Team-BHP - Collected my Tata Indica Vista Quadrajet Aura, Gala Red

Friday, Sept 26, 2008

The D-Day!

2 days after I sold my 5 year old black beauty, i brought its newest and more hip cousin home! :)

Yesterday evening the salesman finally confirmed that the next lot of Vistas would be arriving today morning and gave me the chassis and engine number of my car.

Originally I had planned to take an off-day from work and reach the showroom at 10am to complete the formalities but just yesterday a meeting was scheduled at work at 9:30am. This proved to be a blessing since apparently the cars only reached the showroom from their godown at 12noon.

so early morning i stuffed 1.4 lakhs in cash (proceeds of the sale of my Indica for the down payment) in my bag and took an auto-rick to work, attended the meeting (with my mind in the showroom!) and at 10:45, i hired an auto-rick to get me to my dad's office not far from the showroom. There I borrowed his WagonR and rushed to M/S Autofin.

The salesman and others welcomed me and he took me to the accounts section to complete the formalities. money changed hands and soon the reciept was generated and we went to the accessory section.

I had decided to go for Tata's vista-special art leather seats in beige since that exactly matched the shade of the interiors. cost me 6200 (incl mud flaps) but worth every penny because i could not find a matching shade of beige anywhere else. the leather was of very good quality too.

I also ordered for thick fabric carpet (1300/-) instead of rubber floor mats. even this was in 'correct' beige to match the interior and looked quite plush. later i plan to buy a set of transparent plastic mats which can be used when the carpet is being washed and also to protect the carpet from muddy shoes during rains. finally i opted for the Tata monogrammed keyless entry (Autocop) that cost me 4200/-.

The car was yet to come to the showroom and the accessories guy had already warned me that installing the upholstery would take atleast 3 hours since the seats might have to be taken out (or something like that). I paid for the accessories and left the showroom in the Wagon R.

Visited a few accessory shops to get quotes on good speakers, sun film and reversing sensors. ended up more confused than enlightened but I think i finally have an idea as to what to go for, esp about the sound system. will expound on it later. after studying my budget, I put off buying alloys and decided to make do with the stock wheel cap for the time being.

I then went home, lunched, rested and then visited a few more accessory shops. finally at 3:45 pm, i went to the showroom to look at the progress. I directly marched to the workarea and found the men working on laying the leather seats on my car. that was the first glimpse I had of the car I would be collecting. it looked beautiful in bright red and I couldnt wait to drive away. "1 more hour, saar" said the accessories guy grinning.

I went back to wait in the display area. shortly the salesman took me to the delivery in charge and asked for my signature on the delivery challan and few papers. i refused and said I have to have a pre-delivery inspection first (thank you team-bhp!). he agreed and asked me to fill the application form for some Indica Previlege Club that had many benefits. I signed those forms and he handed me the broucher for that club.

i asked for the car manual and spent the time reading it. one surprise there - The manual does not recommend any additive (like System D) for the Quadrajet! i spoke to the delivery in charge about it and he asked me to fill only normal diesel, without additives. he said the QJD engine was tuned to plain normal diesel only. System D is recommended in the manual only for TDI and System G for Safire.

at 4:45 I returned the Wagon R at my dad's office and took an auto-rick back to the showroom.

finally at around 5:30 the work on the car was done and I could collect it! I went through the PDI checklist and inspected everything to my satisfaction before signing on the delivery challan and other documents.

the delivery guy explained me the various controls in the car, gave me a complimentary box of sweets, a Ganesh idol for the car and wished me all the best. i tipped the workers 500/- and finally drove off.

My original plan was to install the speakers today itself but now it was getting late and I had to pick up my wife and then perform the puja at a temple. i put off the speaker work for tommorrow. Tomorrow I would also bring the car to the showroom for 3M coating since the manual recommends it. The manual explicitely said that no protective coating is given by Tata.

I drove through thick evening traffic on the way to my wife's office in Jubilee Hills (about 10 kilometers away). I picked up my excited wife and made my way home in the same route back.

The car handled like a dream! the third gear was a revelation! the whole trip was, with air-con running, thru heavy traffic and largely on 3rd gear except in bumper to bumper situations where I had to come to 1st gear. the first gear requires no push with the accelerator. it moves smoothly, even up slopes, on its own accord in first gear. the slick gearshift, the smooth clutch and light accelerator proved a great match for the silent engine! Thank you, FIAT!

the brakes have good bite and handles start-stop traffic very well. the air-con chills the cabin in a jiffy. the seat height adjustment is a great boon for shorter people like my wife. The lumbar support keeps the lower back comfortable.

I stayed at around 1000-1500 RPM thru out the trip. The engine is quite responsive in this range and I just cant wait for the run in period to be completed so that I may cross the fabled 1750 RPM mark and go to 2000!

We refreshed ourself at home and then the entire family (Wife, Son, Dad, Mom and a well built cousin) got into the car and we drove to the temple. Three people fit into the back seat without fuss and the unanimous verdict was that its more comfortable and spacious than the old Indica I had.

The puja done, we came back home.

The four free service stretches to 20000KM!!! the first service is at 1000KM, second service at 5000KM, third at 10000KM and the fourth at 20000KM! after that the paid service is at every 10000KM or 6 months. Great!

My wife cant wait to drive the car tommorrow!

Had no time to take any picture today. I plan to drive to any open/scenic place on Sunday to take pictures. Will post them later.

ciao! cheers: