[t2k4]

Originally Posted by HOTROD

Booked 2.8 ZX AT Garnet Red (aka maroon) delivery by the end of the month. Otr price is 25,57,000 Inr.

Congratulations! Do you know if certain cities get higher vehicle quotas? The waiting period here is 3-4 months.

Originally Posted by vkochar

Confirmed. Getting my Innova ZX AT in grey this Sunday. All payment formalities done.

Waiting to get my hands on it now.

Waiting period for people booking now is nearly 6-8 weeks I am told. Not that bad as I thought so.

Congratulations! Needless to say, your fellow readers here expect a detailed scoop on ownership experience soon. Did you have to pull any strings to get a quicker delivery or are the wait times contingent on color and city?

Originally Posted by canonball

But the booking form states dealer will to pay interest on deposit after 15 days! By not transacting within 15 days they have to pay interest!

Check with the local dealer here, no dough :-( They outright refused to entertain the idea.

May I ask the source of this information?

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

I'm sure the engine will last 2.5-3 lakh km easily, the all switches in the interior will last the distance. I've never heard a rattle in a tourist vehicle which had run 80K kms. Can't say the same about an Indica or previous gen Marutis or even the 4th gen City (some particular batches). I've never heard of anything breaking/being replaced before it should be in an Etios.

Another correction. Etios employs different type of cost cutting and its pretty intelligent. I remember reading an article when Etios was launched. The way they cut costs is by designing and employing components which work in a temperature range of lets say -10 to 50 degree C instead of -40 to 50 degrees C because while you are in India, you are never going to drive in -40 Degrees because we do not really get that kind of temperature anywhere. So while Etios may not be as reliable when driven in -40 degrees C, the rest of time it is going to work fine or as fine as any other Toyota.

[canonball]

Originally Posted by t2k4

Similar experience for folks here in Chandigarh. Saw it first-hand with someone who booked the top-end 2.8 ZX AT variant on the day of launch (May 02) and was told that the delivery would be anytime in the next four months. A couple of follow-up calls to the dealership later in the week about more definitive timeline did not result in anything. The official stand is that "they will call the customer when the vehicle has been allotted."

My suspicion is that the dealers will play the same bullying tactics they did when Fortuner was in high demand - cherry pick customers for early delivers, those who are willing to pay the hefty premium for not-required expensive accessories.

Originally Posted by t2k4

Check with the local dealer here, no dough :-( They outright refused to entertain the idea.

May I ask the source of this information?

On paying my booking amount I received a Toyota India bound booking docket. The backside of booking form states this in terms & conditions = Always read fine print . They have also mentioned annualised % interest they will payout


Seems there is a heavy bias on the top AT model, city and dealer allocations. Only two people have booked bronze AT 8 seater at my dealer rest are all top & middle manual & auto's. Would we figures which such low demand for bronze auto 8 seater, a car should be available sooner since they have already produced and kept cars ready!!

I notice above people from smaller metro's seem to be getting car's faster even after making bookings as late as yesterday, 5 or more days after some of us booked!!

Dealer is willing to offer immediate delivery on GX AT 7 seater bronze!! Toyota seems obsessed with captain seats, in a country like India with nuclear families being dominant and the advent of MUV's was not captain seats but bench and there is certainly a very very strong and LARGE base of real users who opt for bench. All this seems like initial hype, because if one has studied the previous gen innova stat's bench volume outpaces captain seat? At the least to my acute observation over 10 year period

[ecenandu]

We have booked the VX variant but my Dad is in a dilemma now. Safety wise the VX trim is similar to our current car, City, Airbag(2 Vs 3) and ABS.

The ZX variant is almost 2 lakhs more than the VX variant for which we get the following

• Navigation*
• 8-way power adjust driver seat
• Passenger easy slide
• Leather seats*
• Cruise control
• Vehicle stability control*
• Hill start assist
• 7-airbags*

* these points we believe offers better value addition for us and is worth the additional 2 lakhs. The leather seat alone will set you around 47K INR approx, when done as an accessory from Toyota.

Originally Posted by ecenandu

Incident 4 : Honda City Vs Old chap
This happened a long time ago, during my initial driving days. It was my first long drive with family. We were going to Kottayam. There was an old chap waiting near the zebra crossing, he had a huge basket or something on his head.

He was patiently waiting there looking at the opposite traffic, I thought he won't cross the road. All of a sudden he crossed, I have to take an immediate evasive manoeuvre. The left hand side mirror narrowly missed him.

Here I was completely at fault, the old chap was waiting at the zebra crossing. I didn't slow down nor did I honk.

I think, Innova would have behaved differently in the above scenario. VSC would have definitely helped here.

What do you guys think, is it worth the extra 2 lakhs. We don't want to regret later for not selecting the correct variant.

The 7 Vs 8 seater debate is still on going.

Why can't Toyota release an 8 seater option in ZX trim

[AYP]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

What do you guys think, is it worth the extra 2 lakhs. We don't want to regret later for not selecting the correct variant.

Why can't Toyota release an 8 seater option in ZX trim

A top end is a top end afterall.
If you can stretch for it and don't mind the 7 seater configuration, then you should definitely go in for the top-end variant.

[t2k4]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

The ZX variant is almost 2 lakhs more than the VX variant for which we get the following.

....

What do you guys think, is it worth the extra 2 lakhs. We don't want to regret later for not selecting the correct variant.

The 7 Vs 8 seater debate is still on going.

