[aerohit]

Just an FYI

Characteristically, there is one additional difference between Altis and Elantra/Jetta.

Elantra/Jetta both have Independent Rear Suspension. Altis, though a good car has torsion beam in the rear.

[teknophobia]

I'm considering the same car and I was wondering how your experience has been till now.

[rednikhil]

That's a really elaborate ownership review of the "G-MT" variant, perhaps the only such write up on the forum; my complements to you!
Please continue sharing your experiences as you spend more and more time with your beloved!

You are a rare double owner of a Fiesta and an Altis, two cars that are usually bought by entirely different set of people; having absolutely different requirements and expectations from their cars. Your impressions on the driving pleasure of the Altis viz a viz the Fiesta would be a great tool for anyone wanting to have an insight into the world's most sold car from Toyota. Please let it flow!

[saibal.dutta]

congratulations hypermiler on your new corolla! The car looks stunning in the grey color. I was myself deciding on a car in this segment and your experience has made it easier for me to decide on this car. I have a particular question regarding the new corolla's brake pads. Are they still the same as the previous gen Corolla Altis? I had read numerous issues with the same. I was wondering if that continues to be the same.

Thx

Saibal

[aniket13]

Originally Posted by hypermiler

Thanks everyone for your wishes .



Will post the service history over the period of usage.

Hi hypermiler: I'm in the market for a 2014 Altis 1.8G CVT (with 50-60k on the odometer). Could you please share your long-term ownership experience with this generation of Altis, and if anything one should be aware of while shopping for the same in the used car market?

Originally Posted by Selective

Congratulations HyperMiler! Enjoy your drives!!!

I have bought Corolla Altis G (CVT) in November 2014 with the same color, GRAY!! So far, I am enjoying every bit of it. Till now, I have driven only within the city, hopefully next month, I will get a chance drive out of Bangalore.

Selective.

Hi Selective - I'm also looking for a similar model in the used car market. Can you please share your ownership experience so far with a few positive and negative points! Would you recommend it in 2022?

[hypermiler]

Originally Posted by aniket13

Hi hypermiler: I'm in the market for a 2014 Altis 1.8G CVT (with 50-60k on the odometer). Could you please share your long-term ownership experience with this generation of Altis, and if anything one should be aware of while shopping for the same in the used car market?

A bit late, but I hope it would be useful. One of the most reliable cars that I ever had. Apart from regular service, up to the 5 year mark, nothing else to worry about. As I mentioned earlier, I did not change even the battery until the 5th year, and probably it would have lasted longer.

As a precautionary measure, I had asked the SA to change the battery post 5th year and SA identified that there was an alternator issue which I replaced. Costed around 20k I think.

Good space (boot and insides) and soft in the city, (Jeep compass in the city seemed very harsh when I transitioned to this after the Altis). But a bit bounce in the highway, unless you load it with luggage, in which case, the suspension would offer a stiffer ride.

The GC is adequate and I have not scraped the bottom, they some of the roads that I travel have very rough patches in a couple of stretches.

The sixth year, SA noted that one of the rear suspension struts (I am not sure what it was called exactly) was leaking a bit, but was ok to go for a year and can change it the next year. I sold the car by then. SA indicated that changing the strut will set me back by 6-7k.

Mileage was ~10 - 11kmpl. I drive sedately with a mix of city and highway (40, 60%).

AC was a chiller. I ended up keeping it at 24.5 degree C. But it still froze my knuckles. But during the corona period / lockdown, I did not drive the car a lot and one fine day (~6th year), found that the AC was not cooling. Had to change the cooling coils (~25k) and then it was back to the freezing normal self.

I sold it primarily as the car was no longer being sold by Toyota. If it was still in production and a facelift was available, I would definitely have gone for it again. The car had done ~68k kms I think, and we were very sad to let it go. I am sure it would have easily gone on to 150k kms with no problems.

Bottom line, usually during the period of 6.5 years with me, I did not face any unforeseen problems that I had faced with other cars. It is pretty reliable. But it you do get some problems, the parts / costs are expensive.

[nagr22]

Originally Posted by hypermiler

...post 5th year and SA identified that there was an alternator issue which I replaced. Costed around 20k I think.
...

The sixth year, SA noted that one of the rear suspension struts (I am not sure what it was called exactly) was leaking a bit, but was ok to go for a year and can change it the next year. I sold the car by then. SA indicated that changing the strut will set me back by 6-7k.

....

I did not drive the car a lot and one fine day (~6th year), found that the AC was not cooling. Had to change the cooling coils (~25k) and then it was back to the freezing normal self.

....

I am sure it would have easily gone on to 150k kms with no problems.

Hi, thanks for your post. In 6 years of ownership you had one alternator replaced, one damaged suspension and one AC cooling coil replaced. I am curios to know why you still consider the car to be reliable with no problems?
As a fellow Toyota owner I am a little disappointed to hear you had to change all these parts within a year of extended warranty (assuming you had taken for 5 years)!
Aren't toyotas known to last for several lakh kms with stock parts (except brakes I guess)?

[aniket13]

Originally Posted by hypermiler

Bottom line, usually during the period of 6.5 years with me, I did not face any unforeseen problems that I had faced with other cars. It is pretty reliable. But it you do get some problems, the parts / costs are expensive.

Thanks for getting back with a detailed ownership review. The fact that it is discontinued plus the eye-watering spares cost made me look elsewhere. Pricing for even basic parts seemed atrocious - with no warranty or zero-dep insurance possible on older gen cars, decided to give this one a skip and stick to my Honda City for now.

[hypermiler]

Originally Posted by nagr22

Hi, thanks for your post. In 6 years of ownership you had one alternator replaced, one damaged suspension and one AC cooling coil replaced. I am curios to know why you still consider the car to be reliable with no problems?
As a fellow Toyota owner I am a little disappointed to hear you had to change all these parts within a year of extended warranty (assuming you had taken for 5 years)!
Aren't toyotas known to last for several lakh kms with stock parts (except brakes I guess)?

I would not count the suspension as an issue, primarily because of the roads that I had to drive is more, let's say, in 4x4 territory. I have had similar issues with my diesel Fiesta earlier that I had for 6 years.

The AC was working fine and suddenly in a month, it lost its cooling. I had not driven the car due to the lockdowns. Perhaps rats might have done some damage as I had kept the car unused for quite some time.

Discounting these two, I had not seen any problems in the 6.5 years of ownership. All Fords that I had owned had a/c problems. The fiesta diesel had the suspension overhauled and the engine sump oil leaking problem that was eventually fixed. The All new Fiesta had multiple issues with the AC switching off due to overheating and I had to sell it without knowing a resolution. All cars had their batteries replaced by the 2nd or 3rd year. Atleast one headlight bulb fused for the Zen, Flair and the diesel Fiesta. The Zen had to get the gas refilled on the 4th year. The diesel Fiesta had the powered window motor fail on warranty. It also had the clutch spring failing and had to be towed.

As with my experience, mostly all cars start showing problems from the 4th year onwards...

So, comparing to the other cars, the Toyota was much better, and I felt confident that I would be able to continue that way for another 3-4 years.