[Bsilver]

Hey there, hope you'll be doing well. This thread is going to cover the experience from the vehicle selection, test drive, booking and the first 100 kms on a Toyota Taisor S+ AMT.
After having had the Fabia for 18 plus years, it has seen better days, the issues were cropping up every now and then, plus the cat being blocked, I was unable to drive it reliably and always had the 'breakdown' fear in mind. More on the issues later, hence the replacement was pending, and the itch to buy a new vehicle was hitting me.

Starting with the vehicle selection:
I wanted a car in the range of 12-13L and only wanted an Auto, given that the manuals I have are already giving me a good experience, especially with the tuned Rapid, I needed an auto box, and preferably a petrol, given the norms coming up in some states, and it could easily hit Karnataka too in the coming years. Power was not a factor for me, but the engine is supposed to be good and reliable, but the feeling of driving a powerful engine was the least factor I wanted, and only needed this car from A to B with comfort.

I had shortlisted the Fronx, Taisor, 3XO, and the C3. I test drove the first 3 leaving the C3. Fronx and Taisor being the same cars felt the same. The reason I did not go with the 3XO is the polarizing design which Mahindra has come up with these days, having owned the 5 Germans, which have aged quite well, the polarizing design of the new gen cars is something I do not prefer, and hence 3XO was out. The C3 was a good all rounder, but only due to the service and presence of CItroen, I did not want to go to a brand which was lacking service support. Narrowing down to the 2, I felt the Toyota experience was much better compared to the MS, right from the enquiry point all the way to the test drive (not considering the booking as I did not go ahead with the MS). MS is lacking in customer accountability and there sales persons are kind of lacking basic knowledge about the engines (they did not know the power figures which I feel is the basic, when you are selling a car), and the overall experience with MS from the enquiry till the test drive was not something good, here is where Toyota took over and the overall experience was good, be it the test drive, or the Booking, and they had accountability much better for the customer which was lacking when I did the test drive for the Fronx.

Test drive and Booking:
I went to Nandi Toyota, Hosur Road branch for the test drive, many of my friends and relatives had bought vehicles from them, and also knowing a few high posts at Nandi, I went ahead with the Hosur Branch. Test drive was given within 10 minutes after thoroughly explaining everything, and the top model was given for the test drive which was not the one I wanted. Initially the sales person told me that they only offer the Turbo 1 liter for the test drive, and I had asked for the 1.2 NA as I wanted to drive the car I was buying, and after going back and forth a few times, they agreed to arrange a test drive for the 1.2 NA AMT car, and the test drive was done after 3 days, and it felt good, lived up to the expectations of the engine, and mainly ticked all the boxes which I wanted, and hence decided to go ahead and book the same. The AMT jerks are noticeable, but as told earlier the driving experience was not the first thing I was looking for, and a good car with some features, a reliable engine would do for me. It would take a month's time for the delivery, and this was promptly informed during the booking process by the salesperson and this was due to the color option being a dark shade of grey called Gaming Grey.

Pre Delivery Inspection:
This was a little off for me. I went for the PDI on the 28th of February, as mentioned earlier, knowing a few at Nandi and the stockyard being of a friend of friend, I had the information that the car has arrived on 27th morning, yet when I reached out to the POC, it was told they have not received any thing and would take time, so there was a communication gap within there teams, which is fine, as long as there is not so much delay. One more concern is, during the PDI I noticed that the cars were in a very bad condition and they were in an uncovered area, and unexpectedly I saw rodents entering the vehicles, when I was there for 5 - 10 minutes until they were figuring out the key for the vehicle, which was quite disappointing and I already started to doubt the good things which I had heard about the dealer, all this was highlighted to the CRM at a later stage. For comparison, my Rapid which was bought used at a dealer named Giga Cars, was in a covered parking and well maintained, and Toyota being a global brand, they could easily have a covered parking to avoid future warranties from unnoticed damage.


A suggestion: If any dealer offers you a 2024 model as of now, keep in mind that the car will be sitting in bad weather for quite some months, and not taken care of, and there will be entry of rodents as well, this usually occurs when there is no covered parking, and the yard is not maintained, I got a discount of 1.3 L on the 2024 model, but disagreed as I wanted only the 2025, if anyone is going ahead, then it would be needing thorough inspection, and ask for extended warranty as well.

