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-   -   Toyota Etios 1.5L Petrol : An owner's point of view. EDIT: 10+ years and 100,000+ kms up! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-term-ownership-reviews/136990-toyota-etios-1-5l-petrol-owners-point-view-edit-10-years-100-000-kms-up-22.html)

Never thought an Etios will be revered by a personal owner so much. It is next to God for the Taxi segment who swear by it's reliability and lower maintenance giving them their livelihood.

I am an ardent fan of Toyota for their ride quality. Have never owned a Toyota car so cannot speak of their after sales service and reliability but it has been appreciated by many Worldwide. What different they do with the suspensions that makes it glide over roads so effortlessly? Etios drives better than a duster on broken roads is widely acceptable statement to make.

In love with their new Platinum Etios Blue colour, only thing that is making me not to go for it is the AC controls. They look really archaic and when compared with the price, it really does not satiate my expectation. Owning a VW has also made matters worse, making me feel Etios to be light built with cheap plastics in the interiors. The black paint in the interiors also felt like an after market job not well done.

Not sure how just by having 2 airbags, ABS, EBD and Isofix as standard makes the car a lot safe than other cars? Most cars have the same but Toyota is regarded higher than them. Many speak about the part quality being supreme and hence the cost of the car as a whole is higher.

Biggest curiosity remains unanswered, are they going to bring a facelift of the Etios twins to India? More than a facelift I feel they will have to bring a lot more changes in it to sell it to private buyers. They have all the right resources and ability but what keeps them away from it is really difficult to know.

Have read and re read many Etios and Liva reviews, ownership reports and multiple test drives but yet not satisfied to call it the best family sedan / practical hatch for India. Happy to get the broken and unknown facts which make them as perceived.

Cabbie's love the car for its reliability & low maintenance. Its comfortable, fun to drive (petrol) and easy on pocket. Over the last 8 years, this car has taken me places without any trouble. Yes, the interiors look spartan, but the other positives do make it up for me. So i do not find much reasons for not admiring this car.


I find cars like Verito, Sunny/ Scala to be more comfortable or equally comfortable with Etios. Hexa ride comfort is more or at par with Crysta. So its a myth that Toyota cars are more comfortable than any other cars.

In comparison with Duster, the low speed ride quality is better in Etios, at higher speed, Duster is plusher.


VW cars have very high quality and classy interiors. Coming from a VW, its really tough to like the interior of an Etios.

Again its a myth! Etios scored 4* in NCAP crash test. So any car in this segment with a 4* rating should fare equally well. Other car's who have failed in the crash test in-spite of having 2 airbags, must have compromised on the structural integrity.

Regarding part quality, yes they are definitely good. With just regular maintenance these car's can be driven for quite a long period & distance. Unless you are having a bad luck, you do not have to spend much on changing parts, apart from the regular service schedules.


Regarding face-lift or updated Etios or Liva please checkout this thread- https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...tios-liva.html

An Etios with a plush interior and better look will get pricier by another 1.5 Lac, where they now have the Yaris. At the end Etios is a budget sedan. Toyota have kept the basics correct and compromised on the looks and interior features. You lose some, you gain some. So if anyone is looking for both, then cars like Yaris/ Ciaz/City/Verna should be considered. That's a segment higher.


Best Family sedan? Definitely not! How can be a budget sedan be best?
Practical ? Definitely yes!

At 7.5 Lac otr, if anyone is looking for a reliable, low maintenance, abuse friendly, fun to drive, spacious 5 seater car with a 595 L boot space, then there are no other options currently available at this price bracket!
The sub 4 meter sedans or the premium hatchbacks are similarly priced with compromised space, a smaller engine (in petrol's) and better interiors.

Replace the 'fun to drive factor' with 'economical' for the diesel Etios. Its best suited for cabbies.
I will never consider an Etios diesel, instead i will happily buy a Ford with its brilliant 1.5L diesel engine!

The closest rivals of Etios, at its price range were the Manza, Sunny, Ford Classic/Fiesta, 1st gen Dzire. But sadly none of those cars are now available.

Can the Etios Platinum's suspension be changed to make it more fun to drive on corners? The steering wheel is too light and not at all precise.

On high speeds, Etios floats a bit which again is not to my liking.
What are the options (if you have ever considered) to make it more stable and corner craving with excellent steering feedback?

