So, what do you look for when buying a car? Gorgeous styling? Impeccable attention to detail? Stunning performance? Despite what the motor industry would have us believe, the average working-class South African buys largely on price. Give him all the bells and whistles at a reasonable price and a queue starts developing outside dealers’ doors. That’s why Indian car-maker Tata has done so staggeringly well in this country in the few short months they’ve been here, culminating in more than 1 000 sales in July. Their cars and bakkies are working class heroes that will hopefully get the job done properly and cheaply, and as long as they’re reliable, who cares if the trim seems a little cheap and the body panels don’t line up perfectly?
I came away from the launch of the new Tata Indigo SW with mixed feelings. My first problem, strangely enough, related to spelling. When the big-screen display at the introduction referred to “mutli” purpose vehicles I wondered at first if this was a reference to the Indian heritage of the vehicles — Moodley and all — but when I then read about “duel” airbags and “duel” purpose vehicles, I realised that the problem was a simple lack of attention to detail. Call me cantankerous, but when you’re putting on a presentation for dozens of journalists, you should at least try to get the basics right.
Phase two of the launch saw us setting off on a test drive, and the route schedule instructed us to zero the cars’ odometers at the exit of the launch venue. That helpful advice allowed me to establish that I had travelled exactly 0,2km before my little car started sputtering and farting, before limping to a halt a kilometre or two further down the road. A phone call saw a technician arrive within minutes, and upon hearing what the symptoms were, he dived into the boot of the rescue vehicle, emerged with a small black electrical relay and replaced a similar component under the bonnet of the launch vehicle. I gathered that the problem was not a totally new one, so I had to wonder. Why was the launch vehicle not checked out thoroughly before it was handed over to the media? Perhaps because it was expected that any problems would be glossed over by the press?
Once that little hiccup was resolved things went very well. The Indigo SW is a surprisingly well-specced car for the money. The R93 995 GLS comes with air con, power-steering, electric windows, remote central locking, an immobiliser, headrests all round, a sunglasses holder, a retractable luggage- compartment cover, a very nifty stowage bin in the ceiling above the rear seat, and external roof rails. The GLX at R107 000 more adds a number of extras, including dual front airbags, seat belt pre-tensioners, ABS brakes and more-upmarket trim.
Both versions come with a three-year/100 000km warranty and a two-year/45 000km service plan.
The Tata station wagon also performs well, considering that it’s a fair sized vehicle equipped with a 1,4 litre engine developing 63kW. The five-speed transmission is slick, and the ride is good, allowing the car to feel solid on the road. I drove the car for a couple of hundred kilometres and found that as the road disappeared under the tyres I liked it more and more. It felt better built than its budget price and trim implied, and its performance was also livelier than I’d expected.
I have no doubt that the Tata Indigo station wagon is going to sell like samoosas at a Test match in Calcutta. Given that the factory produces (and sells) nearly 1,5-million vehicles per annum in a competitive market, it’s unlikely that the cars aren’t capable of providing good basic transport at an affordable price. If they’re going to satisfy South African customers, though, the distributors are going to have to pay a little more attention to detail.