[freakmuzik]

#This will be a lengthy thread as the process of my purchase was pretty lengthy!

1989 Premier Padmini (bought in ’95) - 2010 Maruti Wagon-R - 2010 Tata Nano - 2014 Hyundai Eon - 2015 Tata Nano(II)

This has been the entire history of cars in my house. Other than the Padmini which I did not even get to drive properly (I wasn’t 18 then), none of them had a 4 cylinder engine. As an automobile lover, as someone who loves driving with family, I always missed a comfortable & spacious car. Each time our family does a trip, the conversation of what car to buy next would creep in but due to career related reasons and us being in different cities, buying a big car never truly materialised as everyone of us needed a tiny city car.

Since 2020, I once again truly felt the itch to have a family car as I always had this wish to make road-trips with my family. I slowly started hunting for my choices and saving funds for the same.

Back in 2021, thanks to T-BHP and its countless used car reviews, my determination to go the Used route was very very strong! But still, I used to check whatever car that gets launched. I was open to a wide range of buying options but wanted to find a car that:

1. Has 4 cylinders (petrol or diesel)
2. Is sufficiently refined
3. Spacious and comfortable for 4
4. Has cruise control
5. Can cruise at 90-100 at a lazy rpm
6. Is Reliable
7. Is Safe
8. Has a spacious boot
9. Has an overall solid feel
10. Is mechanically sound

With all these factors in my mind, I test drove a lot of new and used cars in the last one year. Had set a budget of 10 lakhs if it’s a new car, and with Used, I wasn’t quite sure where to draw the line.

New Cars:

1. Tata Altroz 1.5D - This is a Car that I loved the most - super nice to drive, good diesel engine, very comfortable and sufficiently loaded with features. If going for a new car under 10, I might have gone with this.

2. Honda Jazz 1.2 CVT - Looking at the atrocious pricing of used Jazz, I went ahead and test drove a new one (facelift). The cabin was super silent with the engine being ultra refined. CVT was convenient but made the car feel a little sluggish - I was convinced I could never drive enthusiastically with this one. But space was great, build felt good. Though I could not help but complain about the lack of rear headrests!

3. Honda City 1.5 Petrol (Manual & CVT) - The Sales executive looking at my partial dissatisfaction with the Jazz suggested why not try the City V Manual as the prices will be only slightly higher than the Jazz ZX CVT. I ended up trying out both the Manual and Automatic. The car does look super long and sure is amazingly spacious inside. Loved the seats and the driving position. The engine though free-revving, felt noisy inside the cabin (in comparison to the Jazz). I could hear everything above 2k rpm. This car, unlike the Jazz, felt powerful and even the CVT was decent. But the build of the car felt light and overall kept me wondering ‘Is this what I would get for 15 lakhs?’

4. Hyundai i20 1.0 DCT - Our family surely had no plans to buy a Hyundai again as our experience with the Eon hasn’t been great and Hyundai as a brand has not appealed to me personally. But I never miss giving an opportunity. So test drove the latest i20 turbo DCT. Loved the driving experience and gizmos and it drove better than the previous generation. But the car felt a bit too low for my liking and of-course the price was a major turn-off.

5. Tata Punch 1.2 Manual - This release felt like it was in the middle of nowhere - neither a tiny hatchback, nor a 4m CSUV. My mother loved the way it looked & asked if we can look at it as a replacement for our ageing Wagon-R and ended up test driving it. Other than the underpowered engine, everything was amazing as a package. But this wasn’t the kind of car I was looking at either.

6. Volkswagen Polo 1.0 TSI Manual - I surely knew this isn’t a car for 4 but just out of my interest to test myself with an enthusiasts car, went ahead and test drove a Polo TSI. The total driving experience was lovely but the car sure felt old in every way. And, I would have loved to have seen the 4-cyl engine retained as I definitely didn’t want to drive a 3-cyl engine anymore.

7. Kia Carens 1.5D Manual - This car was tried out just for the love of MUVs of my father. I loved the car, the quality and the comfort. The features were very well decided from one variant to another. The entry pricing was sure a marketing gimmick as anything that a regular buyer would look for will cost at least 15 lakhs on road. I tried the diesel but wasn’t very excited with the power but overall, loved the seating position and everything else about the car - esp, the refinement!

