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Old 30th January 2012, 11:47   #91
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Re: Toyota Liva Diesel : Test Drive & Review

I went for a test drive of the Liva at Galaxy Toyota, Moti Nagar. The Liva D that we test drove was new with only about 46 kms on the odo & the clutch was harder & had a longer travel when compared to other diesel hatches in the segment. In fact, Ritz's clutch was even worse in terms of hardness.

Micra had the softest clutch in the hatches I test drove, among Figo, Liva, Ritz, Micra.

However, the usage of the clutch was minimal in Liva, I was only using it to switch gears in traffic, otherwise just no need to use clutch anywhere. The car had very good driveability & this is the only thing apart from the Toyota badge that appealed to me on this car.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DCEite View Post
I actually test drove Etios D and Figo D back to back.
Etios D was much much harder. When i asked SA he told that its due to demo car clutch being tightened.

However the display Liva D in the showroom had hard clutch as well.
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Old 2nd February 2012, 21:07   #92
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Re: Toyota Liva Diesel : Test Drive & Review

Having booked a Swift ZDI, I am still contemplating Liva if my Swift gets delayed beyond a point and considering the news floating around 80k excise duty for Diesel.

GD (SP) cost 6.9L OTR in Chennai with a two month wait time but dealer was promising earlier delivery for certain colors. Though, GD(SP) gets ABS/Airbags like a Swift ZDI, not happy with the 175 / 65 R14. Is it possible to upgrade to the R15 stock alloys with 185/60 even though the sales guys were advising against it. Will it create warranty issues later?
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Old 2nd February 2012, 23:12   #93
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Re: Toyota Liva Diesel : Test Drive & Review

As per my short experience in the Liva, I would say you are much better off with the Swift. The latter offers much better interiors & build.

As for the tyre upsize, I am not sure about the technical limitations but as far as warranty goes, any manufacturer would ideally void the warranty if any changes are made to the specifications. So, you could surely go in for a 14 inch alloy but not with a 15 incher.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sridhar K View Post
Having booked a Swift ZDI, I am still contemplating Liva if my Swift gets delayed beyond a point and considering the news floating around 80k excise duty for Diesel.

GD (SP) cost 6.9L OTR in Chennai with a two month wait time but dealer was promising earlier delivery for certain colors. Though, GD(SP) gets ABS/Airbags like a Swift ZDI, not happy with the 175 / 65 R14. Is it possible to upgrade to the R15 stock alloys with 185/60 even though the sales guys were advising against it. Will it create warranty issues later?
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Old 2nd February 2012, 23:54   #94
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Re: Toyota Liva Diesel : Test Drive & Review

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Originally Posted by Sridhar K View Post
..not happy with the 175 / 65 R14. Is it possible to upgrade to the R15 stock alloys with 185/60 even though the sales guys were advising against it. Will it create warranty issues later?
You can go upto 195 on a 14" rim as far as I know! Why do you want 185/60 R15? Previous gen swift used to come with a 185/70 R14 profile. Unless you desperately need a 15" alloy wheel, stick with 14" rims / alloy wheels & a wider tyre than 175, your warranty also will be in tact.

From what I read, the stock tyres provide really good grip in Etios / Liva. So why are you contemplating on the upgrade ?
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Old 3rd February 2012, 09:13   #95
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Re: Toyota Liva Diesel : Test Drive & Review

@blackfire_9 & @swiftnfurious.

Petrol Liva V and VX versions have R15 185/60 whilst the G versions come with R14. Hence was wondering if I could make a un official VD version minus the music system, rear defogger and tacho.

Thanks to your inputs, would stick to R14 and just change to 185 rubber in case I go for the Liva over Swift.
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Old 13th February 2012, 17:19   #96
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Re: Toyota Liva Diesel : Test Drive & Review

Had a short test-drive of Liva GD-SP model this saturday. I was looking for a city hatch with good back seat ride quality and with ABS. My existing Getz prime has lot of body-roll at the back. Since I am used to a Getz, the inside space looked just OK to me. The leg-room, I must say, is quite good. But the boot space is less compared to Getz. I did not find the interior as bad in 2012 cars as mentioned in few posts. But the power window switches particularly are of very bad quality.

Initially, my driver was driving through some pot-hole ridden roads while I was at the back. I found the body roll be less than my Getz, but the seat needs some more under thigh support.

When I took the driver's position, the first thing that impressed me is effortless driving with zero turbo-lag. The steering is very nice to hold. At 2nd gear, the car happily moves on at 20-25 km/hr without the usage of clutch or accelarator. The gear shift is way inferior to my Getz gear shifts. Surprisingly, I did not find the sound to be too high when revved hard.

