[Neversaygbye]

I was actually in two minds on whether I should write on this topic, considering that the Tata Indica Vista has been out of production for many years now and it's not as if this post will help someone in their buying decision, unless they're looking to pick up a pre-owned one.

Then I thought that we are at our very core, a community of people who live and love cars, and from that perspective a decade and over one lakh twenty thousand kms to go with it is a landmark that demonstrates living and loving a car, so here is the post! (What also swung my decision was the backing of our TBHP WB community, especially Abhi_1512, who wholeheartedly supported the idea in one of our breakfast meets)

For the sake of readability, I have tried to divide this long term ownership review into a number of sections:

1. Background

We got our first car in the late eighties when dad got home a pre-worshipped Fiat 1100D. We had that car with us till the turn of the century when we replaced it with a Matiz. All this while I was happily riding my Hero Honda Splendor which my dad got me back in '97, and I even took the bike with me to Delhi when I moved there in 2001. In the meantime, Tata launched the original Indica and we were pretty smitten by its looks and my father suddenly got the itch to get a new car. However, the initial batches of the Indica were an unmitigated disaster in terms of reliability and overall quality and adverse reports from many people in our circle made my father reconsider his decision. So life went on, with me riding my bike in Delhi, and my father driving the Matiz in Calcutta.

However within a few years, Tata relaunched the Indica as V2 and the initial reports were promising this time around. So my father went for it with our wholehearted support (We didn't really understand much about cars then but we all loved the looks of the Indica). He got an Indica V2 DLS in 2004, and the Matiz came to me in Delhi the same year.

However, come 2007 both me and my better half were back in Calcutta along with the Matiz (and the Hero Honda Splendor). Now that both cars were in the same location, I used to also drive the V2 quite a bit, especially on highways, since I found the highway manners of the V2 to be more confidence inspiring than the Matiz's. Apart from the truck like clatter of the diesel engine, the lack of refinement all around and the horrible fit and finish, I found the V2 to be a competent vehicle and it was definitely more planted, more powerful and more spacious and comfortable than the Matiz, especially on long highway runs. It also helped that our V2 was super reliable and never let us down during all the time it was with us.

By and by 2011 rolled around and the Matiz had got a bit long in the tooth by now, having done over a lakh kms in eleven years, and it had also become a huge headache to maintain and was the very definition of the word "unreliable". My better half and I were totally fed up with the car and there were multiple occasions when someone had to push the car while I was trying to start it. There was a problem with the relays that no workshop was being able to solve. So, with the frequent breakdowns and an absence of genuine parts and mechanics who could fix issues permanently, we replaced it with the Beat. The Matiz stayed with us for some more time before we let it go for a song once someone showed interest. Later life issues notwithstanding, it had been a great companion over twelve years and had gone with us to many places in and around Delhi and Calcutta and I was sorry to see it go. I still have a soft corner and fond memories of the car, but moving on is part of life, I guess.

So it was back to a two-car garage, with the Beat doing primary duties. The V2 became the beater car and while it was still going strong, by 2013 it had also done well over one lakh kms and the rough edges had become even more pronounced (if that was even possible) - the NVH levels (which were never great to begin with) had become very high although the car continued to be reliable and fuss free to maintain. However, with dwindling sales it seemed to us that the model was on its way out, and also with the mileage on the odo, we felt that we should sell it while it still had some semblance of a resale value. So we decided that we would look for a replacement. And that is how our search for a new car began, which culminated with us getting the Vista.

Before I move on to the next section, here are a few pics of our Matiz and the Indica V2, as well as the Beat that replaced the Matiz. All the cars were/are close to my heart and all of them served us really well for the most part. I suppose we have been lucky with our purchases that way. The Beat is now the beater car.


During the three years that the Matiz was with me in Delhi, I went to many places near Delhi in the car. This trip to Agra was one of them




Kasauli, 2006




Shimla, 2007




Jaipur, 2007




Humongous jam on our very first trip to Tajpur in 2009. A distance of less than 200 kms took 12 hours to cover.




Final odometer reading of the Matiz when we parted with it.




Not too many pics of our V2, unfortunately. This was one that I could find




And another one - from the time when one could still drive on Mandarmani beach




The Beat replaced the Matiz. This trip to Mandarmani was among the first trips in the new car




On the Ganges riverside at Falta





2. Shortlisting process, cars considered

The Indica DLS was a diesel, and while we had not really thought about fuel type initially, my father's friends and colleagues and even the showroom folks had recommended the diesel over the petrol so he had gone for it. However, after spending almost a decade with the V2, we had become well aware of the advantages of a diesel car, like better fuel efficiency and higher low end torque. The V2 had also required much less maintenance than the Matiz and the Beat (The Beat LPG dual has a 5000 kms service schedule, which is a joke). We were not particularly hung up about Tata and were open to evaluating all OEMs with a diesel hatchback in their portfolio. However there were some common criteria that we would evaluate all the cars on. These were:

1. Must be diesel
2. Should be spacious
3. Should be powerful
4. Should have good ride quality at low speeds
5. Should not have too much body roll (this was a learning from our experience with the Beat)
6. Should have decent kit (AC, power steering, power windows and in-built audio system were non-negotiable)
7. Service interval should be at least 10,000 kms (again a learning from the Beat)
8. Should be within 6 lakhs (preferably on-road, though we were ok to stretch that to 7, at a pinch). This was after considering resale value of the V2 which was about a lakh.

The points that were not considered important were:

1. Fit and finish - c'mon we were coming from an Indica V2. Anything would be an upgrade over that!
2. Build quality and safety - this was when Maruti was still making cars with thicker panels (please compare the original Swift's panels with the new Swift's and you will know what I mean). Plus safety and build quality were not top of mind for us those days, and we had no idea what GNCAP was.
3. Bluetooth calling and steering mounted audio controls - we considered this feature a novelty. Fiat had introduced it with Blue & Me a few months back but most OEMs only had it in their top models, and we didn't understand this feature well. (More on that later)

So the selection process started and the cars considered were the Maruti Swift, Ford Figo, Hyundai i20, Volkswagen Polo, Fiat Punto, and of course the Tata Vista. We never considered the Ritz as it was similar to the Swift which was our first choice. Plus we hated its looks. My father left the final decision to me and my better half but on the condition that any choice would need to be approved by my mother based on backseat comfort, and that the car would be purchased in my mother's name.

Maruti Swift:

Ever since it was launched with the "You're the fuel" ads, I had a soft corner for this car. I loved the looks and also a friend had one in petrol and though the backseat was a little cramped at three abreast, it was still fine for us, plus being surrounded by Maruti fan boys in my immediate circle meant that I only heard good things about Maruti and obviously that helped in making this the first choice and the car we would have got home had things gone as per plan. We would probably not have gone through the entire process of evaluating all the cars mentioned had our first choice worked out.

So the local Maruti showroom on VIP Road in north Calcutta near our house was our first stop. However, it was a very sub-standard experience there. People were loitering around and no one seemed interested in attending to us. Eventually someone came and once we told him that we wanted to have a look at a Swift VDI, he said that all the cars were sold out and there wasn't a single one in the showroom for us to have a look at and there was also a three month waiting period. Since my mother was going to be the approving authority based on backseat comfort, that still necessitated a test drive, and we asked for it. He then said that arranging a test drive would not be possible without giving any reason and was very arrogant and dismissive in his behaviour (it was like our cars sell any way and we don't need to provide test drives). It really left a bad taste in the mouth. We went back home disheartened but did not totally reject Maruti despite the poor showroom experience. Anyway, we now knew that there was a waiting period of three months, and we felt that if it's going to take that long anyway, we might as well look at the other options out there.

Tata Vista (75 bhp) and Fiat Punto (90 bhp):

With the first choice put on hold, we thought that we'd take a look at the Vista, which was not really top of mind for us till then. We knew it used the same Fiat MJD engine as the Swift, but as the Indica name was tagged on, we didn't think that it would be an upgrade for our almost ten year old V2. However, considering our super ownership experience with our V2, we still went to check it out.

Tata was at the time promoting the Vista as "sedan class" and having experienced the superb space management in the V2, we were curious to see what this was all about. This despite the fact that I absolutely hated the looks of the Vista (I still do). The design where the hood sits atop the headlamps irks me no end - I always get the impression that the hood is open because of the gap. Also, the rear bumper integration is shoddy to say the least, and Tata should have given a skid plate there.

