indica/Indigos in his family and he seems to be quite happy with them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RX135

Petrol engine derived from Diesel? How?

The Indica/Indigo petrol engine is essentially the same engine as the diesel if you look at the specs: bore, stroke, engine block, etc. This was done to keep the costs down.

Way back in the seventies, Hindustan Motors converted the 1489 CC petrol engine of the Ambassador into diesel. The original petrol engine developed 50 BHP @ 4200 RPM while the diesel version developed 40 BHP @ 4000 RPM. Ambassadors fitted with this diesel engine did not go beyond 70 KMPH speed, except when going downhill. lol:

Incidentally, the 1489 CC Ambassador still continues in both CNG and diesel versions.

Quote:

Petrol engine derived from Diesel? How

Basically, the engine block of the petrol and diesel is the same. so what that means is that the petrol engine has an incredibly tough endine, since the engine block was actually desigendto withstand the presures of a diesel engine (and now a TDi!)

@m8002

Bro, go in for the Indigo. I have owned an Lsi for over 3 yrs and 35k kms...no probs till date. The only thing i that the tata petrols prefer sedate drivving, so as long as u dont want to rev the pants off the car, it should do just fine

keep in mind that you can get good deals on the car. 25K+ dealer discount and 5 % finance payout. so all in all u should be looking at a disc between 40-45 K

Cheers

Quote:

Originally Posted by directinjection

Another common problem with petrol Indicas and Indigos is that the silencer develops rust very soon and requires replacement at short intervals.

I agree. Our silence fell off after just 14 months.

I'm aware that other people may have had wonderful experiences with Tata. However, based on my own personal experience, and conscience as a decent human being, it would be wrong of me to not dissuade someone from buying an Indigo.

I agree with himanshugoswami, the Indigo does require sedate driving. Having owned both the Indica and the Indigo in the petrol guise, I can tell you that reliability is not too much of an issue. Rusting exhaust was a problem with the Indica2000 only after 3.5-4 years. But we didnt replace the thing (replaced the car with an Indigo instead). But I say, why not go for the LS TDi instead?

Indigo is pretty reliable. Adding indigo,indica and indigo marina This tata platform rings in largest sales. NOt even maruti and hyundai can beat it.

Engine refinement and gearshift along with some niggling problems here and there are drawbacks that you can turn your back on if you are not a car enthusiast.

Comfort is first class along with strong build, VFM pricing, large dealer network, easy to service and ON par FE.

Thanks for reply everyone....

My travel is around 12 kms( each way ) to office and an occasional trip to chennai/kerala....so i dont think diesel makes much sense.
I drive with a light foot( dont exceed 90/100 even on highways ). Budget was 5-5.5 lacs...but it looks like it is increasing to 6 gradually :-)