Toyota Altis - Test Drive

[abhinav.gupta88]

Hi guys

Went to the showroom ( Galaxy toyota ) in moti nagar area, Delhi for a TD of the corolla.
Immediately noted my details and the TD car was ready.
Before the TD, they showed me the car that was inside the showroom and explained all the features, engine et all, so that i could really test the car's driving ability while TDing it.

Initial :

The car looks fabulous from outside, looks so damn sporty.
The headlamps are HIDs and not xenons and have power washers in the top model.
The door is very light (unlike my vRs)

enter the cabin, and you'll have mixed reactions.

The speedo is good but cannot be compared to that of the civic)
The steering controls are good too but missed the cruise control on the M/T ( Its there in the A/T)

Head unit is good and has aux input too. However sound quality not that great ( As compared to the stock setup in the vRs )

The seats are pretty comfortable and the electrical adjustment is a nice feature.
Auto retract on the mirror useful.
The inside RVM are anti glare and automatic ( Wonder what that means, has a switch on it.)

The rear seats are comfortable with me sitting in the front ( I am 6'1")
There is a pretty good trip computer though i dont believe that they are accurate ( Very Few are)

Boot space is nice .
Sliding armrest ( Gosh i miss it on my vRs but dont need it anyway)
Nice spaces around the seat and the centre console ( Lot of storage spaces)

2 Gloveboxes .
However i did not like the feel of the plastic. ( IMO)

Now to the drive

Start the car, The RPM was not stable ( Went upto 2000 then slowly down to 1500 and then after a minute back to 800-900)

Steering is very Light. In fact i felt it lighter than the Honda City ZX
Floor the pedal to the metal , It Started off quite good but later, it wasnt just pushing
Did not feel like a 1.8L 132bhp engine
Felt rather like a 1.5L 100bhp
Turning Radius pretty good.
Brakes : Excellent
The TD car had wooden finishing on the steering ( Hated it)
The car has a good suspension and ride.
Pretty comfortable and absorbs potholes better.
A/c Pretty effective. Had to lower it to a blower speed of 1 by the end of the TD

Handbrakes looks filmsy and are akwardly placed. When even it is fully down, it appears they are applied and hands go to them
OVRM's are pretty decent(good visibility)
Ground Clearance Pretty good.

VERDICT :

If its only looks and pure pulling you want, go for the civic.
Else if you want an overall package ie. Good car, good features,Good Service (Atleast they have been good to my cars) , go for the Altis.

Cheers.!
Abhinav!

[sridharps]

Abhinav,
a) How was NVH?
b) How was low end pickup as compared to previous Corolla and the current Civic?
c) Did you drive at speeds of 120+? How was the steering response?
d) What is the expected FE?

[maddy42]

@abhinav good review. So whats the pricing in delhi like. I saw the pricing in mumbai starts at 12ish and upwards.

[abhinav.gupta88]

Originally Posted by sridharps

Abhinav,
a) How was NVH?
b) How was low end pickup as compared to previous Corolla and the current Civic?
c) Did you drive at speeds of 120+? How was the steering response?
d) What is the expected FE?

a. Quiet Good. Its pretty silent and did not feel vibrations either ( but of course above Vibrations only a long term TD can tell)

b. Initial is pretty good, but later on stops pulling as much as it does initially though the peak torque is around 4000rpm

c. Steering is very light
Drove at around 100
Did not inspire confidence

d. The run i did gave me a 8kmpl - According to the trip computer ( Fast Driving included )

Originally Posted by maddy42

@abhinav good review. So whats the pricing in delhi like. I saw the pricing in mumbai starts at 12ish and upwards.

I forgot to ask about the base model but the top end model Manual is around 13.10 and automatic is i guess 13.70 something. Will Confirm and tell you! ( On Road)

[trrk]

Hi abhinav,

> The inside RVM are anti glare and automatic ( Wonder what that means,
> has a switch on it.)

Was it a switch? If it is an automatic antiglare rear view mirror, it would have a sensor which senses the light of the headlights from following vehicles and would dip the mirror on its own and would come to normal position when there is no light.

[akshay1234]

Originally Posted by trrk

Hi abhinav,

> The inside RVM are anti glare and automatic ( Wonder what that means,
> has a switch on it.)

Was it a switch? If it is an automatic antiglare rear view mirror, it would have a sensor which senses the light of the headlights from following vehicles and would dip the mirror on its own and would come to normal position when there is no light.

when you switch it on only then does it dim automatically.

[abhinav.gupta88]

Oh ok
Thanks !

I thought it had something to do with brightening up at the night or something.!

[sridharps]

Abhinav, thanks a ton!

Originally Posted by abhinav.gupta88

b. Initial is pretty good, but later on stops pulling as much as it does initially though the peak torque is around 4000rpm
c. Steering is very light
Drove at around 100
Did not inspire confidence

Being a Skoda RS owner, I am sure you will find all other cars wanting on the handling,performance front!

[samirsarkar]

A few things puzzled me reg the car from the comments of Abhinav...

1. The ICE of the 2006 Corolla which I own is pretty good.....nice sound quality with deep bass. I would have thought Toyota has only improved upon it.

2. The glove compartment of my Corolla has a premium feel to it as it seems covered with soft leather rather than plastic.

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.

4. One of the high points of my Toyota is the excellent fuel economy it returns in spite of having a 1.8L engine. In a city like Pune with AC on at all times, the worst I have got from this wonderful piece of engineering is 10.5 kmpl and a max of 11.5 kmpl, so I was a little flummoxed when 8kmpl was the figure quoted. Anyway, fuel economy is something that will be visible only to the owner after a few drives but I am hoping it will be more or at least equal to the current one.

I had already pointed out in another post reg the new Corolla that getting it mated with an EPS will diminish the driving pleasure to a considerable extent....seems my words have rung true. I am lucky my current Corolla has the HPS which gives me a better feedback.

[sj_koova]

Great. The first TD report right.
But I am disappointed to hear about the pickup.
Do you have some snaps?

[cooldude1988765]

Nice review. Buttt you drive a vrs so obviously it wont satisfy you on the performance front.

[abhinav.gupta88]

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

[akshay1234]

Originally Posted by samirsarkar

A few things puzzled me reg the car from the comments of Abhinav...

1. The ICE of the 2006 Corolla which I own is pretty good.....nice sound quality with deep bass. I would have thought Toyota has only improved upon it.

2. The glove compartment of my Corolla has a premium feel to it as it seems covered with soft leather rather than plastic.

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.

all 3 things are relative. it depends which car he is comparing it too. maybe you havent heard better ice setups, maybe the ice in the old corolla is better.

[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?

[vid6639]

Originally Posted by Sahil

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

No difference, Xenons and HID is the same thing.