Toyota Altis - Test Drive

[cooldude1988765]

Originally Posted by abhinav.gupta88

I Td'd a civic also today.
So comparing it to that and not to the vRs!

Is it that bad compared to a civic ?
Against the rs i can understand but civic !!

[abhinav.gupta88]

Originally Posted by Sahil

Compared to the civic, did it feel more solid around corners, how was the body roll?

How was the leather quality compared to the vRS or civic?

Btw, what's the difference between HID and Xenon?

Found it better round corners. Less body roll than the civic.
I did not notice the leather of the Altis.
vRs has excellent leather ( Doesnt burn up your back too even when car is standing in the hot for a while)
Civic has good leather however not that great as i feel

Originally Posted by cooldude1988765

Is it that bad compared to a civic ?
Against the rs i can understand but civic !!

I found it slower. Maybe something to do with the gear ratios or the torque. ( Thought the bhp figures for both the machines are the same)

[ashish22]

Originally Posted by samirsarkar

A few things puzzled me reg the car from the comments of Abhinav...
3. The pick-up of my Corolla across all the rev bands (particularly the lower rpms) is excellent, so I wonder what has Toyota done with the engine this time around. At every point during my drive it feels truly like a 1.8L, 125 bhp car.

blame his vRS..it has spoiled him :P

nice review abhinav and yes Atlis does look more sporty. I'm gonna TD it soon maybe this weekend.

[abhinav.gupta88]

Originally Posted by ashish22

blame his vRS..it has spoiled him :P

nice review abhinav and yes Atlis does look more sporty. I'm gonna TD it soon maybe this weekend.

It really as man
it really has

I just cant control myself
anytime i am on a red light, i just Floor the pedal and see the other pack in the rear view mirror like tiny ants.

[scorp 1]

Well, not exactly the kind of review I'd wanted to read! Comparisons with vRS isn't required. That's a different league altogether.
Lets wait for more reviews that follow.

[abhinav.gupta88]

If you read carefully
I havent really compared it to the vRs
If you mentioning about it being slower
its civic which is faster

My verdict in the end also says :
iF looks is all that matters, Civic is the one
if vFm is the factor, its the Altis!

[appuchan]

Just like the thread starter here, I too did a back to back TD of both Civic AT and Altis AT models.

I had driven the manual Civic early last year when I was trying to buy a new car. However opted for Verna due to $ reasons. Now I am thinking about the 10-15 lacs segment once again. Not very keen on the current European models (Skoda,Jetta etc) for now. Fiat Linea and AHC, yes I might give a try when they come.

I dont think I need to give much gyan about my Civic AT TD as its already discussed widely here and owned by many members. I will just mention the aspects I noted in comparison between Civic and Altis.

Honda Civic 1.8V AT vs Toyota Corolla Altis GLV (AT)

• Good quality finish of interiors with dark shades and excellent exterior for HC. Not very impressed with the TCA interior finish and the ligher shades. Wood finish is an eye sore. Exteriors of TCA is much better than the staid old Corolla design. Still I like the overall design and stance of HC better.

• NVH levels of TCA seems better than HC

• Steering of TCA is much lighter than HC

• Seating position and view of TCA is better than HC

• 4 speed AT of TCA may be a drawback. However the overall engine dynamics and car sturdiness has improves over older Corolla model.

• The S mode in TCA provides a sequential shift option similar to HC paddle shift. Also in TCA the S mode is completely manual and doesnt autoshift like that of HC. This may help improve the FE a bit, unlike HC, though not sure.

• Engine roar of HC while revving is missing in TCA. Also speeds above 160 kmph (I tried in Nice road) seems to happen pretty slow in TCA, even though handling seems to be decent.

• HC seems to be more capable of higher speeds than TCA.

• The current mileage and average mileage displays in the MID of TCA looks more like an eye wash. Most of the time showning some ridiculous figures (ranging from 3.5 kmpl to 99 kmpl for current FE and average FE seems to be "fixed" at 9kmpl). Maybe these figures make some sense on longer drives. HC does not have these features, though I would have liked it to have atleast the "distance to empty" feature.

• Back seat of TCA is more comfortable though the ride is a bit stiff. Now TCA also comes with an "almost flat" floor for the back seaters. Quite a lot of cubby holes in TCA compared to HC. Quite a few additional features in TCA, though not sure how many of them are really useful. Sun screen on rear window, auto levelling headlights, headlight washer, hidden windscreen washers, etc. HID is a good feature though.

• Regarding the OEM ICE system, TCA seems to be having a very average quality one. I tried with FM, Audio CD and MP3 CDs. The salesman was not sure of the make of the HU and speakers. However it was clearly lacking in comparison to Alpine system in HC.

I think the following are the takeaways from the TDs I had.

• TCA has better FE and HC. (apparently)

• TCA is more passenger oriented than HC.

• Conversely HC is more driver oriented than TCA.

• HC interior is better than TCA.