8. Ford Freestyle 1.5D - Absolutely loved the Diesel engine and the driving experience but the car felt light and boot was small. I was also worried about Ford shutting shop at that time.

9. Ford Ecosport 1.5D - What a difference in build quality compared to the Freestyle! Though it felt slower than the Freestyle, it was so good at everything else. Ride was stiff and my mother wasn’t happy with the rear seat.

10. Tata Nexon 1.5D Manual - I got to test drive the pre-facelift Nexon and my parents loved it but me not so much. The rear seats, though comfortable, had too much cushioning to my liking and the interiors felt a bit claustrophobic to me. Otherwise, everything was great.

[freakmuzik]

Used Car Search

It's a given that finding a used car is a tedious process so yes, the entire length of my search is being penned here so that it might help anyone who's looking at a used altis and the probable kind of examples one would find in the market.

The list of Used cars I was looking at initially were:

1. Honda Jazz CVT - My first search for used cars was the Jazz CVT primarily because of it being a reliable automatic and it not having a 3k rev speed at cruising speeds. But all cars were atrociously priced. The first example was priced very temptingly in Cars24 (1.5 years ago) but it got sold even before I could take a look.

2. Honda City 2012-2013 - Loved the facelift, increased ground clearance and everything about the car except the short gearing (manual). But couldn’t get hold of a low run, well kept and decently priced example at all.

3. Maruti S-Cross 1.6 - Out of my love for its crazy engine and the memory of test-driving it when launched, I checked out a couple of examples but was saddened by how low-rent the interiors felt in the examples I checked and the un-refined nature of the car. Either the examples were bad or these cars weren’t holding up as well as I thought it would after 50k - 60k kms.

In 2021 July, out of the blue, my cousin in Kerala called me up saying there’s a 2014 Corolla Altis up for auction at their work place and that they might invite tenders soon. It was a VL-At, run around 50k and I went and checked it out the next week. It was an amazingly maintained car but it looked and felt super huge to me for my use. I wasn’t really sure if I should go for it. And I couldn’t put down a big number right away for a used car. So we gave a low quote and some one else got it, still at a mouthwatering price.

But since that experience, I was sure what I was looking for is available only in the D-segment or similar UVs. I wanted this solid experience coupled with good reliability. I researched a lot on maintenance costs and what car I need to go for. Lots of amazing threads in T-BHP came to my rescue. I realised an Altis would be a good balance between all the aspects I was looking for. The following are the various used Altis examples I had checked there after.

Used Corolla Altis

1. Grey E170 2014 Altis VL AT (1st owner, company owned, 50k kms) - This was the car I had mentioned previously. It was a great example other than the fact that the owner had put seat covers over leather seats! It was a car for the MD of the company and he sure had his own choices.

2. Grey E170 2014 Altis G Manual (1st owner, ~55k kms) - Lanson U Trust - This was a decent car but the asking price was little too high and as I said before, I still felt this Altis to be pretty bulky though dimensions aren’t that different from the old one

Here comes the biggest twist in my Altis hunt - the one and only @vigsom. I always had a liking for the E140 Altis and not the E170 and that led me to his amazing thread of helping his friends purchase and maintain three of E140 examples. I had left him a message to thank him for the wonderful thread and asking for FNG suggestions in Chennai. He immediately responded and we got on call and started discussing about the below mentioned car!! I was super surprised to know he already had an idea of this car as a friend of his had checked it out. An intense phone call of 30-40 mins got me wondering how does this man know so much about the Altis and how kindly was he guiding a noob like me.

3. Pearl White 2012 Altis 1.8 GL (2nd owner, 78k kms) - This car looked good in picture (I was away from chennai) and as soon as I reached Chennai, went and checked out the car. It was decent though it did have its own share of works to be done. One headlamp was cracked, the suspension had some work to be done (Service history recommendation showed the same), steering wobbled above 80 kmph, there were a few dents and scratches, lumbar adjustment didn’t work. But interiors were clean and I could see the entire service history. Altogether I had to shell out around 60-70k to get it in full shape to my liking. I could have got this for around 4.1 as it was an Outside TN Re-registered 2nd owner car (TN car sentiments work this way I realise) but it was picked by someone else on the same day I checked it out.

