Tata Indica

The interiors of the car are impressive in only that it provides lots of cabin space. The front passengers are comfortable but the driving position is not the best because the ergonomics are not setup well. The pedals are awkwardly placed and the steering wheel seems too high and reaching the switches is also a problem. The rear seat is not bad with great headroom and ample legroom, more than most other entry level hatches. The dashboard however is very basic and mundane and not the best in terms of quality.

The new Indica eV2 gets a more refined 1396cc common rail diesel engine that can deliver 70bhp and 140Nm of torque. The engine is a little smoother than the previous Indica. The engine is however mated to a shoddy 5-speed manual transmission. The engine doesn’t sound the best and is also not very well engineered. There is also a 1.2 litre petrol engine available with 65bhp.

The first thing you will notice when you drive the car is how responsive the engine is. Yes, there is a bit of lag, but the power to the wheels is very efficient and the engine responds well. At 1500rpm you start to feel the car move forward, and once you are in third gear close to 2000rpm it really takes off and you feel the torque as well. The only problem is the rough gearbox which doesn’t feel right at times. The steering response is ok and the suspension setup decent. There is nothing to brag about in terms of the overall ride quality, as it is just average and you can also feel a lot of vibrations. On rough roads the car doesn’t ride well and you can feel every bump as you drive over it. There is also a bit of body roll as you go around small and sharp bends. Overall the car performs better than before but it still could use some work.

The new Indica eV2 provided an average fuel economy of around 16kmpl, even though Tata claims it to be 25kmpl, but that is still better than most other entry hatches.

There are not many features the car can boast about and on the higher variants you can only expect power windows, power steering and air conditioning.

The high end variants get central locking, keyless entry and front fog lamps. There are no new age safety features.

There may have been plenty of problems with quality in the past, and most of them seem to have improved but they still exist. The quality of panels is not good, there are too many vibrations on the inside and the car is just not setup well. The engine not very well refined, there is lots of cabin noise and there could be a potential for lots of things to fall apart and replace, however the parts will be inexpensive and easy to replace.

The Indica eV2 is priced very well and it is quite a bargain as there is no other car that can match the practicality to price ratio.

While the Indica eV2 is priced very well and does have decent cabin space and decent power available, if you were not to restricted on your budget you might want t take a look at other cars, because the overall quality is a big concern and the car really isn’t appealing to the new age consumer.