[Paritoshkalra]

Toyota always leaves its customers wanting for more! Only VX variant seems to be made for Indian road conditions. In India during summers, excessive heat and dust do not permit us to use the Sunroof. But there is no single variant in Hycross which has it all. They gave 360-degree camera but omitted the airbags from VX variant. It's good that there is no sunroof here but then they missed adding the wheel-arches. ZX misses out on 8 seat options, and it has tiny Tyre-sidewalls which is again a big no for Indian road conditions. Looks like proper R & D was not done before launching such products.
They should have learnt from Safari and Harrier as they have fully loaded XZA variants (without sunroof) and with functional roof-rails.
Indian consumer is paying hefty money for minimal safety, missing features and reduced comfort. Only better fuel economy is not going to get them good sales. Toyota should rethink about their strategy in India.

[Cresterk]

Originally Posted by jerin.v

But that's just an excuse that they give right. They even used to tell the lack of sunroof in any of their cars was due to safety. Now both Hycross and Hyryder have it .

And airbags to bench seats have no connection. If that was the case then Taigun and XUV700 would not have been the top safety rated cars. And the absence of the middle row middle seat increases the chance of the middle person in 3rd row to reach the front during a crash, to prevent this we do have seatbelts.

Toyota should understand Innova user base is families and when two families join they mostly do have 8 people.
And if they had any concern for safety they should have provided 6 airbags as standard

Yep, back when I was looking for my first car in 2016, salesmen from Hyundai to Maruti to Toyota claimed they don't offer sunroofs anymore because it is "not appropriate" for our climate and that they leak when it rains etc. Even car reviewers and so called experts claimed that sunroofs are just wrong for a dusty or rainy country like India. Now everyone is competing to cram in sunroofs on even the smallest hatchbacks

Take anything a salesman says with a grain of salt. First of all they don't even have information on why a particular variant or model comes with the features they do and if you ask them, most of them will just make up an answer while the rare honest one will tell you they don't know. These kind of decisions are made by high ranking corporate workers and they are the only one who can answer them with any kind of truth to it.

Everything from a Volvo XC90 to a BMW X5 to a Benz GLS comes with curtain airbags and a bench seat and they are all considerably safer than the cars in the segment we are talking about.

[KI07]

Did anyone who booked within the first week, i.e. 25th Nov to 1st December, get a waiting period or delivery? If yes, how much?
I booked on 26th and by the way they're talking, it seems a 6month wait.

[Cresterk]

Originally Posted by KI07

Did anyone who booked within the first week, i.e. 25th Nov to 1st December, get a waiting period or delivery? If yes, how much?
I booked on 26th and by the way they're talking, it seems a 6month wait.

I booked unofficially before launch via a local dealership and made another booking via toyota website on the same day they started taking official bookings at another dealership. Neither of them have received my car in the spec I chose

[Paritoshkalra]

Originally Posted by KI07

Did anyone who booked within the first week, i.e. 25th Nov to 1st December, get a waiting period or delivery? If yes, how much?
I booked on 26th and by the way they're talking, it seems a 6month wait.

I had booked the car on 25th Nov. No clue about delivery till now. There is absolutely no information with the dealership. Toyota which is known for handling customers in a decent way seems to have lost the plot. If they mess with Hycross delivery and allotment, then they are going to lose many potential buyers !

[amalji]

I got a chance to see the Hycross in real since I accompanied my friend who had booked the Innova Hycross. Some of my observations mentioned below.

I am 172 cms in height. I tried adjusting the seat for my comfortable position on 1st row ( top ) and 2nd row ( bottom left ) and this is what I ended up on 3rd row ( bottom right ).
Things to note.

• On the 1st row ( top ), I could get comfort even after having my knees very close to the dashboard. This is because the foot well is reasonably big and the angles are very comfortable.
• On the 2nd row ( bottom left ) as you you can see, I had to leave significant gap between my knee and the front seats for me to feel comfortable. This is due to the Hybrid battery placement under the front seats which blocks my foot from going underneath the front seats.
• What the above point means is that I touch the 2nd row seats when I sit on the 3rd row. But, the fact that I could push my feet under the 2nd row seats and the fact that the floor on 3rd row is lower which prevents the knees up position is a welcome change.

The business class seating arrangement available on the old Innova Crysta is still possible on both the 7 seater and 8 seater version of the Innova Hycross.



