[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by S_U_N

I am seeing this for the first time. Are there other cars which have a single reversing light?

Yea, quite a few other cars have the single reverse light.

The 1st gen. Ford Ikon had it.

[rkavthekar]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Yea, quite a few other cars have the single reverse light.

The 1st gen. Ford Ikon had it.

Logan and Vista also have single reversing lights

takecare and drive safely

[Chalu]

I need some advise guys. Going to buy a petrol car in Feb 2011. What do you say Dzire / Manza / Etios. My priorities are back space coz all people in my family are about 6 ft me being 6.3 ft, not much into mileage part. I can get the Etios by Feb coz of some high level contact wrking in Toyota. I am a little bit inclined towards Manza Aura ABS coz of the features it provides and the space and i am not inclined much about the brand. Please help me out.

[VeluM]

Originally Posted by rkavthekar

Logan and Vista also have single reversing lights
takecare and drive safely

Vista has two reverse lights.

After going through the review, I understand why the Etios will sell well in India.

It is a relatively cheap Toyota (with the peace of mind that comes with being a Toyota)
There will be a bit of snob value rubbing off on the owner of the Etios (Yup, that is going to be one of the reasons)
The engine is reasonably powerful, and the superlight chassis ensures good mileage and drivability
Massive boot will make easy travelling with family & luggage (Family in the car and luggage in the boot )

There really isn't much else that the regular Indian buyer will look at. No Toyota car (in India) is a looker (Fortuner is not a car), yet they all sell well. People now probably expect them to be geeky looking.

Manza and Dzire will suffer, but I think the Manza will fare the worse. Space will no longer its USP.

Originally Posted by Chalu

I need some advise guys. Going to buy a petrol car in Feb 2011. What do you say Dzire / Manza / Etios. My priorities are back space coz all people in my family are about 6 ft me being 6.3 ft, not much into mileage part. I can get the Etios by Feb coz of some high level contact wrking in Toyota. I am a little bit inclined towards Manza Aura ABS coz of the features it provides and the space and i am not inclined much about the brand. Please help me out.

Chalu, if you are looking for a diesel: Manza, without a doubt.

[MAS]

How did i miss this?

I was visiting the "Official New Car Review" everyday till Sunday evening. Monday morning started travelling and did not get a chance to get into Tbhp.

Kudos GTO for this excellent, well-written, detailed and unbiased review. The photos in your review makes the Etios look much better than any other pictures posted here. It could partly be due to the jet black tints.

I truly believe Toyota has a winner in their hands and i am sure this mad rush to the showrooms would continue. What i am worried is the quality of A.S.S. Last week when i gave my Corolla for service, the Lanson guys had changed the left front shock + rear shock rubber bushes. When i took delivery, i heard "clang" sound whenever i drove over small patches on the road. To cut a long story short, Lanson had "forgotten" to tighten the shocks after making the replacements. I never experienced / expected this from Toyota.

What worries me further is that if Toyota A.S.S can make such grave mistakes with such low volume of vehicles, I simply cannot imagine how they are going to handle volumes.

[download2live]

Originally Posted by rkavthekar

Logan and Vista also have single reversing lights

takecare and drive safely

Ditto with Punto.

Feeling happy that finally someone is going to thrash Dzire.
Already half happy with Vento pounding it hard on City.
Dzire and City long took us for granted. No changes or at most cosmetic ones like new stickers, and keeping the car as ugly as it was right from the beginning. And for City, keeping the price damn high and staying aloof.
Your time is up guys. Get steam rolled.

[MaveRick4x4]

No doubt it is a VFM car in India.
One more cost cutting factor, a single swooping wiper blade for the front windshield, is it enough?
In case of Tata Nano, it is understood. But, for Etios two wipers would be the safe option.

[vishnurp99]

The car feels quite cheap atleast to me. The console nor the looks are good. The mechanicals might be reliable since this is a toyota but everything else gets a thumbdown from me.

Some of the folks have compared Figo to Etios.I think Figo is a VFM car where you get a wellengineered car with great handling/ride/tdci engine combo at a reasonable price which sold despite the brand.Etios is a cheapo car which will sell because of the brand. I am quite dissapointed since we were considering this one as our new car once we sell our santro.

[t-jet-mahi]

Excellent report GTO
If one looks at the positives, this car meets most of the expectations of the aam janta. Despite seeing a great response by aam janta, when some known people asked my opinion on this car, I couldn't whole heartedly say Yes. What is your (GTO) take on some of the questions that I was pondering about.

Will the cost cutting impact the so called bullet proof reliability of Toyota? I mean, how does it feel after driving the car?

Will you recommend it for a person who is product conscious and not looking after a specific brand?

After the initial hype, and even if Toyota adds some missing goodies later, can it sustain like swift/dzire? I have my reservations in the long run about this already dated and boring design.

[Minardi]

it seems to me the pros and cons of the car are

cons:
1. absence of an MID. instrument cluster - ugly, poorly-placed and badly designed.
2. cost cutting to the limit, or should we say over the limit?
3. out-dated looks, parts

pros:
1. It's a Toyota
2. It's a Toyota
3. It's a Toyota

No doubt the car has some genuinely good points, i think it has too many deal-breakers. Looking at the success of i20, the current Indian consumer does not mind paying a bit extra, but wants a contemporary car with well appointed interiors.

The failure of Honda Jazz shows that cars can no longer be sold on the strengths of the badge only. The Qualis might have had outdated looks, but there were no cost-cutting involved there. Also, look at the competition Qualis had. (Tata Sumo?). And over a period the taste of the consumer has changed too. And look at the competition this car has to face. No way can this car sway buyers of NHC/Linea/Verna.