The on-road price in Pune for GD+SP model is about 6.7L. It was a nice surprise that the GD model has ABS + EBD already even without the safety pack. And it costs about 6.36L on road in Pune. Liva as a package is difficult to ignore, but its not a natural choice either.
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Old 13th February 2012, 18:06   #97
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Re: Toyota Liva Diesel : Test Drive & Review

Called a couple of dealerships in Chennai to check the car out, but they don't seem to have enough TD diesel cars and hence was asking me to visit the showroom for a test drive. Anyway, I dropped the idea to buy Liva after folks at home (sister, bro-in-law and my wife) vetoed it. They always felt that it is flimsy but after seeing the condition of the car that met an accident on the Chennai Bangalore highway, they just won't allow me to buy it. Now am looking at Ritz VDI ABS as a back up for the Swift ZDI.
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Old 17th February 2012, 08:13   #98
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Re: Toyota Liva Diesel : Test Drive & Review

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sridhar K View Post
Called a couple of dealerships in Chennai to check the car out, but they don't seem to have enough TD diesel cars and hence was asking me to visit the showroom for a test drive.
Had a test drive of the car yesterday. Dealer - Lanson Toyota, Pallikaranai.

Impressions -
  • Pathetic interior quality inside the test drive car! Power window switches, leather wrapped steering (Seems to be from Toyota accessories), art leather seats (Again seems to be from accessories) all felt disgustingly cheap for a car run just around 6.5k+ kms. Light grey colour of the dash makes matters even worse.
  • Display car inside the showroom had better interiors. Although quality remains the same - the interior was in a very dark grey shade (Compared to the light grey in the TD car) which made it feel better. Change made to the 2012 version, i believe.
  • Good low end response from the engine. Liked the way it accelerated in initial rpm (Missed the tachometer during TD itself.)
  • Sounds really harsh above midrange. Nothing like the national engine. Gets really intrusive inside the cabin and forces you to shift to a higher gear.
  • Ride quality is really good. Could not assess the handling much, but didnt feel too much body roll or anything. Very neutral ride and handling manners IMO.
  • Better feeling of space compared to Swift.
  • 2 months waiting period.
  • Extremely helpful staff. My last visit to the same showroom was not a pleasant experience. No one cared when the two of us walked inside the showroom and checked out Liva and Etios. But yesterday - things were exact opposite. Was attended promptly - SE was really cheerful and enthusiastic and she arranged a TD within few minutes even though their driver was not available.

Overall- Good city car (Engine noise might become tiresome at 3 digit speeds on the highways), except for the bad interior quality. On road price for the ABS + airbags version is 5,99,897. Figo Titanium at 17k less than GD-SP seems to be a better deal though - lot more equipment and an equally competent engine!

Last edited by CrAzY dRiVeR : 17th February 2012 at 08:21.
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Old 18th February 2012, 15:58   #99
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Re: Toyota Liva Diesel : Test Drive & Review

Quote:
Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR View Post
Had a test drive of the car yesterday. Dealer - Lanson Toyota, Pallikaranai.
i went yesterday too around afternoon to lanson, pallikaranai. test drove Etios and Liva for a friend.
  • The car design is not a head turner, may be will grow in time for the owner.
  • bad interior plastics and switches, the door panels are wafer thin.
  • The console in center feels weird and design doesn't look good too.
  • The clutch was the haaardest i have ever driven on Liva, the SA told me it was due to the accident of that TD car. Same on the Etios and he didnt even answer.
  • NVH is really bad, i could hear the engine noise so clearly like a truck.
  • The boot switch and HL leveler belong to Tata Ace.
  • Engine is good for the city drive but get more noisy as the speed builds up.
  • very good interior space, but the seats are thin and lack some support.
  • The SA was not interested much on both the test drives and was keen on making the audio louder.
  • Toyota could have gone with a better design and quality even if it is 1L more.
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Old 18th February 2012, 19:38   #100
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Re: Toyota Liva Diesel : Test Drive & Review

Biggest concern for me with this car is the absence of a Tachometer. I cannot imagine driving a narrow band diesel without a tacho. Ofcourse many other short-comings exist.

Also have heard from a couple of Altis D owners about dipping engine oil levels. If that's the case, how would the engines in Liva/Etios fare, considering the engine is shared!
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Old 18th February 2012, 22:28   #101
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Re: Toyota Liva Diesel : Test Drive & Review

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Originally Posted by AWD View Post
Biggest concern for me with this car is the absence of a Tachometer. I cannot imagine driving a narrow band diesel without a tacho. Ofcourse many other short-comings exist.
Not a problem, really. The harsh NVH at higher rpms will force you to upshift, no matter which rpm you are in.