4. Champagne Mica Metallic 2012 Altis VL AT (3rd owner, 1.29L kms) - This was just a random check as I never wanted to not miss a chance to check an Altis. This ad was up on Olx for a long while and had a fancy number with a quote of 4.5 L. Went on a Sunday and checked the car in person - body was decent, bumpers have been worked on (like in most examples), engine bay looked decent but one of the headlamp clamps were half broken. Interiors surprisingly looked good for such a heavily run car! Everything was working and next was a test drive. The first impression was quite good and I realised how tight even an 1.3 L run Altis could be! But the suspension needed work, brakes were spongy and weak and somehow felt the CVT wasn’t as smooth as it should be (revs were held higher). Plus, the conversation I had with someone the dealer connected stating as the owner was a little weird and I got no leads about it’s service history in any of the Toyota Service Networks in TN. The car was easily available for 3.75L. Discussed in detail with @vigsom sir and decided against it in the end.

5. Grey 2015 Altis VL AT (1st owner, 35k kms) - This ad looked spooky right from the word go as it was priced at 8L. But went ahead and checked it. The car looked sparkling clean from the outside. Got the keys, and opened the drivers door - there comes a heavy squeak from the front door. Mind you, this is the first Altis I’m seeing having any squeaks at all. And the door was jammed in the 2nd stage opening position and needed a fierce pull to open further. I kneeled down to examine and the spookiness reveals itself - RUST! On further inspection, there was rust on all door joints that were shoddily patched up and rust was visible even inside the engine bay. I anyways took a test drive and felt something wrong with the CVT unit too. @vigsom sir had already mentioned it might be an accidental or flood affected car looking at the registration plate and the inspection confirmed it!

6. Pearl White 2013 Altis 1.8 GL (2nd owner, 78k kms) - I had seen this ad on Carwale in Jan end but by the time I called the owner up, the car was sold. But around the same time I was checking out the next car, the same car popped up from a dealers Olx page. Concerned, I called up the previous owner but he told me if it’s a dealer, it’s okay. Man, the whole Used car market felt so shady and like everybody’s cool with it. The car was so clean from the outside and inside, drove very well, had the very last service bill with brake pad and disc change mentioned. Asking price was steep at 6.2. But then tyres were old and this car didn’t have insurance either.


7. The Final Find - Silver 2011 Altis VL AT (1st owner, 54k kms) - I loved the image of the car posted on Olx by a dealer. I was waiting at RA Puram as a work got delayed and quickly decided to visit this dealer in RA Puram itself. About the car - the body looked good with minor scratches/dent here and there. What got my immediate attention were the missing headlamp washer cap, a broken tail lamp and a worn-out steering leather. To add on top of it, it had no insurance. A quick chat with @vigsom and we thought this car needn’t be considered at all.

But then I thought of taking a test drive. The car drove wonderfully well and felt the tightest of all the E140 examples I drove till date. Interiors looked very clean except for the steering leather and some fading on the silver accent. I wasn’t too confident about the Used car Dealer but then I remembered reading on T-Bhp about how buying a Used Car should be just about the Car and not the Dealer. So I decided to probe as much as I can. Upon asking dealer for Service records, I was told it was serviced last in Lanson Toyota in 2019 and post covid, no service has been done as it was not used much by the owners. I turned suspicious and called up Lanson and they confirmed the last service to have been done at 42k kms in 2019 as mentioned by the dealer. This cleared the suspicion of odometer tampering from my head. Good bits - tyres changed in 2021, clean interiors, CVT seemed to work well, all lights and bulbs working well (other than the broken tail lamp), coolant was pink. Bad bits - headlight washer cover missing and they did not pop out (same in all the E140 Altis samples I checked), broken Right tail lamp, worn out steering leather, slight noise from Right suspension and a replaced front windscreen in 2013. Price quoted was 5.8L which was too steep to my liking. I told them I’ll be interested only if its under 5 and walked off.

While checking out the car!

They called me back next day asking whether I’m interested and tried luring me with words of other customers checking this car out. I was adamant with my offer and @vigsom guided and connected me with his trusted Chennai Mechanic and the very next day I checked out the car once again with him. He test drove the car as well, checked it out from everywhere and even ran a scan. He gave a thumbs up and highlighted just a few works to be done - steering column might need some lathe work as he could hear a thud once in a while, brake pads replacement and calliper needs to be corrected. Otherwise he said even the Engine Oil looked healthy. I was concerned about the windscreen replacement as the dealer some silly reason for it but the mechanic confirmed there is absolutely no major body damage.