Why can't Toyota release an 8 seater option in ZX trim

Unless you absolutely need the 8 seater, go with the top end variant with 7 seats. The captain seats are much more comfortable. Plus, the need to flip the middle row seats down to send passengers back into the third row becomes a moot point because of available ingress in the 7 seater, especially if the third row passengers are children.

[ecenandu]

Originally Posted by AYP

A top end is a top end afterall.
If you can stretch for it and don't mind the 7 seater configuration, then you should definitely go in for the top-end variant.

Yeah, we can stretch since we are not going to change the vehicle for the next 8 years, at least.

EDIT:

Changed to ZX. At last, the additional safety features won over the 8 seater configuration.

[t2k4]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

Yeah, we can stretch since we are not going to change the vehicle for the next 8 years, at least.

Attachment 1505955

EDIT:

Changed to ZX. At last, the additional safety features won over the 8 seater configuration.

Great! What's the wait-period you've been quoted?

[ecenandu]

Originally Posted by t2k4

Great! What's the wait-period you've been quoted?

We are going for the pearl white colour option, which according to our salesperson is on high demand. He tried to pull a bluff by quoting a 6 month waiting period for the pearl white option and tried push for grey or silver colour which is available in a months time.

When I said we are in no hurry and we will wait, the 6 month waiting period suddenly reduced to 2 - 3 months.

[sridhu]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

We have booked the VX variant but my Dad is in a dilemma now. Safety wise the VX trim is similar to our current car, City, Airbag(2 Vs 3) and ABS.

The ZX variant is almost 2 lakhs more than the VX variant for which we get the following

• Navigation*
• 8-way power adjust driver seat
• Passenger easy slide
• Leather seats*
• Cruise control
• Vehicle stability control*
• Hill start assist
• 7-airbags*

* these points we believe offers better value addition for us and is worth the additional 2 lakhs. The leather seat alone will set you around 47K INR approx, when done as an accessory from Toyota.



I think, Innova would have behaved differently in the above scenario. VSC would have definitely helped here.

What do you guys think, is it worth the extra 2 lakhs. We don't want to regret later for not selecting the correct variant.

The 7 Vs 8 seater debate is still on going.

Why can't Toyota release an 8 seater option in ZX trim

The way I have internally resolved this issue is to get a bench seat as spare from Toyota, do it in leather & fit it into the Zx. Need to validate it is possible but from a cursory glance it is. Might cost me about 20k all told but should be worth it.

[ecenandu]

Originally Posted by sridhu

The way I have internally resolved this issue is to get a bench seat as spare from Toyota, do it in leather & fit it into the Zx. Need to validate it is possible but from a cursory glance it is. Might cost me about 20k all told but should be worth it.

Ah, I will tell my dad about this option as well.

But we might not go this route, the middle passenger will miss the three point seat belt. I don't think we can retrofit the seatbelt, since we need to change the headliner and it will make the process more complicated.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by sridhu

The way I have internally resolved this issue is to get a bench seat as spare from Toyota, do it in leather & fit it into the Zx. Need to validate it is possible but from a cursory glance it is. Might cost me about 20k all told but should be worth it.

The seat squabs are not cheap. It would be surprising if the whole thing is possible within 20K, subject to the captain seats taken as exchange (which I highly doubt). For Toyota's capabilities, having another variant in VX and ZX with bench seats is easy, but for reasons best known to them they are not willing give that option.

PS: Its not just the seats, you will get the seat belt assemblies too which will add to the cost.

[ptushar]

Originally Posted by sridhu

The way I have internally resolved this issue is to get a bench seat as spare from Toyota, do it in leather & fit it into the Zx. Need to validate it is possible but from a cursory glance it is. Might cost me about 20k all told but should be worth it.

Is this possible? Also, does this in any way violate any warranty clauses?
If this is possible then this is going to help many many people in reaching a decision. Also, are you sure that this option would cost just 20k?

Last but not the least, does this change interfere with any other safety feature of the car like airbags?

[t2k4]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

We are going for the pearl white colour option, which according to our salesperson is on high demand. He tried to pull a bluff by quoting a 6 month waiting period for the pearl white option and tried push for grey or silver colour which is available in a months time.

When I said we are in no hurry and we will wait, the 6 month waiting period suddenly reduced to 2 - 3 months.

Yes, the Toyota Sales Experience is not what I imagined it would be; I guess the brand name premium is only for reliability. In a use case at a personal level at Pioneer Toyota Chandigarh, they didn't give me the official receipt until 8 days after paying the booking amount. All they've said is that the vehicle would be delivered in the next 4 months. I found the Sales person and his senior colleague unprofessional, and ideally want to cancel the booking because of the treatment meted out to me; however, the calmer self tells me that I shouldn't forgo a vehicle because of the sales people or the dealership attitude.

It's sad, though, that professionalism and integrity don't come bundled with a vehicle costing in excess of INR 23 lacs OTR.

[sachinayak]

A slightly different perspective on the 7/8 seater option on the top trim. The biggest reason I could think of buying the top end version is the additional safety it offers (7 airbags and all). Given this, i would think the 7 seater makes a lot of sense as the probability of a user buckling up with a seat-belt on the middle row captain seats is much more (purely based on my observation) than a bench seating.

In my circle of friends/relatives many are particular about wearing seat-belts but completely forget it when seating on the rear bench of a sedan or MUV. With captain seats in the middle row, it just comes inherently.

Could be purely a personal observation that cannot be generalized, but thought of sharing this slightly different point of view - specially if you are coughing up the extra moolah for passenger safety.