Driving my sweetheart(Toyota Qualis): A Peace of Mind Study

[Ice]

In my 10 years of driving on 11 cars on 2 different continents, I've experienced total complete and utter peace only for a year, and only with one car.

Each one of us will describe peace differently. But my aim here is to get all your thoughts on the one car that you would turn to when you wanted to relax and feel at peace mentally. I'm asking for stories about the car which didn't make you groan when you had to sacrifice an afternoon nap to hit hard traffic on the busiest road in the city. The car which you took on long drives at night just to think about something significant that was happening in your life at that moment. The car which you miss everytime you deal with a niggle in your current ride, or get into an argument with your current A.S.S provider. The car which you talked to at length on lonely drives. The car which you wish you still had right now! The car you wanted to drive on every special day in your life.

To judge this, you could include any and all of the points mentioned below, and perhaps some which I don't know enough about to comment:

1. The Car: filled with good memories, trouble-free, fast enough, driveable enough, comfortable for long and short drives, easy on the wallet at the gas station, smooth ingress and egress, quality accessories, puncture-free tires, rattle-free, great visibility while driving, great airconditioning, trustworthy brakes, easy to park and make u-turns easily, no (or minimum) niggles, good looking (very subjective; I refer to the feeling you get when you park her and walk away, only to steal glances back at her every few steps you take, admiring her beauty)
2. The Service: the sales guy makes you feel like your business is wanted, the car is delivered on time with all accessories accounted for, the service intervals are reasonable, all questions answered fully and clearly, no 'fleece the customer' mentality, car serviced in one working day

The car which has given me the most peace? My Qualis - now running its 10th year with nearly 1.5 lakh kms on the clock. Reasons:

• Great visibility
• Unmatched turning radius
• Powerful AC, headlights
• Great NVH, with the cabin excellently soundproofed. It was my own little private room in the middle of maddening traffic
• Though big, its lines were very straight and parking or squeezing through traffic was child's play
• The stock bridgestones and next 3 sets of tyres were pretty much trouble-free
• NO electrical problems, niggles
• Adequate power to point and go in traffic, and could cruise at 110-120 quite easily on the highways
• Took a trainful of luggage. Everything except the kitchen sink fit in when the 2nd row of back seats were folded.
• High clearance meant no issues with speed breakers
• Tough suspension saw off bad roads with ease
• Great service from Lanson Toyota in Chennai, who still call us when the car is getting due for a scheduled service. Love those guys!
• And last but not lease - awesome, awesome memories

I miss my Qualis terribly - my younger brother drives her now. I don't hate my new ride - the Forza (my Palio MJD); its just that I loved the Qualis so much because of all that she offered selflessly, day after day.

So go on. Get misty eyed and pay a tribute to your nirvana ride on this thread.

[aaggoswami]

@ice:
You have poured out your heart here.
Excellent and short review of your car and the love you had for her. Nothing can replace this good feeling and the car that satisfies you the most is the car for you, thats all. Never worry about what the world says.
I dont care if my vehicle is being glanced at by others, but if I do that, its true love from base of my heart.

1) The stock headlights were not great, people ended up putting in 90/100W in Qualis. Did you do the same as you have mentioned that headlights are great.

2) About punctures : It all depends on where you drive. Yes, tyre quality does make a difference, but here I think you were talking about tyre quality.

3) The reliability of Toyota cars is very high. It shows from your thread and satisfaction.

4) IIRC, Qualis was loosely based on 1980's Landcruiser, so the reason for good ride, GC and those straight lines. Those straight lines gave nice visibiltiy and little hindrance as far as visibility goes ( in traffic ).

5) Can we know what was the FE you got, just general, not precise, and is the FE in similar levels right now ?

[Ice]

Aaggoswami,

Thank you for your kind comments. I've tried to answer some of your questions below

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

1) The stock headlights were not great, people ended up putting in 90/100W in Qualis. Did you do the same as you have mentioned that headlights are great.

Yup. Upgraded the headlights to 100/90W with relay

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

2) About punctures : It all depends on where you drive. Yes, tyre quality does make a difference, but here I think you were talking about tyre quality.

Agreed. I am just a little superstitious though - I'd like to think that the lack of punctures was part of the feelgood aura that surrounded the car
I had similar quality bridgestones on the Uno and the Innova, and I used to/still get quite a few flats on them after 25K km of running

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

5) Can we know what was the FE you got, just general, not precise, and is the FE in similar levels right now ?

In the city, about 10-11 was standard. On the highways, fully loaded, she gives a solid 13 if driven well. The problem is that the folks currently driving her now (my brother and our driver) rev the car harder because it feels slower than the other cars at home, especially when fully loaded.
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Strangely, I have precious few pictures with her. Here's one:

[gemithomas]

Was just about to ask about the pics when i saw your updates. Passionate review. The qualis indeed was a gem.

[GTO]

What a note, and for a Qualis at that! I have always insisted that there is inherent appeal in a car that performs exactly the same way at 1.5 lakh kms as it did when new. You'd get the same experience with most Toyotas. Hondas too, though the after-sales doesn't come anywhere close.

[Perakath]

Originally Posted by Ice

The car which has given me the most peace? My Qualis - now running its 10th year with nearly 1.5 lakh kms on the clock. Reasons:

• Great visibility

Hey Ice,

We have a Qualis at home too, same colour as yours even. I have to disagree with you on the point of visibility though-- in my experience the left B-pillar (and/or front passenger's head!) always gets in the way when trying to view traffic flow from the left when turning right at a sharp turn! (E.g. at a T- or Y-junction.)

