[nkrishnap]

Statutory warning! - A long post.

One fine afternoon in September with nothing to do at home, myself and my better starting all sorts of discussions. Starting from an overseas vacation to constructing a house. The very same day during the evening walk at the nearby temple we saw a new car getting blessed by lord Ganesh. Now the idea of purchasing a car started in a very small way in the mind.
Over the subsequent weeks we started visiting various company websites in search of the entry level petrol hatch as our monthly running would not exceed 500 kms in a month.

The cars that were considered are

Alto K10
Chevrolet Beat
Chevrolet Spark
Zen Estilo
Wagon R
Santro
i10

Initially we did not consider any of the cars other than these. Initially with all the accessories we fixed a budget of 4.5-4.8 lacs on road Bangalore. Though this was varying with the different cars we started test driving and collecting information, I completely agree that we did not have a stable budget and not a suitable way to start a car shopping thing. We were eagerly waiting for the weekend to kick start our test drives for the above mentioned cars.

Disclaimer – The observations from the test drives are my personal opinions and do not intend to offend or hurt anybody’s sentiment.

We started our first set of test drives.

Alto K10 – This was our first test drive. Nothing needs to be said about the looks of this car, it’s been around for quite some time, so not writing anything much on the looks. The test drive car had around 12K kms on the odo. The test drive was taken on the busy streets of Queens’s road and Cunningham road to specifically check the driveability. The gearbox needs to be worked with and this isn’t the best gearbox round for sure. Whatever the marketing gimmick about the cable operated gearbox is all crap. The space being a constraint, we decided to keep this on hold.

Zen Estilo – We did check out the display car in and out, but did not bother to test drive the car. Not to our taste, we excluded this car from the list even though there were quite good discounts given with this car.

Wagon R – A very practical car and a whole lot better built than the Alto K10. We did test drive the car and the car was shortlisted for next rounds.

Santro & i10 – Have driven this car extensively (a couple of close friends have both these cars). The moment we walked into the showroom and here is how the short conversation went.

Me – Hi, We are here to enquire about the Santro and i10.
Sales Exec – Waiting period is minimum one month.
Me – I did not ask what is the lead time for delivery, I am asking for the price list and a brochure.
SE – (walks up to the reception desk, picks up the pricelist without the brochure) here it is. (Walks away after giving the pricelist to us).
I told my wife this is it and walkout of the showroom, but the decision was made, no Hyundai at cost.

Next in line were Chevrolet Spark and Beat. At the showroom we had a detailed look at the car. Need to mention that the sales rep was patient enough to answer all my queries. The test drive vehicle was sent to another customer’s place so could not test drive the car.

We returned home and started evaluating the cars the list was shortened to just 3, i.e. K10, Beat and Wagon R.

Now with Dad and mom also got involved into the short listing process, Alto K10 was out on lack of space and Beat was out of not so airy feel at the back seat due to high waist line. So we were left with Wagon R.

Rechecked the price list, Wagon R Vxi was 4.80 lacs on road, we were perfectly happy with the short listing of the car but not after my cousin visited our house on the Sunday evening. He too was keen on purchasing the car but no idea which one buy, I shared all the research that I had done already.

After the discussion we upped our budget to 5.5 lacs. Out went Wagon R and the B segment cars entered into the hunting list.

Ritz
Figo
Liva
Brio
Micra

Did not consider the Vista, nothing against Vista, but did not suit our taste. Punto had to be Multijet, our usage did not warrant one and the budget also did not permit one.

Ritz and Brio were out on the looks, my parents and my wife did not like these.

We had the test drive of Figo first and we were looking at ZXI version which was decently equipped. A lot has been already said about the car, so not elaborating again. We did manage to scrape a few speed breakers, Figo was out of list.

Toyota Etios Liva was the test driven next. From the team-bhp review, I did not have high expectations nor did have any negative impression on the Liva. The test drive went on as expected, the car does what it is expected to do and has got the fundamentals very strong.

We wanted to decide after the test drive of Micra, on a Sunday afternoon, we test drove the Micra and Liva back to back. The XL version of Micra was decently equipped and seemed better built. But I did not like clutch pedal placement one bit.