So my expenditure would be the price of the car + insurance + these works which looked decent to me. I asked them to finish the deal at 4.9L. They asked me to come to their office the next day to discuss and were wanting to close it at 5L + commission. Some last minute price bump and I sealed it for 5.05 in total.

Later on, I also got access to the Toyota Connect App which had all detailed service history right from Day 1. This car had been treated with 1L worth Accessories right after delivery (Chrome accents, Headrest screen which has been removed by the owner, Led floor lights, illuminated door sill, sunfilm, etc.). I could also retrieve all the accidental works done (One ORVM replacement, bumper work, rear fender re-painted) and I felt it was okay for a car that was primarily used only in the City.

Finding a well maintained Altis in TN is such difficulty and to find one directly from the owner has chances of next to nil. Also, the prices of Altis are too high and I was super jealous looking at all the mouthwatering prices I could see for cars elsewhere in India! But when I compare these prices with Used Honda City’s, Jazz, etc, it seems to be a very good price for what’s on offer.

I can’t thank @vigsom sir enough for what all he’s done. We would have had at least 25-30 phone calls over the last two months and he was always ready to help even while at work, travel or whatever situation it is. It was so inspiring to know how much he knew and still wants to know about these vehicles. I surely can not thank him enough

[freakmuzik]

Here are more details about my new possession!


Well-balanced pleasing design. Noice the missing Headlamp washer cap on D-Day.


Full Spec sheet from Original brochure

What I Love:

+Ride comfort
+Seamlessly integrated 7 speed CVT + 1.8 L 2ZR + usable manual mode
+Bone-chilling Air Conditioner
+Seating comfort
+Ergonomics (sliding arm-rest included)
+Reliability
+Good feature set (for what I paid) - Powered mirrors, auto up/down Drivers window, 8 way electrically adjustable seats, proximity sensor, etc

What could be better:

-Steering leather wear
-Ridiculously expensive Toyota Spares
-Not exciting to drive
-2 airbags and no Traction Control
-Lack of rear Camera
-Lack of Auto-Folding ORVMs
-Under-thigh support could be better

The used car dealer fixing ribbons before delivery.


2 keys of the car though I suspect this car came with 3 keys in total


Love the side view of this car!


Rear seat has a brilliant recline angle and a comfortable hand-rest. Under-thigh support could have been better


475 L of very usable boot space with split folding rear seats!

This is the closest I could get to what I wanted in my next car! Toyota did make some incredible cars as even at the age of 10, it feels so beautiful and tight.I love the simplicity of this car - very legible and simple dials, crystal clear markings and easy to use functions. The only tricky function was the cruise control which felt slightly outdated compared to modern ones.While picking up the car, I had kept in mind a budget of around 50k to get the car in full shape. This included

New Rear Tail lights (OEM - ~8.5k, Depo - 3.5k)
Headlamp washer lid (~700)
Steering column noise (~10k for lathe work)
Brake Pads/ Discs (~10k)
Front suspension work (~10k - 15k)

I was waiting for @vigsom sir to visit Chennai and checkout my car - something that will make the car and me extremely happy! Universe answered my prayers and he was visiting right within 10 days of me getting the car. We discussed our schedules over phone and finally we met on the 4th of April. He walked towards my car and right away kneeled on the road to checkout the car from everywhere. He was very happy with the condition of the interiors, the overall condition of the body panels, etc. We noticed the excessive disc scoring at the rear but he felt the pads would be healthy at the front for sure.

So, I had kept aside a bulb and connectors of the rear tail lamp just as how the dealer had handed over. The rear RH tail-lamp was not working when I picked the car up. I handed over the stuff I had and he simply tried connecting it and voila, the tail lamp was working! Later we figured placing the gasket and locking the wires in their respective places. Now the only thing it has is a broken corner, which I have just taped for now. He was mentioning about the minute attention to detail of Toyota and I was observing all that.

Then we went on to the engine bay and he was delighted to see the colour of the engine oil, the coolant and everything else. He also immediately checked the Air filter (which looked healthy) and we explored the entire fuse box. He also brought to my notice about the battery - the previous owner had replaced the Altis-spec battery with an Innova-spec battery (relatively cheaper with much higher KWh), due to which the battery’s base would not fit in. Otherwise, everything else was looking great inside the engine bay. He invited me to meet his wife and he drove the car till there and I think it would be best if he writes in this thread regarding his experience than me explaining it.