The more stiffer TRW shock-absorbers with the tires up-sized to 195-60-R15 should take care of both of your concerns up-to a good extent. You can consider Michelin XM2 or the more superior Primacy 3ST.

Etios gets new shoes before DurgaPuja!

At 93,300 km mark the last set of Yokohama Earth 1's have completed 50,000 km. Though the tread and overall appearance looked okay, the tyre noise increased a lot, car suspension felt hard over rough patches (the cushioning effect was gone) with much reduced wet grip. Under hard braking or fast cornering the car started feeling nervous or while trying to accelerate hard the wheels used to screech even in 2nd!

4 years 4 months and 50,000 km old Yokohama Earth 1. I could have driven them for another 5,000 km, but i was not enjoying the drive.





I was satisfied the way these Earth 1's lasted even after driving to places like Ladakh, Spiti, Bhutan, Sikkim & they have never let me down. So again opted for four new Earth 1's. These are not performance tyre's but gives good value for money for Indian condition's.

I asked for Goodyear GSD3 or Michelin XM2 but at that moment none was available. For the XM2 i had to wait for a couple of days. So settled for the Earth 1's once again.

Got it changed from IndoRadial at Bpcl petrol bunk at Rajarhat.
The new tyres were from the current batch. The manufacturing week is 31 and year is 2019.
With 4 new tyre's, alignment, balancing and by exchanging my 4 old tyre's i had to pay a total of Rs 17,000.

Now the car feels like new! Its much more smooth, silent, and is gliding over rough patches. As the tyres are new, i have not pushed the car much. Let the tyre's run in for the 1st 500 km.

A pic of the new tyre.

Was seriously considering the Etios so had a known person in a Toyota Dealer who gave me the Etios Petrol for a day to drive and experience.

In the first hour itself, I was thoroughly disappointed with the car's driving dynamics. The steering was light and no where near being precise.

Positives

Space: Sitting in the rear seat made me feel it is longer than my Vento. (Etios has no rear hump like VW, so an easy 5 seater)

Toyota's fuss free ownership (No first hand experience but 8/10 people are quite happy with them)

Same as above with the ownership costs.

Boot space: Carnivorous. Can use even to shift homes (exaggeration!)

Windshield Wiper: Felt like the quality was better than the Germans. The swipe too is brilliant.

Negatives

Built Quality : Not so well built. May be using VW cars so expecting a lot from Toyota or all brands per say.

Driving Dynamics: Very poor handling and road manners. Steering has zero feedback and is light. Surprisingly I did not feel it getting heavier with speed as well, so rate it even below that of Hyundai.

Interior Plastic Quality: It makes you feel of what it is - A budget sedan.

Gratification: I don't take the Ola/Uber much but I felt like driving one, especially when my wife and friends joined in with me. (Hope you all understand, what I mean)

Features: They have stopped the limited edition so even on top end, they offer the pathetic looking Head Unit.
Same generation since almost 6-8 years

Image: Although does not make a difference to me but it definitely is looked down upon by private users.

Minor Turn offs

No driver side arm rest
Pathetic plastic colour and pattern on dashboard
Seats felt too thin
Beige colour fabric seats
Headlights were poor
Alloy design not to my liking

Final Verdict : Not going for it. Still considered if they could arrange the Limited Edition with Brown colour, but they cannot. Will be looking at premium hatch backs (Mostly going for the Honda Jazz VX MT)

Have been reading your posts, and I can understand the confusion you are facing. I too was in a similar boat as you a few times and having owned both the Liva & the Etios to satisfy those woes (and now the S-Cross), I would recommend having a look at the car again but from a different perspective - an easy to live with, city friendly family car.

You have a very balanced garage - the Vento, Ameo, and Figo are amongst the best drivers cars in their respective segments - so understandably the dynamics of the Etios are a little overwhelming.

When we had the Etios, my daily was the Laura (remapped that too!), but interestingly every drive in the Etios managed to plaster a smile on my face in a different way - I just had to stop driving it like a German!

This car with it's perfect visibility and tight turning radius made driving in the city a breeze - you see that gap, and boom - it's closed! I could give many of Mumbai's Santro & WagonR taxis a run for their money!
Tight parking spot? No Problem!
Bad Roads? Don't worry - this won't rattle like the VWs or the Ford. The Etios when we sold it felt tighter than my friend's Figo Aspire! In fact, my 35,000km run S-Cross rattles more than the Etios with 55K on the odo!

