Are you planning to buy an Esteem or a Hyundai Accent in the near future? If you are, our suggestion is to postpone making a decision till you check out the Indigo. Tata Engineering's latest offering. You may be as pleasantly surprised as we were. Let's be honest, when we were invited to preview the Indigo at Telco's Pune facility, we stifled a yawn, and went quite reluctantly After all what is there to see? An Indigo is just an Indica with a boot, right? Wrong!

While it is built on the same platform as the Indica, and looks the same from the front, the Indigo is an all-new car. For starters, it has a new powertrain that churns out 10 extra bhp of power in both the petrol and diesel variants, giving it an extra zip. The diesel engine incidentally, is turbo charged, the only one in its class. The second major difference not just with the Indica, but indeed with most of its competition, is the rear suspension system that uses independent 3-link struts.

In layman's terms what this means is that the shocks are absorbed more effectively and you don't feel like you are sitting in a boat when the car goes over bumps. The third major difference is the rear seat space. When it came to rear sitting, the Indica was always far more comfortable than the competition. With the Indigo, Telco has achieved the seemingly impossible. They have maintained the overall compact length of the car yet the slightly longer wheelbase with a semi-forward profile means that there is much more leg room in the rear seats.

We felt this contrast especially strongly since we had just driven 150 kms in an Esteem to reach Telco's Pune facility. The Indigo also comes with 14-inch wheels, again a feature that is not offered by any other model in its class and even a few models in the premium midsize class. A 450-litre boot and 42-litre fuel tank makes the vehicle appropriately suited for long drive. Unlike the Indica, which had serious problems initially and only stabilised after the launch of the V2, with the Indigo.

Telco has pulled out all stops to ensure they get everything right at the start. The car has been tested for over 2.3 million kms including rigorous tests at the Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA) facilities at UK. According to Dr. V Sumantran, Executive Director, Passenger Car Business Unit and Engineering Research Centre, Tata Engineering, the car has also undergone extensive crash testing at Telco's crash testing facilities and conforms to European standards for Frontal, Rear and offset crashes.

In terms of performance, the Indigo is comparable with the best that Maruti or Hyundai can throw at it. It is zippy, handles wonderfully and the ride quality is excellent. The power steering (not available in the basic GLE variant) is responsive and four-spoke leather wrapped steering wheel (in the top end GLX variant) feels nice and clunky.

Telco has invested over Rs. 350 crore in the development of the Indigo and the process has taken the company 23 months from drawing board to launch of the finished product. It hopes to sell between 1,200 to 1,500 cars per month in the first year and given the quality of the product that Telco is offer-big, there are likely to be a few worried faces at Maruti and Hyundai. With the Indigo, Telco seems to have got things right the first time - for a change, the more feisty among us may add - and have the power to determine the market.