First Leg of Work:

So the plan of action was:

• Check all four discs and skim accordingly.
• Excessive play/ noise from Callipers up-front.
• Rear brake pads to be assessed and replaced if necessary.

Booked an appointment with the mechanic and took it there at 11:30 AM on April 7th. With all four wheels unmounted, the inspection began. The front discs appeared decent and had aftermarket Bosch Brake pads with plenty of life left. The rear discs were heavily scored but interestingly, the pads were Toyota OE ones with still good life left. He mentioned the scoring could be due to the car remaining idle for long (lockdown) and dust/rust seeping in between the surfaces. Also, the pads seemed to have hardened and he suggested replacing them as well.

Ready for the work


Rear Disc before work



Front Bosch brake pads with plenty of life!


Wheel well

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JU3pphFXHOk?feature=share

We rode down to the lathe with all four discs and it was such an informative day. Got to observe how the discs were skimmed and the way the callipers were calibrated and adjusted. The person was immensely patient and had a great eye for perfection. I could see at-least 4 steering assemblies of BMWs and Audi’s lying around for work.

The mechanic and @vigsom were on phone in the meanwhile (how more lucky can I be?) and procured Delphi brake pads for the rear. The lathe work took over 2.5 hours and then everything was fit back at around 5:30 PM. We drove around and felt a huge reduction in the noise up-front. The steering assembly was still making noise over bad surfaces but the calliper noise had vanished and so did the brake screech. The car felt so beautiful. We drove around for 7-8 kms to check the brakes and headed back to his place.

LH - Working on the Brake Calliper. RH - Front Disc after the skimming process



LH - Rear OE Brake pads with some life left!RH - Delphi brake pads for the rear

Total cost came to 8k with the split up being:

• Lathe work for 4 discs skimming and working on 2 front brake callipers - 3,500/-
• Delphi brake pads - 1,800/-
• Misc - 200/-
• Labour - 2500/-

We also randomly went through the suspension, tie-rods etc. and found them all to be totally okay. The steering job will be done on a later date. There was also some wobbling observed over 100 kmph so got balancing and alignment done at BM Lal near Sathyam Theatre. I also replaced the 11 year old spare tyre with a Goodyear Assurance Triplemax.

Wheel Alignment and Balancing done at BM Lal, Chennai



Sitting there after an extensive wash!


Ambient lights and illuminated door sill among the accessories added by the previous owner

[freakmuzik]

First Long Drive:

Right since I bought this car, I couldn’t stop the itch to take this car out on the highway. I had to wait till the beginning of May to take the car all the way to Trivandrum and back. Covering a total of 1600 kms in a few days, I observed the following:

Positives:

• Overall driving time drastically reduced. Started at 4:30 am from Koyambedu and reached Trivandrum by 3pm. The same way, I left Trivandrum at around 4:10 am and reached Chennai by 2:30 pm (including two food breaks and a tiny restroom break). No, I don’t drive rash but the ability to keep speeds like 90-100 constant & leaving early worked wonders.
• The engine seems to be a capable all-rounder. The low end is good and so is the mid-range. It’s not the best to rev over 4k as it gets a little noisy and being a CVT, it’s mostly pointless revving over that.
• CVT - I’m glad I bought an automatic this time. The convenience is so comforting and even driving a huge sedan in the city feels so effortless.
• Manual mode - it really helps and the way it works seems pretty realistic in terms of the ratios. It holds revs over 2k mostly and overtaking is a breeze. I also use this mode to utilise engine braking when I can predict braking is required.
• Cruise control - used it a lot of times. I surely had to turn it on and off frequently but it sure helped.
• Plenty of in-cabin lights
• Straight line stability up to decent 3 digit speeds
• Recline angle of the rear seats
• Overall ride comfort
• AC is a chiller!
• Keyless entry, push button start, touch screen system with bluetooth, etc, rear parking sensors, 8-way powered driver seat, puddle lamps, ACC,

Negatives:

• CVT is not the most sporty to drive but without doubt, this is one of the most beautiful CVTs I’ve tried till date. It rarely revs unnecessarily and does so only during very hard acceleration.
• Dead pedal is put so far into the left corner that I preferred keeping my legs to the left of the brake pedal itself.
• Ground clearance - with a full load of 5 people and some luggage, the car scraped a couple of speed-breakers.