As a family car - it will compliment your garage beautifully! And dare I say - with better highway manners than most of it's rivals (except the Fords, and VWs of course).

Another point you mentioned about build quality - the build is fantastic given the safety rating & lack of rattles. The problem is more to do with the fact that everything feels CHEAP!

That being said, I do completely agree with the rest of the downsides. You cannot do much about some items like the interiors, lack of features, etc.
But some items can be addressed in the form of accessories - better HU, seat covers, etc. which Toyota dealerships themselves will happily do for you.

As an option - you can even look at a base model Yaris with the discounts, and slowly accessorize it over time. It addresses a lot of the Etios's weak points, but also takes away from some of it's strenghts (mainly space).

There is no doubt about it's practicality.

Vento will be going soon. But after owning a VW, it is very difficult to own something which is not as well built as their cars. I was never so meticulous about the fit and finish before owning the Vento. This makes me feel that I won't enjoy living with an Etios for long.

VWs do not rattle (at least this is what I have experienced in the last 2 years of owning one). Ford is not well built and am sure it would rattle in few years. Good to know that Etios does not rattle even after being used for 50k+ kms. It's a big plus to that car which feels like made of cheap hard plastics.

I drove the diesel Etios first and it has neutral dynamics. The steering is too light to my liking (if you know a fix to this please do share) and then the chassis isn't very communicative either. Especially when taking corners, the steering and chassis are not in sync at all. Straight line it is composed but not sure with just 68 PS and 170 NM , how good it would be for highways which need good speed.

The light built and cheap plastics are the biggest turn off. At the price we pay, today we can get three generation better features, better materials and car/driving information in other cars.

For some reason , I am not able to connect to Yaris the way I do with Etios. Moreover, we need a diesel as our monthly running is high. Yaris disappoints me in everything. For me the only good thing about Yaris is that it comes from Toyota.

I really appreciate your inputs. I may have said that we have dropped the idea but still at the back of my mind I keep checking and comparing it with other probables.

If it was 2015-16 and I had valued durability and peace of mind more (which now I do), I would have picked up the Etios VXD. But in 2019 and living with it till 2026 feels a bit difficult. Toyota has also shown no signs of getting the Etios to BS6. I wonder if they dont, then how would they be the undisputed leaders in fleet market?

Being a Etios 2011 model owner Petrol V variant, 78000km driven. I am facing a unique scenario where with 4 people on board the suspension scraps on speed brakers. In addition ride quality is not that great on normal roads (Pun intended - roads with potholes) the jerks could be felt in terms of shaking movements by passengers. Should I go for a suspension upgrade ? If yes any suggestions ?

Secondly the issue is with engine noise which is very loud inside cabin, esp. with AC ON. Is there any jugaad where i can have some fillers under the hood to insulate that ?

2011 Etios comes with softer shock-absorbers. I have upgraded them to the stiffer one's long back in 2012/13. That considerably improved the handling and ride comfort.
So changing all the four shock-absorbers to the new stiffer one's should help. Am sure the stock shock-absorbers in your car have weakened over the time. So with load it's sagging more.

Nothing much can be done. The insulation of the first gen Etios is pretty bad.
3M underbelly coating and new tyres help to some extent to reduce the road noise, but to reduce the protruding engine noise you can try for the under-hood insulation which come's with the diesel Etios.

Thanks Samba. Any pointers on shock absorbers brand ? Which one should I go for ?

Will enquire about the under-hood insulation with Toyota folks.

If you want a non oem product, you can checkout TRW, else you can stick with the stiffer shock-absorbers from Toyota.
The part number will be different from your cars shock-absorbers. Ask them to fit the one which comes with the current Etios.

I read on amalji's ownership thread that the old soft shockers were replaced free of cost by Toyota.
@peus017 - just ask, you might get lucky.

My 2015 petrol Etios has some sort of under bonnet cover, not sure if its sound insulating. I think the main issue is noise filtering thru the doors due to lack of door liners. This is very apparent with old tyres that become very noisy. Noise from old tyres wasn't so apparent in my Getz.

Thanks Samba will look for them.

Mine is not under warranty but still can ask Toyota folks. Yes tyres are due for change. Will try for under bonnet and tyre change soon.:thumbs up

Hi Peus, I'm in a similar boat as you (thinking of changing the shocks). So please do update on what you finally decide and how it goes!