[ajay_satpute]

It all began in Feb 2009, when we were about to be blessed with a baby in the month of April. So, we though it is the right time to get home a car. The budget was finalized around 4-4.5 lacs. Just before I finalized the car, my closest friend bought his Indica Vista Aura - Petrol.

We liked the car a lot for the following reasons:
1) Huge space. Period.
2) Loaded with many features.
3) Killing price tag. For 4.2 lakhs OTR, we got everything under the Sun.
4) Fresh look from the Tata stable.

So we booked the car on our 3rd Wedding Anniversary day. The whole process was quite smooth, except some irritation from the bank side. The car was delivered on 30th July, with nothing due. I drove the car home and reached at 7:30 PM. My family and few close friends were waiting already. The car got a nice welcome.

Fast forward to future...

Its been 1 year and 3 months till date and 11111 KMs on the odo. A good milestone to write up the report!

The car has served all the purposes a family guy would expect from the car.

Here are the major Cons and Pros of the car:
Cons:
1) Underpowered for sure:
Many a times a I felt that it would have good to have few more horses under the hood, atleast 10-15 of them. Especially during uphills, I felt the car is severly underpowered to take the load.
2) Steering:
I feel that the steering is very stiff and hard. Maneuvering in city and tight corners is not that easy. I would anyday prefer a steering like the ANHC. Its just superb!
3) Stock Tyres:
The stock tyres on this variant are pathetic, with regards to the huge weight of this car. Its heavier than most other hatchbacks, and it has the lowest profile tyres. I will upgrade the tyres to wider and taller ones. That might ease the stiffness of the steering. The stock tyres on this car are 175/70 R13.
4) Quality of plastics:
Tata has always been bashed for the poor quality of plastics used in their cars, which is true unfortunately. One fo the power window switch in my Vista was broken withing first 2 months and was replaced by Tata free of cost without much hassle. I am always concerned about the door handles. They feel like they can break anytime. The driver seat belt holder socket had come off and that was fitted too in the A.S.S.
5) Quality of fitment:
- The rubber biddings all around the car also of low quality. The rubber bidding on the roof had come off in few months which was resolved in the 1st service.
- The rub-rails (metal plates on the 4 doors) are stuck with some glue I feel. One of them just fail on the road one day when I was going home from office. One guy at a signal said, "Sir patti gir gaya hey"
6) A/C:
A/C is not very effective. Cooling takes time.

Pros:
1) Space, space, space... I can't talk more about it. Its the USP of this car.
2) Overall feel of the interior:
- The first feeling that you get after entering the car is like you are entering a big sedan. Its very spacious and airy.
- Large window panes(not as large as Jazz though).
- The integrated music system and the central console also give this car a different feeling than other cars.
- The all beige interior on the Aura trim gives even more airy and fresh feeling inside. (its slightly tough to maintain the beige)
3) Stock ICE:
- The stock music system on this car good. Though not as mind blowing as the one on Jazz, its pretty good compared to other hatches. Ofcourse, I changed the stock speakers to JBL Pro and the sound quality became much much better. The Aura variant comes with 6 speaker (thats a good number of speakers for 4 lakhs), 2 tweeters and 4 sub-woofers.
- FM sound quality is very good.
- USB and AUX very useful.
4) Weight of the car:
- The heavy profile of this car makes it very stable on the highways at high speeds. I have driven the i10 on the highway and it was bouncing all over the place due to its light weight. The car stands rooted strongly on the road.
5) Smooth ride:
- The national engine of India, is doing a good job on my car too. The famed Fiat FIRE engine is very smooth.
- NVH is low, even at high speeds.
- The comfort on the rear seat is as good as you can get. You rarely feel the bumps, humps, pot holes, etc.

Some small but noticable things:
1) No ABS, Airbags on offer when I bought my car. Now, the new Vista is loaded to the brim.
2) Whenever I turn the A/C ON, the brakes loose their sharpness. I have had a close shave 2-3 times when the A/C was ON and I had to stop suddenly. Gosh! I am lucky.
3) There is not a single rattle till date. Unbelivable...belive it.