Fuel efficiency:

City -
8.5 - 9.5 kmpl (Chennai)
9 - 10 kmpl (Trivandrum)

Highway -
onward journey with constant 100-110 kmph = ~15 kmpl
return journey with varied 90-110 kmph = ~16 kmpl

750 km drive felt so easy!


Two generations one behind the other!

[freakmuzik]

Unexpected Issue:

Towards the end of May, owing to not getting any train tickets, my sister and I had decided to drive down to Kochi the very next morning. As usual during my car check-up, I found the coolant was next to nil. I somehow couldn’t clearly remember the last time I checked though I faintly could retrieve a memory of it being a little low. Bought some pink coolant from Mahavir Auto Parts & topped it up after cross-checking with the mechanic & @vigsom, as it was well past 7 pm and TASS was closed. I also checked for any possible leaks along with real-time consultation with @vigsom and everything seemed good.

Next morning, we packed and started at 4:30 am and the car seemed excellent. My sister even praised the car a lot as soon as it took all the luggage, and us, in comfortably. We refilled at an Indian Oil pump towards Maduravoyal and were expecting to reach Kochi before evening.

As soon as I took the ramp towards Maduravoyal by-pass, the car was shuddering crazily through the footwell, steering and in total. Drove it a few metres and stopped the car. I couldn’t notice this much when the gear was in N so I suspected something was wrong with the CVT. I parked it, put the hazard lamps on and inspected the engine bay. Everything seemed alright but as soon as I revved it past 1k, the car shook crazily but it disappeared past 2k rpm. We decided to slowly drive back home in manual mode at around 30 kmph as the engine would be revving above 2k. I was super tensed as I started imagining all the worst case scenarios related to CVT. Thankfully, our humble Hyundai Eon came to the rescue and took us to Kochi and back safe and sound.

Yet again, @vigsom and I were discussing all the possibilities and he was also wondering if it could be anything related to the low-coolant that I had noticed. I couldn’t drive it much to even inspect if there was any coolant consumption, etc. The car stood there for a week as I had to get back and also had some other assignments. Initial plan was to take it to Toyota (TASS) as I feared it might be something major. Also, if we had to try changing the Transmission fluid, it would be best available at TASS since the CVT ATF is a life-long fluid. @vigsom was even wondering if they would have ever faced the need to change it in an Altis yet. Later, he suggested to get it checked with his other trusted mechanic, Senthil, whom he contacted immediately and intimated regarding this. @vigsom was very confident with Senthil’s work and capabilities.

In the meanwhile, as I got back from Kochi, I inspected the car further before making the next decision. The shudder was happening even in N, I observed. It is exactly happening between 1.2k to 2k rpm. The reason the car didn’t shudder in N the other day might be as it was idling at around 750-800 rpm. The engine otherwise revved well and did not seem to have anything else amiss. Absolutely no warning lights, engine oil levels are good, coolant is full, no overheating, no abnormal revving from the CVT. This was so confusing. Later, I heard some metallic noise from within the engine bay and located it to be between the battery and the Engine. I shared videos and audios to @vigsom sir and he also consulted his trusted mechanic in Baroda. From my extensive fear-filled research and all the inputs from @vigsom, the following possibilities were noted:

• CVT cooler issue - where either Coolant is leaking or has mixed up with the ATF - (rarest possibility)
• CVT internal issues (list is so long) but all these were observed on Nissan CVTs from the US and not Toyotas
• Timing chain, etc and anything related, that could be understood by opening the Tappet cover
• Engine cylinder malfunction
• Spark plug failure
• Ignition coil failure
• Engine Mount failure

So finally, decided to get it inspected by Senthil first and then later think about taking it to TASS. Senthil came home on June 3rd in the morning and right-away asked me to start the engine with the hood open. He opened the engine cover and started disconnecting power to each of the cylinders. Cylinder 1 - good, cylinder 2 - good, cylinder 3 - no difference between power on and off, cylinder 4 - good. He swapped the ignition coil of cylinder 2 & 3 and now the cylinder 3 worked! Voila - so it’s an Ignition coil failure. The relief I felt was immense.

