[Nariman]

Severus, first of all well done -the review was top rate. Actually was shocked to hear about the dealership rudeness- having just bought a Toyota myself - I was under the impression they have to undergo pretty standard public relations training through the company . Guess I was wrong.
Enjoy your new wheels. Cheers.

[abhishek46]

Congratulations on your purchase! Must say that this genration of corolla looks really handsome.
Loved the write up and detailed pics.!

[Severus]

Originally Posted by Thebat

Excellent car and excellent review. Saw hordes of these lined up on a recent visit to the Toyota factory in bidadi. All said and done I really feel Toyota's lack the passion of car making and are devoid of any emotions that pull your heart towards it like say a Fiat Punto does. Finally I be live that the corolla is very well designed and is much better than the previous model and that carbon fiber finish on the dashboard is a clincher.
Happy mile munching on your grey beauty , long the shade of your car

Thebat, you're the first person here to have praised the carbon-fiber finish! Congrats!

Originally Posted by RohitSh

This can be disengaged by pressing the + button for longer.

Didn't know the paddles could be disengaged by pressing and holding the + button. Thanks, RohitSh!

Originally Posted by Nariman

Severus, first of all well done -the review was top rate. Actually was shocked to hear about the dealership rudeness- having just bought a Toyota myself - I was under the impression they have to undergo pretty standard public relations training through the company . Guess I was wrong.
Enjoy your new wheels. Cheers.

Nariman, even I was a little surprised at the lack of ettiquette of the Sales person. Guess it's a dealer thing. Galaxy Toyota have been in this business since many years now and control a large number of Toyota dealerships in Delhi NCR. I suspect they have become less concerned about customer service. I would strongly suggest prospective Toyota owners in/around Delhi to try out other/newer dealerships.

However, their accessories guy was contrastingly good. He was the most humble, helpful, and knowledgeable guy I've ever seen at a car showroom. He actually un-boxed all the accessories and gave a hands-on demo of how they would look on the car, and he did all this without being too pushy or creepy. We may not even have gone for the numerous (and expensive!) accessories had he not taken the trouble.

[Wanderers]

Hi Severus

Congrats & Thanks for well detailed review.
Can we say welcome to new Era of Toyota Cars.
O Boy ! This Car looks stunning & most up-to-date from Toyota.

We Toyota lovers would like it to be replicated even in Fortuner
Even the accessories like DRL looks too notch & not after market as in case of Fortuner.

Wish you Miles in your new car.

[IshaanIan]

I know I'm late to the party, but congratulations on the car! Looks good in that colour. Brilliant write-up too

I have heard a lot about the CVT in the Corolla and its amazing lack of any rubber-band effect; do you know how they have achieved this? Imagine how amazing life would be without the rubber-band effect on modern 100cc scooters (I am a student so regularly get to ride someone or the other's scooter); it would certainly make up for the initial punch they lost in transition from 2 to 4 stroke motors

Originally Posted by Severus

Another thing, I haven't been able to find any illumination control for the instrument panel, so as to increase or decrease the brightness of the speedo and tacho dials. Any fellow owner (if any), inputs?

Not sure about this, but isn't there a little protrusion from the housing with the speedo rev-counter? Either try fidgeting with the MID settings, or try twisting that stick and you should be good. Tell me how it goes.

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

I wish they hadn't jacked up the suspension so much. It kind of spoils the stance and am sure it will affect high speed stability and cornering ability. Ground clearance was never an issue for the Corolla.

A brand new hitech petrol motor is what the Japs need now to counter the Euro brigade. The Vtechs and VVTis were appealing in the 90s. You have milked these badges for too long , Mr. Honda. and Mr. Toyota. Time for something new now.

We had the 1st gen Corolla which I remember costed us about 10.50 lakhs on road in 2003 . In about 11 years prices have doubled!! At this rate by 2025 the Corolla will cost INR 40 lakhs!!!

Spoken like a true driving enthusiast The thing is, do you really care that much about the car's stance and high speed cornering ability? I mean, it is a Corolla and making it less practical and rugged for better dynamics, does not seem very Toyota-like.

Completely agree with you on the motors. The thing is, they do manage to extract a fair bit of power from these old naturally aspirated units, however, with efficiency playing a huge role in the modern car buyer's checklist, and the de-regulation of diesel in our market which has driven down the demand for oil burners (Maruti has even cancelled their 1000crore plans of expanding diesel engine manufacturing capacity), efficient petrols (and alternative fuels for which we don't yet have the supporting architecture here in India) are the need of the decade and the big Japanese companies seem to be least bothered. Unless driven with absolute concentration, my Kizashi drinks its petrol like I do my whiskey , the Accord is known for its poor mileage and so is the Teana. Hope they have something planned for us.

[Severus]

Originally Posted by Wanderers

Hi Severus

Congrats & Thanks for well detailed review.
Can we say welcome to new Era of Toyota Cars.
O Boy ! This Car looks stunning & most up-to-date from Toyota.

