[DicKy]

Originally Posted by Durango Dude

Don't you find 88-89 kmph way to slow for the highway? Empty stretches at 100-110 kmph I feel I'm standing still.

Well. The arterial town roads in Kerala masquerading as National Highways won't even allow cruising at 60km/h.

Actually am surprised Amalji keeps it at 88-89km/h.

Most mobile speedcams in Kerala still keep at 80km/h for 4lanes and 70km/h for divider less single lane highways.

Though for the past couple of years most of the fixed speedcams, atleast in south Kerala have gone kaput.

[soarer]

Hi All,

Just checked tires again and looks like one tire have small sidewall cut already

and also price of 225 55 R17 tires is way expensive and starts from 18K+ onwards.

Looks like I can exchange with 16-inch alloy and tires for around 40K and that looks to be a logical option.

[drpavan]

Hi everyone,

Let me introduce you all to my ride Crysta 2.8 G.

Likes :-

1) 2.8 Engine.
2) Auto gearbox.
3) Excellent After Sales Service.
4) Toyota's Reliability.

Dislikes :-

1) Basic Interiors.
2) Pricing of the G variant.
3) Fuel tank Capacity.

It has been 1 year and 2 months since Crysta came home. It has completed a total of 53000 kms till date. I shall provide in detail about the various experiences and options we had while purchasing the vehicle.

From 2017 to 2019, my family members have increased. Got married in 2017 and by 2018 I had a baby boy. I stay with my parents. The count of members has become from 3 to 5 and a maid has been tagged whenever we move out of the house. We have a Duster and Cruze. There started a necessity to have a 7 seater car in the family. Obviously Cruze was departed from the family by dad because its purchased in 2012 and Chevrolet company has left the country. Duster was purchased in December 2016 and its an RXL AMT. It's clear that next vehicle should have 3rd row of seats.

Here comes the crucial part i.e options being considered by me :-
1) Hexa
2) Xuv 500
3) Crysta
4) Safari Storme.

By rest of the family
1) Crysta
2) Fortuner

My family wants it to be a TOYOTA vehicle only.

I explained and showed them how good Hexa is product wise. No one wants to even listen or discuss further if its not a Toyota. I really loved Hexa and had it not been a product of Tata, I would have definitely purchased this vehicle. It has a very good ride quality. Nothing else did I find fault with Hexa.

Xuv 500 - By now most of its niggles and issues are sorted out. This can be considered as a Value for Money Proposition. Even though being a Monocoque vehicle, I somehow was not connected to the vehicle. The third row of seats are claustrophobic and with all seats in place, there is little boot space. It got ruled out.

Safari Storme - This vehicle is considered purely based on my love towards the vehicle. It got rejected by my wife. I asked why? she said no means no, thats it.

Next came Innova Crysta vs Fortuner. I was not mentally prepared to purchase the Fortuner now. It was costing around 40 lakhs on road. Nothing else is a reason. I do not want to spend such big amount now itself on a vehicle. My opinion is Crysta provides 90% of Fortuner for 50% of its price, if the OFF-ROAD aspect is deleted.

Moreover I am constructing a 100 bedded hospital and I did not feel wise to spend 40k per month for the EMIs and also considered my monthly average travel will be around 4000 kms. So every one finalized to Crysta.

Then came the variants option. I always believe there is no replacement to displacement mantra. So engine has to be 2.8 only. The top end Z variant has no option of bench seat. If the driver drives then either my mom or my wife has to go back to 3rd row and they are totally against it. So the variant has been finalized to 2.8G. Next came the colour option. This time its everyone agreeing for white. So finally Innova Crysta 2.8 G white colour has been finalized. This entire process took 1 month.

I am happy enough with G variant because it has
a) Cruise control
b) Driver side height adjust
c) Touch Infotainment with Blue tooth connectivity

We have booked the vehicle from Radha Madhav Toyota Vijayawada in January 2019. The booking amount was Rs. 50000. Vehicle was ready by February 5th.

Total On Road Price - Rs 21,50,000. There was a discount of 5000 Rs provided then. Before delivery itself, I requested the dealer to add the fog lamps as accessory fitting - Rs. 11000.

I have not opted for Extended warranty package during the time of purchase. I know my vehicle shall complete 1,00,000 kms within 3 years and was planning to opt for a package when the odo reading nears one lakh km.

All the paper work was done quick enough. Me and dad went to collect the vehicle. We reached the dealership by 4:30 p.m and by 5:00 p.m we moved out after a small photo shoot. Sales Executive Krishna did his best to satisfy the customer and full marks to him. I am mentioning this point because its not that easy to satisfy a BHPian. We observe everything in detail.

February 7th is my Birthday and we got allotted with a fancy number 2222 on the same day itself. My in-laws have previous generation Innova which I have driven extensively.

Differences which I observed -
a) Front passenger seat of old Innova has more travel than the Crysta.
b) During cornering I feel old Innova is more planted than the Crysta. Definitely Crysta has more body roll when compared to old Innova when pushed hard.

