Team-BHP - TATA Indigo Manza Elan Quadrajet -Ownership Review.

Hello All,

Its always been a pleasure to read ownership reviews here on tbhp. With every review posted here one gets to learn so much about owning a car, each cars strengths and follies. The ownership reviews here are far more comprehensive than all those fancy 'long-term ownership' features we see in the auto mags. And its always been a wish of mine to post one such thread of mine and here it goes- Presenting to you our Manza Elan. The initial Buying Experience and Ownership review at 3700kms.

History 2008(if i may!)

Though a car enthusiast since a kid, the first car in the family came only in 2008 - a 50k km, 2002 model Alto Vxi. It was bought in Chennai at Jains in T.Nagar for 1.8L. It was on this car that me and my bro learnt to drive. The only thing we changed in the car mechanically was the 12in steel wheels to 13in alloys + gave it Michelin 155/65 tyres. Later I added a basic Pioneer 3050HU, with a used pair of JBL Gt937 speakers sold by 'Nitrous' (Thanks! The speakers are still running great!). The car is still with us, is quite battered, but still running strong at 87+K kms.

TATA Indigo Manza Elan Quadrajet -Ownership Review.-dsc00536.jpg

TATA Indigo Manza Elan Quadrajet -Ownership Review.-dsc00537.jpg

Cut to 2010.

However the itch to upgrade to a newer (bigger, better) car was geting stonger and in 2010 we started our car hunt. We had the following cars in mind.

We were looking for - Comfort and Space, Ability to handle uneven broken roads, power, Safety - Airbags+ABS.

VW Polo -

Great build quality. Interiors seemed dull, Backseat space was poor, and too low. Never took a test drive as parents werent impressed.

Hyundai i20-

Superb interiors, the blue lighting was all too cool. Quite Spacious, and a soft ride wells suited for the city. Since we hadnt decided on petrol or diesel we test drove both. The 1.2 Kappa was smooth but with a full load of 5 passengers it did seem to struggle requiring frequent gearshifts. Not exactly an issue as the gear shift were delightful. The 1.4crdi however was revelation as the only other diesel sedan i had driven earlier was an ikon tdci. The way the turbo spooled was very addictive and both my bro and me loved it. The only problem was the car was still seen as a spacious hatchback and not a sedan. 7.5L+ for a well kitted out hatchback did not work much in a Coimbatorean logic.

Fiat punto - Gorgeous Car, Lovely drivers position. Parents were not impressed by the rear seat, thought it was cramped still persisted with a TD of the Multijet car. Coming from an i20 the Punto seemed to be in superb control, but I really had to flog the engine to get the power. Sometimes a great chassis and ride which pulls you to drive faster may expose the cars lack of engine prowess. Having been put off by the punto we were in quite a contemplative mode when at the TAFe showroom we spotted the manza.

Indigo Manza-

Checked out the Car, Parents immediately impressed by the rear seat comfort. The car was big and the sedan effect was drawing admiration from us. Took a test drive, and first reaction was that this car is quite comfortable. The Ac seemed good, the NVH was quite low and the car was handling road surfaces well. Mind you the above impressions were quite flawed in the sense, we were driving around Race Course Road in CBE which is easily one of the better roads here, it was in the evening where the AC would seem comfortable and NVH levels were low as the AC was running. Never bothered to take the TD of the petrol manza as we were pretty much convinced of diesel.

However, the family was impressed and especially so with Aura ABS model that we decided to go for it. However due to some financial constrictions we were forced to postpone our purchase by two more months and then we decided that instead of buying the car in 2010 we should buy it in 2011. This was communicated to the Sales executive at TAFE.

Cut to 2011.

Having got to know that there was a refreshed model of the Manza on the way we decided to go to TAFE showroom to check out the car. Was very impressed by the new dual tone interiors though the alloy wheels were not to my liking. However the sales executives attitude completely turned us off. The guy was on the phone even when attending to us. Was extremely miffed and walked out of the showroom and went to GEM Motors on Mettupalayam Road. It seemed like a new showroom, and the executives were more than enthusiastic. They offered me a test drive of a brand new Elan (earmarked for TD) with less than 100kms on the odo. The Test route took me to small roads, broken roads etc and all the while mom was very comfortable in the back seat. A 10km test drive later we left very happy and pleased. GEM motors it was!

