[directinjection]

I would strongly suggest that your friend takes a look at the Fiat Adventure also. It costs about the same as the top end model of Marina, (probably less after discounts) but is an infinitely superior car. The huge difference in quality becomes obvious the moment you open and shut the doors of an Adventure. The Marina doors feel so light and flimsy in comparison. Feature for feature, the Adventure outclasses the Marina. Take test drives of the two cars and you'll find that out quickly. Even in terms of fuel consumption, the Adventure would probably win, if compared with the petrol Marina. Of course, Adventure does not have a diesel option and I don't know if that's a major issue for your friend.

Originally Posted by rajismine

I dont think Marina is really worth buying. Its the same indigo engine with same power and still a bigger body which makes the car sluggish.

I donot think so. I own one and the space give by Marina is quite good and it is quite useful car.

IMHO, every individual has some unqiue requirements. If the requirements are fulfilled by a car within individual restrictions/preferences (price, resale value, comfort, safetey,etc) and one don't mind/care of bigger-car(for city driving/parking,etc), having more place is always is an advantage(again this is subjective).

So First one has to be clear, what are the requirrements -- again this subjective.

Once we know what are requirements, it is easy to filter (or any thing in our daily life) out unwanted options(in this case cars)

So Issuing statements like 'not worth buying ' may be true for your case.

BTW, I donot mind your saying it

Originally Posted by rajismine

moreover India is not really for the "Stationwagon" cars except the Tata Estate which was initially a hit but then failed misreably later on

Regards

Station wagon failed in India because:
* The manufacturers jacked the prices by lot-of-margin
* It is only station-wagaon with Diesel option 2.5 years ago(when compared with all mighty folks out there in Indian market)
* All the fundas of no-market are just market hype for covering their(manufacturer) failures of not able to sell the cars(mostly because of large price differential). It is just like golden-duck-adage -- Mfrs.(Toyotas,Hondas,etc) wants to sell less and earn more withe more profit/car. All these Mfrs. have not sold any small car and wanted to earn via big-cars. Now they see lots of potential in small-cars, and they will say that they will produce. Till few years back, they were saying there is no point making a small car here(for waht ever reason )

[GTO]

Station wagon failed in India because:

Also because of image. Or the lack of.

[Palio_2005]

It's finally what you like. I for one would definately go for the Marina if I had the dough.

[mithun]

My friend is one who drives like a Schumi (sic !!!) and most of his drives will be on village roads with occasional highway bursts. Handling is a very important element for him. So will there be any handling problem when compared to the Indigo sedan ?

And is the resale value pretty bad when compared to it's sedan sibling ???

[condor]

Suryam, well written.

Its the same indigo engine with same power and still a bigger body which makes the car sluggish.

Both have the same engine:
Turbo-charged 1405 cc Indirect Injection Engine with Intercooler Max. Power - 70 PS @ 4500 rpm Max. Torque - 13.5 kgm @ 2500 rpm

Indigo kerb weight: 1070 kgs
Marina kerb weight: 1105 kgs

The difference is 35 kgs - a teen-ager's weight. How can such a difference make one more sluggish than the other. If I were to use this logic, then any car with a second passenger will become sluggish.

Tata Estate which was initially a hit but then failed misreably later on

The estate had some features that would put some of today's cars to shame. Tata's should have developed the Estate - they would have had a winner on their hands.

I would strongly suggest that your friend takes a look at the Fiat Adventure also.

yes, the Adventure is definitely more refined and better styled

The Marina doors feel so light and flimsy in comparison.

Hardly.

... most of his drives will be on village roads with occasional highway bursts. Handling is a very important element for him. So will there be any handling problem when compared to the Indigo sedan ?

How can there be any difference? The two models are the same, except for the rear end. The Indigo will see the same fate [good or bad] as the Marina will.

And is the resale value pretty bad when compared to it's sedan sibling ???

Is your friend buying the car to use it or re-sell it? If it is to re-sell it, then one would rather not buy it. From personal experience, the service that the Marina has given me, the Indigo would never have been able to. It's got hell of a lot more space when I need it.

[kvish]

Originally Posted by mithun

My friend is one who drives like a Schumi (sic !!!) and most of his drives will be on village roads with occasional highway bursts. Handling is a very important element for him.

Your friend needs to atleast test drive the Adventure.... I am sure he will be impressed with the handling.... The ride quality especially on bad roads is way above in Adventure...
Having said that, if your friend is too much worried about the cost of ownership and drives a lot ( I mean in excess of 60Km per day) then it makes sense to buy a diesel one...

[karan561]

I think you should wait for the INDIGO LWB variant ..........

[vivekgk]

Hi,

I'm looking for a used car in Trivandrum, Kerala. I saw a 2006 Indigo Marina LX TDi at a dealer that's only done 40K km. The price being asked is 1.9 lakhs. I was amazed, because Indigos go for a lot more, and Marina was more expensive when new. Anyway, I got a bit suspicious at the low price and asked around. Apparently, Marinas are a lot cheaper, being rare and out of production. A mechanic/broker I asked also vaguely referred to suspension issues, expensive maintenance, and rust(!).

I'm not convinced though. because the prices/margins for Indigo sedans are larger. I've never read about the Marina having any issue except for image, Indians not being fond of estates. I'd like to hear about this from actual owners, ones who don't want to sell their car to me.