So it was Liva indeed we decided upon. We decided upon the Vermilion Red color and G verison.

On the 13th of October 2011, spoke to the sales rep from Viva Toyota and transferred the booking amount of Rs. 50,000/-.

The car loan hunting process started next. We wanted to buy the car in my wife’s name. We wanted a loan with very low or no processing fees, no prepayment penalties. Out went all the private banks.
We applied for a loan at State Bank of India and State Bank of Mysore. We knew the floating interest rate thing, but the other benefits far outweighed the floating interest rate thing.

SBI was too slow to process our application; they did not even bother to log our file in for a couple days. Disgruntled with this, we decided to apply at SBM as one of my close relatives work at SBM at a high position. We applied for the car loan at SBM on 17th October 2011; the rest of the things did not take too long. The loan was approved and we had the DD with us on 19th October 2011 evening. Fantastic I would say. Handed the DD over to the dealer who had informed us that the Liva G Vermilion Red would be shipped from the Factory on Thursday night (20th Night) and the delivery would be possible on 24th October 2011. All is well till Friday morning.

Friday morning, I get a call that the red color was not shipped and whether I would be interested to change the color. Nobody in the family was open to the idea of changing the color. We informed the dealer that we would rather cancel the booking instead of changing the color. The sales manager calls up and asks for a couple of hour’s time and promises to call back.

Bingo right after 2 hours, I get a call informing that there is Liva G – SP version available with a co-dealer and he can arrange for this car. Now, I tell him I want to discuss this with the family and would confirm by Saturday morning. Saturday morning we walk into the showroom and had a discussion with the sales manager and confirm to change the booking from G to G-SP. We could negotiate a few accessories from the dealer. The initial impression and the deal details coming in the next post.

[nkrishnap]

The D day being 24th October 2011, the dealer told me the car would arrive by 11 am on Monday. Took a half on Monday and headed straight to the showroom for the PDI with the Team-bhp PDI checklist.

The car was manufactured in September 2011 and had 16 kms on the odo meter. Everything seemed fine. Asked the guys to clean the car perfectly and gave a go ahead for the registration and headed home.

I, my wife and parents headed to the showroom to take the delivery at around 7 pm. Since everything was in place, I was ok taking delivery after 6 pm. Also Viva Toyota had 34 deliveries on Monday.

Now the freebies that were offered due the inconvenience caused for the change of variant are

1. Mud Flaps
2. Rubber Mats
3. Red Gear Knob
4. Steering Wheel cover
5. Additional Security apart from key-less entry
6. Fog lamps
7. Headlight cutout for 100/90W headlight set u

Apart from these, got idol, Liva key Chain, chocolates, digital clock with alarm

The accessories guy and I had a discussion during the PDI and had agreed that the mud flaps, mats, red gear knob, fog lamps, steering wheel cover would be done on the delivery day and had to come back on Saturday for the additional security system and the headlight cutout. Fair enough as there was shortage of man power which was quite evident.

It rained just before taking the delivery and the guys had to redo the cleaning session again which caused a delay of about 20 mins.

The head sales manager personally handed over the keys to my dad and we thanked the team with toffees and a small gift to the sales manager.

We started our first ride in our new Liva.

Headed straight to the temple to seek bless from the almighty.

Here are the initial impressions after driving the car for 135 kms in a couple of days. The team-bhp review covers up most of the aspects, however, adding my views as well.

Positives

1. The car is very easy to drive with the controls light and with everything falling in place except for the headlight leveling device.
2. Space, space and space. The car is spacious to carry 3 adults in the back seat without a complaint and has decent thigh support unless somebody is above 6 ft.
3. Had good torque and motor is more than sufficient for the city drives and the occasional highway drives.
4. The cabin feels airy with the good levels of glass area.
5. The car surprisingly handles the potholes well.
6. The steering is super light when stationary (not when the engine is off ), weighs up quite decently as the speed increases, but nowhere near the Fiats (Palio and Punto) and the Figo.
7. Lots of cubby holes to store things.
8. The headlight spread is good enough. Though I wished the high beam had a little more wider spread.
9. Fog lamps pretty useful.
10. Large speedometer easy to read and easy on the eye too driving at night. Will try to click a snap of this.
11. The cooled glove box is deep enough and pretty useful.
12. Excellent paint quality nice deep shine on the red color.
13. Single wiper quite effective, did get to use it everyday due to rain in Bangalore. Does a good job.
14. Decent enough boot space, but not the league of Figo/Punto
15. The ride quality has got better as the OEM tyres (MRF ZVTV) were swapped with 185/65 R14 Michelin Energy XM1+ tyres. The steering weighs up a wee bit better with the slightly wider rubber.