We also face the minor issue of having to open one of the car doors before slamming the boot shut. Otherwise the boot doesn't close properly (as evinced by the cabin lights not going off). Opening one of the doors allows air being pushed in by the closing boot door to vacate the car. But I suppose that's an indicator of build quality rather than a problem!

[Ice]

Originally Posted by Perakath

Hey Ice,

We have a Qualis at home too, same colour as yours even. I have to disagree with you on the point of visibility though-- in my experience the left B-pillar (and/or front passenger's head!) always gets in the way when trying to view traffic flow from the left when turning right at a sharp turn! (E.g. at a T- or Y-junction.)

Perakath, to each their own. Being a short person, the height of the car and the seating position glossed over any issues of the bodywork affecting visibility. Also, if a passenger's head blocked my view I'd either lop it off or ask them to recline their seats a little more.

Originally Posted by Perakath

We also face the minor issue of having to open one of the car doors before slamming the boot shut. Otherwise the boot doesn't close properly (as evinced by the cabin lights not going off). Opening one of the doors allows air being pushed in by the closing boot door to vacate the car. But I suppose that's an indicator of build quality rather than a problem!

True that, man. The boot lid had a life of its own, and we needed to pretty much sacrifice a young goat and offer life-long obeisance in return for a clean shut. But it (and any other part of the car) has never rattled! All the best to you and your Qualis - wishing you many more miles of happy motoring!

[Ice]

Originally Posted by GTO

What a note, and for a Qualis at that! I have always insisted that there is inherent appeal in a car that performs exactly the same way at 1.5 lakh kms as it did when new. You'd get the same experience with most Toyotas. Hondas too, though the after-sales doesn't come anywhere close.

Thank you GTO. After driving an Indica and an Uno, the Qualis redefined my idea of stress-free motoring.

[Manuuj]

Originally Posted by Ice

In my 10 years of driving on 11 cars on 2 different continents, I've experienced total complete and utter peace only for a year, and only with one car.
The car which has given me the most peace? My Qualis - now running its 10th year with nearly 1.5 lakh kms on the clock. Reasons:

• Great visibility
• Unmatched turning radius
• Powerful AC, headlights
• Great NVH, with the cabin excellently soundproofed. It was my own little private room in the middle of maddening traffic
• Though big, its lines were very straight and parking or squeezing through traffic was child's play
• The stock bridgestones and next 3 sets of tyres were pretty much trouble-free
• NO electrical problems, niggles
• Adequate power to point and go in traffic, and could cruise at 110-120 quite easily on the highways
• Took a trainful of luggage. Everything except the kitchen sink fit in when the 2nd row of back seats were folded.
• High clearance meant no issues with speed breakers
• Tough suspension saw off bad roads with ease
• Great service from Lanson Toyota in Chennai, who still call us when the car is getting due for a scheduled service. Love those guys!
• And last but not lease - awesome, awesome memories

So go on. Get misty eyed and pay a tribute to your nirvana ride on this thread.

Great tribute ice! i share your views too the tee!! the Qualis is indeed a trouble free ride and offers complete peace of mind.

My own Qualis has Clocked Close to 1,50,000 kms and has been trouble free since the day it landed at my door.

it is easy to drive, cheap to maintain, returns decent mileage of 11.5 consistently, does not break down, accommodates a small batallion and their luggage, handles much better than sumos scorpios and safaris of our world...i could go on and on..

im never going to sell mine..dhanno is just warming up!

[Perakath]

That's a good-looking Qualis there, Manuuj! I like the front bullbar style with the foglamps sitting on it. And are those stock-size tyres on alloy wheels?

[4x4addict]

A bunch of Taxi operators that I spoke to were all very upset that the Qualis was discontinued. They were forced into Taveras and Innovas and I bet you that if Toyota still sold the Qualis it would outsell the Innova. I think they should have taken a similar strategy to Tata Sumo and kept the Qualis and Innova around positioning the Qualis for the Taxi market and Innova for the premium market. They ended up giving up sales to Tavera giving a Taxi image to the Innova as well.

[Perakath]

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

A bunch of Taxi operators that I spoke to were all very upset that the Qualis was discontinued. They were forced into Taveras and Innovas and I bet you that if Toyota still sold the Qualis it would outsell the Innova. I think they should have taken a similar strategy to Tata Sumo and kept the Qualis and Innova around positioning the Qualis for the Taxi market and Innova for the premium market. They ended up giving up sales to Tavera giving a Taxi image to the Innova as well.

On the other hand, thanks to the discontinuation of the Qualis there's a good second-hand market for it! We keep getting offers from taxi operators who want to buy our Qualis. The fancy number only adds to its appeal

[Manuuj]

Originally Posted by Perakath

That's a good-looking Qualis there, Manuuj! I like the front bullbar style with the foglamps sitting on it. And are those stock-size tyres on alloy wheels?

the tyres are 195/65/R15 bridgestone potenzas..and the alloys are millenium..
glad you liked my Qualis!

[Ice]

Manuuj,

Very very hot Qualis. I think I commented on it on your earlier thread. Don't sell her. I'm already willing to throw my relationship with my brother out of the window and grab the Qualis when he isn't looking

[Manuuj]

Originally Posted by Ice

Manuuj,

Very very hot Qualis. I think I commented on it on your earlier thread. Don't sell her. I'm already willing to throw my relationship with my brother out of the window and grab the Qualis when he isn't looking

Thanks so much Ice..yes i do remember you had commented on my thread and we had that discussion on why Indian Manufacturers cannot offer the same Quality as the Japanese.

As i had mentioned that Galaxy Toyota in Delhi offered me 3.6 lacs for it..i just smiled at them..no way will i ever sell!!

Why dont you convince your brother to swap with your Palio MJD Forza?..
dont think hel'l fall for it though

Just waiting for October and the Fortuner launch now..