The more and more I think about Etios, I think this car will fail. This car does not even have some features that an i10 has. Let's not be influenced by the initial bookings. Many have booked even without looking at the car. This car is totally UnToyotaish.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by clevermax

Isn't the plastic over the foot well bent? The foot well looks unfinished.

You bet it is. And looks rather crude too!

Originally Posted by Abhi_Automobile

GTO, do you think that it actually will take 8 months to deliver an Etios as Toyota dealers are speculating?

Do the math (15K bookings so far vs production capacity) and it shouldn't. As of now, I'd expect a 3 - 4 month waiting period.

Originally Posted by 9thsphinx

Say, someone in the family is looking for a 'big' car and apparently after reading your Etios review has 2 options. A Honda Jazz Select or a Toyota Etios VX? What do you think they should go for? Don't bother answering a Why. Thanks.

If he doesn't need a boot / sedan, most definitely the Jazz. It's way more refined / premium.

Originally Posted by Palio_2005

It will sell because it's Toyota but in any mature market it would be just trashed.

Not really. The Etios will sell because its got class-leading space, driveability, boot capacity, balanced ride / handling and topped up with the "T" badge. A brand can only take you so far though. Ask Honda Jazz, Maruti A-Star or, conversely, Chevy Cruze (which sells so well despite average brand value in the 15 lakh segment).

If you talk of a mature product for a mature market, there is always the Altis. Toyota doesn't have a product at this price-point (including Indian taxation structure) elsewhere. The Etios has obvious cost-cutting...no two sides to that. But also, we shouldn't forget that the pricing is bang in the Dzire / Manza territory. And with a lot of product advantages to add.

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

Why are pull type handles better than flap type ?

Style

Originally Posted by MCR

Excellent review GTO. How do you rate the Etios as compared to Logan? Is the build quality, fit and finish similar?

Logan is also very spacious. What really killed the Logan was the over-optimistic pricing for a cheap sedan. I remember commenting that the price difference to the diesel Indigo (at the time) was 1 lakh rupees.

[fuel_addict]

Originally Posted by rkavthekar

Logan and Vista also have single reversing lights

takecare and drive safely

Add the City ZX VTEC to that list too. The single reverse light was provided to accommodate the fog lamp on the other side.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by adimicra

why the hell should I bother about sales numbers?

As a buyer, you should because a market flop almost always suffers from poor resale (and depreciation can be the largest cost component of a car). As an enthusiast you should, because it helps us analyse the market better. The market success of a car dictates whether the manufacturer really gave the market what it wanted. I may not agree with some success stories in the Indian market, yet will concede that they had just the hot buttons that the customer wanted.

At the end of the day, no one is forcing anyone to buy a car with a gun to their head. It's the customers money, and he has every right to place it where he pleases.

Originally Posted by Sabby-069

Seems to be a very well thought out car with not too many frills, and at the same time having all what most of the entry C-segment buyers would want (FE, decent looks, good fit n finish, decent interiors, and most importantly - the brand!).

You nailed it. The Etios gives buyers most of what they want.

Originally Posted by t-jet-mahi

Will the cost cutting impact the so called bullet proof reliability of Toyota?

We'll have to wait for the ownership reports.

Will you recommend it for a person who is product conscious and not looking after a specific brand?

Of course yes! Look at the "What you will like" part at the start of this review. It doesn't have "brand" in it

I have my reservations in the long run about this already dated and boring design.

100% agreed. The Etios looks dated today, and will look a lot more so in 2015.

[adimicra]

Originally Posted by GTO

As a buyer, you should because a market flop almost always suffers from poor resale (and depreciation can be the largest cost component of a car). As an enthusiast you should, because it helps us analyse the market better. The market success of a car dictates whether the manufacturer really gave the market what it wanted. I may not agree with some success stories in the Indian market, yet will concede that they had just the hot buttons that the customer wanted.

It is obvious that if a car sells well, then it has given the market what it wants.
But I do not understand why a car enthusiast needs to bother about it.
The market expectations from a car is not very difficult to understand anyway, though the car manufacturers screw it up somehow. That's why whenever a new car is launched, it is pretty easy to predict whether the car will be a success or failure ( at least for the inital 1-2 years). Isn't it?
I agree with the resale part. But that again depends on whether the buyer is looking to sell the car anytime soon. I for one do not plan to sell my car anytime soon even if I buy a new car.
Yes, it makes me happy if the car you have bought sells well but if it doesn't, it doesn't bother me much if I am happy with the car I have bought.
Sorry for the OT post.

Anyway, I am not debating about the success of Etios. Who can? It is already a humongous success and breaking few records. Kudos to Toyota for understanding the Indian market so well. But, as a car enthusiast, this car does not excite me at all! The single biggest reason for its success is the Toyota badge followed by VFM and other factors.
But, as someone said, I doubt if such an outdated and no-frills car will continue to see the same success 3 years down the line when we will have many 'new' and exciting car launches (hopefully)

Originally Posted by GTO

If he doesn't need a boot / sedan, most definitely the Jazz. It's way more refined / premium.

Jazz has a big boot which is similar to many sedans (though smaller than Etios) and lot of other flexbilities to carry your luggage. So, if someone is not very particualr about a sedan, makes sense to go for Jazz

[emkay456]

read the Business Line review here Smartbuy» Automobiles Cars Cover » Toyota redefines the people’s sedan

is it the same Test car GTO got to review ?? seems by the reg. plate.