The very moment I drove the 2.8 on highway, a big smile on my face. This is what I wanted, huge growl from the engine. I am one of those who wish to listen to engine sound while travelling rather than some music from ICE (the kind of person who gives a smile like that of the driver of the muscle car in 2 fast 2 furious before racing with Tyrese Gibson for pink slip).

Safety and Security - ABS and EBD are provided in 2.8 G. I wish Toyota has provided ESP as standard for Auto variants.

Daily usage never had a pattern. As we are constructing the hospital and my wife stays at Hyderabad, we keep travelling from Hyderabad to Vijayawada every other weekend. Once in 2 months we travel to Tiruvannamalai. We do travel to temples quite often especially the Shiva temples in South India.

Overall am satisfied with the Exterior design of the vehicle. I wish the metal thickness of the overall vehicle should be improved. Love the ground clearance, it has never scraped its bottom even with 8 people on board. For the kind of roads we travel and the amount of journeys and number of people travelling together, I feel a Ladder on frame Chassis vehicle can bear the challenges with ease.

Interior design has lot of flaws in the base variant. Totally disappointed with the plastic used in this variant. If someone gives priority to Interiors and the plastic panels, they will be utterly disappointed.

Interior space- This is what I love in this variant. 8 medium sized people can be carried with decent comfort. If not for all at-least my family and relatives have no complaints even for a long journey in the third row. Second row is pulled forward totally and the third row is totally Reclined, no issues at all. Only other vehicle which can provide this level of comfort in 3rd row within this price bracket is a Xylo.

Interior storage- Wonderful, I lost the count of how many water bottles that can be freely placed in the door pockets. Excellent option provided by Toyota for those who really are on long journeys.

Seats are decent enough in the first 2 rows. First row seats are definitely good with adequate bolstering and overall support. Those in the 2 nd and 3 rd rows also never complained of back ache even after long journeys. Maybe overall seating is a decent enough package satisfying everyone.

Driving position for me is spot on. I am 5"9. If the seat is pushed all way up, the to and fro range is reduced. All the controls are within reach. Frontal visibility is good, I wish the size of mirrors has to be improved. I wish they are larger than what they are now.

Air Conditioning is definitely good and it cools the whole cabin quick enough. Even though its not an fully Automatic control, it does the job well and one more thing is that we never park our car directly under sun. That is a very strong and standing instruction given even to the driver.

To be frank I am not an audiophile, we love talking to people in the car during the journey rather than listening to music.

Boot space is decent enough, when going to temples, especially when 8 members are on board I request everyone to pack in the soft bags or jute bags. Some how we manage with the existing space.

Let it be in the city or on a Highway, this engine never requires more horses. In the City we leave the car in Eco mode. On the High ways it is Normal mode most of the time.

Oh the Power mode, it should be named as Race mode or Fun mode, Irrespective of the load, Irrespective of the Terrain, Irrespective of Incline or Decline, the vehicle charges ahead like a mad bull. Remember mad bulls are tough to control, so is Crysta in the Power mode. If driven aggressively in Power mode, its a recipe for disaster.

I never felt lag from the engine. Torque converter gear box does its job well. Nothing great or nothing bad. I have never used the manual mode till date. Overall I love this engine and gear box combination. I wish Toyota provided an ENGINE COVER in the lower variants as well, how much will they save from an engine cover? Insulation could have been better. Wind noises do filter in the cabin at high speeds.

Ride quality improves with load. Our car travels either with whole 7 passengers or just 2 passengers. There is a significant difference in Ride quality with load. Suspension does its job quite well silently. My driver is never allowed to drive aggressively. He has to drive slowly anticipating all the hurdles in advance. There should be no sudden acceleration or deceleration unless it s an emergency. Man I wonder how Toyota designed and composed the straight line stability, its rock solid in straight lines. No cross winds nothing. Steering is on heavier side though. Turning Radius was never a problem till date. Reversing is being assisted with 2 parking sensors.

For such a vehicle in the base variant the tires are of 205/65/16 R, Bridgestone B 90. They did their job well, I have changed the tires to 215/65/ R16 Continental Cross Contact A/T after completing 50000 kms. I feel the grip on the gravel and broken roads has increased. I did not find any much difference in the braking distance.

Overall braking is one department which I am not satisfied since beginning. At times there will be shudder and some times it does not occur at all. Began to live with it, rather than hunting and sparing time for it. This is so because when I informed the Service adviser, they said its a common complaint in Crysta. There are no squeaks till date.

Service Interval of 5000 kms, I feel should have been 10000 kms. At times my vehicle went to service station twice in the same month with such heavy usage.

For every service schedule I physically stand along with the vehicle and make sure everything happens in front of my eyes.

I get propeller shaft greasing done during every visit.

My observation :- After changing the Differential oil during the 40000 kms service, the vehicle became very smooth, my perception.

Service costs are pocket friendly when compared to my Cruze and Duster. I strongly inform the service manager not to perform any thing extra other than what is mentioned in the schedule.

Definitely there are pros and cons for each and very vehicle. The reason why I love the 2.8 G is, it offers excellent practicality. Its a JACK OF ALL TRADES, MASTER OF NONE.