Now, the last thing and certainly the most shocking for most readers. The TATA A.S.S. Well, I have a pretty good experience with them. They have done everything properly when needed. I never had to shout or frown at them for getting things done. Infact, the last servicing was actually terrific. The A/C suddenly feels very good. The SA advised me to go for expert interior+exterior cleaning package, which costs 450 RS and I accepted it. It was fantastic!

The expenses on the repairs and services are very low and don't deserved to be mentioned here. I have constantly got an FE of about 12 in the City and around 17 on highway. That's enough for me. Once I got 19 on one highway trip to Nasik.

After all said and done, will I ever recommend anyone to go for this car??? It is YES. However, the recent price hikes will make a prospective buyer think twice. There's hell lot of competition in the market and Vista has been pushed down the 'like-to-have' list.

Would I go for another Tata car? NO. Not because this car is bad or the Tata A.S.S is bad. Its because I want to try out a new brand, new company, new A.S.S. experience. My next car could be either of the 2: Hyundai i20 CRDi or Fiat Linea T-Jet. Two completely irrelevant choices, but what can I do.

Hope this gives an insight for the prospective buyers who plan to checkout the Tata Indica Vista.

P.S.: I have not driven the new 90HP Vista, so no comments on that. But, since it cost more than 6 lakhs, the Tata pricing magic has gone, frankly.

A recent photo of the Vista:

[lucifer919]

Lovely shade you have there for the car. and well maintained too. havnt really seen this shade much on the streets.

Also, since you were mentioning the vehicle being underpowered, any reason you went for the petrol and not for the 1.3 multijet engine? I think that would have had a nice torquey pull as compared to the petrol, especially in the hills.

[HammerHead]

I must say this is one of the 'to the point' writeup about Vista 1.2.

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

The SA advised me to go for expert interior+exterior cleaning package, which costs 450 RS and I accepted it. It was fantastic!

Details please. Is that for one time cleaning job? What all was done? Which service center?

2) Whenever I turn the A/C ON, the brakes loose their sharpness. I have had a close shave 2-3 times when the A/C was ON and I had to stop suddenly. Gosh! I am lucky.

That's shocking!! What does SA has to say about it?

Originally Posted by lucifer919

Also, since you were mentioning the vehicle being underpowered, any reason you went for the petrol and not for the 1.3 multijet engine? I think that would have had a nice torquey pull as compared to the petrol, especially in the hills.

I think its the budget which did not allow him to go in for 1.3 MJD.

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

It all began in Feb 2009, when we were about to be blessed with a baby in the month of April. So, we though it is the right time to get home a car.:

Ditto my situation 6.5 years back. I was blessed with a baby in Apr'04 & my car followed in July'04 & coincidentally it was an Indica.

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

We liked the car a lot for the following reasons:
1) Huge space. Period.

Me too. WagonR & Santro were ruled out simply because of space constraints compared to the Indica. Moreover there was hardly any car in the market that time with a diesel heart & my weekly Pune-Mumbai commutes didn't allow me to consider a petrol car.

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

Its been 1 year and 3 months till date and 11111 KMs on the odo. A good milestone to write up the report!

A very apt milestone indeed & a very good write-up

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

Would I go for another Tata car? NO. Not because this car is bad or the Tata A.S.S is bad. Its because I want to try out a new brand, new company, new A.S.S. experience. My next car could be either of the 2: Hyundai i20 CRDi or Fiat Linea T-Jet. Two completely irrelevant choices, but what can I do.

My next car is definitely going to be a sedan & the sedan market is just exploding. Though I have not ruled out a Tata again (read Manza), chances are very slim, given the plethora of choices available in the market today. I am also open for a pre-worshipped sedan.

[ajay_satpute]

@AutoIndian, @HammerHead, @lucifer919:

Thank you all for the comments.

@HammerHead: The cleaning job is a package offered by Pandit Auto, Pune. I am not sure whether other Tata Service centers offer the same. They charge around 550/- and the outcome is fantastic. I am planning to get it done once in 3 months. Its worth.

