[GTO]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

The 90hp tune that does duty in the Corolla won't feel too outdated in the Vios, considering the 1.3 DDiS in Ciaz and 1.5 iDTec in City both produce similar figures.

The problem is the Corolla's tune suffers from heavy, intolerable turbo-lag. It is just awful to live with. The Etios has no turbo-lag, but it makes only 68 BHP.

Originally Posted by GTO

Despite a variable-nozzle turbo, there is substantial turbolag below 2,000 rpms. Even flooring the accelerator at 1,500 – 1,700 rpms (a range you will frequently access within the city) makes no difference to this Toyota. The engine is dead at low rpms, power delivery becomes acceptable at 1,800 rpm, but it’s only at 2,000 rpm that the Altis D-4D really gets moving. The turbolag can catch you out when you want “instant-go”; for instance, suddenly filling that gap ahead in traffic, or in an overtaking manouveur on the highway. Expect to make judicious use of the gearbox within the city. And frequently end up annoyed!

Overtaking those fast moving Volvo buses also requires careful planning. You will always have to shift down to overtake as the in-gear acceleration is poor. Again, it’s key to keep the engine between 2,000 – 4,000 rpms. If you act stubborn and don’t downshift (say at 60 kph in 5th), you’ll be waiting forever for the turbo to start spooling.

Originally Posted by SchumiFan

Have a feeling that the new 2.0 diesel talked about in the new Innova thread might get into the Corolla after it is launched in the new Innova.

Originally Posted by ciddharth

IMO Toyota is content with its position selling the existing models and wouldn't want to shed its 'premium' image

Would any company that cared about a premium image launch products like the Liva & Etios?

[rsm97]

Toyota dealership at Gurgaon too is unaware of any new launch, including Vios. Maybe one would see the car in 2016 only.

Though its not strictly the topic, still couple of lines on my experience with Etios diesel engine. Checked it at colleague's car and it drives quite refined and strong. Never appears a shade under-powered for acar of that size. Interestingly, the friend of mine is a real non-petrolhead and bought it for being the only VFM Toyota had that time. He refuses to believe that power of Etios engine on paper is almost at par with Santro.

[MadAbtCars]

Though I wish Toyota do launch Vios soon, However it doesn't seem like a possibility very soon. I even confirmed from my friend in Toyota and as per him Toyota have imported a few cars namely Vios, Aygo and one another which I am not able to recollect. As of now these are only for R&D and Vios may be seen on Indian roads only by 2017. After a lot of pestering, he said it may be launched in late 2016 (I think he said so only to please me)

[ku69rd]

Did see a white Vios in Light Camouflage on the Outer Ring Road at Silk Board.

The car appeared well built with very less gaps when compared to Etios. Interiors were beige and all the equipment was covered with white tapes. Build quality appeared to be better than Honda City.

Apologies could not take photos as the traffic was very heavy. 10:15 AM

[Arjun Reddy]

Vios I guess is slated for a 2017 launch. That could be too late and the car could well be outdated by then. Honda would have sold another 1,50,000 citys by then and will be ready with the next gen city,We will have the all new Verna also. Normally the trend with the auto companies is that once a test mule is spotted the launch would be within a year. For this car to have any impact it should be launched early 2016. Or will it be tested in an old shell and be released as an all new car in 2017?

[Vigkey]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Did see a white Vios in Light Camouflage on the Outer Ring Road at Silk Board.

The car appeared well built with very less gaps when compared to Etios. Interiors were beige and all the equipment was covered with white tapes. Build quality appeared to be better than Honda City.

Apologies could not take photos as the traffic was very heavy. 10:15 AM

Wow ku69rd. Its really amazing that you could observe close details like tight panel gaps and also compare the better build quality compared to City in a camouflaged test mule. But could not take a photograph due to the heavy traffic. Do you mind elaborating on your findings?

However, I do agree with your observations as they are really obvious. The car is an imported one and I am sure it will obviously have tight panels and better build quality than most of the Indian build cars.