However, in spite of my antipathy towards its design, I was still open to have a look because of our positive experience with the V2, and the fact that the Vista was using the same Fiat MJD engine as the Swift.

When we finally checked out the car, we found that with the exception of the pillar back lights, in every other way this car was different from the V2, despite the Indica moniker that had been carried over. The Vista Quadrajet was more refined, more spacious, and better damped - the clatter of the engine didn't sound like a truck like it did in the V2. (On a different note, at least one of my friends calls the Vista a truck while another one calls it the beast - which I think is kind of appropriate too. ) In fact, the Vista was also much more spacious than its immediate rival the Swift.


"Sedan class" mentioned proudly in the brochure isn't too far off the mark.




The showroom organized a test drive and for this they sent a car to our home - this was the same showroom from where we had got the V2 about a decade back (KB Motors, Ballygunge).

However in the test drive I felt that the car was a bit underpowered. It passed the backseat test with my mother though. So we rejected the car because I wasn't convinced about the car's performance and hated its looks.

While we had been to the showroom to check out the Vista, we had also seen a Punto parked there. We had checked it out then and there. However, the Fiat-Tata sales and service JV had just fallen apart a few months back, and the showroom mentioned that this was one of the last few pieces left with them. It just happened to be the 90 bhp diesel Punto, in a variant that totally ticked our selection criteria. However, the uncertainty regarding Fiat's future plus the fact that the Punto was less spacious than the Vista made us drop it from our shortlist.

Ford Figo (Original design):

This was the car that made a great first impression. We loved everything about it in the showroom - the looks, the overall fit and finish, the space management, et al. Also the people in the showroom (Ganges Ford) were warm and welcoming and very cooperative and the experience was a level above Tata and many levels above Maruti (I don't remember the name of the Maruti showroom - it was just opposite Rani Tower on VIP Road. People who live in the area may remember). Plus the Figo diesel was well within our budget of 6 lakhs. However, we took a test drive and that kind of killed it. In the first one from Ganges Ford the test drive car which had done just 12,000 kms was rattling like anything and seemed very, very lazy to get up to speed. We felt that it may be a problem with this particular test car since we know that test drive cars are abused like anything. So we promptly went to the other dealer Victoria Ford as our mind was set on this car and we were trying our best to not reject the car. Victoria Ford's test drive car turned out to be worse than the Ganges Ford one, with a similar odo reading (it was not the same car. We checked). More than the feeling of being underpowered, it was the rattles that really bothered us. The Figo was otherwise fine and even the backseat comfort was fine with my mother. Ganges Ford organized one more test drive for us but this was with the petrol variant and though we liked it and this car didn't have any rattles, we were not really confident about the car anymore, plus we wanted a diesel. However, we still didn't reject the Figo like we had done with the Vista and Punto. It remained on the shortlist. The Figo was the only car where we went to two different showrooms and test drove three different cars, so smitten were we with the car.

Volkswagen Polo:

This was the only occasion where we never stepped into a showroom. We just called the local Volkswagen showroom and the SA came to our house with a diesel Polo for a test drive. The absolute opposite of the experience with Maruti. The SA had come fully prepared too with price lists, brochures, et al. He explained all the different options and variants and then when we took the test drive we also liked the car. I found the space in the rear seat a little compromised with the front seat pushed back to my driving position, but as mostly I would be the one driving, this was not a deal breaker. On the whole, the car felt really well put together and fit and finish was better than Ford. The mid variant was going slightly over our budget but we still went ahead with the test drive. (We figured we would cross that bridge later). However, I found the ride to be on the firmer side and wanted a second test drive with my mother in the back seat as she was not home on the day of the test drive. Volkswagen happily arranged a second test drive but this time around my mother rejected the car outright because she found the ride too bumpy (the Bengali phrase used by her was "boddo beshi jhnakuni" which translates to "too much shaking"). So that was that.

Hyundai i20 (Original design):

This was the last car that we test drove. The entire sales experience was un-remarkable in that it was very professional. The warmth of Ford was missing but every query and request of ours was attended to politely and we did not have any cause for complaint. The dealer (Mukesh Hyundai) organized a test drive and we liked everything about the car including backseat comfort, space management (much better than competition including the Figo, we felt) and of course the in-cabin refinement and fit and finish was from a few segments above. The EPS was a bit too light for my liking but this also made the car easy to handle. On the whole, we liked the car but unfortunately at about 7.7 Lakhs on road for the top variant after considering everything including exchange price of the V2 it was going way over our budget. We could have stretched to 7 at a pinch but not more. The lower variants lacked many features so we were not interested in those. So with a heavy heart, we dropped the i20 from our list.

3. A Bolt from the blue, or rather, as in this case, a Vista

So there we were - exactly where we started in terms of a decision after having test driven multiple cars. The only positive was that some of the cars on our shortlist were now eliminated and we were now left with just the Swift and Figo in the fray. However, the behaviour of the Maruti SA was still rankling and we had also not driven the Swift VDI, although I had driven the petrol one and quite liked it. The Figo did not seem compelling enough. Thus once again we were gravitating towards the Swift by the process of elimination and it was then that we received a call from KB Motors. They had Vista D90s in their Mominpur branch under a different team and would we like to test drive one? Considering that I already knew about this engine from our tryst with the Punto and a friend's Manza, we readily agreed and they put us in touch with their Mominpur branch. The SA assigned to us brought a car over to my house for a test drive on my request, even though the distance by the shortest route was over 16 kms. After driving the car, I found that the lack of grunt issue was no longer there while retaining all the other good (and bad) things. Also the VX model that we were interested in checked all our selection criteria and then some more. In addition to HPS and all four power windows, it had electric operated ORVMs, front and rear fog lamps, ABS with EBD, front and rear power outlets, a double-DIN stereo with USB and Bluetooth connectivity, dual tone interiors, fabric seat covers, a driver aligned instrument cluster, and two-way adjustable lumbar support for the driver. It also had a height adjustable driver's seat, rear wash and wipe and steering mounted call and audio controls, speed sensing auto locking along with a contrast black roof. After discounts and trade in of our V2, the on-road cost was coming to about 6.2 lakhs, which was a little above our initial budget but very doable as we were taking finance.


Features set. We opted for the VX and have never missed the additional features of the ZX+



So we finalized the Vista D90 after getting all the numbers in writing and signed off, paid the booking amount and also mentioned to the SA that once the car was allotted we would want to check it out before it was sent for registration. They agreed to that too but I would like to mention one thing here lest everyone starts thinking now that KB Motors did a stellar job that totally goes against everything negative we hear about Tata dealers. Indeed, KB Motors did a stellar job all things considered, but they did attempt to sell us a lemon first. When the Ballygunge branch had handed us over to the Mominpur branch, our assigned SA in Mominpur in an initial call tried to understand our requirements and tried his very best to convince us to buy a diesel 75 bhp Vista that had undergone an engine rebuild after getting refueled with petrol. They were using it as a test drive car and wanted to sell it to us for the sum total if Rs. 2.5 lakhs. We did not bite and told him in no uncertain terms that we were looking for a new car and that too we would only consider a D90 provided he could arrange for a test drive. He got the message and after that didn't bring up this offer. However, if I was in the shoes of the dealer, I would not have made such an offer in the first place - incidents like these erode trust and this was one reason that we stuck to our guns about making the final payment only after examining the car that was allotted to us.

Eventually a car was allotted to us and true to his word, the SA arranged for an inspection once it reached them. The best part was that he along with a couple of his colleagues actually drove our allotted car down to my house for the inspection. All of them were really upbeat and very, very co-operative. We checked everything thoroughly and even test drove the car with my mother in the back seat. (I was just a casual browser of TBHP those days and downloading the PDI checklist never occurred to me, but we had still checked everything thoroughly). Everything looked good so they returned to their stockyard with the car for completion of the handover formalities. Once everything was ready, we went to their showroom in our trusty Indica V2 for the last time and returned in our new Indica Vista after making the final payment and getting the accessories fitted. In terms of accessories, there weren't that many. Just mats, mud flaps and wheel covers.

