Team-BHP - Toyota Innova Hycross Review

Just in time, call it the car destined for me. I almost booked the Fortuner petrol, as I sold my Yeti 4x4 a year ago and my Civic which is 13 years old is my current workhorse. With a 4 years old kid, and another one expecting in the next 6 months, I am desperately in search for a 7-seaters and this looks like just the one that fits to a T. Perhaps I would use it for 2-3 years before I can trade in for the all-new Fortuner with the expected hybrid powertrain.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain (Post 5451930)

A lot has been written about the HyCross not being robust by virtue of no longer having a ladder frame.

This is not a right chain of thought. Monocoques can be just as robust and very long lasting. There are tens of thousand of WagonRs, Celerios and Ertigas running as taxis across the length and breadth of India. Textbook tinny Marutis. Don’t they handle all kinds of abuse? Duster was a monocoque. Wasn’t it robust? Mahindra XUV500 and 700, Tata Nexon, Toyota Etios are all monocoques. Everything from the Range Rovers to Merc GLS to BMW X5 or X7 to the LR Discovery are all built on monocoque platforms. Aren’t they robust?

HyCross is moving to TNGA. Toyota’s global modular platform. Underpinnings are shared with the Corolla. Another car with the legendary proven Toyota quality and durability. Don’t think anyone can say that the Corolla Altis is not a robust car.

Let’s not jump the gun and dismiss the car as a softie.

Completely agree. Many well-built monocoques are perfectly good over most terrains except for serious off-roading. They may not outlive the owner - but cannot be termed as a 'compromise' or something serious that a vehicle lacks.

As someone who has driven only monocoques and driven over 3 lac kms over the years in a majority of states (except North East) in India - on a variety of terrain - no roads, kuccha roads, gravel, massive pothole filled ones, hilly terrain, ghats - you name it - I believe they are fairly competent and meet the needs of all uses (except serious off-roading and slushy road conditions). You of course have to be careful and drive slowly over bad sections - perhaps BOF can take more abuse without breaking down

I am referring to the typical urban, family commuter here - if your regular commute is predominantly in rural areas or over very poor road conditions, BOF may be a more practical choice to handle the daily abuse

Lack of diesel midrange punch is a drawback of the Hycross according to ACI. This doesn’t seem to be mentioned in the team-bhp review.

https://www.autocarindia.com/car-rev...alposts-426553

Seeing the 0-100 performance figure and the fact that it is a strong hybrid was expecting good midrange punch.

Had driven Audi’s e-tron last week and was disappointed at the lack of punch. Maybe was expecting too much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain (Post 5451930)

This is not a right chain of thought. Monocoques can be just as robust and very long lasting. There are tens of thousand of WagonRs, Celerios and Ertigas running as taxis across the length and breadth of India. Textbook tinny Marutis. Don’t they handle all kinds of abuse? Duster was a monocoque. Wasn’t it robust? Mahindra XUV500 and 700, Tata Nexon, Toyota Etios are all monocoques. Everything from the Range Rovers to Merc GLS to BMW X5 or X7 to the LR Discovery are all built on monocoque platforms. Aren’t they robust?

I beg to differ. Both the BOF and Monocoque are built/designed for a purpose. In spite of overpricing, Crysta (plus previous generation Innova's) was a winner and the most sought-after MPV/people mover that India has ever seen.
Seriously, you are saying that Maruti builds robust cars? First time for me. Maruti builds reliable cars, not robust cars. M&M and Tata build robust cars but not reliable cars. Except for the erstwhile Gypsy, I don't consider any other Maruti robust.
There are quite a few videos (like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8cJGRKtp_0), comparing the Crysta with the 700 & Safari. Again, between the old BOF Safari and the new-gen Safari, I would any day pick an old-gen safari if my use case is bad roads, no roads, and of course to go anywhere in India.
And none of the luxury models that you've mentioned are abuse friendly and robust except the Defender. When it comes to robustness and abuse friendliness, even globally we don't see ANY BMW taking on a G-Class, Defender, Wrangler, Toyota LC, etc.
Now coming to the topic, except for this Hybrid technology (which I think is future-proof), there is nothing special in this Hycross.
Now, it all depends on how Toyota is pricing this. I am ok with a marginal increment compared to Crysta (Which I think will make Hycross a success). But pricing 3-4 lakhs higher than a Crysta doesn't make sense (the top-end diesel Crysta was around 32.5 lakhs on-road Chennai).

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenoval (Post 5451964)

ZigWheels review mentions 0-100 in roughly 14 secs with 6 people in the car. Link to the review -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12m78Q_fT7c

Well that's a far cry from the 9.5 seconds quoted. Not sure if it's due to the extra load or if it was due to the hybrid battery being depleted at time of test. Even when fully loaded, I never felt like diesels got significantly slower. :unhappy

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain (Post 5451930)

A lot has been written about the HyCross not being robust by virtue of no longer having a ladder frame.

This is not a right chain of thought. Monocoques can be just as robust and very long lasting. There are tens of thousand of WagonRs, Celerios and Ertigas running as taxis across the length and breadth of India. Textbook tinny Marutis. Don’t they handle all kinds of abuse? Duster was a monocoque. Wasn’t it robust? Mahindra XUV500 and 700, Tata Nexon, Toyota Etios are all monocoques. Everything from the Range Rovers to Merc GLS to BMW X5 or X7 to the LR Discovery are all built on monocoque platforms. Aren’t they robust?

Let’s not jump the gun and dismiss the car as a softie.

Absolutely true :thumbs up, modern engineering can result in very rugged and capable monocoques. Even Toyota would soon drop the BOF architecture from it's product line one by one for weight reduction, to comply with the latest norms and to improve on-road dynamics. The new LC would certainly be the last of their BOF architectures. The major advantage of BOF architecture over monocoque is that the design is not very complex and they can be repaired much easily.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't find this product exciting enough and an upgrade over the 2021 Crysta if Toyota is planning to launch the ZX hybrid above 25L on-road

The interior quality looks acceptable but not great
The touch screen looks a bit aftermarket and rear camera output at least from the pictures needs more sharpness
Ride quality is bumpy and needs more work
VX variant still misses out on 6 airbags

FEATURES

- No Auto Wipers
- No TPMS (Available as an Accessory)
- No Wireless Charger (Available as an Accessory)
- No Boss Mode for the Front Passenger seat
- Very Lacklustre Sounding Audio System
- Basic Touchscreen Unit (Even Maps not Available)
- Tailgate Motor makes too much noise while opening and closing
- Flimsy A/C Louvers for the second and third row
- Quality of Roofline not upto the mark

ENGINE
- Lacks mid-range
- Does not have the relaxed cruising manners of the Innova Diesels

Apart from the above, the car is well packaged. Pricing would determine whether it will be a complete VFM product

Excellent review as always.

I was worried if material quality will be Maruti grade. That bit about the flimsy cup holder (in front of the AC vent) was a little concerning. Anyway, it's reassuring to know that build and interior material quality is reasonably good.

Toyota has another winner on their hands.

Plenty of people who bought the 1st gen Innova eventually bought the Crysta. Now most people who bought the Crysta will buy a Hycross.