A few pictures from the PDI:




Delivery:
I was given delivery on the 3rd of March after completing the PDI on 28th February, the process was seamless, and took some time as there were many deliveries that day. Received a welcome kit with some goodies, and in all it took around 2hrs. I was given the insurance copy and the TPA is Cholamandalam, Fastag given is IDFC First (which is inactive, do not know why), the plates were attached and I was given the vehicle with 13kms on the odo. I had not applied for any fancy number, hence got the registration in 2 days compared to the temporary one. The car was clean, and felt they had waxed it, as compared to the dusty one which I saw during the PDI. The options opted for were installed in the vehicle, the reverse camera is not standard with this variant, and is unavailable and hence need to wait for it to be back in stock.

Initial Impressions:

To begin with, the length, comparing it in my parking lot which used to fit the Rapid, this car is short by a huge margin from the Rapid, and also leaves quite some space to walk in the front of the vehicle, and this was the very first thing I noticed. In terms of width, it is wider than the Rapid which used to fit.

Engine is a 1.2NA with the AMT gearbox, and the engine is quite small for the bay, having a lot of free space left, given to fit the 1 litre turbo with the AT gearbox. This also comes with the Auto start stop function. It produces close to 90 hp which is decent, and the AMT box is a 5 speed. Jerks are noticeable, but if one rev matches and lifts the throttle during a gear change, jerks are not there, and this is a trick to drive the AMTs much more smoothly. It has only 3 modes, D,N,R and manual, leaving the Parking mode, which is usually found in the AT boxes.
Idles at around 750-800 rpm and during a cold start takes about 2 minutes to drop the revs. I have not seen the battery make, and also the amperage is 38AH.
One can see the hood of the vehicle from the inside, unlike the sloped hood in some cars. Quite smooth on the start and does not make much noise even at idle, and there is insulation as well. There is the AMT fluid, engine oil, coolant fill from top of the radiator, washer, and the brake fluid. The serpentine belt in this engine is quite small as I noticed and not of a great quality, being small does not bother as they would have engineered and arrived at a width, but bad quality is the one which is the concern, need to see how it holds up in the future.

A few pictures here:



Exterior: The car is really good to look at from both the front end and the rear, and this is not like a polarizing design of the other cars coming, and looks quite modern. I still prefer the subtle looks of the Germans, but this is for sure a good front end. The lights have LEDs and 2 bulbs for the low beam and one for the high beam, making it a 3 bulb setup. Toyota offers LEDs and a projector setup in the higher variants, but this does for me. The spread and throw is quite good for the stock setup, and very much practical in the city. It does come with level adjustment. The DRLs double as indicators for the front, and overall the lights are good for the vehicle. On the side, the car has a sloping roof line, which is a disadvantage, as me being 5-8" scrap my head to the roofline, and the ingress is a lot harder for even taller people. It has these curves which kind of make the design interesting, and does not look overdone. It gets plastic body cladding in the front and rear wheel arches. The rear is also quite nice, and the box-like brake light setup is fine, could have been a bit bigger, and there is a stop lamp.
No request sensor for this model, and there is a leaving home feature when the stalk is set on auto mode.


Wheels are 16 inches. I got the Goodyear Triple Max tires with it, planning to upgrade them to Conti's but that is pending for now, else I will upgrade them once they are worn out. Did not find a good deal for an exchange as of now, and post 500 kms I do not think of changing them. Rims are finished in black, which makes them a pain to clean due to the dust. Design is somewhat similar to the top variants, but they get diamond cut alloys, compared to this normal finish. But they do not look bad at all, and suit the vehicle as well.
Spare tire is not an alloy, but of the same size, and the ancillaries for tire repairs are given here, and the jack is kept on the right side of the boot.
Boot space is decent and can fit a few medium sized suitcases, and good for daily shopping as well. The boot goes up to a decent height allowing tall people not to scrape their head. Exposed wiring at the heater circuit, which is a bad thing, could have got a plastic trim to cover the wiring. Seats fold in 40-60 split which is a good thing for a car of this price bracket.


Interior:
The seats are quite soft, and offer good support. The rear seat is not as wide too fit 3 adults, small sized people can fit in the rear seat, and the floor has a small bump in between, not the bumps which I have in the Rapid/A6, but this is just protruding from the floor, but livable. Tall passengers in the rear seat will definitely hit their head if at all there is a bump, the rear seats are not the ones for you if you are above 5 5". There are no AC vents at the back but a charging socket is provided. 3 flushed type headrests add a premium look to the rear.