We Toyota lovers would like it to be replicated even in Fortuner
Even the accessories like DRL looks too notch & not after market as in case of Fortuner.

Wish you Miles in your new car.

Thanks Wanderers. The car does look very up-to-date without being overly or ambitiously flamboyant. However, the insides are more classic than contemporary, and unfortunately not to everyone's liking.

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

I know I'm late to the party, but congratulations on the car! Looks good in that colour. Brilliant write-up too

I have heard a lot about the CVT in the Corolla and its amazing lack of any rubber-band effect; do you know how they have achieved this? Imagine how amazing life would be without the rubber-band effect on modern 100cc scooters (I am a student so regularly get to ride someone or the other's scooter); it would certainly make up for the initial punch they lost in transition from 2 to 4 stroke motors.

Very sorry Ishaan, but I am not that well versed with modern gearbox technologies. I tried to read up a bit on it, but parts of it went over my head. So Google might be a better forum for this.
Moreover, let me mention that the rubber band effect, though mostly non-existent, is not 'completely' absent. You will feel it only when you absolutely slam the pedal.

Not sure about this, but isn't there a little protrusion from the housing with the speedo rev-counter? Either try fidgeting with the MID settings, or try twisting that stick and you should be good. Tell me how it goes.

Fidgeting with the MID settings didn't work, and I didn't try twisting the stick. I'll surely try that. Something tells me that should do it. Thanks!

[barcode]

Great review. Many congratulations! I think I may have spotted your car while exiting Hauz Khas Village last Friday? Perhaps the first Grey 2014 Altis I had seen.

[microaubin]

Congratulations on the awesome ride. And great color too.

As you rightly mentioned the current gen Corolla losses its interior plushness compared to its first/previous generations in India, but then the gadgetry quite makes up for it. I had a first gen and it only had ACC.

Also I think its the only car which provides a full alloy spare(top end probably) right from its launch in India. Classy!

Happy mile munching!!

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by microaubin

Also I think its the only car which provides a full alloy spare(top end probably) right from its launch in India. Classy!

Fully size spare tyre with alloy wheel, is a common thing. It is only the euro badges that give you space savers with ugly black rims. Several cars these days come with a regular alloy wheel and tyre as spare.

[Severus]

Guys, she went for her first service (1000 km/One month) two days ago. She being our first Toyota, I was yet to experience the famed Toyota Q-service, and I was actually looking forward to it just to see how it goes. I always had a feeling that Toyota A.S.S. could be over-hyped also. After all, how 'good' could a service get? Isn't it just the usual cleaning and replacing stuff and charging the customer for it? But man, I am pleased!

A shot at the service centre:



You can only accurately gauge a company's focus on customer service if you take the car there personally, interact with the service-centre staff and personally see the car being attended to in front of your eyes. Availing of the pick-n-drop facility or sending the car with your driver can in no way enable you to comment on the service quality or the service guys' professionalism. I have been driving a Ford Figo as my daily vehicle since the past four years, and have also taken our other cars such as the Honda City and Maruti SX4 for service once or twice, and hence comparison with them is inevitable. To be honest, there's nothing really extraordinary about Maruti's service, apart from low maintenance. In front of my eyes, their service adviser hit my car twice. Once while reversing, and another time while turning, though only slightly both the times. It showed me how much care they had for the customer's car, especially when the customer was present there! Honda is really good, and the staff is courteous. Ford, well what to say. They are the worst, really.

Coming back to the Corolla, although the first service is nothing but a few inspections, cleaning of filters and washing and polishing of the car, the workmanship and professionalism of the service-centre did shine through. I was promised a time of 1 hour, and believe it or not, the car was ready within 55 mins. I was very very overjoyed at this unfathomable phenomenon! Forgive me for my childishness, but I was so pleased only because on God knows how many occasions I have been promised 2-3 hours by the Ford service guys, only to end up taking more than 5 hours and wasting my whole day in the end. +1 to Toyota! I had a few queries too, to which the guys responded very quickly. Since the issues were mainly regarding electronic systems, my Service Adviser called up the technical guy who came up within minutes. If this was Ford, I would have had to wait half an hour just for the right guy to show up. Blah!

Issues:
1. No way to control the brightness levels of the speedo and tacho dials, despite the manual saying to the contrary. Also, the brightness doesn't reduce automatically when headlamps are switched on. I got these things checked in a lower 'G' variant Altis standing at the service centre, and surprisingly the brightness did automatically reduce on switching the headlamps on! Though manual brightness control still wasn't there.
Regarding this issue, the technical guy along with a few more of his fellow workmen admitted that if the manual mentions it, brightness control should be there. Also, like in the lower variant, brightness should automatically reduce when headlamps are switched on. They fidgeted with the settings and even connected their Diagnostic machine (they call it 'IT', or 'Intelligent Tester'), but to no avail. They promised me that they will contact TKM (Toyota Kirloskar Motors) regarding this issue and will get back to me. They even apologised for not being able to solve my problem as this was a totally new model and I was the first customer to bring up those issues.