Negatives

1. The color of plastics definitely makes it look cheap, but they are screwed in nicely and definitely expect this to last long
2. The ac controls feels very delicate and the head light leveling device knob also feels that way.
3. Seat belt height adjuster is a shocking omission
4. The power window control not back-lit. Wonder how much did Toyota skipping this feature.
5. The doors don’t auto lock once you start driving. Need to see if this can be fixed with the additional security that will be fitted this Saturday.
6. Small font for the odo and trip meters are not so easy to read

Issues face till now - NONE, except for the small hiccup before the delivery with regard to the availability of the color and variant.

I had asked the dealer to put fuel for Rs. 500/- which was paid in advance before delivery and promptly done by the dealer. Did a tank the second day morning, 35 litres went in on the first tankful.

Things changes/added till date

1. OEM tyres 175/65 R14 changed to 185/65 R14, cost Rs. 9000/- after buy back of OEM tyres
2. 3M under-body coating – Rs 3195
3. Paint sealant – Rs 2995
4. Sun film CS 35 – Rs 5250
5. Bosch wind tone horns – Rs 550

Things pending

1. Seat cover
2. ICE
3. Alloy wheels
4. Side Visors

A few pics now

At the temple waiting for the blessings from the almighty








At home














Tyre Change








Under body before 3M coating








After under body coating







Foam Wash







Paint Sealant




Will be doing a detailed photo-shoot over the weekend till then this is all the pictures for now.

The thread will be updated regularly as the days go on and more kms are clocked.

[MCR]

Congrats on the car Krishna. Your car looks hot in Red.
Which was the OE tyre on your car?
Also please let us know the service intervals of the car.

[milu2fast]

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[Vik0728]

Congrats on your latest pick nkrishnap.

I have seen many Livas on road in Bangalore but have not see one in this Shade. Yesterday while getting back from work, happened to tail one for quite some distance. The driver seemed pretty spirited and guess was playing "Catch me if you Can" with me since the roads were pretty empty.
I feel, broad tires under the wide rear wll do justice for an otherwise flimsy looking OEM rubber.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by MCR

Congrats on the car Krishna. Your car looks hot in Red.
Which was the OE tyre on your car?
Also please let us know the service intervals of the car.

Thanks MCR.

OEM tyre was MRF ZVTV. This was swapped with Michelin energy XM1+ for 9000 bucks.

Service intervals are 10,000 kms. First mandatory oil change at 10,000 kms and not at 1,000 kms.

Keep shooting the questions, I will answer to the best possible extent

[MAS]

Congrats Krishna on your new drive.

This colour suits the Liva well. Would suggest to shod her with a set of good looking alloys and she will look even better.

Drive Safe.

[drmohitg]

Congrats on your new Liva. Liva looks so much better then the Etios IMHO. The Red colour looks awesome on it.

You can get the auto-lock feature in the extra security system you are getting. Make sure it comes with it. I got the same in my Innova and whenever I press the brake after starting the car the doors autolock.

BTW did any water seep in during the extensive foam wash ?

[anup7649]

Congrats on the buy. So what was the Final OTR for the car. Nice color shade you have chosen.

OT: You now have to change your profile pic (loyalty) towards Toyota

[avingodb]

congrats and wish you happy miles with the Liva
my brother has also got the delivery of his Liva G in the same colour. So I look forward to your ownership experience over the long term!

[RadiantKarma]

Congrats on your new car. Thanks for sharing nice thoughtful pictures.

Liva looks gorgeous in the Red. I frequently spot a Red Liva VX on my regular route. The G model without that chrome at the rear looks even better. And you've even shared the pics of the bathing beauty!

the car does what it is expected to do and has got the fundamentals very strong.

Spot-on!