With that the Vista became a part of our family in July 2013. However, its arrival was bittersweet for us as just about a month earlier, on the day the bank rep had come to our residence to process the car loan, my paternal grandmother had suffered a fall in the bathroom and gone into a coma (she would eventually pass away a couple of weeks later). The bank rep had been there when it happened. He had helped tremendously including helping to lift her up and getting her into the ambulance and though we were not in any frame of mind to think about a new car then and were on the verge of cancelling the deal, we still went ahead with it as it was our way of saying thank you to him.

4. Initial impressions - the negatives

Like I had mentioned earlier, I never liked the looks of the Vista. Also, while the new car was a huge improvement over the Indica V2 in many ways, fundamental issues with fit, finish and interior design remained. Here are a few examples:


Door pockets do not accommodate one liter bottles and even keeping a half liter bottle is a struggle - this applies to all the doors






The entire dashboard is curved and it is impossible to keep anything on it. While nothing can be done in the portion that has provision for the airbag, some part above the central column could have been flat. Or at least a cubbyhole or shelf on the driver side at the bottom of the dash could have been provided. The Indica V2 had one!




Typical Tata issue with fit and finish literally stares me in the face every time I get behind the wheel - here is just one example and there are similar issues wherever one looks:

Look at the alignment of the section housing the steering mounted audio controls




The boot at 232 litres is among the smallest in the segment and fitting in the luggage of five people for a weekend trip is an exercise in itself




The car used to bottom out more often than not on speed breakers - the 165 mm ground clearance was not enough for most of our roads. The issue went away after I upsized the tyres. More about that later.

5. Initial impressions - the positives

The car is spacious. This is one car that can seat four moderately healthy adults in the back in a crunch. Most cars struggle to accommodate 3 comfortably. Don't believe me? See the pic below. Do note that the car wasn't moving and this was just a combination we were trying out.




It helps that the Vista is the hatchback version of the Manza which was a pretty spacious sedan with a cavernous boot. In the hatchback version, Tata Motors in its infinite wisdom, chose to compromise on the boot space while ensuring that the rear seats remained "sedan class". I would say that they took the right decision. It is only when I am going on a weekend break with a full car that I wish that the boot was larger, but such occasions are few and far in-between. Thanks to the leg room on offer, even folks who are 6'+ have travelled comfortably over long distances despite sitting behind me (and I'm 5' 11").

The seats are wide and provide ample under thigh support. They have the right angle of recline and the cushioning is spot on as well, and doing long distances over many hours at a go is not tiring at all. Plus the driver seat has lumbar support and height adjustment. I did Calcutta-Vizag in less than 16 hours including just a couple of breaks adding up to two hours and was not tired at all after we reached.


Driver seat with great under-thigh support, bolstering and adjustable headrests. You can also see the lever that engages lumbar support.




Rear passenger seat is wide and comfortable, has two adjustable headrests and a 60:40 split.




6. Other things that I started to appreciate over time

The car is great for long highway drives. It has the perfect combination of power, fuel efficiency and high speed stability which when combined with the ergonomic seats ensures that one can do three digit speeds all day long without getting tired. I typically get a mileage of over 17 kmpl on highway drives, and I am not someone who drives with a light foot.

The Vista Quadrajet is a heavy car - at 1.1 tons unladen and with a gross weight of 1.6 tons, it feels more like a locomotive than a car at times.




However, the high speed stability thanks to the weight and comparatively low profile (even after the tyre upsize) is commendable. The car remains grounded, masks speed extremely well and the 90 bhp power combined with 200 nm torque makes overtaking a breeze on highways.

Even in the city, the car is no slouch and returns a decent mileage of 13 kmpl to boot. However, driving it in stop and go bumper to bumper traffic is a pain - the car has a tendency to surge forward on a slight tap of the accelerator and this results in heavy use of the clutch and brakes. The only thing I tend to wear out is the clutch - it has already been replaced twice at 40k intervals and a third replacement is coming up soon.

Among the other good things that I like, the car came with back-lit power window buttons which are a rarity these days.



The switch backlights work even after ten years. Here are the backlit steering mounted audio controls. Look how worn out the volume control markings are thanks to heavy usage.




One of the other features that I have come to appreciate a lot over multiple road trips is the engine guard. The Vista gets a proper metal engine guard. It has borne the impact of poor roads a number of times and I have had to get it straightened and refitted a few times. I have not had any hits after upsizing the tyres, though.




However, the one feature that has been a godsend and has proved itself most useful to me is the bluetooth connectivity, combined with the steering mounted audio controls. A novelty at the time of purchase (our Beat LT doesn't have it), and something that we had not given much thought to, it has been worth its weight in gold over the years. I have lost track of the number of times I have joined Teams and Skype con calls while driving, especially in the post Covid period. On one particular occasion I drove 20 kms with my laptop open on the front passenger seat with a Teams call happening on the car handsfree.

[Neversaygbye]

7. A few words on maintenance

Durability and reliability have been the story of this car - almost everything including many of the wear and tear parts is built to last. The stock Blaupunkt 2-Din stereo system and the steering mounted controls still work like they did ten years ago, the rear shock absorbers are still the original stock ones more than 124,000 kms later, none of the switches have been replaced, and barring an issue with the rear power windows a couple of times, everything works like it did the day the car first came home. Other than regular service and replacement of wear and tear parts, I have not spent much on maintenance over the years. In fact in 2015 and 2016, I only spent money on fuel and did not spend even a single penny on maintenance. This was because I was in Bangalore and the car was mostly in the garage during this time and it had not run even 10k kms over the two years, which made me skip even the regular service. The funny thing is that the service centre called to ask whether I had sold the car and on being told that it was lying in the garage said that I should bring it in for service regardless of how much it had run as their records showed that it was last serviced two years ago. I got it serviced thereafter on my next trip to Calcutta.

Service cost was quite low during the first six years and even in recent times just the regular service cost hovers around the Rs. 6000 mark. It is only after the car crossed 80,000 kms that the maintenance costs started to increase, especially with many of the parts becoming due for a replacement (timing belt, etc.).The service schedule as per the manual is 15000 kms but now that the car is old I usually get it done every 10000 kms or so.

Apart from regular service, the car hasn't really given much trouble and I can actually list the issues - they were so few and infrequent. The car never had any niggles, and emulates my HH Splendor in being a "fill it, shut it, forget it" vehicle. I had taken the extended warranty but never needed to use it.

There has been only the one issue in ten years that took some time to diagnose and fix. This was about five years back. The car would sometimes refuse to start and nothing would happen on turning the key. It would start only after multiple attempts. While the car never left us stranded and would always start eventually, this was quite worrisome nonetheless. TASC was initially unable to replicate the problem at the SC (it's like the patient would recover on seeing the doctor) and it took three visits before the issue happened in their testing and they could identify the cause. It was pinned down to a problem with the ignition key socket (Minda made). Changing this solved the problem. This was the only time the car gave me trouble.

Apart from this, the AC has required a valve to be replaced once and gas to be recharged a couple of times, and its idler replaced once, and the power window internal pulling mechanism of both rear doors have had to be changed along with the motor for one.

Wear and tear parts and consumables including lights, wipers, tyres and battery have had to be changed as usual - the original Bridgestone tyres ran for 53000 kms and were replaced by Yoko E1s, which ran another 47000 kms and now the car is on its third set of tyres (Yoko E1s again, but one size bigger, i.e. 185/65/R14 instead of 175/65/R14. BHPians Samba and Dip27in advised me on the upsizing and Samba even helped me with the purchase by being present at the shop in person and getting me a good deal). Post upsizing, the ride became cushier and the issue with the car bottoming out on speed-breakers got resolved completely (the upsizing added 13 mm to the ground clearance). The only flipsides have been minor body roll (there was none earlier) and slightly lower fuel efficiency coupled with a minor degradation in handling which initially took a little bit of getting used to. Despite these negatives I am happy with the upsize as the overall comfort of the passengers has increased and I don't have to worry about ground clearance any more. Also, the suspension seems to have settled down now and the body roll has become almost negligible.



Other than this, as part of preventive maintenance I have had the mounts, belt and hoses replaced after the car crossed 80000 kms. The steering rack had also got worn out and was changed at 118987 kms. The front suspension was replaced at 82202 kms. As mentioned earlier, the rear suspension is still stock and has never been replaced. The clutch has been the only outlier on the durability aspect, as I have had to get it changed every 40,000 kms or so. I suppose my driving style and the area where i live (which is super congested and necessitates frequent braking and use of the clutch) is to blame for that.