Ottoman coming up fully was a useless feature for a person of my height since the foot will get locked! But, the ottoman position in. this photo ( middle position ) felt very comfortable for a relaxing drive even for my height. The 2nd row seats is moved to the extreme back position with a comfortable recline angle as well. What this means is that 3rd row seats is unusable in this position. The subtle support on the calfs by the ottoman felt good even after sitting in this position for some time. One another bonus was that the arm rest for the captain seats can be adjusted to horizontal position regardless of the recline angle of the captain seats. I am keeping my feet at an angle on the ground with the top part resting on top of the hybrid battery protection. It is a foot rest like position and felt comfortable when the seat is moved back to the extreme ( making 3rd row useless at this position).


3rd row headroom felt borderline due to the slanting roofline and slanting glass. Priority on external aesthetics and aerodynamics seems to have impacted the practicality inside here.


This is how the 3rd room legroom felt like. Just enough for me to scrape through. The fact that I had to bring back the 2nd row seat for a comfortable position regardless of the huge knee room in 2nd row due to the hybrid battery intruding into foot well of 2nd row passenger.


The profile on the 17 inch tyres available on VX variant felt very adequate to the naked eye. At the same time, the sidewall height of the top end variant felt scary thin! This can be a possible opportunity for another alloys and sidewall damage thread of the Innova Hycross ( much like the Innova Crysta )


The ambient light cover looks like a cheap led tube light! The ambient light on the Innova Crysta felt classy compared to this.

Overall Feedback ( from the perspective of a 2017 Innova Crysta Touring Sport Diesel AT owner )

Positives

• The front seats felt comfortable similar to the Innova Crysta
• The arm rests of the front seats felt very comfortable.
• The ability to bring the arm rests of the 2nd row captain seats parallel to the ground regardless of the recline angle of the seats is a welcome change. This is not the case on the crysta where the arm rest position stays static and hence is dependent on the recline angle of the seat.
• The low floor in the 3rd row seats means knees up sitting position on 3rd row is almost solved. It also aides the hiding of feet under the 2nd row seats which was impossible with the Crysta.
• The fact that the business class seating position of 2nd row is still possible.
• Airy feeling of the cabin.
• Positioning of arm rests on all seats felt very comfortable.
• Ottoman at middle position does give subtle support to calf and feels comfortable.
• Boot space with all 3 rows up continues to be practical.
• Retractable curtains are a welcome addition.

Concerns

• The additional space freed up on the Hycross is kind of lost in reality due to that Hybrid battery positioning under the front seats. The 2nd row seats has to be moved much more to the rear than on the Crysta because of this one change.
• Ottoman effort felt half baked. At fully lifted position, a person with reasonable height will find it unusable.
• The 18" low profile tyres on the top end variant is going to be a hassle to take care of. It's going to damage both the alloys as well as the tyres on pothole filled Indian roads.
• The panoramic sunroof felt very hot! Even after closing the sunroof the sunroof cover itself was feeling very warm. And the AC was not compensating for it at idle. And this was at 30 degrees outside temperature. The summer has not even started. Given an option, I would have preferred a top end variant without the sunroof. For the same reason, VX variant felt like a better choice for me if I ever consider the Hycross. Once the mandatory 6 airbags rule forces Toyota to equip VX variant with 6 airbags, that variant will feel very attractive for me.
• The ambient light cover felt very cheap!
• The fact that 6 airbags are not available on the VX variant even as an option. I find this a racist and classist mindset from brand - Toyota. They could have given it atleast as an option similar to the way they offered optional safety pack to all variants of Etios when it was first released in India.
• The audio quality of the topend Hycross version with JBL sound system felt very ordinary to me. I prefer the inferior audio system on the Innova crysta than this. It atleast sounds more natural. Disclaimer: I haven't tried tuning the audio system. Maybe, the tuning is badly done by someone on the test drive car.
• Gear lever positioning felt odd for me. I like to access the gear from the comfortable arm rest position of my hands. This is no longer possible now.
• The lack of tumbling seats. My wife was very disappointed that this feature is no longer there. She generally arranges our luggage well on a fully loaded trip ( like from IKEA ). The tumbling seats helps her to arrange things better without worrying about any damage to the seats.

Overall, I am not bowled over by the Hycross. I would rate it a 7/10 in terms of practicality of the interiors. But, if you ask me what is the other alternative for this vehicle, all I can give is a blank look. There is no other alternatives that satisfies all my requirements for an MPV.

Thank you to my friend Sharath who invited me while he was visiting the Toyota showroom and for helping me with the photos.

Note: I have not done a test drive of the vehicle. Whenever I do it, I will surely pen down my thoughts on the hybrid drivetrain.

[vinodvayyat]

Originally Posted by amalji

The 18" low profile tyres on the top end variant is going to be a hassle to take care of. It's going to damage both the alloys as well as the tyres on pothole filled Indian roads.

