Update 12000kms. Review on Tata Indigo Manza

I brought Tata Indigo Manza Qudrajet Aura as my first car 10 days back. I did test drive Swift, I20, Dzire, Vista and Punto and finally settled for Manza as it appeared value for money.I booked it at Concorde motors , Mysore road and I got delivery of it on 19th Feb. So far I have driven it for 330 kilometers and I have left it in showroom today for the second time in these 10 days. Today the combi switch came off while turning the head light on. I can't understand why Tata is not sacking the guy who buys platics from incompetent vendors. The same problem which were there in previous gen cars are repeated here. Using poor plastics for dashboard or doors can be tolerated but Combi switch is very important part of any car specially when you are driving at night and if it goes off because of flimsy plastics used in it, there is no excuse for this. What if you are stranded in some dangerous rural area and you can't drive because your car doesn't have light?. On the second day after I took delivery, I left my car in the showroom as mike(Mircophone) used in bluetooth audio system was not working.

Apart from the plastics, Manza is excellent to drive and unlike old generation Indigo, cabin noise is very less and it feels luxurious. One can feel the difference between Manza and it's competitor Dzire by just sitting inside both the cars for 2 minutes. AC is good and it really cools pretty fast. Blaupunkt Audio system is cool.

In the city the average fuel efficiency displayed by the driver information system is 13.5 kmpl. Today I drive 60kms in highway and the mileage was 19.2 kmpl. Yet to test this by tank full method through. Here is my observations about Manza.

Pros :

1. Value for money.

   
   




2. Excellent rear seat comfort.

   
   




3. Ride and handling is way improved compared to older Indica/Indigo

   
   




4. Fuel efficiency

   
   




5. Proven engine(Fiat 1.3 MJD 90BHP VGT)

   
   




6. Nice gear box

   
   

Cons:

1.Worst available plastics in the world is used here.

2.There are panel gapes everywhere. Tata has not learnt how to do it efficiently. I20 is the benchmark(in the cars I test drive)with excellent fit and finish.

This car is joy to ride but I am really worried about future niggles. My advise to Tata is atleast when you release Aria, release it after thorough QC otherwise the belief that Tata does R&D on its initial customers will strengthen and very few people will go for Tata cars however good they may be. I am willing to pay additional premium(Say 25000-30000) if Tata provides good plastics with improved fit and finish. These things along with taxi image is what is plaguing series of Tata cars. Ten years after Tata launched Indica, Tatas market research team is not able to figure it out what it needs to change perception and Tata cars continue to come with poor plastics and niggles.

Update: 750 kms

The problems described before were promptly fixed by Concorde motors(Mysore road). They replaced combi switch and Mircophone without any charge as it was still under warranty.

Today I tested mileage by tank full method on highway. I tested mileage both without AC and with AC. One way I drive without AC and return journey I drive with AC. I did trip meterreset before start of each journey.Following are the details.

Highway - Bangalore<> Mysore

Tank full at Bangalore, driveWITHOUT AC

Total distance covered - 133 kms

Maximum speed achieved - 145kmh(A Swift was in race with me but couldn't touch my Manza).

Tank full again at Mysore - 6.09 liters.

Avgmileage - 21.83kmpl (133/6.09)

Mileage displayed by DIS(Mileage indicator) - 21.5

Tank full at Mysore, driveWITH AC

Total distance covered - 136 kms

Maximum speed achieved - 120kmh

Tank full again atBangalore -7.4 liters.

Avgmileage - 18.37kmpl

Mileage displayed by DIS(Mileage indicator) - 18.5

I think if one drives without AC on a highway with speed of 80-90kmph in 5th gear, Manza gives mileage of 23-24kmpl. The mileage indicator was displaying 23kmpl for me before I got into race with swift. In the city the mileage indicator hovers between 11.5kmpl to 16kmpl. In the Bangalore's peak hour city center traffic, the mileage I got was just 11.5kpml. So far I am really happy with this car. Manza is an ideal combination of space, power and mileage but one has to compromise with poor plastics. Tata's after sales(Concorde motors, Mysore road)is not bad either as they fixed all my problems in a single day and were really inclined towards pleasing me(customer). It's still early days and let me see how it goes?. It's upto the Tata's to improve Fit and finish and put good plastics and put stricter quality control in place.

Update - First service at 1140kms

Who says only Maruti service is good in India?. I got my first service done at Urs car in Mysore through I brought it at Concorde motors. My car's front bumper gotslight dent as it hit a big stone after crossing one of those illogically laid speed braker. Guess what? they replaced it free of cost under warranty. Power steering oil was added as the car was making some creaking noise. The cost of the first service is Rs.0. The staff at Urs cars is too good and very courteous. I will be going to them again.Today While coming back to Bangalore, I touched 150kmph and the average mileage diplayed by DIS is 19.2kmpl(With 90% A.C).

Update - Long drive

Went on for a long drive with my colleagues. We had two cars with 7 people. One is Chevy UVA and the other is Manza. Took the root Bangalore> Pondicherry> Chennai> Mahabalipuram> Chennai> Bangalore. Total distance covered 1030 kms(with 80% highway and 20% city). Fuel consumed (tank full method) was 54 litres. The mileage was 19.07 kmpl with 95% AC on. The top speed was 160 kmph. I got thud thud sound while driving at 160 kmph and has to slow down. Manza cruises till 140kmph but after that drive gets a bit bumpy .UVA' s mileage was approx 15 kmpl with 50% AC on.My friends couldn't believe that this was a Tata car. Everybody want to hop on to my Manza and fighting to get to drivers seat. For the entire journey car had no problems and I really loved the way it handled.

Update - 12000 kms

I have done 12000 kms now. In the 3rd service, I changed engine oil through the manual says if it's synthetic oil, it needs to be changed every 20000kms. Total cost of service including engine oil change was Rs.3600. After 3rd service I have the following problems.

1. They have changed the headlight alignment and now the visibility has decreased to 10 meters. The high beam also is not like it was before the service.

   
   




2. AC is not cool enough now.

   
   

Apart from this there is no other problems till now.