Now that the car is old, I have stepped up the preventive maintenance. Timing chain kit was replaced proactively two years and 40,000 kms ago at 81891 kms and cost Rs. 4,584 - total cost was about Rs. 7,400 including labour. As per the manual it should have been changed at 90,000 kms if I remember correctly but I sometimes don't wait for a service milestone to be crossed for parts replacements and usually get it done in advance if the car is going to run more than the rated kms for that part by the time the next service becomes due.




Complete front suspension was changed at 82202 kms a few days later and cost Rs. 11,692 in total. The reason it was done a few days later is because the parts were not in stock and needed to be ordered from Pune.






Apart from regular service, preventive maintenance and accident repairs, the other major work that I got done was EGR valve cleaning, a couple of months back. While this wasn't really necessary as there were no performance issues other than uneven acceleration at times, as the car had done over 1,20,000 kms, I thought I might as well get this done. This is the only time that I have got work done on the car outside TASC and the reason I did so is because the service centre said it wasn't a job they would do and also that it wasn't required for my car.

However, BHPian Abhi_1512 had recently got EGR valve cleaning done for his beloved Ecosport, Baahon (you can read about it here: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-...ml#post5606552 and he and BHPian Dip27in helped me in getting the EGR valve cleaning done by a trusted mechanic. I saw the entire process and it was anything but easy. No wonder TASC refused to do it. They could probably service half a dozen cars in the time it took to clean the EGR.


Accessing the EGR valve including the manifold and opening it is a time consuming and tedious task, especially if it is being done for the first time. The sight of the mechanic clambering onto the engine bay almost gave me a heart attack.




It was a struggle as you can see in this video

https://youtu.be/Li1Y9O6e2Yw

Visible gunk




More gunk all around




Manifold being cleaned - look at the amount of carbon that came out.

https://youtu.be/q5PhSNpuUVE

I am happy to report that after the EGR valve cleaning the acceleration has become smooth again although the effect on mileage has been negligible.

The Bengal group of BHPians had planned a weekend getaway to Ghatshila in Jharkhand in August and as it was only some days after the EGR valve cleaning, I figured that it would be a great opportunity to check out the effect of the EGR valve cleaning. (You can read all about our trip here: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/team-...ml#post5639168 (Our Nissan Magnite Turbo's 1st outstation trip | Team-BHP Kolkata’s drive to Ghatshila). As always, the car performed superbly and I was able to do three digit speeds effortlessly.

8. The elephant in the room - Tata Motors service

While this should have been a part of the earlier section, I decided to keep this separate since service is one of the most talked about aspects of the Tata Motors ownership experience. As anyone who reads any review of a Tata car on this forum would have noticed, one thing that is always mentioned is the hit or miss nature of Tata Motors' service. Is it justified? To some extent yes, but service is not as bad as the reviews make them out to be. I cannot speak for other places, but in Calcutta, Tata Motors service is good, not great. Let me explain.

I have used four different service centres in Calcutta at different times (KB Motors during the free service period, Arjun Automobiles when paid service started, as it was less than 2 km from my home, Dulichand when Arjun Automobiles closed down and Dulichand dumped Chevy to jump onto the Tata bandwagon (my Chevy SA became the service manager at Tata so that was one more reason) and finally TC Motors, again because it is much closer to my home and also because they fixed the issue that foxed Dulichand).

Speaking of which, the one experience that made me shift from Dulichand Motors was when they could not identify what was causing the issue with the car not starting, and in the end, it was TC Motors in Rajarhat that solved the issue - I gave up on Dulichand after the second try. Despite the single incident of failure at Dulichand (which TC Motors resolved), I am happy to report that Tata Motors Service has always fixed all issues to my satisfaction, even if it has taken multiple visits (sometimes because the parts needed to be ordered).

Coming to the cost of parts and service at TASC, I have found the cost of parts to be mostly reasonable, if not outright cheap. In fact many of the parts are cheaper than comparable ones of their competitors, and last long as well. However, the cost of service has steadily increased over the years. Despite that, the Vista is considerably cheaper to maintain than my Beat, in spite of running many thousands of kms more than the latter.

The reasonable cost of service and spares was one of the reasons I never went to a FNG and have always used TASC, barring the EGR valve cleaning. This and the fact that TASC have always fixed all issues to my satisfaction (eventually). "Eventually" being the reason I would say they are just good and not great in Calcutta. There remains a lack of attention to detail and a "chalta hai" kind of attitude. While they will fix everything mentioned in the job card efficiently and thoroughly, they will sometimes make omissions that necessitate a thorough check similar to a PDI, resulting in a reprimand once I find some act of omission (usually it would be something unrelated to the original issue) followed by a hurried redressal of the omission. Some examples are - wiping the windshield with a dirty cloth after a wash leaving oil streaks, failing to connect the lighter after replacing the clutch, failing to connect the steering mounted audio controls after working on the steering column, etc. TASC still needs to work on getting everything right the first time.

Also, it seems that the behaviour of the staff is not consistent across customers. BHPian ron82x3 said that my SA was rude to him despite the fact that he had given my reference to him and my relationship with my SA goes back 7-8 years. I will speak to my SA about it the next time I see him, which should be during the next service in a few days' time.

So there is still a lot of scope for improvement. Having said that, over the past one year, I have seen a concerted effort to improve the service experience and now every time I visit the service centre, I am handed an escalation matrix card. They have also stopped asking me to give positive feedback and a 9 or 10 on follow up feedback calls from Tata Motors, which is something they used to ask for till a few years back. Any act of omission I point out is taken up on the spot by the CRO and the concerned employee and their manager is brought in and reprimanded in front of me (which makes for a rather awkward experience for all parties concerned, imho). However, not having any acts of omission in the first place is what TASC should aspire to achieve going forward, if they really want to do away with the hit or miss tag.

One thing about TASC - behaving nicely with the service staff and building a relationship with the staff at the service centre, especially the service advisor, goes a long way in getting good service. This should not really be the case though and their behaviour should be uniform across all customers, but in reality your rapport with your SA has a major impact on the quality of service you receive (and despite that they will still make acts of omission - they just can't help it)

9. Build quality and safety

I have put this as a separate section since this is one aspect that has been tested extensively through multiple incidents over the years.

As many BHPians would be aware, the Vista was the first car built on the X1 platform that also underpins the Bolt, Zest and Nexon. This platform is known for its robustness and I can testify to the truth of that first hand. Even after 10 years and over 1,24,000 kms my car has zero rattles. However, from a safety perspective it is still a question mark as the model scored only three stars in the ASEA NCAP (https://aseancap.org/v2/?p=3518) and mine doesn't have airbags. The seat belts are the only safety measure apart from the ABS, in my car.

Driving in India means that there will always be some incident or the other, and my car has had its fair share of those - both big and small. (By big I mean incidents that caused extensive damage to a living being or vehicle)

Both big incidents happened within a few months of one another in 2014 and 2015. In the first incident I was taking a right turn around a divider when a motorbike coming from the wrong side of the carriageway hit the driver side door. This was a scary accident as the rider went flying and parts of the motorbike also broke off. The door was dented but I was totally unhurt. There was a huge ruckus but as the rider was clearly in the wrong he couldn't do much. Thankfully he was mostly unhurt except for a few bruises though the same could not be said of his motorbike, which suffered extensive damage and had to be walked away. The repair cost of the door including re-painting was about 3500 bucks at TASC.


In the second incident, a dog ran across and came in front while I was at 100 kmph while returning from Garhpanchkot through Durgapur expressway. There were 4 occupants in the car including me. The front bumper including one fog lamp was broken and as this was the only damage, we just picked up the broken piece of the bumper containing the unbroken fog lamp, put it in the boot, and drove back to Calcutta. Total cost of repairs including bumper replacement was about 15k, some part of which was covered by insurance.

Apart from these two major incidents, the car has seen its fair share of scrapes and rear endings. The tailgate bears the scars of multiple rear endings by the illegal diesel powered vanos/bhotbhotis that have become a menace in and around Calcutta, and which have poor brakes and can almost never stop in time. Since the damage was minor, I never bothered to get it repaired, and the tailgate retains its original paint.