• Exterior, design-wise I like HC more.

• TCA has more features (HID, cruise control, headlamp washer, rear sunscreen, driver seat power adjustment etc).

• TCA has better seating, comfort and NVH

• TCA has better GC than HC

• TCA is cheaper to HC by about 16k (15.56 vs 15.72 lacs) on road in Bangalore

Salesman of HC was more knowledgeable than TCA. TCA guy had no idea how to operate cruise control, what 99.9 kmpl on MID means etc. He kept telling about the GC, comfort factors and world wide reputation of Toyota.

Overall, TCA seems to be better VFM and practical. My brain goes to TCA and heart goes to HC. Hope Linea and AHC will share other organs.

[vnabhi]

Appuchan, that was a good comparision. Now we are a lot clearer than before.

[SkyWalker]

Appuchan, very balanced review. i enjoyed reading it. thanks.

One point i wanted to highlight was the base models. You seem to compare the top end models. The base models of each had about ~20K difference, and the Corolla was better loaded (base of Civic didnt have alloys, climate control etc). If anyone is looking at the base model, Corolla is definitely a better buy. At the top end the gap narrows considerably, and its always a question of preferences

Like you said waiting for the Linea & AHC. I am a prospective buyer of one of them, so getting impatient

[appuchan]

Yes, I did compare the high end models since that helps me understand the real utility value of the additional gizmos. I did drive the manual version as well since the salesman brought the wrong car to my house. Then we went to Nandi to get hold of AT model. But again that was the high end GL model. Regarding the base G model, the main things missing are the electric adjustments of driver seat, HIDs and some gizmos such as auto leveling headlamps, head lamp washer, cruise control (only present in AT model), leather seats, lesser wood finish (this looks better), lumbar support and rear sunshade. Looks good value at 13.12 on road in Bangalore.

One thing I missed talking about in Altis was the steering controls for Audio (track/FM frequency selection and volume control) on the left side and MID display options on the right side. Audio controls look useful though I would have liked to have a mute/ATT button as well. The audio console on dash is fairly confusing and it may take some time to get used to them.

[scorp 1]

appuchan, excellent review. pertinent and unbiased.

[appuchan]

Originally Posted by SkyWalker

Appuchan, very balanced review. i enjoyed reading it. thanks.

One point i wanted to highlight was the base models. You seem to compare the top end models. The base models of each had about ~20K difference, and the Corolla was better loaded (base of Civic didnt have alloys, climate control etc). If anyone is looking at the base model, Corolla is definitely a better buy. At the top end the gap narrows considerably, and its always a question of preferences

Like you said waiting for the Linea & AHC. I am a prospective buyer of one of them, so getting impatient

When chips are down, Toyota also may come out with a "baser" E model than the current G which will be devoid of Alloys, fog lamps, automatic Ac, stripped down audio system etc. Also currently they have the black and white colours available only for custom orders. Any way G option looks extremely good VFM compared to Civic.

[dhaval]

Originally Posted by SkyWalker

....and the Corolla was better loaded (base of Civic didnt have alloys, climate control etc).

AFAIK, it is the other way round. The base version of Corolla (the old version:- the base version is Corolla "J") dont have alloys, climate control, and even the fog lamps. Civic on the other hand is available in two options (please correct me, i think one is now discontinued) namely the "S" and the "V", and both these versions do come with alloys as a standard fitment. (I think the "S" version comes with fog lamps and indicators on ORVMs as a standard fitment.)
IIRC, Corolla on the other hand when launched for the first time, had alloys as a OE fitment across all the models(even the base model included), and only later did Toyota started selling the base model minus the alloys, and with the aluminum rims and wheel caps instead.

[akshay1234]

Originally Posted by dhaval

AFAIK, it is the other way round. The base version of Corolla (the old version:- the base version is Corolla "J") dont have alloys, climate control, and even the fog lamps. Civic on the other hand is available in two options (please correct me, i think one is now discontinued) namely the "S" and the "V", and both these versions do come with alloys as a standard fitment. (I think the "S" version comes with fog lamps and indicators on ORVMs as a standard fitment.)
IIRC, Corolla on the other hand when launched for the first time, had alloys as a OE fitment across all the models(even the base model included), and only later did Toyota started selling the base model minus the alloys, and with the aluminum rims and wheel caps instead.

your misunderstanding. he means the base of the present corolla is better loaded than the base civic, which is the civic e. it is also better loaded than the civic s.

the civic s has been discontinued and the civic e now sells without alloys, climate control etc.
in comparison the altis base just 20k higher has all these and a lot more.

the earlier gen corolla base model 'he' came without alloys and climate control and even a music system i think. that was priced at 9.xx lacs sx showroom.

[abhinav.gupta88]

9.xx was way below civic pricing

I think toyota will release more variants of this with some less features , like no alloys et all and make matters worse for Honda Civic

And if they introduce a deisel , then Civic , Octavia and even optra magnum , all will face a lot of problems./