[bbhavan]

Congrats for your Innova,

Just a query on an accessory.

Have you checked out the price for installing an automatic foldable side mirror system? I think that will be quite usable in the city ride.

Or is it possible to attach that system on Innova?

regards,

bbhavan.

[TaureanBull]

A well bought Innova. Its best to buy through an acquaintance else there is possibility of getting an abused taxi stuff.

I second the need to change those covers.

Its actually funny to compare Innova with Santro but I can understand that you are comparing your two acquisitions. So thats fine.

[Rahulk76]

Ah finally the thread

Congrats Suhas on the buy. It looks like a well maintained vehicle.

Wishing you many miles of drive with your innova.

Cheers..

[nkrishnap]

Thats a decent buy there. The innova looks are good condition except for the cracked tail lights and bumpers.

Innova at 40000 kms still has a long life left in it to serve you.

Thanks for Sharing.

[Omtoatom]

Congratulations Sukiwa. Looks like the previous owner really nurtured this one. Personally I think very few cars beat the practicality that an Innova offers in our conditions. Also that diesel engine under the hood is as frugal as it is powerful. I would go even so far as to say that the steering feel (which you've referred to) and the overall handling make it a pretty FTD car on Indian roads.

Drive safe and wish you a hassle free ownership bud!

Originally Posted by smartcat

What's with the seat covers? Looks like the previous owner found a dead animal, skinned it personally and put it on the seats. Get rid of it ASAP and replace it with faux (or real) leather seat covers.

Fortunately you didn't give credit to the previous owner for actually hunting the animal, just skinning it!!

Gotta say delivered in true smartcat style and for very obvious reasons, the first thought that crossed muh mind when I was reading through your ownership report buddy.

Seriously please don't waste any time in losing those hideous seat covers. Besides why you would want to run the risk of inviting wrath from animal welfare folks for aforesaid reasons?!

[parsh]

Congrats on a very sensible and useful buy. This is the only Highway Complete Family cruiser in its segment and price point while also serving as a routine city commute with its easy maneuverability and good turning radius. Even with the arrival of XUV500 and Aria, its all round utility is not diminished. It scores well to carry all passengers with equal comfort whatever the road be, only limited by the GC and longer wheelbase.

Just out of curiosity, this is the first gen Innova, not a 2009 FL and '09 in title gives some confusing idea about the same

All my feedback/remarks below are to try reason on some things and not offend/force anything upon anybody.

Originally Posted by sukiwa

it was V variant, 3 yr. 3 month old having 36K Kms on odo.Went to mumbai on a sunday, had a good look at it & took it for ride between couple of suburbs & drove it back to Pune.

Thats a pretty well and low driven car. Hopefully engine breaking-in should have happened and the turbo lag that is very prominent below 1500 in first gen Innovas should have diminished. Plenty of lifetime left in there.

Originally Posted by sukiwa

A small crack on rear bumper, I didn't feel like attending to it. I will replace rear bumper at later date if needed.

Doesn't seem like a bothersome issue. If you don't care for that small nick in there, there is no need to look at it unless something major happens.

Originally Posted by sukiwa

Left tail lamp cluster has small crack at bottom, don't feel changing it as it doesn't collect water or affect regular lamp functioning. New tail lamp cluster would cost around Rs. 2500.

It will definitely not collect water as it is at bottom. Also the water collection happens mostly due the wearing of the sealant rubber wafer at the back of the cluster lamp. So don't bother. If needed, you can get an original lamp in used car parts market like Kurla here or a new original cluster for about 1700 from Sadhana Motors, Kurla, but without the rear sealant which is the biggest problem.

Originally Posted by sukiwa

It didn't take much time to get used width & length of Innova; 3-4 U-turns were enough to understand larger turning radius of 5.4m. Gear throw is longer compared to Santro & I had to change my driving habits compared to Santro. I had to learn to work through gears & not rev the engine. Driving on highways is huge difference compared to Santro. Overtaking is better & don't have plan it like Santro. I can easily slow down from 80/100 to 60 without downshifting from 5th, I can accelerate without downshifting if I don't slow down below 60.