Vano/Bhotbhoti and Toto (e-rickshaw) damage to the tailgate



On a few occasions other cars have rear ended me and on one occasion I was distracted and rear ended a yellow Ambassador taxi. In all such cases damage to all the cars involved was minimal as these were all very low speed impacts (though I did have to pay 200 bucks to the taxi driver since his bumper had come off its mount). The most recent incident happened some weeks ago when a Swift Dzire rear ended me while I was stuck in a jam on a flyover. By now I know exactly how strong my car is and I didn't even bother to get out while he was outside surveying the damage to his bumper. As I had expected, there was no visible damage to my car.

Just thinking about all the incidents my car has been in, I know that I have saved a huge amount of money in repair costs thanks to the build quality. While I do wish that my car had airbags and a better ASEA NCAP rating, it has held up well in all the incidents it has been in, and I hope that I will never be in a situation where I will miss the airbags or the remaining two NCAP stars. Fingers crossed!

10. Driving the Vista

Driving in the city: the torquey diesel engine makes it a pain to drive this car in bumper to bumper traffic. The car tends to surge forward on even a light tap to the accelerator and this results in heavy use of the clutch and brakes, especially in the super congested locality that I live in. However, in normal free-flowing traffic, this car is very easy to drive and thanks to the power on tap combined with good handling, it's very easy to manoeuvre too. Overtaking is a breeze and staying within the speed limit on empty roads takes a lot of self control (Staying within the ludicrous speed limit of 80 kmph on empty highways in Odisha is a test of patience as well, but then, I digress). The comparatively small form factor combined with ease of manoeuverability makes it easy to park the car as well.

Driving on the highway: This is where the car really shines as all the good things such as the torque on tap, strong mid-range, grounded and sorted road manners, solid build quality, cushy ride quality, great fuel efficiency, seating comfort, responsive HPS, etc. come together in perfect harmony. There is a big car like feel on highways which betrays its Manza DNA. On highways I usually maintain a speed of about 80-100 kmph and the engine ticks over nicely between 2000-2200 rpm at these speeds. The car masks speed extremely well too. Many a time passengers have expressed surprise on seeing the odo as they thought I was driving slowly and then realized that we were actually going at three digit speeds. The car can go up to 160 kmph without breaking a sweat. Straight line stability is superb and though the braking is not very inspiring and lacks bite, it gets the job done sans drama. On a couple of occasions I had to do emergency braking and the ABS (by Bosch) worked perfectly.

The steering, being a hydraulic unit, gives good feedback and is not too sensitive at high speeds, which helps with the manoeuverability. However, the cabin does tend to get very noisy post 80 kmph and the NVH levels have only increased over time. I did think about getting some damping done a few times, but never got around to it, so now I use the music to cover the road noise that invariably seeps in.

Apart from the NVH, the Achilles' heel on highway drives is the pair of stock headlights which are halogen units and very weak indeed, for any kind of night driving. The headlights are a major reason I avoid night driving. In spite of this, on our Team BHP drive to Dalma, I did do quite a bit of night driving (for the first time after Delhi), with Mile_breaker and Sandman689 as passengers. However, I drove rather sedately till day break, as both of them will testify. You can read all about the Dalma trip here: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/team-...ml#post5561619 (Dalma weekender - Calcutta Team-BHP Meet). I know that Abhi_1512 has mentioned in the TL that we had left them behind, but that was only because we were in front and never realized that they had stopped.

11. Out and about - Exploring new vistas in the Vista

The bug for road trips bit me when I was in Delhi and had the Matiz with me. This was the time that Maruti was promoting the original Alto with the tagline "Let's go" and airing an ad on TV where people would just get up and go for a trip in their Alto. While we had a different 800 cc car in our Matiz, we could relate to the "Let's go" sentiment quite well. It helped that my better half and some of my childhood friends who were co-located there during that time were equally up for unplanned adventures (they still are but we live in different cities and countries now). We did many trips from Delhi including one to Jaipur in the middle of the night without any kind of hotel booking whatsoever, another to Kasauli in a similar situation, and a day trip to Alwar where we returned at 2 am the same night because one friend insisted that he HAD to attend office the next day, and were chased on the way by some people in a Wagon R once they saw three girls in my car on a deserted road in interior Rajasthan at an unearthly hour. On hindsight, not the brightest decisions by half especially in a part of the country that is unsafe in general and unsafe for women in particular (it was actually a miracle that the guys in the Wagon R couldn't catch us - the 2 lane road leading upto NH8 helped like anything and they eventually gave up) but then as most BHPians would undoubtedly agree, once the road trip bug bites, it becomes an addiction.

Once the Vista arrived, its confidence inspiring highway manners gave me reason to go on frequent trips from Calcutta, and to some extent relive my Delhi days, minus the night drives. In fact, even before the car had got proper number plates, we were on our way to the usual beach suspect in Bengal, Mandarmani, in our brand new car.





On an unrelated note, I have never liked the rear end of the Vista. I think the proportions are wrong and the pillar tail lamps don't gel with the rest of the design. It's also one more reason I detest the looks of the car.

However, the way it looks is among the very few things I dislike about the car. Tata got almost everything else right with the D90 otherwise.


Anyway, to get back to the topic at hand, multiple other trips in the Vista followed the inaugural trip to Mandarmani. While some of them are documented in the TL section (and I will provide the links when I come to them) here are pics and notes from some of the other trips. I have tried to detail out some of them a bit, especially if there is no separate TL for them on Team BHP.

Trip to Dooars and Darjeeling in North Bengal, March 2014








Rohini viewpoint back then. There is an ugly "I heart Kurseong" sign here now, exactly where the car was parked.




Trip to Varanasi (Benaras), Bandhavgarh, Bhedaghat and Khajuraho, December 2014

This was the same trip where the engine guard got damaged and the car had to be taken to TASC Jabalpur to fix it. I never got around to writing the TL, but this was one of the most memorable trips in the car.


Starting time and route




Decent place for lunch enroute at Dehri-on-sone. I suppose the route will be different now thanks to Purvanchal expressway.




Parked at the hotel in Benaras exactly 705 kms and twelve hours later. Actual driving time was less than ten hours. Benaras was our night halt before proceeding to Bandhavgarh the next morning.




Since we reached well in time for the Ganga Aarti, we made a beeline for Dasashwamedh ghat.




The aarti never gets old or boring.




One of my friends joined us at Benaras later in the evening and we left for Bandhavgarh the next morning only to encounter some of the most atrocious roads that I have ever driven on. Cattle on the road was the least of our problems. Suffered a puncture thanks to the horrible roads and an underside hit also damaged the engine guard, which was now touching the engine body and creating a significant amount of vibration. Despite an early morning start from Varanasi, we reached Bandhavgarh after dusk.




A beautiful morning the next day kind of made up for the travails of the earlier day.




We did not have much luck in tiger spotting (apart from one that we saw from a distance). However, boars are never boring, especially to a lover of Asterix comics like me.




Strangely, I could not find a single tyre repair shop at Tala, where we were staying in Bandhavgarh. Finally got the puncture repaired at a roadside tyre puncture repair shop on the next leg of our journey. The paucity of repair options plus time pressure meant that I would also have to drive without repairing the engine guard. I had decided that I would get it fixed in Jabalpur on our way to Bhedaghat, which was our next stop.




The marble rocks at Bhedaghat are simply superb. We also rendezvoused with our other friend here, apart from getting the bent engine guard fixed at Jabalpur.




From Bhedaghat we went to Khajuraho. The Kandariya Mahadeva temple welcomed us in all her glory




One of the most beautiful and intricate temples of India, it is a must visit.




After staying a day in Khajuraho, we returned to Varanasi via Allahabad. We reached on Christmas eve and stayed at the Kaiser Palace and had Christmas dinner there.




The following morning we went to Sarnath.






Then we started on our return leg but on the way, decided to stop in Gaya and also see the Mahabodhi temple.





This was a great trip over ten days, covering 2919 kms and it required no small amount of coordination. As I mentioned briefly earlier, one friend joined us at Benaras from Mumbai on the first day. Another friend joined us in Bhedaghat - he came by bus from Nagpur. This was the longest trip done in the Vista.

[Neversaygbye]

11. (Cont'd) - Objects in the rear view mirror...