Every enthusiast has a particular reason for purchasing a particular car. We should see the car what we are purchasing solves that purpose or not. Imagine me moving from a Cruze to Crysta. In terms of outright acceleration Crysta is no match, but now the purpose of having this car is different. Overall a very happy owner of Crysta, and lucky one to have the 2.8 version as its discontinued now.

Thank you
Drpavan.

[cnu]

Originally Posted by drpavan

Let me introduce you all to my ride Crysta 2.8 G.

You have nicely put all your experiences, Pavan. Well written.

I drive the old Innova and have been contemplating to change/upgrade for quite some time, but kept postponing as my Innova is still going very strong (will complete 15 years in a year or so). In-spite of the noisy engine at higher RPMs, poor NVH and the missing auto gear box, I pretty much enjoy the ride still. From a passenger comfort point of view, you can't go wrong with an Innova in that segment. Wish you many more miles of happiness.

BTW, that front bull bar is a strict no-no from a safety point of view. I would strongly suggest to get it removed.

[drpavan]

Originally Posted by cnu

You have nicely put all your experiences, Pavan. Well written.

I drive the old Innova and have been contemplating to change/upgrade for quite some time, but kept postponing as my Innova is still going very strong (will complete 15 years in a year or so). In-spite of the noisy engine at higher RPMs, poor NVH and the missing auto gear box, I pretty much enjoy the ride still. From a passenger comfort point of view, you can't go wrong with an Innova in that segment. Wish you many more miles of happiness.

BTW, that front bull bar is a strict no-no from a safety point of view. I would strongly suggest to get it removed.

Thanks a lot for the compliment sir.

Great to hear that, your previous generation Innova is doing well in its 14 th year of life. That also says you do maintain your car's well.

If you are chauffeur driven, let the vehicle complete it's whole life span of 15 years, you will be able to extract the whole off money paid for the life tax.

The major advantage of Innova is the passenger comfort, let it be in the first year or tenth year, Innova lives up to the expectations.

I did the same with my Santro. It was purchased in 2005 and sold off recently. If a car like Santro could withstand the abuse for 15 years with minimal maintenance, an Innova definitely can.

Yes, the bull bar has to be removed soon.

Thank you.

[ortho_surgeon]

Hi,
Any idea when are they launching the Hybrid petrol in India?

I couldn't get a test drive of the petrol automatic. Only Diesel automatic is available for Test drive.

Can anyone throw some light on this.

Thanks in advance

[shalini_g]

Originally Posted by soarer

Happy to share that I am now the proud owner of 2.8Z Variant ( Though bought it as second hand from Viva Toyota, Bangalore.

Hi,
I stay in KPCL layout and own a 2016 model Innova. I used to take it for service at Nandi Toyota on Hosur road but later shifted to Whitefield Nandi Toyota. My observations that it is less crowded than their Hosur road branch and happy with their service

[audioholic]

Took delivery of our BS6 Crysta ZX AT this Thursday after a long delay due to the lockdown. It was unfortunate that the car got registered and the lockdown was announced the next day so we had no way to take delivery of the car. It spend the six weeks in the basement of the dealership, thankfully and not an open yard and this put the scene a lot better since I was worried about the state of the car if it were in a yard with the harsh summer, rain and dust together. After COVID the dealership was catering only to limited people and immediately after they started after the relaxations on 3rd, they prepared the car and handed it over to us in a very organized manner. This car is technically my fathers and I had let him sit for all the technical briefing and so. The colour is Garnet red and this is prone to swirls and looks horrible. Hence I have set out on DIY PPF for the whole car which is WIP. I was not willing to spend an exorbitant cost on getting it done in a shop and having worked on PPF and vinyl for sometime now, I am pulling it off to acceptable levels and using a self healing TPU PPF.

After the engine downsize, there is not a huge drop in power since I had taken long test drives of the 2.8AT before. The 2.4 sounds more refined and the only difference I noticed was that the 2.8 in power mode was crazy when the throttle was floored, but the 2.4 is not that crazy but does pull well. What I liked about the engine was that even when the car is fully loaded, there isnt a beating to performance much, especially since this is the first diesel car we have owned in the house. Perhaps its due to that. What I miss in this ladder frame car is that the preciseness of the steering I am used to in my SX4 or Celerio. However, the ride quality of the crysta is in a different league no doubt.

The main difference is the presence of the DPF and SCR which needs AdBlue to be added. I am said this would last for 10k kms which probably means there is no need to fill it up in between. DPF regeneration switch has been provided, but my dad was not briefed about it. This car will be mostly used for highway runs and I guess that should suffice. However I did notice that today for a brief while around 70kms done the engine idle was high even during coasting. Not sure if it was the DPF being cleaned.

Another difference I noticed was that familiar diesel exhaust smell is gone. There is no smell from the exhaust which I have noticed in many diesel cars. The Head unit is good enough to be replaced sooner than later. Even the 15-20k Blaupunkt head units in my other two cars are far more usable and well designed compared to this one. The sound quality is good no doubt, but the UI, responsiveness and lack of carplay is a huge bummer and thats enough to warrant a change.