We immediately headed to Lanson Toyota, Koyambedu, where they also sell spares over the counter. We bought one piece at Rs. 6,651/- and replaced it in the car. Now the car is as smooth as before. @vigsom and I were both surprised to see this happening in a Toyota but it is what it is. I should appreciate Senthil for directly finding the issue in a few minutes. I had searched all over the web and the symptoms I had were connected to a lot of different types of issues and I'm thankful it wasn't a catastrophic issue.

Secondly, the metallic noise I observed should be nothing but some components touching each other due to the excessive vibration.

Sharing a video clip I had taken during this entire episode.

http://youtu.be/19chDXTFMss

Note of Thanks:

I sincerely thank every T-Bhpian who has contributed to this forum which has greatly enriched my car ownership & buying experience along with instilling a lot of knowledge. I once again thank @vigsom sir for everything he’s done - I sure have no words

Hoping this thread has been informative for anyone looking for something similar and just in general about the Altis. Feel free to ask any queries. I will also try my best to update regularly here.

Cheers!

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Reviews section. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage today

[vredesbyrd]

Congratulations. A Corolla will never let you down.

Also, it is one of those cars with a super-rare reflector HID setup. The only other vehicle with such headlights that comes to my mind is the Nissan Teana.

[viXit]

Originally Posted by freakmuzik

We immediately headed to Lanson Toyota, Koyambedu, where they also sell spares over the counter. We bought one piece at Rs. 6,651/- and replaced it in the car. Now the car is as smooth as before. @vigsom and I were both surprised to see this happening in a Toyota but it is what it is. I should appreciate Senthil for directly finding the issue in a few minutes. I had searched all over the web and the symptoms I had were connected to a lot of different types of issues and I'm thankful it wasn't a catastrophic issue.

This is not a minor issue , and the Corolla is not that old a car either,

Did this not throw up a check engine or a service light??
Scanning and checking the code should've helped diagnose it immediately

Awesome mechanic though!

seems really experienced , no wonder he was Vigsom's reference :P

[chandrda]

Congrats, wishing you happy miles for years to come

I too love Toyota Corolla Altis especially the AT version. Its a very underrated car and if maintained well it can serve well for years.

The key is to maintain the CVT proactively and not ignore any small noise/issues as well.

I was searching for one in Bangalore, either the price was exorbitant or car required lot of work. So gave up the search.

Regards

[adi.mariner]

Congratulations on buying the ever reliable Toyota Corolla. I had seen one VL AT Model online for sale and had gone to the dealership for checking it at around 11am. But it had gone for cleaning and polishing and was expected in an hour. Since the dealership was nearby, I went back home and visited in the afternoon at 4pm. The car was already sold by then. The other cars that I saw had some or the other red flags and so I finally abandoned the search.

[zaid qazi]

Congratulations,Corolla is a outstanding machine paired with that CVT gearbox make things really convenient.
If maintained well it will serve you for many years it has all the necessary features what a normal person wants and a lovely 1.8l petrol engine. Loved how good it looks in those pictures which you have uploaded.

[VikramCS]

Many Congratulations. Thanks for sharing your detailed research and buying experience - it'll help prospective buyers of do's/don'ts while buying a used-car.

Altis is a comfortable highway cruiser. I also feel Toyota cars offer more comfortable ride feel compared to Honda, Hyundai and Suzuki - however, this is from my experience of driving + travelling in Swift, Baleno, i20, i10, Jazz, Etios and the legendary Innova (it's unfair to compare cars across different categories, but, just trying to make a point here).

Glad it's not a CVT issue, but, even the ignition coil seems expensive - probably since the car is D segment vehicle..!

Here's wishing you many happy miles with your new purchase..

Regards

[brownbatman]

Congratulations ! I have a pre worshipped Corolla 2006 H2 model that I got in 2015 and it is still going strong.

[emmenhr]

Congratulations on your Altis! Happy Driving.
While appreciating your detailed reveiw of the purchase and experience thereafter, I am more impressed about how @vigsom had helped you out.
It is experiences with people like @vigsom that one does not lose faith in humanity and selfless service. A big shout out to you sir - @vigsom !!!
cheers
Krish

[rajathv8]

Congrats! Looks elegant and classy.

Any idea what these two are?