Cool, you got the hang of it. Even to first time car drivers, this is pretty easy to get used to. You can say, I learned and graduated to present driving on my Innova.

Originally Posted by sukiwa

I have driven it beyond 100 kmph & also beyond 3000 rpm, but engine noise increases and it doesn't feel right to continue or strain the engine further.

THIS IT NOT TO PROMOTE HIGH SPEEDs. BUT, don't go by the noise. It is a wrong impression people carry when they hear the increasing noise that Innova is limited to speeds of 100-110. If you notice the noticeable noise actually starts at 80. Try accelerating and you will see it effortlessly climbs beyond 100 upto atleast 140, and you will hardly see it fainting or gasping. Only beyond 140 does it start gasping and takes time to climb upto 150-160 and it can achieve that given plain stretches as in MPE. In fact, I have experienced, it is one of those which can be driven 120-140 all day long without fatigue, if there is such need and road permits. The noise does climb to higher tunes starting from 80 to 120 but stays at that beyond that. But ofcourse, try stick to limits as far as possible and drive safely.

Originally Posted by sukiwa

4. Dead pedal is surely is missed but has enough space to rest left leg.

True. There is enough space to rest your clutch leg and one hardly feels the need for dead pedal as such.

Originally Posted by sukiwa

5. Seats offer good under thigh support & as they are firm it helps in better comfort for long drives.

You can say that except for the 3rd row seats which offer limited thigh support and not at all good for tall people in long drives.

Originally Posted by sukiwa

This isn't a vehicle that one can drive spiritedly on well paved road to Lavasa. Uphill hair-pin bends on way to Lavasa makes it feel like a commercial heavy vehicle rather than a passenger vehicle.

Strange. I found it very nimble at handling the corners, tight bends especially the ones in Old Mumbai-Pune H/W, Matheran and Lavasa as well.

Originally Posted by sukiwa

This is a highway cruiser & best suited for longer drives.

Indeed and try using it frequently in city, you would find it nimble enough to chuck the city traffic to make it a daily office commute.

Originally Posted by sukiwa

Fuel efficiency: I have covered more than 6k Kms so far, driven mostly on weekends. I seldom use it for drive to office. City mileage is around 10.5/11 kmpl & on highways it's around 13.5 to 14 kmpl. I haven't driven sedately on highways, have been testing highway capabilities on most of highway drives. I need to drive at steady 80-90 kmph to check if it results in better highway mileage.

The best bet is take a round trip on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway at consistent 80-90 speeds and check, am sure you will get better as I could get about 15-16 variably. In city it has been anywhere between 10-12.

Originally Posted by sukiwa

Glove box space is just adequate

Just to give a glimpse of its usage, mine holds, all manuals, spare headlight bulbs, First gen Innova's medical kit (which is pretty big compared to new), an Ambi-Pur air-freshener spray bottle and a 5" pouch to hold small utility items. Its pretty decent.

Originally Posted by sukiwa

3rd row of seats, note angle of back rest so that it merges with seat when it's held up vertically for additional luggage.
6 footer can't sit longer than an hour due to less under thigh support & slightly less legroom. Space between captain seats can be used to stretch legs.

Nifty point there. You can actually raise them to hold the over-stuffed dicky luggage to fill upto rooftop.

Originally Posted by sukiwa

Boot space: Very small compared to Santro, can barely manage weekend luggage for all passengers.

Let me say the boot's usability is very good. We usually pack to the brim with complete family, 8 in all with their luggage, do a 7 day trip to Goa, all with duffel bags stuffed just sufficiently for 7 days. Here you can use the trick to lock the luggage by raising the 3rd row head-rests. Do we need more room? Hell, yes always can use some more, but we can do it pretty decently and all together with the family.

When I do the airport trips, it decently hold 2 air-suitcases/bags with quite some room left till top to stuff it more.

