[sukiwa]

Need for bigger vehicle: Space was never enough for six footers in Santro. I was looking forward to buying Ford Fusion in 2006, but due to higher cost (read EMI) I had settled for Santro. After few years of ownership & additional member(daughter) in the family, it was time for a bigger vehicle.
I had initially set target of a bigger hatch with budget of 6.5-7 L & was looking forward to launches of many hatches in 2009. But, most of those got ruled out due to lack of interior space or pricing. Jazz was really spacious but initial pricing put me off. If Honda had priced it correctly, I
would have bought it in 2010. Vista was next on the list, but I wasn't comfortable with oversized steering among other issues (just didn't feel like a car worth driving).

Many sedans in my budget were put off due to rear space and tall boy design of santro had habituated me to walk in the car rather than crawl in the car. After promising hatches moved out of my list, I started looking out for pre-owned vehicles.

Pre-owned: I chose this path reluctantly as it was time consuming. I knew that sedans would be easier to find in my budget & but hadn't thought of SUV/MUV segment. I was on constant lookout for used cars, it became habitual to visit used car dealers on weekends. I had to rule out many due to messy interiors or broken exterior parts. I was wondering how engines would be maintained if it has issues with exterior or interior maintenance. Some dealers refused to give a car TD unless token money was deposited in cash (& even commitment in one case), I simply walked away.
Among sedans, I had zeroed down on Toyota Corolla (petrol or diesel) & Honda Civic. Old gen Corolla looked very sedate after Altis, but Altis was difficult to find in used market & even so a diesel one. I had found one nicely maintained pearl white Corolla having 42k Kms on odo with asking price of 6.75L. This car remained in contention for few weeks & I wasn't able to decide due to other development.

I found out that an Innova in family contacts from Mumbai could be put up for sale, 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.




Looks aren't that great to talk about & Toyota designs are pretty much plain jane.

Issues at first glance:

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


Front left alloy had some minor scratches.


Rear right tyre has different tread pattern, Bridgestone Turanza AR10 compared to stock Bridgestone B390 on other wheels. This doesn't go well with having different tread pattern on same axle, but I plan to change all tyres once odo reaches 45k Kms.


Chrome on OVRM: V variant had chrome package, but I would have preferred body colour OVRM. This isn't an issue, but personal preference.

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.


Reverse camera: Installer might have messed up here. Bumper has two cameras, obviously only one is functional.

additional tweeters: It has additional Pioneer tweeters mounted on dash, don't think that they are connected.

Driving impressions: 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.
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.

Comparisons with Santro:

1. Highway: Incoming vehicles slow down & allow Innova to complete overtaking, was not possible with Santro.
2. Larger turning radius: Migrating from 4.4 m to 5.4 m is huge, but needed little time to get used to.
3. Gears: Gear throw is longer & gear lever vibrates like anything upon cold engine start
4. Dead pedal is surely is missed but has enough space to rest left leg.
5. Seats offer good under thigh support & as they are firm it helps in better comfort for long drives.

Steering: Feels heavy or rather makes one feel the weight of the vehicle, just feels right to me. I prefer heavy feel of steering unlike super light steering of new gen cars. I really like thin spokes compared to thick spokes having audio controls. My regular steering position is 3 o'clock & thin spokes just make it more comfortable to hold steering.

Driving in city: Driving in bumper-to-bumper is pain in any vehicle & it's said that heavy clutch in diesels adds to woes. But, I didn't find clutch to be that hard. Taking turns in slow traffic is definitely a challenge. I have to keep constant eye on all rear view mirrors.

Within couple of weeks of ownership, I had to take it small, busy streets & even park it in multilevel parking. I managed it without any scratches to any nearby vehicles or sweating myself.

AC: Having independent fan control for front & rear passengers is helpful. Rear row passengers can set fan speed as desired & I can continue to keep it at speed 1. Climate control is desirable but didn't find it as must. AC works as intended in summers, cools large area within 5 minutes.

Ride quality, handling: Suspension is firm & vehicle doesn't squeak on bad roads. It can handle high speed lane changes quite well. It never shows up any surprises or unexpected behavior. It surely feels planted on road (It's a different thing such fast lane changes are best avoided).

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.

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

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.

[sukiwa]

Interiors:

Central console & music system: CD player accepts mp3 CDs, but music system doesn't have Aux, USB ports. This needs to be replaced soon, something for ICE section. It sounded awful initially. I had to check individual speaker via fader & balance setting, didn't find any fault. After this, it started sounding acceptable, but anything more than 50% volume starts showing limitations.


Wiper controls on left


Indicator & light controls on right


Airbag in steering wheel


Glove box space is just adequate


additional storage space near handbrake


Storage space under central armrest


Immobiliser, headlamp leveler & mirror controls


Seat belt warning for front row passenger


Airbag for front row passenger


Instrument console has white background


Reverse camera display


Storage for shades & cabin lamps for front row


Ample legroom in 2nd row after adjusting front row for 6 footers


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.



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


3rd row seats can be moved up for additional luggage space


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



2nd row also gets cupholders at bottom of rear side central armrest.




Covers for seat railings, nice touch by Toyota.




Reclining position of driver seat for sleeping


View of three rows from backside


AC control for rear rows


Some Oddities/Negatives:

Gaps between doors/panels: These are more than what I am used to in Santro.
Gap between doors leaves enough space for dirt to settle in.


Gap between rear hatch door & tail lamp shows internal bolts


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

[sukiwa]

Accessories & Servicing:

Added steering wheel grip. This one isn't that good compared to Stanley ProGrip that I am used, but had to settle for this one as ProGrip wasn't available.


Clip-on wide angle mirror


I also changed to embossed number plates.

