120000km with my Indica Vista: A look back at a decade of ownership

Typical Tata issues with fit and finish literally stares me in the face every time I get behind the wheel

BHPian Neversaygbye recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

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:

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:

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:

• Must be diesel
• Should be spacious
• Should be powerful
• Should have good ride quality at low speeds
• Should not have too much body roll (this was a learning from our experience with the Beat)
• Should have decent kit (AC, power steering, power windows and in-built audio system were non-negotiable)
• Service interval should be at least 10,000 kms (again a learning from the Beat)
• 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:

• Fit and finish – c’mon we were coming from an Indica V2. Anything would be an upgrade over that.
• 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.
• 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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

Keyword: 120000km with my Indica Vista: A look back at a decade of ownership