The next process was to identify the Car loan and thanks to someone who suggested SBI my bro got a great deal. The deal allowed us to upgrade from the Aura ABS to the top of the line Elan. We decided on the DewWhite colour as the tyrian wine colour felt very dull. We got a total Discount of 12k compared to the 2k that TAFE offered us. The only freebie we got a was the mud flaps, that too at the first service.

A few things I had to mention. Neither me nor my Bro live in Coimbatore. I was doing my MBA in Mumbai, while bro was based out Bangalore. The entire TD and showroom visit was done whenever we were in town. However during delivery neither me nor my brother were there hence no scope for the PDI. However, happy to say that the car did not have much niggles.

The Ownership Experience.

First things first, after we bought the car we realized with the current setup of our Gate the Car cannot be parked inside the house. Hence we quickly set about to re arrange the gate during which time the Elan was still with the dealership. The car finally came home after the gate was fixed.

First Impressions-

The Car felt big. Be it in the house, or while driving in the city or just sitting inside. The turbo lag or rather the rush of power after 2K rpm was something we need to get used. The beige interiors look great but get soiled so damn easily.

Had two out of city trips which made me realise how good this car is on the highway. The longer trip from Coimbatore to Hosur involved some nice flat out driving, heavy thunderstorms in the evening and some night driving. The car felt great doing all the three. The headlight were superb. During the thunderstorm almost every passenger car has parked to left with their hazard lights on, however the Manza had no problems, as the large wipers went about their duty and tyres providing lots of reassurance.

As usual there were the TATA Niggles

-the dashboard panel under the steering wheel was loose, a tap and it slotted back in place.

-there is a rattle coming from near the rear parcel shelf.

- Some door bushes are missing

-The left wiper leaves a small spot untouched

-The rear left door handle is extremely hard to pull

-The right front speaker(/tweeter) distorts badly.

-There was a metallic scraping noise from the front at low speeds, turns out to be some problem with the anti roll bar.

All the above problems have been sorted after the first service, except teh speaker issue which i really am not bothered about as i plan to change it soon. The roll bar issue was sorted out with me Rs120 presumably for labour.

One problem that has now come up is that the seat belt alarm does no work(buzzer), only a warning sign is present on the dials. Should take it up at the next service.

To note-

The Refreshed Manza does not have a Glovebox light, nor does it have the vanity mirror lights.

The Car has completed 3700kms now and the next service is due at 5000kms.

Accessories-

After a long search for Sunfilm, I finally settled on 3M Re35 for the windows and rear at Rs3600.

Since the car did not have floor mats, I bought a set for Rs650.

These are the only two additions so far. Next in list :

-Custom stitched Seat Covers
-Parking sensors
-Audio Upgrade - This will take time but I am looking at only upgrading the speakers and probably adding a 4Channel amp. Will need some suggestions here.

So I guess I will wind up for now, its been a long post (by my standards!) Will update with more pics and some interior pics as well.

I think this is the first Manza Elan on Tbhp, or at least the first ownership review, and I hope to keep updating regularly.

Cheers! :)
Sai

Hello Sai

Congrats and welcome to the Manza club.My responses in bold italics

Quote:

Originally Posted by sai_ace (Post 2386300)

Hello All,

However the sales executives attitude completely turned us off. The guy was on the phone even when attending to us. Was extremely miffed and walked out of the showroom and went to GEM Motors on Mettupalayam Road. It seemed like a new showroom, and the executives were more than enthusiastic. ..

TAFE Sucks big time. I have documented my experience with TAFE Chennai in the dealership forum.
...

The Ownership Experience.

First Impressions-

The Car felt big. Be it in the house, or while driving in the city or just sitting inside. The turbo lag or rather the rush of power after 2K rpm was something we need to get used. The beige interiors look great but get soiled so damn easily.
.
.
.
The beige portions are less in the earlier version and actually the refresh is a major disadvantage in this regard. My friends vista refresh has the same problem and feel that the pre-refresh option is better from a maintenance point of view. You could go for darker colored seat covers matching the dash. This will limit the area that can potentially get soiled.

