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Has anyone tried their hand at improving the rear look of Etios (old model)? To me, the biggest eyesore is the fat chrome strip on the rear and I am sure many would feel the same way. I was just wondering if we can repaint the chrome strip with body colour or Black. I guess body colour would be a better idea. I welcome any suggestions or ideas from fellow BHPians. The ideas can include modification of bumper or lamps.



This image is taken from GTO's official review page. Hope this is fine.

@amatuerpro I agree about the chrome; cars without it look plain but not bad. The body coloured strip idea is there in the Platinum Etios, and looks good atleast on the silver; guess what, base G model has it, but V, VX get a chrome strip :Frustrati ... I think they know many people go for it, and a few grit & bear but buy anyway.

What you say about Platinum G is interesting. I missed seeing this in a Platinum G car and I assumed all platinum cars had a chrome strip under the Toyota logo. Can anyone post the rear image of Platinum Etios G please?

It still may not help my cause as I cannot have two strips one below the other.

I managed to see a Platinum Etios G model today. The body coloured strip looks better. In the old Etios model, we had the fat chrome strip. Is it possible to paint this fat chrome strip?

Nippon Toyota, Kalamassery is equipped with an advanced Paint shop which can do these sort of works. I've seen some custom paint works from then like the mat finish and custom interior painting and it looked neat. You might want to call them and enquire.

How about a rear spoiler??

Thanks @amalji and @kotirajendra for your inputs.

Will check with my Chennai dealer about the painting option. Have taken my mind off this due to other preoccupations. Will definitely do something about the rear and share the experience.

I don't like the look of rear spoilers in most sedans though it looks good in some hatchbacks. Etios (especially the old model) is the last car I would do a rear spoiler as the fat chrome strip and spoiler would be too close to each other. Looks are subjective and I am just speaking about my likes.

The rear bumper is also different in the platinum model as compared to the first model. I am not sure if it has a perceptible positive impact as the new front bumper on Platinum Etios.

Has anyone tried roof rail on Etios?

Bye the way, I saw an Etios taxi with the chrome plate missing and it didn't look odd in anyway at all. In fact the absence lent it a distinctive flow. I tried to take a snap for you but it was low light and I was behind the wheel so wasn't successful.

Thanks. Most J models used to come without Chrome strip and it may be the case even now. The car looks bad even without the chrome strip. I was wondering why Etios alone looks so sad on the rear as compared to most other cars in its segment, compact sedans or even in higher segments.

There could well be a simple answer.

Corolla, City, Vento, Rapid, Amaze, Ciaz, Dzire and Tigor are sedans where the number plates are fitted on the boot door. Etios and Ford Aspire are the only cars that have number plates on the rear bumpers. The much needed visual relief provided by number plates is missing in these two cars. Ford can take some bold calls since they are known to be usually good in the Department of Aesthetics. Toyota should simply be moving up the number plate (to the boot door) and Etios would look fine IMHO.

Just realised that Toyota had tried to do an 'Etios' in the USA too. Bland / outdated styling, basic interiors (borderline cheap), 1.5L engine, a rudimentary econobox.

That model also caused Toyota a lot of heartburn in terms of damage to its brand, and poor sales.

It was called the Toyota Echo.

Source & Article

The pre-facelifted linea also had the number plate on the rear bumper and the irony is that it looked better than the facelifted linea which has it on the boot door. So it's not about the number plate but toyota's bland taste about styling.

Regardless of how basic or bland the car was, it was a joy to own it. The fundamentals were so strong and still it was cheap to buy and maintain.

• The suspensions offered excellent ride comfort, but at the same time it was adequately equipped with the dynamics needed to have some fun on the roads.
• Offered loads of space both for the passengers and their luggage.
• Even though the diesel is not going to win any 0-100 kmph drag race, it offered excellent drivability without jerky acceleration which is the need of the hour in typical Indian driving conditions.
• I can slam through the broken Indian roads on the Etios and still come out unscathed. The 1.25 lakh kms of ownership was absolutely hassle free and I don't think I'll ever get to own something as reliable as the Etios ever!
• And I would any day feel more confident about driving the Etios at a higher speed than many of those accomplished and electronics filled competition thanks to those excellent brakes which brings the vehicle to a stop without much drama.

Today, I no longer own an Etios and I have bought the Crysta top end which costed me 3x the cost and is fitted with all the gimmicks. But, I still find it falling short of the Etios in many respects.

The Etios was a fundamentally strong car designed with Indian roads in mind.
The Innova Crysta is luxurious, feels plush. But, there are a lot of gaps in terms of the fundamentals. I'll be elaborating more on this on my ownership review.

End of the day, manufacturers go by market demand. Toyota understands now that gimmicks sell more in Indian market rather than fundamentals.

I just came back from a Goa drive in my 1.5 TRD petrol hatch version, a drive that reinforced all its strong points. I bought it in 2013 for a ten year planned life and it looks set to exceed that comfortably. My wife did one way in the rear of an Audi A4 and came out shaking her head at the end saying that she will not leave the rear seat of the Toyota again for the A4; perhaps the tyres had a little extra air or perhaps the Toyota really has more of a flat ride than the A4.

Hmm, I had a similar conversation with my wife.

While I was driving through a broken galli road in Bangalore which we are familiar with, my wife asked me - "are you happy with the car?"

I answered - "yes" in a soft way. Then I asked her why did you ask that question. She replied - "no, just like that that. How happy are you? Very happy or just happy?".

I asked her why she asked that question. She replied "I miss the Etios". I asked "why?".

Her reply - "we've gone through the same roads many a time. The Etios felt much more comfortable. Don't you agree?"

I nodded in agreement. In fact I was driving the crysta like a baby because I was aware that it will make the journey very uncomfortable if I push down the accelerator on such roads. On the Etios, I used to fly through these roads and still my wife felt better ride comfort on the Etios. The ride quality of crysta is far from "supremely comfortable" mentioned by almost every reviewer. To make matters worse, I'm used to one of the most comfortable rides on Indian roads - "the ride on an Etios". And I keep getting reminded about its ride quality because my daily journey to the office is still on an Etios ( office cab ). Inspite of the fact that the car is driven rashly on bad roads, the cabin feels composed.

The other thing I noticed is that usual back stretches etc that are needed after a long drive in all other cars are not necessary after similar length drives in the Etios Liva. The seats don't look good with fancy stitching etc., but offer a much nicer place to spend a long time for those that have suspect backs. No back pain while seated in the car for long stretches, and therefore no need to do anything special at the end of the drive.

IMO, all that the car misses out on in these days of congested cities is an auto box. And not the AMT rubbish kind that always feels worse than my manual changes. What an auto would also allow is the cruise control feature that is also useful for my knees - in every car, including the Toyota my right knee complains after having to play a role for 8 hours plus in using the accelerator. On the highway, once cruise control is engaged, that stress is missing and thus a big relief.

The car is just as suited for India as the Qualis was in its application. Much better than i20 with all its bells and whistles, that will not stop passengers from feeling uneasy because of the way it bobs around at speed on highways. I suspect other small hatches are similar in that respect.