Hope to share some more updates as time goes.

[Bibendum90949]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Another difference I noticed was that familiar diesel exhaust smell is gone. There is no smell from the exhaust which I have noticed in many diesel cars.

Guess it has to do with the BS6 Diesel which has lesser sulphur content as against the outgoing BS4 diesel -almost 5 times lesser [10 parts per million(ppm) vs 50 ppm].

Originally Posted by audioholic

DPF regeneration switch has been provided, but my dad was not briefed about it

Can you please elaborate on how does it work ? Guess this is for active DPF regeneration. Are there any onboard warning mechanism that indicates DPF is choked/nearing a choke and that you'll have to activate this switch to do regeneration. One would face this if the car is run predominantly in city and doesn't quite get subjected to longer duration of higher rpms( highway) to trigger the passive regeneration.

Congratulations on your new ride. Happy and Safe Motoring!

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Bibendum90949

Can you please elaborate on how does it work ? Guess this is for active DPF regeneration. Are there any onboard warning mechanism that indicates DPF is choked/nearing a choke and that you'll have to activate this switch to do regeneration. One would face this if the car is run predominantly in city and doesn't quite get subjected to longer duration of higher rpms( highway) to trigger the passive regeneration.

Yes so if you are driving at higher speeds or longer distances where the exhaust gases heat up sufficiently, the DPF gets cleared on its own, perhaps with a little extra fuel burnt by the engine to raise the exhaust temperature. However if you drive for short distances only and the engine does not warm up completely, the Soot accumulation exceeds a certain level and the DPF light turns on in the instrument cluster. In this scenario, it is advised to use the DPF switch and leave the vehicle in a ventilated area for a good 30+ minutes where the ECU increases idle speed and exhaust temperature to burn the soot. If this does not work, then a visit to the workshop and perhaps a new DPF is necessary. So I am not sure if these cars can be used for short distances predominantly. In our case the car is mostly meant for long drives and office runs which is at least 10km one way. Hence, I am not concerned as of now.

[audioholic]

Sharing some pictures of the ivory interior shade since these aren’t available much on the web when I wanted to make the choice. For the automatic, only Tan and Ivory shade is on offer. Tan was not to the liking of me nor my family since for the dark exterior shade, a light interior would contrast and personally I felt it looks more premium. The other difference is that the wooden trim on the dash and steering has a matte finish and looks closer to original while the glossy finish on the Tan interior option wasn’t to my liking. The glossy finish on the steering also felt slippery during test drive whereas this one is good to touch. Hence, though it will be a pain to maintain, here is our ivory interior shade:

[haisaikat]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Tan was not to the liking of me nor my family since for the dark exterior shade, a light interior would contrast and personally I felt it looks more premium.

Congratulations on your acquisition.

I second your opinion regarding the interior, yours being a top model this came stock I suppose. Mine being GX they quoted me 48-50K for these seat covers. They were also of the opinion that Tan option looks more classy and dark interior are there in all high end luxury cars, but I was adamant that beige would have been my preferred interior tone and otherwise the ivory option.

I would have gone for it eventually but when I leant that even for 50K all they are providing is top portion pure leather and all sides and back are faux material I decided to let it go.

[shreehari]

If I am not wrong, this might be the first ownership review of the New BS6 Toyota Innova Crysta in this forum.

Prologue
I had owned own the 1st gen XUV MT from JAN 2015 to AUG 2017 & then moved on to the 2nd gen XUV AT in AUG 2017. However somewhere around Nov of 2019 I again started to get this feeling to change the car mainly driven by two things one, the lease facility at office and second, my XUV had started to become unreliable. It had already left me stranded in the middle of the highway twice in the 2nd half of 2019. So finally in JAN of 2020 I started my hunt for a new vehicle & on 21st of FEB 2020 this came home.


Below is an overview of my buying experience and the initial ownership report of this car.
When I started to look at the options, I had a list of features that I was looking in my new car:
The must haves:
1)Had to be 5 or 5 + seater.
2)Had to have good safety kit.
3)Had to be AT.
4)Had to be reliable- I love the highways and frequently I end up in places with no one to be seen around.
5)Had to have a dead pedal.
6)Had to have all creature comforts.
7)Had to be in reasonable budget.
8)Had to be pocket friendly to maintain. – XUV’s service bills had blown a huge hole in my savings account which will take years to fill.
With the above list frozen, I was ready to shop around.

IMHO its very difficult to shop for a 5 or 5+ seater if you are coming out of XUV. You cannot find a value for money package which can beat XUV in the 20 to 25 Lakh bracket. The only way to really upgrade from XUV is to go beyond the 40 Lakh mark and look at the premium segment which obviously I was not ready for at this point of my life.