Had two out of city trips which made me realise how good this car is on the highway. The longer trip from Coimbatore to Hosur involved some nice flat out driving, heavy thunderstorms in the evening and some night driving. The car felt great doing all the three. The headlight were superb. During the thunderstorm almost every passenger car has parked to left with their hazard lights on, however the Manza had no problems, as the large wipers went about their duty and tyres providing lots of reassurance.

+ 1 to that

As usual there were the TATA Niggles

-the dashboard panel under the steering wheel was loose, a tap and it slotted back in place.

-there is a rattle coming from near the rear parcel shelf.

- Some door bushes are missing

-The left wiper leaves a small spot untouched

-The rear left door handle is extremely hard to pull

-The right front speaker(/tweeter) distorts badly.

-There was a metallic scraping noise from the front at low speeds, turns out to be some problem with the anti roll bar.

All the above problems have been sorted after the first service, except teh speaker issue which i really am not bothered about as i plan to change it soon. The roll bar issue was sorted out with me Rs120 presumably for labour.

One problem that has now come up is that the seat belt alarm does no work(buzzer), only a warning sign is present on the dials. Should take it up at the next service.

No surprises. The quality assurance at the TML factory leaves a lot to be desired especially on the interiors and plastics. Some times it can get to your nerves. The manufacturing dept. lets down the design dept. (which continues to improve) down big time

To note-

The Refreshed Manza does not have a Glovebox light, nor does it have the vanity mirror lights.

Perhaps I am lucky with my aura+

The Car has completed 3700kms now and the next service is due at 5000kms.

Accessories-

After a long search for Sunfilm, I finally settled on 3M Re35 for the windows and rear at Rs3600.

Thats a good deal on the sunfilm. I paid 4K for the same. Perhaps you could have gone with CR35 (dark tints would have been a better choice on a white Manza)

Since the car did not have floor mats, I bought a set for Rs650.

These are the only two additions so far. Next in list :

-Custom stitched Seat Covers

Would recommend the options in Bangalore

-Parking sensors

-Audio Upgrade - This will take time but I am looking at only upgrading the speakers and probably adding a 4Channel amp. Will need some suggestions here.

I am a ICE novice but speaking to many and reading the forums on Linea/Punto ICE upgrade, I have gone and still going through many options on this. The underlying HU is the same between Manza/Vista/Linea and Punto with a different front Panel, blue tooth and interface. The HU does not have preamp outputs and the speaker outputs are 35W Peak, meaning that it can drive some low end comps only. This pretty much limits the options. I have tweaked the enhanced audio option to get the best possible sound to begin with. There is no base nor mid range.

On the upgrade, I have thought through the following option.

Option 1: Just upgrade the front comps to jbl gts-265c (Rs 4-5k). This it is a good initial upgrade but my friend tried the same set of speakers on both the front and back, on his Linea (with a similar set up) , and the sound clips like anything.

Option 2: Add high to low converter, 4 channel amp, upgrade the front comps and add a sub. Replace the rear ovals to something better.

Option 3 : Or dump the sub, upgrade the front and the rear speakers with a 4 channel amp on a high to low converter.

Budget Rs 15-20K

Option 4: Dump the HU and go for a new overall. The best option but very costly (add another 10-14k for a HU +3.5K for the steering controls)

Though would love #4, budget is a constraint and hence may settle for #2 or #3 and will decide shortly

Cheers! :)
Sai

Quote:

Originally Posted by raj_srini (Post 2387465)

Congratulatios sai_ice for your Manza. The alloys look good and so does the colour. I wish you several years of safe driving.

I'm curious to know about the roll bar issue. Where was the noise coming from and how was it fixed?

Thank you! There was a weird metallic sound coming from the front, especially at lower speeeds after the vehicle was run for some distance. It was like a groan. The issue was sorted out at the dealership where i took it recently (3.5K kms) just to get it fixed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRIV3R (Post 2387701)

Congrats on the Manza, sai_ace. Dew White looks good. We need some interior pics plus updates on FE. Thanks for sharing.