...may appear closer than they are

While Meatloaf's Wagnerian rock ballad refers to the persistence of memory in a way that even Dali could not have visualized, I can paraphrase the words to fit my tryst with the Vista:

It is always summer and the future calls
We are ready for adventures and we want them all
And there is so much left to dream
And so much time to make it real

While the 2919 kms road trip in 2014 was the Vista's longest, it does get around quite a bit even otherwise:


Panchet Dam and Garhpanchkot, 2015 - it was on this trip that I had the unfortunate accident with the dog on the way back.





The ruins at Garhpanchkot were unprotected back in 2015 and you could go right up to them, but now they are protected and cannot be accessed






Shankarpur trip, 2016 This trip coincided with the Olympics and Dipa Karmakar's incredible effort.




Mandarmani again, 2016 This was the last time I drove on the beach. It is no longer permitted.




Mukutmanipur, Bishnupur and Gongoni, 2017


Mukutmanipur has a nice lake




The terracotta temples of Bishnupur were built by the Malla kings and they are unique and extremely well preserved.








Gongoni has a mini-canyon and it can be accessed easily from Bishnupur




Puri, 2018


Nrusingha sweets makes the best "Khajas" and it is located in this rather narrow and congested lane










Darjeeling, 2018




These tea gardens are the first indication that we are entering the Dooars. They come just before Siliguri.






Winter is the best time for this view. We went in December and it was totally worth it.




Glenarys still makes pretty good savouries and pastries, and is a must visit pit stop when in Darjeeling




We took a detour via Lataguri on the way back to catch up with some friends




Bolpur/Shantiniketan, 2021


Shantiniketan is still an idyllic hamlet and you can get a taste of the beauty of rural Bengal in its surrounding areas




The Sonajhuri weekend haat is an additional attraction. The haat showcases some of the best work of Bengal's weavers




A place steeped in culture, there is much to see and experience




Amartya Sen has a house here






Purulia, 2021.


Khairabera Dam. The approach is not the best, but it's worth getting there to see the lake in its pristine beauty



Lower Dam


TL here:https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...vista-d90.html (Weekend getaway to Ajodhya Hills, Purulia in a Tata Vista D90)


Vizag, 2021. This was the second longest trip in the car.



TL here:https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ound-trip.html (Calcutta to Vizag in a Tata Vista - 2241 kms round-trip)

[Neversaygbye]

12. And finally...

The car completed ten years in July 2023 and the ownership experience has been great so far. Here are some of the other places I went to in the car.

Jhargram, 2022.



TL here:https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...st-bengal.html (A weekend in Jhargram, West Bengal)


Mandarmani again, with the Team BHP Calcutta group, 2022


Rendezvous at our favourite place AHD Uluberia on the way




We had a lot of fun on this trip, as the smiles in this pic testify




Humans weren't the only ones that enjoyed the trip!




Stopped for tea on the way back



Link here: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/team-...hp-meet-2.html (Weekend at Mandarmoni - Kolkata Team-BHP Meet)


North Bengal (Delo and Dooars), 2022

A trip to the North Bengal hills was something that my FIL wanted to do. However, he was suffering from interstitial lung disease, and required frequent oxygen support. So we put him and my MIL on a flight to Bagdogra and picked them up from there. We carried the oxygen cylinder in our car. This was the last trip of my FIL. He passed away earlier this year.

We stayed at the favourite resort of all BHPians in Delo




It offers a great view of the Teesta Valley and the Kanchenjunga range, but to our chagrin, conditions were misty during our entire stay




Our group at the breakfast table




Delo is also known for its paragliding facilities but we did not try, having already done it in Solang Valley many years back.




This small restaurant is run by Mr. Anil Chhetri, who worked as a chef in Dubai before returning during the pandemic. It isn't much to look at but the food is excellent.




One wall is completely covered in edgy posters




The thukpa was amazing!




Graham's Home is a missionary school in Kalimpong with expansive grounds, and is worth a visit.




From Delo we made our way to Murti in the Dooars. The route through Lava goes through lush tea gardens




Murti - where peaceful waters flow




100,000 kms milestone was reached on 6th August 2022. Just a shade over 9 years. Probably I would have reached it sooner had I taken the car to Bangalore and had there been no pandemic induced lockdown.




Madhupur, Burhai hills, Deoghar, Giridih and surrounding areas, 2022.

The quaint St. Columba's Church in Madhupur




Deoghar is a pilgrimage circuit for Hindus but it also has a lot to offer in terms of natural beauty. There are many lakes and waterfalls in and around the area, not to mention some really nice mansions in Madhupur. However, the Shiva temple in Deoghar itself (Baba Baidyanath Dham) is one of the major temples in the country and one of the key offerings (prasad) is Pedha. This shop makes the best ones.



TL here: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ata-vista.html (Doing the Deoghar and Giridih circuit in a Tata Vista)


Bhitarkanika, 2022

Bhitarkanika in Odisha has one of the largest concentrations of salt water crocodiles in India, and going near the shore of the different creeks or for a swim is definitely not recommended here. The crocodile population has increased beyond the carrying capacity of the park now and there are frequent incidents, similar to the human-tiger conflict in Sunderbans. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/.../103625525.cms




Some of the crocs are hu...ge!




Cossimbazar, 2023

The Cossimbazar Palace of the Roys is now a heritage hotel that is run by the royal Roy family, that also own the confectioners The Sugarr & Spice in Calcutta. It has been very nicely restored (although not entirely) and offers a great place to stay near Murshidabad, which is also one place really worth visiting if one is interested in history.

However, getting to the Palace through the route suggested by Google Maps is a royal pain, as can be seen from this video. This is just a small example. Almost the entire route from Berhampore market was like this. However there is an alternative route which is much better.

https://youtu.be/ESWPhm98aIw

Once we got there, however, it was as if we had stepped into another world.






Gadiara, 2023




Henry's Island and Bakkhali, 2023

Sunrise at Henry's Island




The vendors on the Bakkhali beach are extremely well organized. There is a specific row demarcated to each type of vendor.




The variety of sea-food available is also super.




Tajpur, 2023




These shacks in Tajpur serve food and drinks and add a different dimension, especially when the tide comes in.




Puri again, 2023




1,20,000 kms milestone reached on Independence Day 2023.




The car has done over 1,24,000 kms as of now. I was planning to do a trip to Rajasthan via Gwalior earlier this year but it looks like that will have to wait till next year. However, I am sure that the car will be a part of many Team BHP trips in the coming months. I am very happy with the car, and have no intention of replacing it any time soon. Thanks a lot for reading this far. Ciao.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Mile_Breaker]

Beautiful testimony of a wonderful car that you have. I really enjoyed that night drive during Dalma trip in the D90. Confidence invoking highway manner with almost no body roll felt inside, highspeed stability and the feel of a heavy car is what I noticed. I am sure it still has many many kilometers to run.

[Samba]

This one is among one of the best long term ownership reports I have read in Team-Bhp. The report covers all the important aspects of the car and it's company, and your write-up clearly shows the love you have for this car.

However old this car maybe, this car is a keeper. A decade back this diesel engine from Fiat was a popular choice and it came in two tunes. The 75 Bhp FGT and the 90 Bhp VGT. The 90 Bhp one was considered for the enthusiasts.

Fiat never tuned their gearbox spot-on with this engine in their Punto, whereas Maruti and Tata nailed it. This engine in the Swift was an instant hit in the market.
But the Vista was the most VFM among the three. It offered a strong body shell like the Punto, the most spacious among the three and as reliable as the Swift!

The Punto 90Bhp was considered as an enthusiasts car, but many people never knew about the D90 which was equally capable. The Punto was superior in handling, and it's timeless design still looks good, but if we see practically this was the most practical choice among the three.
This car can go fast, it is reliable, spacious, comfortable, easy to maintain, abuse friendly, and returns a good mileage too. What more can one ask from a car!

Wish you many more happy miles with your D90.

[ron82x3]

Thank you Sumanta da for writing such a detailed review of your trusted Vista D90.
I had never imagined that it was such a capable car. I first met you at the 2021 Winter meet, Kolkata Chapter, and I saw you coming out of your car, and wiping the windows near Nivedita Toll plaza. To be very frank I had missed the VX90 badge. I realized it only when we were returning from the meet.
I have been familiar with the capabilities of the car ever since and in the next winter meet you were telling how well built the car is, and all the functions still work. The Vista has no problems with keeping up with any car except one White Turbo possibly.