Worst part is this question - how low is the low profile? It is 225/50/R18. My Hexa XTA originally had 235/55/R19 and I was not at all happy even though it still provided much superior ride comfort compared to any other vehicles in the category or from one above. Providing 50 profile is not at all justifiable. There were lot of cases reported where R19 tyres of Hexa getting damaged. I finally downgraded my alloys to R16 and used XMA variants tyre spec (235/70/R16) and I'm completely happy with it. It can take a lot of abuse and you will never be worried about your family's safety. More than the abuse friendliness, the ride comfort it gives through broken roads and rural roads is unexplainable. I recommend most of the prospective Hycross owners an alloy downgrade (profile upgrade) - the SUV feeling increase and tyre replacements will be much more pocket friendly too. With 50 profile, you will also have to be very accurate w.r.to the PSI numbers - under inflated low profile tyres are extremely dangerous (more risk on side wall ruptures and overall life of tyre).

[Paritoshkalra]

Originally Posted by vinodvayyat

Worst part is this question - how low is the low profile? It is 225/50/R18. My Hexa XTA originally had 235/55/R19 and I was not at all happy even though it still provided much superior ride comfort compared to any other vehicles in the category or from one above. Providing 50 profile is not at all justifiable. There were lot of cases reported where R19 tyres of Hexa getting damaged. I finally downgraded my alloys to R16 and used XMA variants tyre spec (235/70/R16) and I'm completely happy with it. It can take a lot of abuse and you will never be worried about your family's safety. More than the abuse friendliness, the ride comfort it gives through broken roads and rural roads is unexplainable. I recommend most of the prospective Hycross owners an alloy downgrade (profile upgrade) - the SUV feeling increase and tyre replacements will be much more pocket friendly too. With 50 profile, you will also have to be very accurate w.r.to the PSI numbers - under inflated low profile tyres are extremely dangerous (more risk on side wall ruptures and overall life of tyre).

A lot of us have not received the vehicles, Toyota should rethink their strategies else we will be forced to buy VX only with some compromises.

[Aakash118]

Hi all, how tough (or easy) is the ingress of Hycross for elderly people? Is the second row too much high from the ground?

[manumike]

Originally Posted by Aakash118

Hi all, how tough (or easy) is the ingress of Hycross for elderly people? Is the second row too much high from the ground?

Since its a monocoque, floor height is lower and ingress and egress would not be as difficult as in a BOF. My parents aged 70, had no issues getting in and out from Hycross second row.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by amalji

Overall, I am not bowled over by the Hycross. I would rate it a 7/10 in terms of practicality of the interiors. But, if you ask me what is the other alternative for this vehicle, all I can give is a blank look. There is no other alternatives that satisfies all my requirements for an MPV.
.

Thanks for your very informative review. As regards alternatives, isn't the Kia Carnival a good option?

[amalji]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Thanks for your very informative review. As regards alternatives, isn't the Kia Carnival a good option?

I'm a skeptic of BS6 diesel engines ( durability and reliability aspect of it ) especially if you drive a lot in City traffic conditions and mountains. Considering that, the other options are Petrol, EV and Hybrids. For me, hybrid is 'the new diesel' in that regard. Brands like Hyundai and Honda will hopefully bring in more hybrids in the future.

[manumike]

Ageha Black seems to have the maximum number of bookings. I too had booked the same shade.

Saw Ageha Black, Super white and Pearl white in person. I am thinking of switching to Pearl white. SA has confirmed that it would not affect the booking priority.

While I understand that color choice is completely a personal choice, what is everyone's take on Hycross color shades based on what you've seen in person?

[slosh_bob]

@manumike - I have booked Attitude Black. Waiting to see how it looks.

@vnabh - The biggest drawback of Kia Carnival is a very low seating in the second row. People with knee problems (like my wifey) absolutely hated it. I am 185cm tall and it was very uncomfortable.

I haven't test driven the Hycross yet, but the rear seating here is still not as high as the Crysta (current car, 2018 2.8)

[JediKnight]

Its raining Innova Hycrosses, in my society. I saw at least two, both ZX. One gentleman even taking the kids to school in one in the morning. Initial external impressions (have not driven or sat in one till now) are underwhelming. Looks sober than glamorous. Looks gawky from some angles. Long and wide but not very tall. Wide from outside but surprisingly not very wide inside. But more than adequate space in the vertical direction. As many have pointed out interiors nothing to write home about.

But I am sure, being a Toyota the engineering would be top class and would give reliable service for years to come.