V2 LXI Petrol: 10 headaches in every 3 months. Review on Tata Indica V2

I feel like writing a book titled "Indica V2 Petrol - 10 headaches for every service". The fact is that every time I go in for a service I have atleast 10 problems listed for the service engineer to take care of in my Indica V2 LXI petrol (fully loaded). I had bought this piece of what I thought was a beauty in Oct 2004. Looks can really be decieving.

A couple of months after I bought this car, I had this wierd "racing" probelm where if I hit the clutch in an idle state (neutral) the car used to race to 2000 RPM automatically as if one pressed the accelerator. Sometimes I could take it to the fourth gear (30 kmph) without having to step on the accelerator at all. The problem faded after the first servicing but I sometimes get the same problem where it goes to around 1500 RPM automatically. Sometimes, usually during the monson seasons, the central locking does not work.

There have been numerous other issues with the car. Just recently I had an issue with the power window where the front LHS window pane just refused to wind up to close. I had to take it to the dealer's service centre (WASAN in Chembur) where I was told that I will have to replace the winder/motor responsible for the "power" of the power window. This assembly has two parts to it - one the winder and the other the motor. The motor drives the winder electrically which pushes/pulls the glass to open/close. It is but obvious that the winder would be a mechanical part and the motor is the electircal part. I had purchased an extended warranty of 3 years which expires in 2008. They outrightly rejected the warranty claim and thier reply was "extended warranty coveres electical failure of electrical parts only". I could not make the head and tail of the explanation and hence had to send mails and argue on the point and it is still pending since almost 2 weeks now. I had to pay up the amount of 3200 Rs from my own pocket.

Bottom line, if you are expecting too much out of this car - beware. And if you are expecting that the service center guys are your friends and they will help you in every way to ensure your car is problem free then beware beware beware. These guys are there to do business and will try every possible way to get money out of you. The power window part costed only Rs 2579 but I had to pay 250 Rs labour and almost 350 Rs in VAT/service taxes etc.

Though this car has given me a lot of issues lately, I am attached to it and still love it since its my first car and I just love driving it when it works fine.

Would recommend this if its your first car where you need space and you have low budget.