Originally Posted by Neversaygbye

7. A few words on maintenance
Also, it seems that the behaviour of the staff is not consistent across customers. BHPian ron82x3 said that my SA was rude to him despite the fact that he had given my reference to him and my relationship with my SA goes back 7-8 years. I will speak to my SA about it the next time I see him, which should be during the next service in a few days' time.

Absolutely. Thanks again for bringing this up, and to this forum. I have almost lost hope with the SA, and have thought that I will request someone else to take up my job.

Originally Posted by Neversaygbye

While they will fix everything mentioned in the job card efficiently and thoroughly, they will sometimes make omissions that necessitate a thorough check similar to a PDI, resulting in a reprimand once I find some act of omission (usually it would be something unrelated to the original issue) followed by a hurried redressal of the omission. Some examples are - wiping the windshield with a dirty cloth after a wash leaving oil streaks, failing to connect the lighter after replacing the clutch, failing to connect the steering mounted audio controls after working on the steering column, etc. TASC still needs to work on getting everything right the first time.

This I find a major headache. Since not all people have good eyes, it is very easy to miss. The Tiago's dashboard has been heavily stained, the gearbox mount broken, the 12v adaptor cover ripped apart and the cover below the steering column was left in the passenger seat. All this happened during a minor visit to get the battery checked. Totally unacceptable.

[Neversaygbye]

Originally Posted by Mile_Breaker

Beautiful testimony of a wonderful car that you have. I really enjoyed that night drive during Dalma trip in the D90. Confidence invoking highway manner with almost no body roll felt inside, highspeed stability and the feel of a heavy car is what I noticed. I am sure it still has many many kilometers to run.

Thank you for the kind words - you have a gem in the Hexa yourself. Both our cars are underrated, and it's a pity that Tata Motors took them off the market instead of continuing to update them. Looking forward to many more drives with you.

Originally Posted by Samba

However old this car maybe, this car is a keeper.
Wish you many more happy miles with your D90.

Thanks Samba - I have been asked multiple times when I am going to change my car, but I think I will have to spend at least 4 times of what I did on this car, if I want to upgrade. I would rather use that money on other things. However, the decision may soon me forced on me, if what has happened in NCR is applied to the rest of the country. Let's see.

Originally Posted by ron82x3

Thank you Sumanta da for writing such a detailed review of your trusted Vista D90.

The Vista has no problems with keeping up with any car except one White Turbo possibly.

Absolutely. Thanks again for bringing this up, and to this forum. I have almost lost hope with the SA, and have thought that I will request someone else to take up my job.

This I find a major headache. Since not all people have good eyes, it is very easy to miss. The Tiago's dashboard has been heavily stained, the gearbox mount broken, the 12v adaptor cover ripped apart and the cover below the steering column was left in the passenger seat. All this happened during a minor visit to get the battery checked. Totally unacceptable.

I doubt that there is any car that can keep up with the white Turbo Magnite

Speaking of your experience with my SA, it is still a mystery to me and I will surely speak with him the next time I see him. About the other thing, I hope you did take it up with the CRO. I keep giving feedback to both my SA and the Customer Service ladies and for the first time in years, could not find a reason to complain in the last service before the Dalma trip. They now know me and the Vista by both registration number and sight, so I think this is more about their being extra careful with my car in particular and not a change in attitude in general. Old habits die hard and it doesn't help that TC Motors gets more cars per day than they can handle. Tata needs to increase their service centres and train their service centre staff better, for sure.

[arjab]

Originally Posted by Neversaygbye

12. And finally...
The car completed ten years in July 2023 and the ownership experience has been great so far. Here are some of the other places I went to in the car.

The Indica VISTA was the most underrated cars to have been sold in India.
We had a 2009 Noble Blue Vista Diesel,(75ps), base model, the TERRA variant.
From 2009, till we sold it in 2019 November,[it was replaced by a Nexon which has grand-daddy VISTA written all over it ], we had covered 153,000 trouble-free kms.
Apart from scheduled maintainence, we did not spend a penny on anything else. No breakdowns, no sudden scares, nothing. The car was used extensively within city, highway runs, numerous road trips and was even once used as a rally recce car!
Want to highlight some of the points:

1. Extremely good high speed stability even on stock tyres. (Though i later upsized to 185 section Michelin XM2's). No tramlining under heavy braking, no weave or any unnecessary yaw.

2. Suspension: Impressive body control. Progressive and very predictable body roll. Exceptional rebound control and recovery from sharp dips and long-frequency undulations. It was very difficult to "bottom-out" a VISTA! Recovery from mid-corner bumps and potholes was also commendable.

3. Space: Oodles of it. Very comfortable rear bench where three "fat Indians" could easily sit. The rear seat backrest angle was very well judged and under-thigh support was nice. To me, I found, the front seats lacking a bit in under-thigh support, but the cushioning was good and the seat-base even after a lakh&a half kilometres did not sag. I do not use seatcovers in any of my cars. The glove-box was huge, (i regularly used to keep my 14-inch lapttop there) and there was a "secret storage tray" under the left front passenger seat. The door pockets were narrow and the bottle holders could only hold 500ml water bottles.

4. Build quality: Tough. The car was designed to take a beating. We did not face any trim rattling or dashboard creaking issues. Our model, being the base model, with manual winding windows, maybe there was no trim worth rattling! Owners of more plusher variants will be able to comment more accurately on this.

5. Handling: Composed. It was never designed to be a racer and it never pretended to be one. Surprisingly the hydraulic power steering was nicely weighted and had a lovely "supple" feel to it. Smooth self centering action as well. The way to drive a VISTA was to choose a cornering line, tip the nose in, feel the nose-heavy Fiat diesel "choose its momentum and settle" and the VISTA tracked true. Mid corner bumps were shrugged off, with the wide wheel-track and the well judged suspension playing their part in unison.

6. Servicing & Maintenance:
I religiously stuck to all TML recommended service intervals. Outside of that I did not have to spend anything.
Every 50,000 kms I dismantled and cleaned the EGR. Without fail. Alongwith this I always changed the diesel filters.
At 90,000 kms I replaced the front discs. Clutch was replaced at 84,000kms.
At 100,000 kms, the timing belt was replaced.
Suspension was still stock and "un-overhauled", if I can put it in this "wrong" English till the time we sold the car at 1.5lac kms.

It was a good car. Comfortable, reliable, spacious, safe(the body-shell was designed for EURO NCAP), and very frugal. One of India's "unsung hero" cars perhaps? The VISTA is dead, Long Live the VISTA (in the shape of Nexon)!

Leaving a picture of our vehicle while on a trip to North Bengal. This picture was taken at Dowhill, Kurseong.

[stallion_16]

Greetings,
We had an Indica Vista petrol Safire model for a little over 10 years with us. It took us to the length and breadth of the country, without so much as a puncture. We are a family of 4 with luggage for 6 as we took utensils and cooked the meals for us. The car, the boot, and the carrier were full of luggage. We left without a single booking and just had roadmaps with us to guide through for the 2 weeks that we travelled and for those 2 weeks our Vista was our little home.

Except for the ghats, on which the car struggled like an asthmatic, the car drove beautifully. I learned to drive on the Vista and our family had tears when the car was sold due to waterlogging. Feels great to see another family traveling the country with the Vista. Uploading a picture of our Blue Baby from Naukuchiatal.

[alphahere]

I have owned the first generation Indica Vista QJD from 2009 to 2013. It was an Anniversary Edition with a sort of Grey-Black roof and side mirrors. I sold it in 2013 and moved on to an i20 CRDi which I have even now.

The Vista though a sturdy car had more than it's fair share of quality issues from day 1. The engine was good no doubt, the ride quality was also commendable, the steering wheel was well weighted due to being hydraulic. Generally there ends the positives. There were many quality problems that do not actually affect the performance of the car but turn out to be an issue for some people like myself; the plastic showing the gearshift patten on the gearknob became brittle and half of it broke off. The printing on the music system buttons all came off, either faded or peeled off. The beige art leather seats that came with the anniversary edition started disintegrating after 2 years, finally I had to redo the seats in genuine leather matching the tan colour on the dashboard. I had to stuff rubber pieces within the dashboard to prevent creaks while driving. The A/C felt weak if the sun so much as peeped out. Also multiple mechanical as well and non mechanical parts were replaced under warranty.

