Team-BHP - Toyota Liva : Test Drive & Review

I consider Toyota to be better Marutis at slightly higher price points .So i guess Maruti share will take the maximum hit with these . For Eg Will someone looking at Punto / I20 go to Liva .Very High possibility exists of staying with Punto/I20 .
Why am i comparing Toyota to Maruti is because the main attractiveness of the cars is along similar lines as what is of marutis with bare minimum features / gadgets , built to cost.

A Figo differentiates itself mainly by the Diesel mill , great AC , very nice handling .
A I20 Differentiates by premium interior and features .
A Punto does the same with best handling in class, high speed stability , sportiness.

Now Toyota Liva / Etios are actually better alternatives to what market leader Maruti offers .

Quote:

Originally Posted by adimicra (Post 2407478)

The most unexciting car launch in the recent times.
The car looks dull, drives dull, features are dull, interiors are dull.

Everything is dull and ordinary about this car.
Toyota has launched this car at least 5 years later than when it should have been launched.

Let us see if the Toyota badge can help garner any sales for the Liva. That's the only USP it has. Disappointing!

This is what happens when we ask Toyota to give us a car @ 3.99L ex-showroom :D

Purely functional and has no aspirational value. Will be interesting to watch the market reaction to the Liva.

5 star review from GTO as expected. The car in blue looks splendid. Good to see Toyota entering the small car mass market finally. The Liva looks stunning from the outside and equally ordinary from within. The centre mounted instrument panel is a complete eye-sore. Having said that, the rear seat legroom and virtually no hump at the back are welcome. Makes it a perfect 5 seater hatch. The engine as expected does the job within the city and sounds just about good for highway runs. An excellent price offered by Toyota which should offer stiff competition to the Swift/i10/Figo. Its evident the car is built to a cost with everything looking ordinary yet functional.

The diesel Liva will be the one to watch out for. I wish Toyota would add a conventional instrument panel and do away with those air-con vents which look garish. The rudimentary A/C controls and the flap type door handles are other aesthetically poor features.

Here's a thought : The difference between the Liva & Etios, variant to variant, is about 85 - 95K. That's about the same as it is for the Swift <-> Dzire, give or take some percentage points. Now, consider that no one thought the Etios variants as over-priced (I personally think it's the best & VFM buy in the C segment), and that you get a larger engine (vis a vis the Dzire that uses the same 1.2L). I think the Liva's entry & mid-variants are well priced. But the top-end definitely has room for correction. It's a 2 lakh rupee difference between the entry & top variant....that's like 50% of the price of the entry! As I mentioned, the one that makes the most sense is G + Safety pack.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vasanthn21 (Post 2407576)

Any comments on the marketing strategy from Toyota?

More than marketing, the PR buzz from a Toyota @ 3.99 lakhs is invaluable. You can bet this car has generated more interest than any recent launch.

Quote:

Originally Posted by abhi.kedlaya (Post 2407581)

So, what justifies the VFM tag for the Liva? Is it the expected reliability of the car?

I feel the mid-variant is VFM as you get matured ride & handling, sedan-like space and the usual hassle-free attributes one associates with a Toyota. However, the fully loaded VX is definitely not VFM, considering that the top i20 is only 34K away!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caramba (Post 2407697)

I thought it looked great especially the blue paint job, it was stunning.

You won't believe how happy I was to receive the blue car for my test. The champagne shade was too boring.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaren (Post 2407756)

And, icing on the cake is the virtual tour of Toyota which reminded of the days when I used to visit Novino Batteries plant at Pithampur and Baroda. The plant at Pithampur was spanking clean.

The Japanese have a way of going about things, wot?

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Originally Posted by scanD (Post 2407772)

Any info about "Child-safe door locks" ? (Not sure if the review covered it.

Of course, the rear doors are equipped with child locks.

I don't think new car reviews can be more comprehensive and informative than your reviews GTO and this one is in keeping with your ususal high standards!clap:
The hatch looks much better than the sedan but this is not a car I would learn to love. I have test driven the sedan (twice) and felt let down by the cheap feel (Logan-ish... Logan lovers will forgive me I hope:)). Figuratively speaking, it wears its 'for a price' badge on its sleeve - no subtlety at all. And the hatch from what I have read is only marginally better.

Just went through the review again, and it reaffirms my initial thoughts - this car does not fill me with confidence for some reason. Unlike a Polo or a Fabia, the Liva gives off the feeling that it is a thinly-plated box of metal.

Some questions, GTO -

1) The foglamps look small when compared to the front lights, and specially in comparison with other hatches' fogs. How good is the illumination from them?

2) Does the Liva come with a single reversing light too, like the Etios? Is it a hindrance and calls for reverse parking sensors, or good enough for reversing into dark places in the reversing blind-spot zones?

3) How does the car behave during cornering, especially at moderate/high speeds?

5 star for the review and 2 star for the car.

I think Toyota is making the same mistake as what Honda did with the Jazz. Honda at one extreme had a great package in Jazz but overpriced it terribly, and Toyota at the other extreme, with a cheap looking car made cost cutting so obvious that it no longer seems a proud thing to own a Toyota. No power steering and no central locking (albeit on the lower model) is a gimmick so cheap I feel almost cheated. No MID is a deal-breaker too. I don't think it will sell more than a thousand a month. We Indians are not fools, don't take us for granted Toyota.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 2407571)

Is the Altis exciting? Isn't the driving experience very dull? It's still the No.1 C+ sedan in the market.

Nothing's wrong with Altis. It has Corolla brand name, it looks good, the engine is very responsive, strong and efficient at the same time, its refined, the suspension is good and the interiors are nice when compared to its immediate competition.

Liva is quite the opposite - unappealing, interiors are a let down (even worse than a segment below), urefined, high NVH, average look in short thoroughly outclassed by Swift which is more than 5 years old now and a replacement is due very soon and is cheaper and comes with more equipment to boot.

With petrol pricing in mind, I shudder to think how much the diesel will cost. Around 80k premium over the petrol would be mean a Rs 6.80 Lakhs price ex-showroom.

I am sorry but Liva has nothing going for it except for the 'T' badge upfront but the market has shown that their only preference isnt badge only. Case in point is the Dzire whose sales havent been affected by the Etios. This car deserves to be a failure.

Great review! Thank you!

In a word,my response to the car is, Sigh. Toyota had a fantastic opportunity circa 2005 to launch the then new Yaris into the market and begin their foray. Complete lack of interest/commitment and here we are 6 years on with the Etios, a decade old platform (am I right?) and a completely outdated design.

Falling back on Toyota badge as a USP is simply not going to cut it these days and the markets priorities and demands have moved on. Although the Etios will do well, I for one feel shortchanged, as if Toyota are simply dumping vehicles here instead of offering their newest models that are offered elsewhere.

In my opinion the Yaris should have been brought to Indian shores around 2005-2006 when the hatchback market started opening up. 2008 should have had a refresh of the Yaris along with possibly the launch of a Yaris derived sedan. Today we should have seen a vehicle like the Aygo (brilliant car, really), being launched, priced to compete with the i10. Who knows, Toyota might have been doing numbers closer to Hyundai (hatches) by now.

No doubt the Etios will sell, but I for one feel completely put off.