Below are the cars I considered
The Latest XUV 5oo:
What I liked:
1.Insanely loaded & value for money. –There is no other 7 seater SUV in 20 Lakhs bracket with these many features.
2.Availability of Android Auto. –This is here in this list because I am now driving a car, which does not have one; Today I am ready to spend half a lakh to upgrade my system.
3.Prior service and roadside assistance experience. –I had used Mahindra’s RSA multiple times during my XUV ownership. I cannot tell you enough of how well organized and effective they are. It is a complete peace of mind package. I have used it for trivial things like jump starting the car and for non-trivial ones like turbo failures and engine issues and mind you all these during long trips with family in middle of nowhere. The way they responded each of these instances speaks a lot about their dedication towards customer care. Mahindra’s products might have flaws but they do know how to handle post sale services. Example, they had me plunge my hard-earned 21 Lakhs again in their brand after owning their product with questionable reliability for two years.
4.Sunroof. –Though no one in my family likes this for reasons unknown, I am a big fan. I love wind in the hair.

What I disliked:
1.Looks.–Though it is subjective. The third gen XUV does not look great IMHO. I think their best looking model was 2nd Gen.
2.Interior quality. -Even though they have thrown in some leather wraps inside the cabin, it still does not feel like it will last.
3.AT box. -Extremely sluggish to say the least. If you are shopping for XUV ,love driving and don’t mind shifting gears in traffic then buy MT period.
4.ICE. –Pathetic. It was the same in the 2nd gen as well.
5.Overall fit & finish. –Driver seats of my 2nd gen XUV had worn out within 6 months of usage and when I took it to service, they were also not able to help either.
6.Service cost.–60,000 KM service of my last XUV had costed me RS 56,000/-. Average service cost always have been around RS 11,000/-.

Why was this car not bought?
Reliability & quality issues with XUV had started growing on me. Finally, I decided that was enough of brand loyalty. Had clocked almost 160,000 KMS in both the XUV’s together and it was time to move on.

ISUZU MUX:
Though this was not in my budget, I thought of giving this a shot since I had heard few stories of their long term reliability and also of how cheap they are to maintain.
What I liked:
1)The quintessential SUV. –Ladder on frame, butch looks, no gimmicks, all functional.
2)Off road capabilities & ride quality over broken roads. –Took it over some rough patches and was blown away by its manners, could handle abuse for a long time.
3)Seating position. –You have suddenly achieved eye contact with the nearby mini truck driver.
4)Service coverage. –They were running some offer of 5 years’ service coverage including labor cost. –Tempting,very tempting especially when you are coming from the house of Mahindra.

What I disliked:
1)Looks.-Essentially a copy paste job form Chevrolet Trailblazer which is also not the best looking car around.
2)Feature list. –None, no sunroof, no android auto, no apple car play, no reversing camera, no folding mirrors, not even enough number of airbags, bare minimum -no bells & whistles whatsoever.
3)Interiors. –A bit better than Thar, that is how I will put it.
4)Nonexistent dealer & service network.
5)Cost- 39 Lakhs for a functional off-roader with bare minimum creature comforts.

Why was this car not bought?
I was never going to take it off-road. So all the money that I will pay for that great suspension, engine and chassis would mean nothing at the end of the day.

MG Hector:
What I liked:
1)Value for money & feature loaded. –Replica of the XUV game. Everything that you can ask for in a car is in this one. Panoramic sunroof, ICE, internet wizardry, this, that, and everything in between.
2)Space. –Very spacious for a 5-seater.
3)Interiors. -Everything felt very luxurious and build to last.
Could not get a test drive so I do not know about the ride quality and engine performance.

What I disliked:
1)A re-branded Chinese car.
2)Long-term reliability & service experience – Uncharted areas.
3)Had heard about couple of examples going up in flames.

Why was this not bought?
I did not want to get into something that has no prior record especially on reliability & service experience so this was a no brainier.

KIA Seltos:
What I liked:
1)Loaded with features. –Again everything under the sun available.
2)Selling like hot cakes. –Walked into the showroom on a Saturday and it was nothing short of a fish market. Had to wait to get a chance to look at the display vehicle itself.
Again could not get a test drive so no comments on ride quality and performance.

What I disliked:
1)Long-term reliability & service experience. –Uncharted areas.
2)Space. –It felt like a swift on steroid.Definitely cannot impress any one coming from XUV in this department.
3)They had some 13 or so trims to choose from.I do not like those many options. I feel like I am writing some exam.
4)Had read about examples of lemons already.

Why was this not bought?
Again no brainier. I like testing stuff when I am paid not the other way around.

KIA Carnival:
This car had just launched, there were no TD vehicles but still I went to see the car and below were my initial feelings.
What I liked:
1)Ship on wheels. -Huge road presence and a huge car.
2)Interiors. -Especially the limousine version is oozing with luxury.
3)The split sun roof. –Oh my.I could have bought this car for just that.
Again, it was not available for test drive so nothing on ride quality and how it felt, but sitting inside itself was an experience.

What I disliked:
1)Practical usage. –I love to drive my cars and this car is one in which you should be driven. I can only imagine how painful it would be to navigate this thing during peak hours through inner ring road in Bangalore and similar tight spots. Not a daily car IMHO.
2)Again long-term reliability and service experiences being uncharted territory.
3)Price. –40+Lakhs for the top end. That was not tough to say “NO” to.

Why was this car not bought?
Unknown long-term reliability & cost being way above my budget.