The usability is in the decent width provided with 3rd row in place, and the height available upto the rooftop at your disposal.

Originally Posted by sukiwa

Bottle holders: Every door can accommodate 1 liter bottles, it's tight squeeze though for 1 liter bottles.

Standard 1ltr Bisleri/Aqufina/Parle etc would decently fit in, even if you have to squeeze in, atleast they stay tightly in there, which is very useful, and you can pack in 10 ltrs in these holder inside. If you go for loose ones they start rattling. There are Pearlpet round ones too we use at home which go in decently in there.

Originally Posted by sukiwa

Mats don't cover all carpet area, Carpet area between 2nd & 3rd row is bound to get soiled in monsoon.

Big issue with carpets for 7 seater Innova, this gap remains. You could go for a standard single mat to lay there which will cover it.

[tazmaan]

Congrats thats a good buy!!

One thing for sure the Innova will serve you long and not let you down.

I had done 1.7 lac kms on my 2008 innova, which even included a trip to Leh and trust me we could not find a suitable care to replace it.

Hence we sold the 2008 innova and bought a new innova in Aug 12.

I find the spares to be very reasonable for the Innova, and if the car is out of warranty there are several good quality after market spares available too.

I had the same issue with the tail lights but sold the car as is where is. You can replace the same with the 2009 onwards shaped taillights or even current model taillights they are a direct fit.

[parsh]

Originally Posted by tazmaan

You can replace the same with the 2009 onwards shaped taillights or even current model taillights they are a direct fit.

tazmaan, the First Gen Innova OEM tail lights are still readily available off the shelf or can be easily ordered back if not readily available through dealerships. Toyota still supports them. I still prefer the old style.

[John]

Good buy Sukiwa. I'm sure you'll have an enjoyable experience with your Innova. I too, bought a pre-owned 2006 Innova 2.5V 8 seater in 2010. It had 42000 on the clock and was in excellent condition. The previous owner had changed the battery and 4 tyres about 6 months earlier, so I've had no major expenses since then. I've added 25000 k's in the last 2 years, mainly long highway trips. My family just love the comfort and spaciousness of the vehicle and I, the driving pleasure.

The OE audio system sucked. So I upgraded the audio - a JVC KW-XR610 HU, JBL's for the doors and an under seat sub-woofer. Changed the head lamps to Philips Vision Plus, added Philips 4 LED DRL's in the grille and an extra power socket to handle all the gadgets.

While driving on the highway, I keep the speed below 110 kmph and even with the AC on all the time, I get around 12 to 13 kmpl . I monitor the FE with an Android app called My Cars, and find the FE is pretty consistent.

My only grouse is the light coloured interiors which are a pain to keep clean. And yes, would have loved to have had an auto-box!

Regarding the mats, I picked up a set which consisted of two mats for the front, a two-piece mat for the middle row, two pieces for the third row, a single piece for between the middle row seats and two pieces for the boot. This should solve your problem of the carpet getting dirty.

[arup.misra]

Congrats on your buy. Very difficult to find a sparingly used Innova in urban markets. And that too at such a cheap price.

Nicely written report. Crisp and too the point. Suggest you take the vehicle a 3M center to give a nice exterior and interior cleaning. It'll make your ride squeaky clean.

All the best and hope she serves you for long

[Omtoatom]

Sukiwa, would you mind telling us how you went about the search? Almost impossible to find a sparingly driven Innova in an immaculate condition. Just FYI.

Drop me a PM if you'd like. Cheers!

[John]

Originally Posted by Omtoatom

Sukiwa, would you mind telling us how you went about the search? Almost impossible to find a sparingly driven Innova in an immaculate condition. Just FYI.

Drop me a PM if you'd like. Cheers!

You have to be very very lucky! Only way is if some known person (friend/relative) is selling their car. I would be extremely wary of buying a "low mileage" one from a dealer. And even then prices would be much higher than what Sukiwa paid.