@AutoIndian: Its really very interesting to see the similarities in our experiences. Apr'04 and Apr'09 is the peak of similarity.

[ajay_satpute]

We did a trip on Saturday to a place called 'Hadshi' which is about 40 KMs from Pune city.

The roads on the way to Hadshi, were like good roads, bad roads and no roads. After leaving the main Paud road after Paud village, the road became horrible. Very narrow road and so many trucks were plying on that narrow road all the time that I had to constantly take the car off road for a while and come back on the so-called road. Thank God, I managed to complete the short trip without any scratches or underbody hits.

Most important point now: We were eight of us in the Vista. 2 adults in the front and 4 adults and 2 kids at the back. My oh my, the Vista did a great job carrying all the load on those horrible roads and a very steep small ghat section leading to the temple. I had to mostly drive in the 3rd gear on the bad roads at a speed of 40 KMPH and had to drive the car in 1st gear through the steep ghat section which had 5-6 extremely sharp U-turns. I must say, Vista really took those bad roads and pot-holes quite well than expected with its soft suspensions. We had pulled the front seats as much forward as possible to make a good room at the rear, even though Vista offers the maximum space at the rear (only comparable with the Figo's rear seat).

All and all, I am very satisfied with the car. I understand this is not really recommended, but no option. I severly missed a vehicle like a Scorpio or even an SX4 which have superb GC and good power to drag a load like this smoothly. ANHC would have scrapped a million times on this kind of surface with 6 adults inside. Not meant for a delicate beauty like the ANHC.

The reason for sharing this information is that I hope it proves helpful to current owners and prospective owners in the sense that Vista can take bad roads quite well, if you drive properly. I would not recommend anyone to carry such huge load, but if there is a need, you know now, Vista can do the job well.

[himavanth_m]

Wow, 8 in a Vista and still no problems with the GC, that is great.
It is strange that you say Vista A/C is not effective. I thought Indicas had a great A/C(based on my experience with old V2 version and not on Vista). Also nice to hear about a good TATA Service experience
Wish you many more trouble free miles with this vehicle.

Sorry OT, but could you post some pics of Hadshi and give a brief description about it. Could you also let us know how and where to get there. It would great for everyone in the forum especially me
I had been 3 years in Pune and never heard of this place. I might be ignorant.

[ajay_satpute]

@himavanth_m:

Visit this page and you should get all the required information about Hadshi:

Walk Along With Me: Panduranga Kshetra, Hadshi Temple, Pune

If you need any more info about Hadshi, do PM me anytime.

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, Vista did a good job with 6 adults and 2 kids on board. Not even once I hit the underbody anywhere. Regarding the A/C, it is not effective enough to give a good feeling to the people on the rear bench. For front seats, its perfect. It does cool the cabin well, but takes a long time. So the inefficiency is in the time it takes to cool and not the power of the A/C.

-Ajay

[ajay_satpute]

12,500 on the Odo.

No issues till date. Car is running in fine condition. FE is around 13, which is good enough for me. Paint is still intact at all places, no scrapping, no fading.

I guess I need to go for wheel balancing, alignment, rotation. I have a weird feeling that the front right wheel is slightly bent inwards. Need to confirm.

[ajay0612]

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

Most important point now: We were eight of us in the Vista. 2 adults in the front and 4 adults and 2 kids at the back.
.
.
I understand this is not really recommended, but no option. I severly missed a vehicle like a Scorpio or even an SX4 which have superb GC and good power to drag a load like this smoothly. ANHC would have scrapped a million times on this kind of surface with 6 adults inside.
.
.
The reason for sharing this information is that I hope it proves helpful to current owners and prospective owners in the sense that Vista can take bad roads quite well, if you drive properly. I would not recommend anyone to carry such huge load, but if there is a need, you know now, Vista can do the job well.

GC is not so much of a safety issue, but compromised braking under such heavy load and chance of puncture, suspension breakage are.
Lest people start getting ideas, the rear seat of such wide bodied cars are good enough for 3 medium sized adults and a child (upto 6 years). Not more.