I did TD a D90 Vista as part of my plans to change the car; yes it was way more powerful and responsive than the 75. But I got the feeling that the engine was displaying more grunt than I expected given the 90hp, it was like a screaming beast. On researching further it turned out that Tata had reworked on the final drive ratio shortening it in effect creating an overall lower gearing. This is what enhanced the torque at city speeds. It 'felt' more powerful than the i20 CRDi which has the same power figures. Out on the highway it's the i20 CRDi that has really long legs. It was one of the cars of the time that was very hard to keep up with and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience that this car has rewarded me with over the years, I still do love driving this car. Most of my drives were between states, much less in the city.

The main reason that prompted me to get rid of the Vista in the 4th year after 80k kms was an annoying groaning/growling noise from the gearbox that intrudes into the cabin in higher gears like 4th or 5th. It appeared within the first 3 months of ownership and has been present eversince. It was overshadowing the sound of the diesel engine, the same problem was audible on our very first new car the Fiat Uno D (1999), this existed till we declared the end of life of the car at 15 years. I have heard the same on multiple forums on Fiats. I drove a 'Drivetech' version of the Vista that was launched a few months later after I bought mine but that did not have the sound, either they fixed it in this model or the car was too new. This sound materially influenced my next decision and I did not consider any of the cars with a Fiat drivetrain even though the D90 did not seem to have this noise, I did not want to take a risk of living with this sound for another 15 years. But it was a done deal anyway the moment I set sight on the Hyundai. My heart went out to it, now this was what I called a car of standards. As rightly mentioned the quality was miles ahead, refinement could not be compared to anything on our roads in the day, performance was exhilarating, strong cooling from the climate system; so I did stretch my budget quite a bit more and brought one of those 'beauties' home. And this has a real slick slotting gearshift and none of that growling sound even 10 years into its life on the original clutch, if you can live with the harsh ride compared to the Tata. In comparison to the Vista, nothing on the Hyundai has been replaced under warranty. Replaced parts after warranty was a PS motor, ABS sensors and an evaporator coil, I can safely say that the car has been well behaved.

I would like and I hope Tata Motors will scale these heights of quality at some point in the future and I believe they are getting there albeit slowly. I will definitely go back as a customer because they have the basics sorted, but... the feel good factor needs to be given due consideration as well, till then I will just wait and watch.

[sayakc]

Dear Sumanta-da,

I don't think that you can call it "only" an ownership review of the car!

The anecdotes and nice stories that this piece is peppered with, has made it a very interesting read and being a lover of 'old day' travels - I loved how you have weaved the ownership report with some of your travels of Madhya Pradesh tour or the Garpanchakot et al.

And the final dimension - as evident from your photos, this ownership report also shows a part of your growing over the years.

Thank you for this piece, it was a nice way to spend the (hint of winter) morning

Best Regards,
Sayak

[ABHI_1512]

For someone who doesn’t like the look of his own car, this ownership report says otherwise. This entire thread is such a good read that I have read some posts twice over since yesterday. I have never heard someone buying a car for showing gratitude to a loan salesman- this is probably the first and the last !!

The entire ownership report is filled with stories about the places the car went. That picture of six people sitting inside for trying out the seating combination tells us about the humongous space of the car inside. I once tried the same combination inside my Figo with the seats folded and it was almost a bed inside the car. Some incidents remain with us forever and this thread is full of such incidents.

Your D90 can still outrun many a cars on the road. I might sound indifferent to your own will here but knowing how many outstation trips you make, it’s time you get yourself a safety laden car as well. I am glad you wrote this thread, the log will help reminisce many interesting times spent along with this gem of a vehicle, the small boot not withstanding.

Wishing many more miles for as long as you can, will be waiting for our next trip to somewhere. May 5292 be always in the front and 5212 following behind

[Neversaygbye]

Originally Posted by arjab

The Indica VISTA was the most underrated cars to have been sold in India.

It was a good car. Comfortable, reliable, spacious, safe(the body-shell was designed for EURO NCAP), and very frugal. One of India's "unsung hero" cars perhaps? The VISTA is dead, Long Live the VISTA (in the shape of Nexon)!

I can completely relate to all the points you have mentioned, as I'm living those same points every day. The Vista lives on as the Nexon, as you have rightly mentioned, and it isn't surprising that the Nexon is as sorted a vehicle as it can get. I drove a Zoomcar Nexon over 1000 kms on a trip to Assam and Meghalaya a few months back, and it was just like driving my Vista. The ergonomics were spot on. Having said that, I am disappointed with Tata Motors and their tendency to pull the plug on good vehicles instead of updating them for modern times. The Vista was one such and they should have stuck to the name instead of calling the refreshed iteration the Bolt. Similarly, they should have retained the Hexa and the Storme. Maruti, Hyundai and Honda do not sunset their vehicles that have a brand recall (Swift, i20, City) - they keep updating them, and Tata should do the same going forward (the refreshed Nexon, Harrier and Safari are a start in that direction, undoubtedly).

Originally Posted by stallion_16

Except for the ghats, on which the car struggled like an asthmatic, the car drove beautifully. I learned to drive on the Vista and our family had tears when the car was sold due to waterlogging. Feels great to see another family traveling the country with the Vista.

Thank you. As you well know, the Vista is perfect for road trips. I have actually run up the kms in just about 6-7 years, considering that the car was in the garage for extended periods when I was in Bangalore, and also during the pandemic. Great to see your Safire Vista being used so extensively - I had found the 75 BHP MJD underpowered, so am not at all surprised that your 65 BHP Safire struggled on the ghats. The power to weight ratio of this car is not great thanks to its weight, and even with my D90, it is just smoked on the highway by other cars, especially in initial acceleration. But once the turbo starts spooling, it becomes a different beast.

Originally Posted by alphahere

I have owned the first generation Indica Vista QJD from 2009 to 2013. It was an Anniversary Edition with a sort of Grey-Black roof and side mirrors. I sold it in 2013 and moved on to an i20 CRDi which I have even now.

The Vista though a sturdy car had more than it's fair share of quality issues from day 1.
I would like and I hope Tata Motors will scale these heights of quality at some point in the future and I believe they are getting there albeit slowly. I will definitely go back as a customer because they have the basics sorted, but... the feel good factor needs to be given due consideration as well, till then I will just wait and watch.

Well, you have the car that I would have bought had it been a little less pricey, so I know where you're coming from. Hyundai is right up there in terms of fit and finish, and they know it and charge a premium for it.

With their JLR acquisition, the fit and finish of Tata cars has improved now (though still nowhere near Hyundai/Kia level). We never faced the quality issues you have mentioned though, with either of our Tata cars. Probably it had to do with the fact that both the models had been in the market for a few years before we bought them, by which time Tata had completed their beta testing at the expense of the early adopters (such as yourself) and fixed all the issues except fit and finish. Unfortunately the beta testing is still continuing with every new launch Probably the QC issues will go only when the existing bunch of QC folk in their plants retire. Which is a pity as Tata does the fundamentals such as build quality and ride quality extremely well, plus their vehicles are built to last. Also, I find them more honest - they usually don't deny warranty claims or make vehicles that intentionally have poor quality where it can't be seen. So the important learning for me is to buy a Tata car only after it has been on the market for at least two years.

Originally Posted by sayakc

Dear Sumanta-da,

I don't think that you can call it "only" an ownership review of the car!

The anecdotes and nice stories that this piece is peppered with, has made it a very interesting read and being a lover of 'old day' travels - I loved how you have weaved the ownership report with some of your travels of Madhya Pradesh tour or the Garpanchakot et al.

And the final dimension - as evident from your photos, this ownership report also shows a part of your growing over the years.

Thank you for this piece, it was a nice way to spend the (hint of winter) morning

Best Regards,
Sayak

Thank you for the kind words Sayak - combining the TLs was a deliberate decision to make it a bit interesting for those who are not just interested in technicalities. I am glad that you found the post interesting. Your travels in your Swift are also an inspiration, and of course your advice has been of great help to me as well, especially on the trip to Yuru when you helped book Badsha hotel on our behalf. Really found the hotel to be a find. I wonder how the new Raigunj bypass will impact them and the WBTDC property at Kulik, though. Thanks once again.