Tata Indigo Manza - First Impressions with Actual Images

Opening

The Tata Indigo, Tata Indica and Tata Indica Vista are well known in India and have been quite successful models. However, the launch of the Maruti Swift Dzire had impacted the market share of the Tata Indigo, as they are both entry level sedans. Similarly, the New Ikon, the Chevrolet Aveo and other cars had posed some damage for the Indigo. But especially, the archrival Swift Dzire had taken over Indigo due to its stylish body - though an extension of the Swift - higher power and updated features.

To recapture the market, Tata Motors has come up with an entirely new design in its sedan range, namely the Tata Indigo Manza. It features a newly built external design, a changed engine and gearbox, as well as improved interiors including contemporary features. In fact, the resemblance with the older Indigo is slight, barring the name Indigo in Manza, and the platform is completely new!

The Tata Indigo Manza has been designed completely afresh with a new engine. Moreover, its platform is based on a stretched Indica Vista and not connected to the Indigo.

The car has quite an impressive engine with very significant power and torque (see below). Other stand-out features are a driver information system, steering mounted audio controls and bluetooth controls. The car has a critical revolution indicator which turns red when the rpm exceeds a critical value. Two tone beige interiors with plush upholstery combined with cup holder for rear seat make the Manza complete.

Appearance Exterior

The first thing we notice once we have a look at the car, is the length of the car and its decent design which reminds me of an older version Accord. The Front of the car has a bold new look with the headlight and bonnet aligned nicely and it resembles somewhat of the Indica Vista. The front grill looks refreshing and the chrome plating strip on logo makes it look bolder and it perfectly matches with the design of front bumper and headlights.

The stylish line of the car and the smaller width door strip combined with a lengthier look of the car, remind directly of the Honda City.

At the rear side, what stands out most is the new shape headlights which gives impression of being much broader than required, thus giving a broader look to the car. The Tata logo with chrome plated strip above also grabs attention.

The glossy effect of paint and the toughness of the body which can be felt with hands, give a good impression. I had a look of the car from the top also. It gave a very good impression and gave me confidence that it is a completely new design from that of the old Indigo. 

Appearance Interior

I easily took a seat in the new Tata Manza. Once I entered into the car, there is a slight feel of entering a luxury sedan with spacious interiors. The beige interiors look good and are quite comfortable.

The bold new dashboard with suitably placed modern new music systems, driver information display, blower ports, a bluetooth facility with which you can make and attend calls on the go and the other knobs arranged impressed me and made it looks like competing with 10 lac range cars.

The Tata Manza comes with a lot of other goodies like sunvisor, storage pockets in front doors, collapsible steering column, airbags (top end version), lumbar support for front seats etc., all of which add to the comfort of passenger. 

I checked out the rear of the car. As I moved onto the spacious rear seat, there is good comfort with smooth upholstery and the rear center armrest adds to the feel of comfort for rear seat passenger. There is ample space in boot for putting maximum luggage with safe and toughly built dickey door. 

Performance Drive

The Tata Manza comes in two fuel types, petrol and diesel.The Diesel Quadrajet⁹⁰ version comes in four versions, Aqua, Aura, Aura(ABS), and Aura+. It has a 1248cc engine which delivers a power of 90PS@4000RPM and a torque of 200 NM@3000 RPM.

The new transmission is a 5 speed manual gearbox, and the car has front independent and rear semi-independent suspensions. The car has  a Fuel tank capacity of 44 liters. The dimensions include a wheel base of 2520mm, ground clearance of 165mm, a length of 4413mm, and width of 1703mm. Finally, the boot volume comes at 460 liters and the payload is 450 KG. The car is fitted with 185/60 R15 tubeless radials.

The petrol version of the Tata Manza comes in the same four variants as the diesel. The engine with intelligent port resizer comes with Safire⁹⁰ 1368cc engine delivering 90PS@6000 PS, torque of 116NM@4750RPM. All other parameters remain the same for both petrol and diesel versions. 

While the Manza’s engine is the smallest, the performance of the engine truly stands out from the rest. This is a tribute to the Tata Engineering team. Again here, the car is definitely the longest, though the Logan is broader.
It is also important to note the high fuel efficiency of the Manza, in fact the highest in its class!

Whereas the petrol Manza is quite competitively priced, in the diesel segment its toughest competition comes from its smaller (but older) sister, the Indigo CS which is quite a bit cheaper. Still, it can go along quite well with the rest of the pack. 

Tech Specs

Features

Competition All Specs

Conclusion

The Tata Indigo Manza has clearly set a new platform in the cars of range 5.5 to 7.5 lac range. The features offered are quite advanced and contemporary of nature and it leads the segment with its competitive price. Features, body style, engine, etc. all promise the customer of owning a great sedan at a very competitive price. It will be worth watching the on road performance of the same, especially in view of the diesel's impressive fuel efficiency. 

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