[sukiwa]

Looking at comments, I have realised that I have some missed out mentioning timelines & it resulted in miscalculation for thread title. I picked up this Innova on last sunday of february '12, so have it for more than 9 months now & this is a Nov '08 model.

Originally Posted by n.devdath

OT: How much did you settle the deal for?

I had to increase my budget & hence took some time to take a decision in favour of Innova. Asking price was 8.5L, it got settled to 8L with total outgo including insurance & RTO charges being around 8.3L.

Originally Posted by smartcat

What's with the seat covers?

I would retain these for a year till daughter grows up; would move to art. leather seat covers similar to ones I have on Santro. Tyres & ICE are current priorities.

Originally Posted by amrisharm

Also just a curious question, did you ever test drive and/or consider the Maruti Ertiga?

Ertiga wasn't launched then but did try out later. It is a good sedan alternative & but felt lack of space overall. And ingress/egress to last row isn't to my liking.

Originally Posted by bbhavan

Have you checked out the price for installing an automatic foldable side mirror system?

no, I haven't. I don't like too much electronics in the car and someone (service folks) who doesn't know about it might break auto fold mechanism.

Originally Posted by parsh

The best bet is take a round trip on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway at consistent 80-90 speeds and check.

I did try these speeds on MPEW on way to Tardeo, mumbai but faced rush hour traffic in morning & evening. As a result, mileage was just 12.3 kmpl. I will try again on a visit to Panvel sometime later this month.

Nifty point there. You can actually raise them to hold the over-stuffed dicky luggage to fill upto rooftop.

I have never filled luggage tilll rooftop in any cars yet; need to try it out.

Originally Posted by tazmaan

You can replace the same with the 2009 onwards shaped taillights or even current model taillights they are a direct fit.

Originally Posted by parsh

I still prefer the old style.

I too had thought of changing to 2012 tail-lamps, but felt that it would look odd with rest of the car. If I ever change tail lamp, it would be old style. I don't want car to feature in weird, wacky modifications thread.

Originally Posted by arup.misra

Suggest you take the vehicle a 3M center to give a nice exterior and interior cleaning. It'll make your ride squeaky clean.

actually, I did splurge on these treatments from 3M in May. Unfortunately, I couldn't take photos immediately. These photos were taken in July when monsoon was in full swing.

Originally Posted by Omtoatom

Sukiwa, would you mind telling us how you went about the search?

Just lot of patience, it took me almost 1.5 years since I started search.

[parsh]

Originally Posted by sukiwa

I did try these speeds on MPEW on way to Tardeo, mumbai but faced rush hour traffic in morning & evening. As a result, mileage was just 12.3 kmpl. I will try again on a visit to Panvel sometime later this month.

Oh man, thats bad. Mumbai traffic from Panvel to inwards is the killer, eats time as well as fuel and can take as much time to travel as to from Pune to Panvel, unless you do it in very early morn or very late nights. Hope you will get better figures next time. Maybe you can try topping up immediately after entering Panvel at first pump and that will give better indication.

Originally Posted by sukiwa

I too had thought of changing to 2012 tail-lamps, but felt that it would look odd with rest of the car. If I ever change tail lamp, it would be old style. I don't want car to feature in weird, wacky modifications thread.

Seriously don't think about the new ones whenever you feel like changing. The old plain jane ones look classy.

[Abhay]

Congrats Sukiwa. Funny that I actually saw your Innova before I saw this thread. Looks to be a great buy, especially considering it had done less than 40k back then.

As for going the pre-owned route, I have been trying without any success (on and off for a couple of years) and finally had to bite the bullet.
Good thing that you knew the owner and also the provenance of the vehicle.

Listening to your upgraded audio section for a few mins was also good, hoping to do a longer run soon.
Only thing the interior looks too beige/creamy but that's a matter of personal taste. I have been in a few Innovas(as a passenger) and have always felt that they are solid, capable and spacious highway cruisers. Going from a hatch to a behemoth like this seems to have been easy enough for you!