TATA INDICA DICOR: FIRST IMPRESSIONS
While all the limelight was on the Nano, Tata’s also introduced Indigo CS and Indica Dicor at the Auto Expo. Visitors thronged the TATA stall to have a look at the Nano, while the Indica Dicor and the new Indigo CS remained largely unnoticed. Both the new models are available right now for sale. Here is the first impression of the New Indica Dicor.
Indica has been on a learning curve ever since it was launched way back in 1998 and it has kept improving either by the way of more powerful engines or better quality overall.
The new generation Indica’s are a lot better in refinement and overall quality, though still not the best, its becoming more and more acceptable to a lot of people out there. The first thing that caught my eye was the paint finish which I felt was something that one would find on a more premium car. The insides were better too with better quality plastics, trim and fixtures. The steering though was thin-ribbed and felt big in my hands. The driving position is set too high and the pedals are offset to left making it a bit uncomfortable. Rest of the Indica virtues remains like the very supportive seats and acres of space, front and back. Fire the new Dicor engine though and you will be instantly impressed. Unlike the naturally aspirated Indica or even the turbo, there’s not much clatter outside, the engine sounds refined and muted.
On the Inside its even better. There’s little vibration coming through to the gear lever and the pedals but its not too much even when the engine was cold. The noise is well suppressed and cabin is fairly silent once the engine is fully warmed up and its pretty smooth on the move too. The gearshift is vastly improved too, though still not in the league of Swift or the Palio, its much much better than before and doesn’t mars the overall driving experience. The torque curve is quite flat and pottering around at slow speeds in higher gear is no longer a struggle. Although the dicor revs lower at 4500 rpm compared to the turbo which revved upto 5000 rpm, the torque is now spread more evenly across the rev range. The power is a healthy 70ps @ 4000 rpm but more importantly the 14kgm torque is now available from 1800-3000 rpm making the car sprightly in the city traffic even when driving with full load and AC on. The overall refinement is impressive too, though still not as good as the Swift. The ride is good but body roll is present, like the earlier generation Indica’s. To its credit though the grip levels are good and cars hold its line while cornering quite well.
The knockout punch is delivered by the way of pricing, the new Indica Dicor is available at a mouth watering 4.25 Lakhs Ex-Showroom Delhi and comes only in DLG trim. It’s a full 45k’s cheaper than the Swift Ldi and comes loaded with features like Power Steering, full HVAC, front power windows, rear de-fogger, tachometer, fog lamps front and rear, full wheel covers, intensity adjustable instrument console and both side rear view mirros. In comparison, the Swift LDi is pretty spartan offering nothing but AC and power steering.
Given improved quality levels, better engineering overall, the new Indica Dicor deserves a serious thought from anyone who is in the market for a big roomy diesel hatch.
As for Tata, if Indica Dicor is anything to go by, the new Indica and next generation of Indigo would certainly be a coming of age for Tata Motors.
6 People have left comments on this post
Now this is called improvement…hats off 2 tata but d biggest grouse is stil der..d ryding position as u ppl hv also pointed out..y cant dey keep dat in mynd as well…neway dey r constantly improving gud 4 d mkt
Hi Nitin,
The new DICOR engine is suprisingly good. We were pleasantly surprised the very first time we drove it. You got to drive it once yourself to appreciate how much of an improvement it is. Do gives us your feedback.
CC Team,
ya, sure waniting 2 test drive it
Hi ,
After all intial research my plans of buying a car has halted with 3 choises ….
Maruti Wagon R
TATA INDICA V2 DiCOR
Palio Stile
I’m a novice in this area and this would be my first car …My specifications and pre requisites are as follows
1 Drive around 30 - 35 km per day .
2 Can afford upto < 5 L
3 Will avail loan facility for buying the car
4 Low running cost
5 Low maintanance cost through out I own the car
Initially I was with WagonR .However , through friends advice etc I was informed that the power of the vehicle is less and it has a capacity of only 4 . So , I was informed about the TATA DiCOR and the new Common Rail Technology . As mentioned earlier I’m a newbie in this area and only thing I know is about power …mileage etc . Now I have aslo been told that the Direct Injection Common rail is a new technology in Diesel engines and that they are revolutionary with no maintenance required for the whole life of the engine . Could some one please throu some light on this . Also , Maruti claim that with DDiS technology - “CHAIN DRIVE TIMING SYSTEM WITH AUTO TENSIONER - Maintenance free for the entire engine life” . Is this also the same with TATA v2 DiCOR . Since DiCOR is much cheap compared with the SWIFT , I’m planning on buying this vehicle .Request all you guys advice for me on the above.
Hi,
You have said that you will drive 30 to 35 Kms. This will requre quite a bit of fuel. Take it also into account that you will use the car at times when you will drive more that 35 Kms. Therefore considering the rising price of Petrol the cars are not recommended by me.But at the same time i should say that the Petrol cars are easy to maintain compared to the Diesel cars. In the diesel segment you have to chose between three cars i.e Palio Style (Diesel) , Swift(Diesel) and Indica TURBO or DICOR.( dicor is the next step after turbo) The engines fitted in Palio and Swift are the same being 1.3 Multijet FIAT engines. Maruti has borrowed the engine from FIAT. It may be mentioned that the 1.3 Multijet is more advanced than the Common Rail Direct Injection (CRDI or DICOR however you put it ) engines. But on the other hand the FIAT and the SWIFT are much more expencive than the Indica DICOR. Coming to DICOR ( I own one) i should say that it is more than you need. It has power , the engine being direct injuction is very responcive and the spares of Indica are cheap. BUT if you can afford you should go for SWIFT as it is having the strong support of Maruti service centers as opposed to fiat. Fiat Palio is a very good and strong car but it has serious issues with regard to service and spares, although the FIAT has entered into an agreement with TATA in this regard.You have also expressed your concern about the maintainance of engines. In this regard you should not worry because all the engines now donot develope trouble if you change the engine oil in time. Maintainance of cars are not very much related to the maintainance of engine, but it about the other things like suspension , brake , stearing , AC and others. If these aspects are taken then SWIFT and FIAT will be ahead but Indica will not be far behind. You should also consider the sucess of Indica in the commercial segment where the drivers vertually RAPE the cars. If Indica can survive such treatment then according to me it will perfome very well if you drive it yourself or use it for your personal use. I say this from my experiance as i used to own an INDICA V2 of 2003 and after selling the car and unpon being satisfied with its performance i have bought INDICA DICOR. I think i will be able to help you about buying the car of yur dream.
hi
Tata’s Indica is a great car in every sense. It is one of the popular model that comes in petrol, diesel, turbo, CNG and LPG version And now the recent addition Vista is a cooler model too. You must have also heard about the Indica EV for which india has to wait for some more time.
Rahul,
Indian Car Advisor (Carazoo.com)