Jeep Compass Diesel AT-BS6:
This car had just launched.
What I liked:
1)Engine refinement & AT gearbox. -I became an instant fan of this vehicle the movement I drove it off from the dealer ship for the test drive. A butter smooth engine with wonderful 9 speed AT. The difference between XUV’s sluggish box and this AT box was very much evident.
2)Suspension & Ride quality. -We took the car through some insanely pathetic roads and I was not able to believe what the suspensions were doing.The engineers at jeep has thrown in a bit of witchcraft in there.It is unreal.
3)Panoramic sunroof. –I was like a kid in the candy shop. I just love it when the top is open
4)Interiors. -Very well put together.Everything is plush & luxurious and it feels like its build to last a lifetime.
5)ICE. -Excellent one. Looks like the engineers who did it in compass were audiophiles themselves.

What I disliked:
1)Interior space. –Just enough for 4. Two heavily build passengers will end up rubbing their shoulders even in the front seats.
2)Cost of ownership. –I was wary about this. My friends who owns this car had mentioned that the cost of ownership was on higher side.
3)Cost. -31 Lakhs for a car barely spacious than swift was a turn off for me.

Why was this car not bought?
Interior space and the maintenance costs were the only reason this was not bought. However I will strongly recommend this to anyone if space and cost is not a issue. Its a amazing car to drive.

Toyota Innova AT-BS6:
The BS6 version of Innova had just launched and the paper AD’s were showing up, so I had myself in front of the nearest Toyota showroom asking for Innova TD the very next day.
What I liked:
1)Brand recognition. –Everyone knows Innova. A proven highway mile muncher.
2)Proven track record of reliability & service quality. –There was a time in Jan & Feb where almost for a month I traveled by OLA & UBER to office and the default conversions that I used to have with drivers were about vehicles and all of them told me to pick up Innova if I was looking at reliability & less maintenance cost.
3)Space. –Enough & more for my needs- Captain seats are super comfortable.
4)Front seats. –Far better support compared to XUV especially the under thigh support is in a different league. I used to struggle with XUV seats to get to a comfortable position.
5)Very good build quality inside. –Though there are no leather wraps and all, but still the plastics used are of high quality and feels that it will last for a lifetime.
6)Resale value. –I do not have to say anything regarding this. Walk in to your nearest multi brand car reseller and ask the price of a used Innova with more than a Lakh km on the odo. Now do the same for an XUV.
7)Boot space. -Decent boot space available even with the 3rd row in place.
8)Storage space & bottle holders all around the car. –14 of them including 4 chillers and an cooled glove box. There are 2 chillers in the 3rd row as well. Moreover, I am quite sure that I have missed to count couple of them.
9)Soft closing boot door. –It is fun to see the motor closing the doors by itself. My family hadn't to bang the boot shut any more.

What I disliked:
1)Engine noise. –Horrible.Especially when you start the vehicle & idle. Feels like a truck.
2)The way third rows are folded. –I don’t know who came up with this idea of hooking the seats on to the top, that fellow needs to be fired. Folding it & tucking it away on the floor would have given a proper flat bed and a lot of room in the cabin, a boon when you are living out of your car during highway trips.
3)Lack of Android auto & apple car play. -7 Lakh Glanza has this. Why, not in a 30 Lakh car.
4)Omission of TPMS. –Cars in 10L bracket has this; again, what does make Toyota think that customers do not need this in a 30 L car.
5)Lack of disk brakes on four sides. -Again plain ridiculous for a 30 Lakh car.
6)Lack of RSA extension. -Toyota comes with a 3 year RSA coverage but that RSA comes with clause’s like towing limit of 60kms, no taxi or hotel service provided etc. There is no option to upgrade this coverage as well. I once had my XUV towed from somewhere near Satara to Kholapur, a little more than 150 KMS free. I can only imagine what my towing charges will look like if I had to do it to Innova. I just pray and hope that I do not end up in any of such situation.
7)Insanely costly accessories from Toyota. –More on this later.

So finally after contemplating on Compass & Innova, we finally decided to go with Toyota.

Delivery Experience:
We choose Nandi Toyota, Hosur road as our dealers since their showroom & service facility was at walk-able distance from our home. The team at Nandi was quite efficient and they did provide us with all the assistance that we had asked for. It was a very smooth process, only hiccup was that the vehicle took almost a month to arrive at the showroom after booking. This was because mine was the first slot of BS6 vehicles and Toyota had not started shipping it to showrooms yet. However, the sales manager did manage to get the vehicle a bit earlier than what was initially promised. Over all I was very happy with the experience.
We took the car directly to the nearest temple and got over with the customary Pooja as well.

What’s Changed in BS6 Version:
Exterior:
There are no changes at all between the BS4 & BS6 versions visually. Only change you can spot is the 2.4 Z badging. Earlier, If I am not wrong there was only 2.4 V.


Engine:
However, everything at the heart of the car has changed.
It now comes with a BS6 complaint 2.4L 4 cylinder inline, 4 cycle (with turbocharger) diesel engine mated to a 6 speed AT gearbox.


