Tata Indica or Ambassador

nflores07030

I am planning a 16 day trip from across Rajasthan. Most of my journeys will be 5-6 hours. Both of these cars are the most economical. Any advice as to which is more comfortable for 2 people on a drive of this length. The other option is Tata Indigo but it is much pricier.

SitaParityaga

I did a car hire trip around Rajasthan a few years ago, and by far the Ambassador is the most luxurious.

I go for the style, comfort and function of the Ambassadors...lots of room for luggage in the trunk, very comfy back seats to stretch out in. Like a nice sofa. What time of year are you going? We did it in January, and it was either chilly or "just right" out, can't remember if we bothered with a/c.

karuna

Indigo shouldn't be much pricier, shop around.
And seconded on the Ambassador.

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capt_mahajan

The ambassador, thirded. More comfortable for the passengers.

Nick-H

Tata Indica is a city run-about. The thought of spending days in one is just too horrible to contemplate.

The memory of having once owned one is pretty dreadful too!

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singsub

ambassador for indian roads anyday.

spicetrekker

Ambassador - just check the vintage if it is one of the newer ones ( not more than a decade old ) it will have a good Isuzu 1800 cc engine and the AC cools well...As for leg space better than most cars -higher seating position , great rear seats... need I say more.

singsub

add nice curves !!

Darmabum

Consider it Ninth'd . . . I took an Ambassador for a ten day round-trip from Varanasi - Khajuraho/Orrcha - Agra - Mathura - Varanasi. Besides being comfortable it is a Classic.

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vandy

Hi there,

If the Ambassador is anything like the one below,
I'd go for the Ambassador,as you can see It's not
very old.

Indica was also good for me as I was on my own.

vandy

Attached Thumbnails

 

hfot2

nflores07030-
Is either of you tall?

We have traveled for fairly long trips all over the country in Ambassadors. The newer the better - manual shift so your driver usually can fix it if something goes wrong, good A/C but sometimes it had to be shut off for better acceleration in the mountains.

BUT my husband is not exceptionally tall, yet he finds Ambassadors rather cramped for leg room in the back seat, especially for long drives. He sometimes sat in the front seat with the driver. This occured even when we didn't have a 6 foot tall Sikh driver who had to have the front seat at full extension to accomodate his height.

I am short and did not have this problem.

singsub

well thats the long and the short of it. ambassadors are the best cars to travel in india.

Slater West Vancouver

I see one reply says her tall husband found back cramped. I found front and back had ample room--more than my Subaru Outback. I was happy in the backseat for 4 to 5 hours at a time. Great place to take photos of India streaming by, too.

hfot2

Actually, I wrote "BUT my husband is not exceptionally tall..."

Whatever the case, Slater, were you the only one occupying the backseat?

distaff

By the way- we had some horribly long rides [like 7-8 hours] on bumpy, unpaved roads and the newer Ambassadors were OK, though some older ones we've been in had shocks that had probably died after the first several thousand kms.

Photo'ing out the window worked, though it obviously depended on the location and angle of the sun, and the speed of the car. I got a lot of photos of a great scene along with an electric pole and wires! When my husband sat in front photo'ing worked better for me in the back, since I could use both windows to work from. The glass is tinted, however, and if the a/c is on you have to sacrifice the cool to open the window.

Slater West Vancouver

Oops! I missed that about the not-so-tall husband. And you're right. I was the only one in the back seat so I could sprawl and spread out camera gear etcetera. Earlier in the trip I travelled by car from Sikkim through Darjeeling down to 'the plains' in a small car with 4 broken ribs over extremely rough roads, so I can relate to your long days, rough roads experience. Bottom line: for me, driving beats the train (AC2), regardless of the car, mostly because we could never see anything through the windows and you can't roll them down.