Tata Indica eV2 Reviewed – more bang for your buck?

Recently, Tata Motors launched the Indica eV2. The car is touted as being the best in class mileage, due to various technology improvements. Moreover, this has been accomplished at a better engine performance.

Today, we take a look at the new Indica and the improvements in it. While the Indica eV2 has been launched in both petrol and diesel, we will focus on the diesel variant, as it is in focus with claimed mileage of 25KMPL with improved CR4 engine.

Detailed specifications of the Indica eV2

The Indica eV2 features the same capacity engine as the earlier Indica variants but with improved technology. The petrol Indica eV2 comes with an engine of 1193cc/4 cylinder, and has a peak power output  of 65.3PS @ 5000rpm, and a peak torque of 99.8 nm @ 2700 rpm. The petrol Indica eV2 has a 5 speed manual gearbox, and tubeless tyres with 150/80 R13 rating.

The Indica eV2 Diesel version comes with refined CR4 engine with 4 cylinders and a 1396cc capacity. This variant has a power output of 70PS@4000 rpm, and peak torque of 140 nm @1800 to 3000 rpm. The diesel Indica eV2 comes with Radial tyres with rating 165/65 R13. It has a claimed mileage of 25KMPL.

Colour options in the Indica eV2 include Mint White, Apple Green, Arctic Silver, and Neo Orange.

The earlier Indica V2 which is still available in showrooms, comes with the same capacity engine , i.e. 1396/4 cylinder but the peak power output is 53.5PS@5500 rpm, and peak torque of 85@2500rpm. Thus, the power has been boosted considerably.

The Indica eV2 is available in three trims, viz. LE, LS and LX. The below table shows the differences between these variants.

There is a significant increase in the power output in the latest version with same capacity engine. The engine incorporates Common Rail technology which is why Tata refers to the Indica eV2 as a CR4 engine (interestingly, even the Dicor had a Common rail engine). While giving this power boost, the claimed mileage of 25 KMPL is indeed impressive considering most of the latest diesel engine versions give an average mileage of 18 to 20 KMPL.

 New Features in the Tata Indica eV2

The New Indica eV2 carries a number of new features. Let’s take a look at them.

Clutch to Start

The Tata Indica eV2 comes with clutch–to-start feature. Here, one cannot crank (start) the engine unless the clutch is fully engaged, which means the clutch pedal is not pressed. This means that there is less risk of cranking when the engine is ON. In many instances, people tend to press clutch pedal and start the engine,  with this system one cannot start engine with pressing of clutch pedal.

Auto drive assist

The Auto Drive assist feature helps the driver in climbing gradients. The engine does not stall even if the foot is completely taken off the clutch pedal, enabling the driver to easily operate the accelerator. The significance of this feature is that generally when we are driving on a steep gradient, we need to partially hold the clutch pedal and also accelerate to keep the car moving. There are many instances of the car stalling in the middle of a gradient by amateur drivers. This feature helps to overcome such problems.

60:40 flip seats

The rear seat of the Indica eV2 can be folded to access luggage space from inside the car, and also significantly increases the luggage space capacity provided there is only one passenger in the rear seat.It’s a good improvement in the Indica which helps for access of luggage space from interiors.

Exteriors of new Tata Indica eV2

There are slight changes in the new Indica’s body shape, including sharper bonnet and wheel arch which helps to overcome aerodynamic effects to some extent. Also for the latest version, the Neo orange  colour option has been introduced, apart from the regular Mint white, Apple green, and Arctic silver.

Interiors of new Tata Indica eV2

The GLX Indica eV2 being the top end variant, features a new shadow beige interior colour scheme, wood finished center console, front cabin light with spot light, 4 spoke steering wheel, leather gearshift knob, storage/magazine pockets for front doors, and a parcel shelf.

	Features	LE	LS/GLS	GLX
1	Power steering
2	Air conditioning
3	Front power windows
4	Rear power windows
5	Music system with 2 speakers
6	Audio MP3/CD playback with radio AM/FM
7	Digital Clock
8	New Shadow beige interior colour scheme
9	Fabric seats
10	Body coloured bumpers
11	Alloy wheels
12	Central locking with remote
13	Collapsible steering
14	Child safety lock on rear doors
	On road price bangalore
16	Petrol	449822	475512	535470
17	Diesel	520257	538578	571755

Comfort and safety features

The new Indica eV2 comes with reasonable comfort features. A music system with 2 speakers is available for top end variant, and it also features USB and auxiliary input. Central locking is available for top end version only and child safety lock is available for all variants, besides collapsible steering. There are no features like ABS or Airbag etc.