Forum stickers were added much later into ownership & got spotted within few hours of pasting those.


Wipers: I changed to Bosch wipers as wipers at DSK toyota were expensive. Rear wiper from Bosch is longer as well. DSK Toyota termed these as non genuine along with 55/60w Philips xtreme power head lamps, strange.

Wheel alignment: I carried it out at Darshan tyres in few weeks of ownership. Toe readings were way to outside their limits, mostly it was not attended to regularly. This has resulted in uneven tyre wear on front tyres. As a habit, I carry out wheel alignment at every 5000 Kms.

Service costs & experience at DSK Toyota: I carried out 40K service within a month of ownership & changed most of the fluids. I also asked for change of Air filter & AC filter. Both showed good amount of dust as well as dried leaves in AC filter (mostly due to parking under a tree).





Rear wiper had a missing cap, got it added for Rs. 10.


Cost for major items:
Air filter: 1197
AC filter: 1377
Oil filter: 363
Oil (6.9 ltr): 1758
brake fluid: 351
diff. oil(2.8 ltr): 672

Total cost for 40K Kms service was Rs. 6970.

I was able to check most of service proceedings from customer lounge as it got a service bay just next to glass door of lounge. Very few owners use customer lounge, it's mostly used by drivers.

Second service was carried out after 6 months of ownership & service cost was mere Rs. 1656. Oil change interval is 10,000 Kms or 1 year.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!

[mayankjha1806]

Congratulations, you made a worthy buy, 6.75L for a 40K drive Innova is very good deal, i have personally seen Innovas going to 1.5L Kms to 2L Kms. So you are probably all set for this decade.

The car looks decently maintained, few scratches here and there are bound to happen, although wheel alignment is something that the previous owner should have done quiet regularly.

Although i personally do not like Innovas for their taxi image, but i must agree this is the most practical car for ferrying people with decent amount of luggage in comfort. I have sat in one a few times and have always loved its ride and comfort, but have never had the will to own one.

PS: Forgot to mention, that's a very wonderfully crafted ownership report.

[Enigmatic]

Congratulations sukiwa.

The Innova is a great car. Its something that appeals to all and is obviously a no brainier when it comes to reliability and comfort.

I have been driven in an Innova that had done 2.8 Lakh Km. And the only thing wrong with the vehicle was a faulty co-driver power window switch. Apart from that, there were no squeaks, no rattles and no mechanical faults what so ever. Yes it had been periodically serviced, but such bullet proof reliability is amazing.

Congratulations once again and drive safe

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by sukiwa

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

Sums it up Sukiwa. However, the Innova's reasonable turning radius, lavish cabin space, ergonomics and no nonsense reliability makes it the best possible people mover in the country today.

Also, 36k kms is zilch for the vehicle and you easily have another 200,000kms of life left in it, if not more.

Congratulations and wishing you happy miles ahead.

OT: How much did you settle the deal for?

[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.

Awesome deal, by the way. It is quite difficult to get an Innova equipped with airbags in the used car market.

[carzone]

A great purchase there with some very detailed review.
When i toured south, I had been driven in an Innova, a 2006 model, having done 2,70,000 on the ODO.
There was not a squeak from the vehicle even after having spend almost its entire life on the rural not so well maintained roads. No offense to anyone, but some highways were badly maintained with loads of potholes. This was where the suspension kept us comfortable.

The only fault was that during heavy rains, there was water leakage inside the cabin. When I saw, it was due to aftermarket rear AC fit by the person which was leaking through the roof.

2.7L kms and the cabin was insulated just like my 8k km wagonR. I was seriously all praises the way the owner maintained the vehicle.

A great buy with the mind and I wish you many more kms on it!

[girishglg]

Congrats Sukiwa on your find. The car from a distance looks mint condition and seems to be a great pick. The wear and tear seems to be quite acceptable.

The only downside of the reliable T is the spares cost of small and sundry parts such as lights and the ICE which needs to be upgraded even their high end cars such as Camry, else rest is rock solid and built to last.

Happy many miles of highway motoring.

[anjan_c2007]

Congratulations on your buy. Its quite a good VFM purchase.The review is quite comprehensive and well written.It may put even some professional road tester's test report wanting!
The deck however spoils your dashboard's look as it appears faded! You may use a suitable plastic polish to make the dull plastic components shiny and new.
Happy Driving!

[KALINGA]

Sir congratulation for your new ride.
I saw your car. It is really in mint condition.
At that price its a super deal you got.

[NST440]

First of all heartly congratulations for buying one of the best vehicles available on Indian soil and that too at such a nice price. The looks of your vehicle are really pristine at that price and just 36k is a mere joke for an innova. I too have an innova v variant and Trust me am falling in love with the vehicle each day as it is a no nuisance no tension car which offers complete peace of mind.
As of now I would suggest you some nice ice upgrades and better seat covers in addition to a full body polishing to make it shine like new. One thing I am happy about is the colour which you have got is a pure bliss as it hides minor scratches and if properly maintained looks afresh and new. My innova has also just reached 40k ma.rk and your inputs are just what I needed to get it serviced from the dealer. Believe me you will love her everyday because of her loyal and loving back nature. Wish you years and miles of happiness in your innova.

[amrisharm]

It is indeed very hard to find well kept Innovas in the used car market, so congrats on getting your hands on this one. Also just a curious question, did you ever test drive and/or consider the Maruti Ertiga?

[akhil_rpmlover]

Congrats on your new acquisition. First of all, you just got an awesome deal there. Its hard to find an Innova with low odo reading IMO.

Your review is very good and is no short of pictures. . Wishing you many miles of happy journeys

Highway: Incoming vehicles slow down & allow Innova to complete overtaking, was not possible with Santro.

This part just made me laugh . Very true though.