Below is the place to add the ad blue liquid


Interiors:
Again, no changes at all apart from an extra switch added for DPF filter.


And a sticker on right hand door indicating how to use the DPF switch


Accessories:
I am someone who prefers to go for OEM accessories with any car. However, with my last XUV 5oo I took an exception & ventured out in to the open market and bought a lot of stuff from 3rd party vendors. Though it was economical, I found the quality to be quite shady and eventually ended up replacing everything with stock ones or ended buying new ones from Mahindra. So now, I did not want to tread that path again with this car so I went for some original Toyota accessories on this, but when the bill came, I was beyond shock.

Having said that, few things that I do not regret buying:
Foot steps–on both the sides -RS 13709/-.Given that the original accessory on XUV was around 11k, I think this was ok to pay. At least it feels like it will take some abuse.


Leather door trims–on all 4 doors -RS 7488/-. The car comes with some cloth lining in this areas and not leather. That cloth wear out fast & is ugly to look at. Hence went for leather trims. Cost wise this seemed to be Ok.


Bumper guard –RS 10982 /-.Again was Ok to pay for this since the XUV one itself was 9K & this definitely felt better.


Bumper protector.4 pieces of rubber on all the 4 corners of the car –RS 2905/-

Trunk mat –RS 967/-

Muffler cutter –RS 1638 /-. I felt this was also as a good accessory since my car is white & the rear bumper area near the exhausts could turn black over a period. This can prevent it from happening.


Auto folding side mirrors –RS 3827/-. This should have come as standard in a 30L car. Xuv had this and I was so used to it that this was a natural choice.

3M Under body & inner panel coating –RS 7842/-.

Things that I regret buying:
Now the list of ridiculous things start
Side visors on all 4 doors -RS 6003/ -.Visors for 6K that too after bargaining.


Door housing chrome near all 4 handles. -RS 8140/- .Unbelievable. I am still not sure why I picked this, only rational was the looks and the fact that it gives some protection against rings chipping of the paintwork near the handle.


Side protector on the 4 doors of the car -RS 15411/-.

Yes, that bling there is 15K bucks. I had lost my mind I guess. Only saving grace is that it helps in the looks department IMHO.

Rear step guard – RS 4889/-. Another ridiculously over prized item.


Wooden finish on panel on the inside rear doors -RS 6202/-. Serves no purpose at all apart from giving some visual appeal.


Roof ornament - RS 8588/-. They got the name on this one correct, roof ornament. It is just an ornament, does not have any usability and cannot take any load. Pure waste of money. Should have surely said NO to this.


License frame rear- RS 4172/-

Tail lamp garnish –RS 8665 /-. Again, zero usability. Now I am not even sure whether it enhances the look or spoils it.


Legroom lamp – RS 6313/-. Complete waste of money again. Does nothing to the interiors.

I should have simply said No to the above items when the sales people were pushing it down my throat.

Accessories ordered from outside:
7D mats from Elegant auto retail- RS 7838/- . Found these people through YouTube. https://elegantautoretail.com/. Ordering experience was seamless, followed by a call from someone from their team to confirm whether my car is a 8 seater or a 7 seater and then the product arrived in a weeks’ time as promised. Packaging & delivery was also very good. I am very much satisfied with it as of now. So far so good.


Accessories planned in future:
Actually, I may think of upgrading the speakers at a later point of time (I have the complete set of speakers, an amp & a woofer, which I had retro fitted in XUV). However, this will be purely based on whether the car will stay with me for some time. From all what I have been doing so far, it looks like I have a tendency to change cars quite frequently.
I might go ahead and upgrade all the internal lights in the car. It is now halogen may go for led’s, but again that is ridiculously prized as well. RS 5500/- when I last checked.

Few more interior shots:



The dash:




The gear:


The famous captain seats:


The third row:


Dashboard in the night:

Though nothing compared to the Diwali light display in XUV.

Roof during the day:


Roof lighting during night:



1500 KMS review:
I am very happy so far with this car. I was able to put it to use to a fair extent before the lock-down was imposed which included few long trips as well.
Below are few additional things that I experienced during the ownership period.

City driving experience:
It’s a long car, even coming out of XUV it is still tough for me to judge the length of it and squeeze into tight spots.
The steering also is on a bit heavier side so navigating it through city requires a bit more effort. However I liked the fact that its turning radius (5.4 meters) is a bit lesser than that of XUV (5.6 meters).That difference do show up when you are making a U turn in tight spots.

Highway driving experience:
Everyone knows this. It is the home ground of Innova, excellent manners and no nonsense ride quality. However when I took the test drive of 2.8L version, I had felt that steering was heavier during slow speeds and was loosing its weight as the car was gaining speed.I was not too happy with that, but I am glad that in this car it is not the case. The steering feels appropriately weighed and inspires confidence during highway runs.

Driving experience between 2.8L AT BS4 & 2.4L AT BS6:
When I compare my test drive experience of 2.8L AT vehicle & the one I have now, I don't think that the drop in engine capacity has effected the car in a negative way. Of course, the lack of it will show up somewhere but in normal use, the difference is not that evident. Also I would have preferred the 2.8L one if that was available in BS6 avatar but then I don't regret buying this. On the positive side you get marginally better mileage in the new BS6 car.