2. No manual-levelling for the headlamps. This feature also was there in the lower variant. I was told that the top-variant doesn't come with this feature as it has automatic headlamps with automatic leveling.
Well, despite the automatic leveling, I do miss manual adjustment. This is because I don't like to switch on the high beam very often for the sake of not blinding oncoming drivers, and the default low beam setting is on the lower side. Although the service guys said they could adjust the default height of the low beam using some lever just behind the headlamps under the hood, I didn't get it done. I don't know why. And it's only accessible using some long screw driver.

3. No video playability in the ICE. Was I doing something wrong or was it not enabled? They told me it would work only if the car was stationery and the handbrake was enabled. I told them that I knew this and had tried all permutations and combinations, but the video just wouldn't play. Since I wasn't carrying any USB or SD card with videos in it, and even they couldn't arrange one after much trying, they told me to try it later on once more with the handbrake enabled, and I agreed as I wasn't 100% sure that I had pulled up the handbrake while trying to play videos.
I haven't tried this yet because of two reasons: firstly, paucity of time. And secondly, it doesn't rank very high up my priority list. It's only a feature I wanted to see if it was there or not; I'm anyway not really going to watch videos sitting there in my stationery car, what with an HD smartphone in my pocket and an HDTV at home. Though I'll surely try it again in due course of time.


Have a look at this. The markings on boot opener and fuel-tank-lid opener are already gone! Within 1.5 months!! I noticed this today only. I suspect this happened due to some rain drops falling on the levers as I was entering the car in the heavy rainfall that Delhi witnessed today. Still, this is outrageous!



Responses:

Originally Posted by barcode

Great review. Many congratulations! I think I may have spotted your car while exiting Hauz Khas Village last Friday? Perhaps the first Grey 2014 Altis I had seen.

Thank you! Na man, I hadn't taken her to Hauz Khas village that day. You saw someone else's grey Altis. Quite possible, seeing the number of new Corollas I have begun to see on the road lately.

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

Fully size spare tyre with alloy wheel, is a common thing. It is only the euro badges that give you space savers with ugly black rims. Several cars these days come with a regular alloy wheel and tyre as spare.

Thanks for answering the question on my behalf. Those Euro companies seriously do some major cost cutting there. Atleast give a full size wheel, even if it's only a steel rim and not an alloy. Won't mess up the driving characteristics that way.

[Wanderers]

Hi Severus,

Some clarifications or suggestions

The video would play only from a CD, I believe
Illumination Control is available, yours may not be working.

Manual Headlamp leveling is not available in higher models. On long drive I decrease the seat height to fall in line of ray of light, which helps you see a greater distance. As such higher seat height gives fatigues in long drive. I like to stretch my legs by lowering the seat.
Some-times the print is not proper on lid/boot openers, ask for replacement.

[Severus]

Originally Posted by Wanderers

Hi Severus,

Some clarifications or suggestions

The video would play only from a CD, I believe

Wanderers, there is no CD player in Altis VL. Only base variant has a DVD player (yes you read that right!). IIRC the manual talks about video from USB and SD cards. It even lists the video formats and max video resolution compatible with the system.

Illumination Control is available, yours may not be working.

Neither me nor the service centre guys have been able to find it after hours of fidgeting. I hope you're right and they come up with an answer in the affirmative.

Manual Headlamp leveling is not available in higher models. On long drive I decrease the seat height to fall in line of ray of light, which helps you see a greater distance. As such higher seat height gives fatigues in long drive. I like to stretch my legs by lowering the seat.

I'm sorry I don't understand. How is seat height linked with the amount of road illuminated by the headlamps? No matter how high or low you sit, the extent to which the road is 'illuminated' will be the same, won't it?

Some-times the print is not proper on lid/boot openers, ask for replacement.

Yes I am thinking of asking for replacement, but it's a pain to go to the service centre for such a small thing.. nonetheless, will surely call up and talk to them.

[mod_to_odd]

A few questions for you Severus. If I were to replace the stock touchscreen audio unit with a branded one, will it void warranty?
If yes then what should I do? Also, will the steering mounted audio and call functions work with the new unit? I am seriously thinking of changing it.

[microaubin]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

Fully size spare tyre with alloy wheel, is a common thing. It is only the euro badges that give you space savers with ugly black rims. Several cars these days come with a regular alloy wheel and tyre as spare.

Until 6 months back I had a top end Innova -definitely no alloy for the spare wheel. Also my Brio AT no spare tyre alloy there either.

The Germans don't have them, the Japs aren't far behind and I don't know about the Koreans. But the Corolla's had it right from its launch in India

[Buffetfan]

Originally Posted by microaubin

Until 6 months back I had a top end Innova -definitely no alloy for the spare wheel. Also my Brio AT no spare tyre alloy there either.

The Germans don't have them, the Japs aren't far behind and I don't know about the Koreans. But the Corolla's had it right from its launch in India

I hate to say it but you are incorrect. All top end Innovas come with full size tire and alloy wheels. I have a top end Innova (2009 Vx) and it came with a full size alloy wheel. Same for my friends who has 2012 model