Does the suspension suffer from premature failure due to the extra weight (lasts only 1500km according to mechs) and is it hard to source parts like the rear bumper, windscreen, lights etc? And has anyone had a problem with abnormal rusting?

As far as I know, the suspension parts are similar to that of the Indigo, and pose no problem. Maybe the springs are stiffer to compensate for the extra weight, but the test reports do not mention any changes. In fact, they note that the suspension hasn't been changed from the sedan, listing it as a fault (towers intruding into boot).

I'm aware of the quality and service issues with Tata, and I'm okay with it. The car is cheap enough that such issues can be overlooked.

BTW, the same dealer also had a great looking 95 Merc 190D Automatic. The 190 is my favourite merc, but the price of 4.7 lakhs seems a lot for a fifteen year old car.

[Indiaman]

In the 65000km I have clocked up on my Marina diesel 2005 model, the only parts I have changed are the Clutch assembly(at58000 KM) and 4 tyres at 60,000 KM. So go ahead and buy it, it is a bargain at the price!

[deutscheafrikar]

Originally Posted by vivekgk

A mechanic/broker I asked also vaguely referred to suspension issues, expensive maintenance, and rust(!).
I've never read about the Marina having any issue except for image, Indians not being fond of estates.
Does the suspension suffer from premature failure due to the extra weight (lasts only 1500km according to mechs) ? And has anyone had a problem with abnormal rusting?

Nope to both your questions. I have a 2006 marina thats done 71k. I bought it second hand about a year and a half ago and have used it for 8k kms. I've changed the power steering pump, belts etc. The polybelt idler wheel bearing has gone again now. There's a bit of play in the axles. But no suspension problem.
If the car has genuinely done 40k check it well and go for it. Check the oil condition, tyres and tyre wear.

[vivekgk]

Originally Posted by deutscheafrikar

Nope to both your questions. I have a 2006 marina thats done 71k. I bought it second hand about a year and a half ago and have used it for 8k kms. I've changed the power steering pump, belts etc. The polybelt idler wheel bearing has gone again now. There's a bit of play in the axles. But no suspension problem.
If the car has genuinely done 40k check it well and go for it. Check the oil condition, tyres and tyre wear.

The car was sparingly used, apparently. And they're trading it in for a Dzire.

We cover less than 10000 km a year, most of it on state highway (technopark run and city errands). And we'll be keeping it for a few years. It's a replacement for our '98 M800 that we'd bought new and covered 50K kms till now. The only reason we're going for the Marina is because our running is so low, and because it's cheap. We weren't even going for a new car, as we'd had it repainted and upgraded to the 2006 look last year. Even got Yokohama rubber for it. Gonna be a great deal for anyone who picks it up.

It'll be a while until we cross the 60K mark, so not expecting much work to be done. In any case, it's the TDi, which is a pretty reliable motor from what I've heard. There was a 2008 CS DiCOR too, but I avoided it on advice from the Tata dealer!

Originally Posted by Indiaman

In the 65000km I have clocked up on my Marina diesel 2005 model, the only parts I have changed are the Clutch assembly(at58000 KM) and 4 tyres at 60,000 KM. So go ahead and buy it, it is a bargain at the price!

That's great news! Hope you have many more enjoyable miles of motoring on the Marina. BTW do you know of anyone who had rust issues on Tatas? First time I'm hearing of it.

Could you guys also give me some tips on what to look for while looking over the car? Any pitfalls to be avoided? Particular sounds to watch out for? Any parts particularly hard to procure? Any advice would be welcome.

[wanderernomad]

I have a Marina Dicor 2007 and have used it for pretty long hauls. The boot has also seen a fair share of weight being lugged around in Hills. No suspension related issues till now. NO rust or anything else. If the car doesnot seem to have any visual problems buy it. The only difference I can make out between a Dicor and a TDI is the engine noise in high rpms and the acceleration issues, plus the tdi is cheaper to maintain.

[vivekgk]

Originally Posted by wanderernomad

I have a Marina Dicor 2007 and have used it for pretty long hauls. The boot has also seen a fair share of weight being lugged around in Hills. No suspension related issues till now. NO rust or anything else. If the car doesnot seem to have any visual problems buy it. The only difference I can make out between a Dicor and a TDI is the engine noise in high rpms and the acceleration issues, plus the tdi is cheaper to maintain.

Oh good, I was wondering if anyone had the DiCOR version. I've been advised against considering DiCOR models by a mech who used to work at the Tata dealer/***. He says that some kind of 'pipe' in the fuel system needs costly replacement often, and that every DiCOR he's seen has a recently replaced or spare 'pipe' in the boot.

What are your ownership experiences regarding the DiCOR engine, maintenance-wise and performance-wise? I think it's high time that the DiCOR owners got together and started a DiCOR-specific thread regarding the caveats and the correct procedure for maintaining one. The one other thread in the forum turned into a bashing-defending contest.

Have any of you had difficulty in getting hold of Marina-specific parts like the read bumper, rear windscreen, rear quarterglass, tail lamps etc?

[greenhorn]

i know for a fact that the fuel filter gets clogged often due to the poor fuel that we have here, and the filter is very expensive (~2K as its an elaborate 2 stage setup) as opposed to 200 bucks for the regular TDI's filter