[DMehta]

Hey. I have the Indica Vista (limited Edition)
Here are some issues i have been facing.
1.The power windows are really bad. They refuse to work sometimes.
2. The driver's door lock was disappointing. At one point i had to bang the door 4-5 times before it closed.
3. The air conditioner had stopped working once which was later rectified by tata.
Did you face any such problems?

[ajay_satpute]

Originally Posted by DMehta

Hey. I have the Indica Vista (limited Edition)
Here are some issues i have been facing.
1.The power windows are really bad. They refuse to work sometimes.
2. The driver's door lock was disappointing. At one point i had to bang the door 4-5 times before it closed.
3. The air conditioner had stopped working once which was later rectified by tata.
Did you face any such problems?

Hi DMehta

I just read your report of the DZire. Nice report.

I have not faced any of these issues till date. The only issue I have faced is the most talked about problem in Vista. Brake pedal gets very hard in 2nd gear with A/C on. And there seems to be no solution for this with anyone. So got to live with it.

[ajay_satpute]

Came back from a 500+ KM trip to Nashik.

I think Pune to Nashik road is one of the worst Highway in the whole country. Out of the 220 Kms stretch, only the first 35-40 KMs are 2 lanes. After that the route becomes a driver's nightmare. Single lane road with heavy load all the time. The highway goes through some really really tiny villages (Sangamner, Sinnar, Narayangaon) and you just cannot escape traffic jams at these bottle-necks. How can a HIGHWAY go through such small and pathetically maintained roads going through small villages? The road can only become good if there is a way to bypass all these bottle necks.

Now about my car. What can I say. As trouble free as it was on day one. What keeps amusing me is that the whole country is busy in bashing Tata vehicles for their cheap quality, not-so-good-engines, and what not. I have never had any issue with my Vista till date. No parts falling apart, no brake-downs, no fights with A.S.S., etc...

I got a FE of around 17.5 from the whole trip, which is pretty good enough for me. I drove with an average speed of 80 KMPH with some intermittent sprints at 125 KMPH. The sweet spot is around 3k RPM and it really pulls terrifically well beyond that.

Though I wished there was enough power to pull through the winding Ghat sections slightly better. While going to Nashik, I was alone and the car climbed the hills in 3rd gear comfortably. But while returning, I had my wife and kid and the A/C was on and I had to downshift to 2nd and even 1st at time while climbing up.

The NVH levels are a little high, but i think thats because while doing the wheel alignment/balancing/rotation job, the guys at the Bridgestone Select shop filled extra pressure in all tyres (34 PSI).

On straight roads, the car really flies well. May not be as good as other more powerful cars, but flying at 125 was good enough for me.

Overall, extremely satisfied with the car till date. 4th Free servicing is due in few days at 13,500 Kms. Will go for oil change, all filters change, A/C tunnel cleaning, front discs cleaning, front suspensions damping, and may be a 3M interior + underbody cleaning.

[rock18]

I also own a 2007 Indica xeta petrol and very much satisfied with the vehicle.It has done 24000kms so far. It never let me down anywhere.Its very reliable when compared to my previous car(used maruti 800).
I also chose this car for Space and VFM factors.
Whenever i go to any family functions,There will be atleast one relative requesting us to drop him to a nearby place.
many times i have to accomodate 6 to 7 ppl in the car.

major dislikes:
Big dimensions of this car and not so light steering.
Struggles with 5ppl on board(AC on) at low speeds.

major likes:
Costed me just 3 lakhs OTR after discount.
Acres of space
rugged and reliable.
Decent mileage of 14kmpl(most of the time).
tachometer which is not even available in some higher versions hatcbacks.

Wishing you many more trouble free rides...

[ajay_satpute]

Originally Posted by rock18

I also own a 2007 Indica xeta petrol and very much satisfied with the vehicle.It has done 24000kms so far. It never let me down anywhere.Its very reliable when compared to my previous car(used maruti 800).

Thanks rock18. Totally agree with the likes and dislikes you've mentioned.