Some more positives:
Sound output from stock HU:
Though the HU feels as if its from the previous decade ,the quality of sound output from it is good. Especially the deep bass it produces even with the stock speakers is impressive.Its definitely miles ahead of the system in XUV. IMO upgrading the speakers and throwing in a decent amp & sub-woofer will take the experience here to the next level.

Mileage:
The MID has been showing me 11~12 KMPL in city which was shocking for me, especially considering that this is such a heavy vehicle. I have never managed to get more than 9~10 KMPL in XUV, irrespective of whether its city or highway. The full tank to full tank test is still pending.

The AT gear box:
AT box is far better one than that of the XUV’s. I used to hate the XUV AT especially when you accelerate hard. Drivability of this is far better.

The Drive Modes:
The difference between ECO , NORMAL & PWR mode are very noticeable , I initially thought that this was just a gimmick but there is noticeable difference in the way engine responds when you shift between these modes. I recommend ECO mode purely in city, you might sleep off if you use it in highways. Its as sedate as it can get. My favorite mode is PWR mode and that is how I use it even in city, it just brings the best out of this engine & the gearbox and it becomes a fun car to drive.

Suspension & ride quality:
Its is light years ahead of the 1st gen XUV, in their 2nd gen Mahindra had improved suspension tuning and the ride quality but still the difference of this being a Toyota is immediately felt. Feels much more planted during high speeds and soaks in most of the road undulations without making a fuss of it. On the other hand, XUV will clearly make it obvious inside the cabin that it just went over something uneven.

One touch up/down window panes all around:
Initially when the sales guy was selling me this feature, I didnt think of it as a great one. However in day to day use I see it as a boon.

Some negatives:
The default Sat-Nav:
IMO this system is as useless as it can get, the biggest reason being that we don't navigate here with coordinates but with addresses, and this system is not at all intuitive for that. Its hard to find even the famous land marks and its almost impossible to find places with their addresses. I end up always hooking up my phone on the mobile holder with google maps for navigation. And on top of it, the maps for the Sat-Nav is loaded on a fragile Micro SD card which if lost costs RS 15000/- to replace according to TASS. Every time you take the car for service they kind of remove and give it in your hand which is more scary.

The lack of a physical rotary knob for volume control:
This is one of those things whose value is felt only in its absence. The volume controls here are touch sensitive controls on the HU and its a pain to use. There are steering mounted controls as well but that too is not very intuitive at-least for me, nevertheless both of it takes away your concentration while driving. The physical dials of XUV were so intuitive and had a tactile feel to it.

Tank capacity:
Diesel Innova is just having 55L of fuel capacity & I hate it when I need to stop at frequent intervals for fueling.
XUV's tank capacity was around 68L. It used to show a range of 700 KMS or more on the MID and I never used to refuel it before running 600 KMS.
Here the range shown in the MID is a dismal 480 KMS and I am forced to refuel every 250 to 300 KMS. Surprisingly Petrol Innova has a capacity of 65L.

The Sunglasses Holder:
Its of very odd size. Its too big for any sunglass. The problem is, if you keep the glasses in it then it starts to rattle every time the car goes over rough patch. It gets irritating at times.

Epilogue:
So finally, is this an upgrade at all? NO. In my mind it is not one.
If you ask me, whether I am happy with this move? Of course, Yes. I think my money is in a good place and the quality of this product in itself is in a different class. Would I recommend this car in place of XUV to start with might be Yes & No. Both are very different vehicles in my mind not because one is SUV & another is MUV, but because of the difference in ownership experience, these give. XUV is more of a value for money, feature rich & fun filled car, which needs quite a lot effort in terms of upkeep & most probably will reach its end of life in a decade’s usage or so. Whereas Innova on the other hand is costlier to own but once bought will not cause much trouble to your pocket & also probably will outlast the owner itself.
So that has been my journey so far. Will keep you all posted as it goes. Thanks for reading this far.

leaving you folks with some shots of the car:

[DicKy]

Congrats @Sreehari on the purchase, and good to see an ownership review of the the new BS6 2.4 auto.

Even if auto medias bothered, don't think Toyota would have arranged drives for the 2.4 auto. Well. Same engine, same gearbox reviewed to death, just not reviewed combined in India, that's all.

The 2.8l existed just to justify and create an upmarket image for the Innova Crysta. Guess Toyota had more customers complaining about low FE and brake wear than customers raving about the performance.

Looking forward to a review after a highway trip

Please do share the highway FE figures and also the engine RPM at 100kmph in top gear.

Cheers.

Did the dealers push the accessories package? Asking cause heard that Nandi Toyota and the dealerships in Kerala are known to push all these chrome accessories even before Toyota has announced them

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by DicKy

Please do share the highway FE figures and also the engine RPM at 100kmph in top gear.

Cheers.

In sixth gear the car does 100 at around 1600RPM, which is so sedate the driver can easily fall asleep