Mileage improvement factors

As we saw, the new Indica eV2 comes with significantly better mileage. To find out how this has been accomplished, we spoke to a Tata Motors engineer. Some ways in which the mileage was improved, include:

1. Smart EMS (Engine Management System): this system involves ensuring optimal synchronization of each part like fuel supply system, ignition timing etc, to get the best of mileage.

2. Maximum Charge Combustion: a suitable design of combustion chamber and piston to ensure proper combustion of fuel by introducing swirls in combustion chamber.

3. Aerodynamic effects: slight variation of exterior such as wheel arch, also matter in reducing power loss in high speed driving.

Test drive

While starting the Indica eV2, one needs to remember that the car needs to start in neutral gear. This is due to the clutch to start system, with which the engine cannot be cranked when clutch pedal is pressed. Hence, we need to start the engine, and later put it to first gear to move the car.

Once we drive off, we can at once feel the extra power in this version along with a smoother performance. The pick-up is good and the driving of the car has improved a lot thanks to the improved engine and dynamics of car. The suspension of the Indica remains good, and the drive is quite smooth.

Acceleration is a breeze and the braking systems have remained as before.

The ground clearance of 165 mm is good enough to surpass road humps. As in the earlier version, the visibility of bonnet from inside is bit less and hence one has to gauge the distance from front vehicle by experience.

Inside, we tend to think the dash board and interior plasticity could have been improved by making it fine finished, introducing shine on to the dash plastics etc.

Since the drive has not changed much, we won’t tend into much detail. However, as for the mileage, we were able to achieve a mileage of 19 KMPL during what was mostly a city drive. We imagine that highway drives could allow peak mileage as per claimed.

Comparison

The competition for Indica eV2 is quite less considering the price and features offered. However, we can consider competition from cars like Ford Figo, Maruti Suzuki Ritz Diesel, Swift diesel, Fiat Punto, Volkswagen Polo, Nissan Micra diesel, etc. The chart below gives brief comparison of diesel versions of the same. It can be concluded that power output in Indica EV2 is in par with mid segment hatchbacks and has advantage of being cost effective.

	Diesel versions	Tata	Ford	Maruti Suzuki	Maruti Suzuki	Volkswagen	Nissan	Fiat
		Indica Ev2 GLX	Figo Titanium	Ritz Vdi	Swift VDI	Polo	Micra XV	Punto 1.3 Emotion pk
1	Engine cc/cyl	1396/4	1399/4	1248/4	1248/4	1199/3	1461/4	1248/4
2	Power	70	69	75	75	75	64	76
3	Torque in NM	140	160	190	190	180	160	197
4	Transmission	5/M	5/M	5/M	5/M	5/M	5/M	5/M
	Dimensions
5	Length	3690	3795	3785	3760	3970	3780	3987
6	Width	1665	1680	1680	1690	1682	1665	1687
7	Height	1485	1427	1620	1530	1453	1530	1495
8	Ground clearance	165	168	170	170	168	165	171
9	Min turning circle radius	n/a	4.9	4.7	4.7	4.9	4.65	5.5
10	Tyre Size	165/65  R14	175/65 R15	165/80 R14	165/80   R14	185/60 R14	165/70 R14	195/60  R15
11	Alloy wheels
12	Mileage	25	18	19	18	16	23	17
	Key features
13	Power steering
14	AC
15	Front power windows
16	Rear power windows
17	Central locking
18	Music system
19	ABS	No
20	Airbag		2		2	2		2
21	Ex showroom price Bangalore	478350	557000	502500	550000	660000	449952	650000

Conclusion

The New Indica eV2 has good improvement in its engine with higher power and smoother performance. The significant improvement in mileage does serve as boosting factor in going for the same. However, the interiors of the car remain in need of improvement, e.g. the dashboard quality. The pricing of the car is neither too high nor too low and it is in par with the other diesel version cars. Overall, the Indica eV2 does serve as a good reliable car for long term usage and best of mileage.