Wishing you effortless crunching of miles after happy and safe miles.

[Latheesh]

Congrats! Yesterday I spotted a red Liva G variant @ St. John's Hospital signal near Madiwala, was it your car?

[aaren]

Congrats on your new purchase, nkrishnap !! The car looks terrific in this color. Nice details in your report. By the by, what does the paint sealant do ?

[jaygeetee]

Congratulations! The car looks really good in red.
My friend was looking for a car and liva was one of the short-list.

Couple of things I didn't like when we did the test drive.
1) Very cheap looking plastic, compared to the Brio i10 etc. I think the colour actually makes it look worse.
2) Obvious cost cutting in small things where it would have been so much better that they gave the feature and charged an additional grand or two for it.

We saw a car in the showroom where they had done it and interiors looked so much better. They had painted the dashboard and re-clothed the door panels.
I think, after buying it one would need to spend an additional 20-40k to make it look interiors better.

Keep the updates coming and have a lot of fun driving.

[nkrishnap]

First of all thanks to every one. Need to click for each one of you. Have gone lazy, but will surely do

Originally Posted by Vik0728

Congrats on your latest pick nkrishnap.

I have seen many Livas on road in Bangalore but have not see one in this Shade. Yesterday while getting back from work, happened to tail one for quite some distance. The driver seemed pretty spirited and guess was playing "Catch me if you Can" with me since the roads were pretty empty.
I feel, broad tires under the wide rear wll do justice for an otherwise flimsy looking OEM rubber.

OEM spec 175/65 R14 is anyday better than 165s and 155s that are offerred by other competitors. Completely agree 185 or even 195 sections will definitely enhance the looks of the car.

Originally Posted by MAS

Congrats Krishna on your new drive.

This colour suits the Liva well. Would suggest to shod her with a set of good looking alloys and she will look even better.

Drive Safe.

Vitamin M deficiency after we decided to shell out the additional money for the ABS, EBD and Airbags version.

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Congrats on your new Liva. Liva looks so much better then the Etios IMHO. The Red colour looks awesome on it.

You can get the auto-lock feature in the extra security system you are getting. Make sure it comes with it. I got the same in my Innova and whenever I press the brake after starting the car the doors autolock.

BTW did any water seep in during the extensive foam wash ?

Forget the foam wash, it has been raining everyday in Bangalore right from the day I took the delivery of the car and was parked outside in the rain. Till now the so ill famed door beading is doing its job. I hope its stay the same way unless I fiddle around with it.

Originally Posted by anup7649

Congrats on the buy. So what was the Final OTR for the car. Nice color shade you have chosen.

OT: You now have to change your profile pic (loyalty) towards Toyota

Ha Ha. I am still a FIAT Fan, though always had a good opinion about Toyota and the purchase has only reinforced the belief and opinion. Though will update the avatar.

Originally Posted by avingodb

congrats and wish you happy miles with the Liva
my brother has also got the delivery of his Liva G in the same colour. So I look forward to your ownership experience over the long term!

Definitely will keep the thread posted with the frequent updates. Hope it does help prospective buyers or current owners as well.

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Congrats! Yesterday I spotted a red Liva G variant @ St. John's Hospital signal near Madiwala, was it your car?

Yesterday What time? I was near the St Johns hospital on the way to the 3M center at HSR Layout.

Originally Posted by jaygeetee

Congratulations! The car looks really good in red.
My friend was looking for a car and liva was one of the short-list.

Couple of things I didn't like when we did the test drive.
1) Very cheap looking plastic, compared to the Brio i10 etc. I think the colour actually makes it look worse.
2) Obvious cost cutting in small things where it would have been so much better that they gave the feature and charged an additional grand or two for it.

We saw a car in the showroom where they had done it and interiors looked so much better. They had painted the dashboard and re-clothed the door panels.
I think, after buying it one would need to spend an additional 20-40k to make it look interiors better.

Keep the updates coming and have a lot of fun driving.

The plastic does look cheap, but no way its gonna break off. I have mentioned it earlier, the color makes it really cheap. If the same was to be in Black and Beige combo, it would have looked way better.

20-25K is well spent to spruce up the interiors its in the pipeline. Will keep the updates coming.