[ajitkommini]

I drove a Vios in Thailand in December 2013. Around 600 km over 10 days or so, mix of city and highway. It's a pleasant car to drive, comfortable for upto four people, but nothing remarkable. Still, nice to see more and more options available.

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by Vigkey

Wow ku69rd. Its really amazing that you could observe close details like tight panel gaps and also compare the better build quality compared to City in a camouflaged test mule

Hello,

It was not fully camouflaged. The body panels were visible including the dickey, Doors and Bonnet. Only the tail lights were masked with small portion left exposed to hide the design flow.

The car caught my attention due to the white masking it had on its tail lamp, Badges and front head lights.

Will try to capture it again next time if I spot it.

[deepakhon]

I saw the same car today morning at ORR-Sarjapur Road junction.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by GTO

The problem is the Corolla's tune suffers from heavy, intolerable turbo-lag. It is just awful to live with. The Etios has no turbo-lag, but it makes only 68 BHP.

Wont it help that the Vios is almost 200kgs lighter than the Corolla?

I guess the engine is so puny for the Corolla that they had to compromise drive-ability to get some decent figures out of it. Shouldn't it be easier to tune it better for the Vios? 68bhp sounds like the odd man out in a class filled with 90 - 100ps diesels and things will only worsen for Toyota if Maruti gets their hands on the 1.5 MJD.

[Nitthari]

Originally Posted by ajitkommini

I drove a Vios in Thailand in December 2013. Around 600 km over 10 days or so, mix of city and highway. It's a pleasant car to drive, comfortable for upto four people, but nothing remarkable. Still, nice to see more and more options available.

Very rightly put. The Vios is a glorified Etios for all practical purposes (not sure if they share the same platform). I was in Manila, Philippines recently and I got a great opportunity to see and feel the Vios first hand. The cab for me was a Vios (too bad i didnt get to drive it)

Based on my experience here is some basic feedback. The Vios is available with 2 engine options 1.3 cc 85HP/6,000rpm and 1.5 cc 107HP/6,000rpm petrol. Overall the looks of the car is far better than the Etios twins. I am a six footer and the interior space is on par with Etios (very good). Since I sat at the back I felt the thigh support at the back, poor.

The interior was good, nothing great to write about but again far better than the Etios. The feedback from my driver was that it gave him good mileage 12-14 kms per litre and the power from the 1.3 engine was adequate. In the Philippines the Vios is a very popular Taxi car! Overall the feedback was good.

Vios cannot/should not be slotted higher than Etios, it should be its replacement. So then what happens to the Etios twins? Well my guess is that the Etios will be tweaked/re-worked and launched as the sub 4 meter compact sedan!

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by Nitthari

Vios cannot/should not be slotted higher than Etios, it should be its replacement. So then what happens to the Etios twins? Well my guess is that the Etios will be tweaked/re-worked and launched as the sub 4 meter compact sedan!

The Vios definitely will/should be slotted above the Etios. If you compare the latest Vios with the Etios, the latter easily looks a couple of generations old. Infact it looks older than the first generation Soluna/Vios. In my opinion Toyota maybe better off with knocking off the Etios from their portfolio and launch the Vios to compete in the space of Verna/City.

[Vid6639]

Toyota had shelved the plans of getting the Vios to India saying it was too expensive to make here. The costs did not justify it. I remember reading that it would be priced above the City if they did get it here making it difficult for them to justify.

This was when the City was around 8-11L. Since last year the Verna, City, Vento have all crossed into 14L on road price bracket.

This might be one reason for Toyota to relook the Vios. The Altis and Etios have a gap of 10 lakhs between them. This makes perfect sense for the Vios to plug in between.

[The Observer]

I tried to get some information on possible launch dates - especially if there is any launch this year for the Vios/Yaris and what i got to know from 2 different sources in TKM is that they are quite clueless about it :-) , in fact they divulged that the current major projects running are the facelifted Innova and a facelift for the Liva. If at all Vios / Yaris is launched it could only be in 2017/18. May be Toyota just decided to import the Vios and drive it here and see how it performs under Indian conditions and the decision to launch/when etc might be made later.

[spradheep]

Spotted the same car today morning on my way to office.