The door cards are provided with soft material all round, and this is given in all the 4 doors, which is a plus point. Plus the rear seats are comfortable, as told for smaller adults, larger ones will lack leg room, under thigh support and the head room as well. Good space for the window as well. The door cards will get quite dirty if you go ahead with a light color. The dashboard is dual tone, with a touch of bronze like color, and there is a leather like finish at the passenger side.
The steering is a big NO for me, too thin to put hands on, sometimes I feel it is like the handle of a scooter, they should have given a thicker steering, it just makes the driving easier. There are controls placed on the left side space for the phone receiving/decline, which makes the space unusable if you want to rest your hand in between it, which is an irritating thing.
I got the 3D mats and they are quite good quality, compared to the normal ones they offer. It also covers the bump in between the rear seats as well. For the boot there is no 3D mat, and is just the normal one.


Coming to the infotainment screen, it is a small unit at 7inch, and there are touch buttons for almost everything on the screen. It comes with the wireless android auto/car play, so does get the job done. The AC is an automatic controller, and is a chiller, I usually find the ACs in the Toyota's to be really effective, no matter which vehicle. Has this cockpit style buttons where the toggle is up or down, rather than pressing a button. AC vents are convenient to operate, unlike the fiddly ones. The infotainment takes it own time to boot up, kind of irritating when you start the vehicle and want to reverse, having only audio feedback and not visual. I did find the sensors to be calibrated well in advance, it beeps and then holds the beep once you are like 25-30 cms away from the obstacle.


Disadvantages of the vehicle/personal lacking:

1. The sloping roof line is really eating the headroom as told earlier, a little better design would have helped to seat even more larger people in the back.

2. Lack of a reversing camera, the back of the car is faced upwards, and the design at the sides does get in between your view, and to counter this a camera should be given, considering the less room for the manufacturers to squeeze in features at this price, and provided others are offering it, this thing was kind of missing. I have reversed in much larger full sized sedans like the W204 and the A6 without a camera, but the Taisor due to the glass area, and its design makes it harder. Need to get used to it.

3. A flip key is missing. And the key is just ugly to look at. A flip key is the basic one can do at say 10L plus, and it is missing even in the middle model. The top ones directly jump to keyless entry, so a flip key would be a bare minimum I felt.

4. The seats are not as great, specially for someone coming from the Germans. I did a 100kms drive, and immediately got the body pain in the right side, I shifted back to the Rapid, and it felt much better. Not even comparing the ergonomics of my other cars as it will be a bad comparison, but I felt the seats do not live up for the long drives. Need to see what other owners of the Fronx/Taisor have to say about this.
A few more pics:


With this I mark the end of this initial impressions, with many more kilometers to come. I have driven all my cars past the 1L kms, and all of them are a different experience, be it a manual or auto box, be it a small 1.5 or the bigger 2.2s, tuned or stock, all of them give a different experience and ownership, will be updating this ownership thread as I put on kilometers along with the maintenance details. Hope you all enjoyed my review if at all you stuck till here. Thanks for the time.

Happy Motoring!

[Autocaptive]

Quite a smart looking car you’ve got there with the grey shade and black alloys, I own a Taisor 1.0 V AT bought in July last year. Done about 5.5k kms so far, I test drove all the cars you mentioned in addition to the i20 N Line. I came to the same conclusion as you. It’s the most balanced pick in terms of reliability, ride quality and power especially in turbo guise. Recently test drove the Kylaq in MT/AT versions and still came away thinking I’ve made the right choice as the 1.0 TSI sounded buzzy and rickshaw-like at higher revvs.

I also own a tuned Octavia and I agree with you on that too, every car has its own charm when it comes to driving and ownership. I wasn’t aware this S+ model got the LED DRLs and 3 pod headlights of the higher variants. That makes this quite the value for money pick. Attaching a picture of my car in the Enticing Silver shade. Cheers!

[Sumedik]

Nice choice. I would not crib about the lack of rear headroom since I like coupe designs and to me Taisor looks better than Fronx because of the bumper design.

I am OK with AMT these days (from Maruti) since those are repairable readily. Do keep us posted on how the AMT head nod is during fast driving.

[bijims]

Ideally, I wouldn't consider an AMT, since the market has more or less moved on and most manufacturers have Torque Converter, CVT or DCT gearboxes in their portfolio, to add to that the Taisor is a rebadged Fronx with Fronx being cheaper in the 1.2 L guise and selling much more, I would go for the Fronx considering these facts unless badge value is of utmost importance.

However, in the turbo variants, the Taisor made much more sense as it was priced the same as the Fronx and offered a better warranty, which makes it an interesting proposition.