I'm quite surprised at folks justifying the price as well as features and being content with the what Toyota is offering just because of reliability and ownership costs.
Being an Altis owner for 5 years, I was quite disappointed with the new car. I also think that the reliability and ownership cost is a bit over rated.
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Originally Posted by androdev We just booked a Corolla AT to replace our 1st gen Corolla that ran 1.3L kms. Toyota keeps the price on par with other D-segment cars even though it is low on equipment because they are confident they can sell due to the reliability and low TCO it offers. This car will offer the most fuss-free ownership in its segment.
1. Price is high for what is offered: One is paying for reliability and low TCO. Any Toyota owner can vouch for this. Nothing comes for free (even intangible ones).
4. Elantra: No idea about this car. Not a fan of Fluidic designs. Not confident of these cars lasting 1Lac+ KMs with low TCO.
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You should definitely try and find out more idea about the Elantra. Autocar had done a parts comparison and maintenance cost comparo last year.
The Elantra, in service costs and parts cost was the lowest when compared with the Altis which was one of the highest.
Going by ownership reports and the fact that Elantra is the highest selling D1 segment sedan, reliability issues are no where close to what Skoda owners face and have reported here. Infact Hyundai reliability is on par and TCO is definitely lower than the Altis.
Also, is the slight reliability worth losing 4 airbags over and spending more money for the Altis? The Altis automatic is 2 lakhs more than Elantra automatic which gets 6 airbags vs the 2 in Altis. Will the Elantra ownership be more by 2 lakhs vs the Altis? Is that maintenance cost worth sacrificing 4 airbags and ESP over?
The Altis is definitely reliable but when something does need changing it costs a bomb. Accidental repair parts are priced atrociously. The ORVM on the old Altis costs 14grand to replace which is more than the Jetta and Elantra by 2X.
A headlamp on my Altis is 34K a piece without the xenon ballasts and bulbs!! The Jetta is half and I remember Elantra was 1/3rd of that.
My car has crossed 50K kms in 5 years. While periodic service costs are very very reasonable, wear and tear part changes kill the TCO. A known issue with the Altis is accelerated brake pad wear; especially the rear brake pads. This was confirmed as an issue plaguing all Altis'. I get a regular service bill of 3-4K but just the rear brake pad set is 9K resulting in 13-14K bill. In the 50K kms done, my car is on it's 3rd set of brake pads. I even have confirmation that 20K is accepted life for the rear pads.
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2. No rear A/C: They could have added but trust me the AC of Corolla is a real chiller. We have other cars with vents all over the place and we find Corolla cools more effectively than others.
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I got this exact same reason from the Toyota marketing guys justifying no rear AC. Noone complained about Ac so we don't need rear AC vents cause Altis AC is best.
The rear AC vent is never about effective cooling, it's about uniform cooling.
In my Altis, the lowest I need to go is 22C else it's usually at 23 or 24. The AC is a chiller no doubt.
Problem is if I set it to 23C when it's baking outside, the front passengers are cool and happy but the rear passengers are just about comfortable. 22C means my driver is freezing but my dad at the back is fine.
With climate control you cannot control the vents under the front seats so they don't throw any air unless you set to manual which is pointless.
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3. Comparison with Honda City: We have a honda city and I find it very mediocre and I never see it as substitute for Corolla. City has terrible GC, terrible NVH, feels too light/tin-like, terrible window-glass that lets all the heat, not much headroom and so on. Corolla is a hugely more comfortable car and almost flawless. The only thing common between them is "reliability" otherwise they are two totally different cars. Most people here are comparing the cars based on specs. You need to live with these cars to know that they are two very different cars. I know there is a popular thread about "D segment killed by C", it is mainly because of congested roads, lack of parking, fuel efficiency and so on and not because of C segments cars are offering cabins that are as comfortable as D segment cars.
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Agreed but that's why I never compared the old Honda City, I was talking about the current new Honda City on Sale. Ground clearance issue is there in my Altis when fully loaded. This is after upsizing the tyres to increase clearance.
Congested roads and lack of parking is the same if you buy a C2 sedan like Linea or Vento or if you buy a D1 sedan. The dimensions are very near give and take a couple of inches.
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5. VW/Skoda cars: Love them and more importantly experienced them :-) This time we are looking for "reliable and low TCO" chauffeur driven cars, so wrong place.
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Definitely agreed to this point. A VW/Skoda can never come close to the Toyota or Hyundai cost of ownership.
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6. Safety kit: More airbags would have been welcome. Corolla, helped by it's lack of 'tempting-dynamics', is a safe car to be in.
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Lack of tempting dynamics is no reason for being ok with 2 airbags. The rear and side airbags are not when you explore limits of the car. It's when you (god forbid) get T boned or get a puncture and your car flies into the divider and goes on it's side. And the worst part is that the 2 airbags at the front are good for the chauffeur but the owner of the car who sits at the back gets no airbags because low cost of ownership was prioritised over airbags at the rear. A solely chauffeur driven car with no airbags at the back seems quite inexplicable if you ask me.
I have been a satisfied Altis owner for 5 years and would have blindly booked the new one at the current price even. After taking a close look at it and driving it it just failed to impress to what I was expecting. You feel short changed.
There are so many little things that my 5year old Altis has default but in the new one they have removed it.
After seeing the prices and what's on offer, the chequebook does not have the Toyota name on it.