Low end driveability felt pretty good IMO and not need to keep an eye on the tacho to keep it above 1800 - 2000 rpm.
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Old 18th February 2012, 23:30   #102
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Re: Toyota Liva Diesel : Test Drive & Review

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Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR View Post
Not a problem, really. The harsh NVH at higher rpms will force you to upshift, no matter which rpm you are in
Good old method! For petrols Im in, for narrow band diesels, not so!

Imagine sudden overtaking manoeuvres on highways, I frequently red-line my petrols.

Absence of Tacho could potentially translate into reduced engine life, high engine oil consumption & subsequent seizure.
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Old 18th February 2012, 23:40   #103
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AWD

Good old method! For petrols Im in, for narrow band diesels, not so!

Imagine sudden overtaking manoeuvres on highways, I frequently red-line my petrols.

Absence of Tacho could potentially translate into reduced engine life, high engine oil consumption & subsequent seizure.
Even if you had a tacho in the Liva D, imagine how hard it would be to read it considering it's odd location. I wish Toyota had gone with the conventional instrument console on the driver's side.
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Old 19th February 2012, 00:00   #104
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Re: Toyota Liva Diesel : Test Drive & Review

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Originally Posted by fuel_addict View Post
imagine how hard it would be to read it considering it's odd location.
Guess Toyota tried to look different & in-sync with times, also trying to eclipse cost-cutting by opting for central positioning of dials. Even Nissan has dumped the design in new X-trail. Though visibility up-front improves.

Diesels typically run out of steam pretty early, couple of powerful ones are free-revving.

High time for Toyota to work on consumer demand & bring in a fully-loaded 3rd variant. Only low sales would force a car-maker to adopt changes early in a cars life-cycle.
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Old 19th February 2012, 07:30   #105
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Re: Toyota Liva Diesel : Test Drive & Review

Wanted to post my observations, since I own an Etios Diesel ( with a tacho & 9700 kms on the odo ) and my mother own a Liva Diesel ( without the tacho )

Quote:
Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR View Post
Overall- Good city car (Engine noise might become tiresome at 3 digit speeds on the highways), except for the bad interior quality. On road price for the ABS + airbags version is 5,99,897. Figo Titanium at 17k less than GD-SP seems to be a better deal though - lot more equipment and an equally competent engine!
Having driven the Etios Diesel till 150 kmph, I can say for sure that upto 140 kmph, you can keep the engine relaxed, thanks to the tall gearing. You can afford to shift early and still be on a power band, thanks to that flat peak torque all the way from 1800 rpms to 2400 rpms. Add to that, the tall 5th gear which helps to attain speeds of 140 kmph on just 3000 rpms! And the engine gets much more smoother after around 2500 kms - 3000 kms.

Quote:
Originally Posted by AWD View Post
Biggest concern for me with this car is the absence of a Tachometer. I cannot imagine driving a narrow band diesel without a tacho.
I too had this as a concern when I drove my mother's Liva GD without the tacho. But, I can assure everyone that you just need to be familiar with the vehicle for a week or so to record the mapping between rpms and speedo in your mind. You don't need to look at the tacho after that. For people who want to take the easy route, shift at

15-20 kmph for 2nd
40 kmph for 3rd
60 kmph for 4th &
80 kmph to 100 kmph for 5th

to enjoy the flat peak torque of the Etios/Liva Diesels.

I've done a mapping myself. Refer the rpm to speed mapping on my ownership thread of the Etios Diesel

Quote:
Originally Posted by AWD View Post
Also have heard from a couple of Altis D owners about dipping engine oil levels. If that's the case, how would the engines in Liva/Etios fare, considering the engine is shared!
I know many Altis Diesel owners, who have clocked 1.5 lakhs plus on their odo and none of them have such an issue. Do you have any reference thread for this ?

Quote:
Originally Posted by AWD View Post
Good old method! For petrols Im in, for narrow band diesels, not so!

Imagine sudden overtaking manoeuvres on highways, I frequently red-line my petrols.

Absence of Tacho could potentially translate into reduced engine life, high engine oil consumption & subsequent seizure.
Infact, I consider the reverse true. On turbo charged Diesels, you don't need to red-line to get good power. You just need to be on the mid-rpms. So, shifting at 2400 to 3000 rpms, will keep you on a very good power band. And this comes naturally to most drivers once they get used to the engine, because lose in power as rpm climbs is noticeable for spiky torque curves for the turbo charged engines. Regardless, you just need to keep a max speed for each gear on your mind which is as simple as remembering 5 numbers for the entire life of the car.

Quote:
Originally Posted by fuel_addict View Post
Even if you had a tacho in the Liva D, imagine how hard it would be to read it considering it's odd location. I wish Toyota had gone with the conventional instrument console on the driver's side.
I do not like the odd location of the tacho because of the looks. But, does it make it difficult to read the numbers? not at all. It's just a matter of getting used to and you'll always get the numbers on the back of your eye even when looking at the roads.
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