As for the raised stance from the rear, my take is this. If you brake to a stop and engage the handbrake with the brake pedal depressed, the rear sits down like this, in any car. The stance seems normal in the first pic clicked at the dealer's. (That yellow nano with the prancing horse in the hood deserves a place on another popular thread on t-bhp ;) )

The alto had a front right shunt, I believe? Please get the right ORVM fixed asap.

Cheers and drive safe.

Thank you! Interior pics coming soon. I dont know the actual FE Figures yet, but the DIS shows an average of 15.6kmpl.

I think the stance must be because of the reason mentioned, because the car looks normal now. Thanks for that explanation!

Coming to the Alto, it did have a minor shunt. however the car does have a new ORVM and some touch up done. Recently changed the wipers and put in new 100/80W bulbs as well. Apologies for the older pic!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sridhar K (Post 2387818)

Hello Sai

Congrats and welcome to the Manza club.My responses in bold italics

Thanks Sridhar! Your Manza thread has been very informative!:thumbs up

Regarding the Sunfilm, I did not want to have something too dark. The RE35 gave us the right combination of visibility and heat rejection. Also, the RE35 provides more heat rejection vis a vis CS35. Both cost the same.

The CR series are considerably more expensive, hence did not try it out.

Regarding the Seat Cover, I know a person here in CBE who can get me the seat covers done for ~6k. I have seen an earlier example of his work and it is really good! The craftsmen were a part of a famous car upholstery shop here.

And the audio, well my idea was option 3. I listen to everything from Carnatic to Death, hence I need to look at speaker options which are versatile, and powerful, ie, no amount of cranking the volume should distort the speakers. Same applies to the Amp as well.

So ideally, Front Comps, Rear Fills, 4 Channel amp and good Damping.

A few Queries though
- What is a high to low converter?
-What are the front speaker sizes fro Manza?

cheers!
sai

Quote:

Originally Posted by sai_ace (Post 2387890)

T

And the audio, well my idea was option 3. I listen to everything from Carnatic to Death, hence I need to look at speaker options which are versatile, and powerful, ie, no amount of cranking the volume should distort the speakers. Same applies to the Amp as well.

So ideally, Front Comps, Rear Fills, 4 Channel amp and good Damping.

A few Queries though
- What is a high to low converter?
-What are the front speaker sizes fro Manza?

cheers!
sai

The front speaker size is 5 inches.

High to low converter: Manza OEM system(Blaupunkt) does not have pre outs. If you want to add an amp to the OE system, then the amp has to be driven off the speaker outputs which have an higher voltage/power than pre-amplified output. A high to low converter converts the speaker level outputs to pre-amplified level (RCA outs) which then can feed the amp.

However, in theory there are amps that can take high level inputs that don't need this converter like Blaupaunkt Velocity.

Yesterday, installed the following at Jewajee
a) a 4 channel Blaupaunkt Velocity amplifier (rates have been slashed from around Rs 15K to < 10k) which has the ability to take speaker level inputs.
2) Upgraded the front comps to Blaupaunkt velocity ones. The front speaker size is 5 inches only. The new comp fitted into the existing slot itself.
3) Added the sub from my earlier getz.
4) The subs and the front comps are driven by the amp whilst I left the rear speaker intact to be driven off the head unit. The HU cannot drive anything more powerful than the current speaker without clipping. Probably will need to add a two channel amp to the current set up for the sub if I need to add better speakers

Went for the Velocity instead of JBL (amps) because the rates of velocity has come down and secondly it can take high level inputs. The new JBL speakers are 6 inches and alterations on the metal to fit them in and hence went with Velocity speaker. .

However after tuning, the audio system was humming with the engine sound. The high level input of the amp was picking up the engine noise, which was picked up by the front comp. Added a high to level converter for the front which has an in built noise filter and the problem was solved.

The sound quality has improved a great deal that is good enough for me. Some audio gurus can provide better feedback on the sound quality, choice of velocity amp and speaker. If you dump the sub and upgrade the rear speakers, the set up should provide a decent base even without the sub.

Replacing the HU may give more option Total damage : Rs 16k.