[Grace]

The "unintended acceleration" effect: The driver side mat has 2 "safety hooks" to prevent the mat moving. Note the huge gap between where mat ends and the accelerator. Expect this space to become very dirty.

@Upgrade


Hi,
Worldwide there was an uproar on gas pedal jamming. One of the root causes identified was that the driver side of mats during braking and slowing down of car was travelling from its place towards the accelerator and cause cramming of space. The counter-measure taken by Toyota was to fix two pins,incase of Innova there is 'T' type and in corolla,its a 'L' type and Etios I think has 'T' type of pins that holds down the carpet. All genuine accessory mats come with this feature. This is in interest of safety of the car user.

Regards

[mdsaab]

@upgrade thoroughly enjoyed your review. Not many go on a highway trip so soon. So was nice to get a long drive report in the first post itself. I especially liked the pictoral review highlighting all the nitty gritties. Felt like i was reading a t-bhp review which highlights the small yet significant things. Fantastic attention to detail.

I think the noise and vibrations are due to the lack of insulation materials. Higher end cars have way more insulation materials all round and this reduces nvh. But overall in its segment i do believe that the etios is the clear winner. Its got everything one could ask for at this price point and at a decent price too. Top it off with toyota reliability and ownership experience and you know why people will have to wait a year just to get their hands on one.

Wishing you many miles of joyful motoring with your silver beauty.

[samarth.bhatia]

Hi Upgrade.

As others have pointed out, great attention to detail. The Etios does look much better in person than in pictures. Although your pictures and the detailed comments do justice to the car. Kudos to that.

I feel that if the fuel consumption is at the levels you mentioned in the initial few drives, it would be much better and IMO really good for a car of this segment.

Congratulations are surely in order. good choice.
Enjoy your ride.

And please keep the posts coming.

Cheers.
Sam

[scarecrow]

@ Upgrade - firstly, congrats on your car. Thanks the detailed and valueable info. Just wanted to confirm if the delivery time is indeed in the range of 5 to 7 months as i friend of mine is interested in the etios.

[Upgrade]

Originally Posted by samarth.bhatia

Hi Upgrade.

As others have pointed out, great attention to detail. The Etios does look much better in person than in pictures. Although your pictures and the detailed comments do justice to the car. Kudos to that.

I feel that if the fuel consumption is at the levels you mentioned in the initial few drives, it would be much better and IMO really good for a car of this segment.

Congratulations are surely in order. good choice.
Enjoy your ride.

And please keep the posts coming.

Cheers.
Sam

Thanks! Talking about fuel consumption, I wanted to share about the fuel indicator of Etios. It has an eight bar digital indicator. But the bars do no represent equal amount of fuel consumed. The first bar disappeared only after 180 km and I was thrilled (180/(45/8)=32), but I know something was wrong. Then the next disappeared in another 80 km. Only after refill, I realized that the FE was only around 15.

The indicator is too small, too far from the driver. On a bright sunny day, it is difficult to read.

Originally Posted by scarecrow

@ Upgrade - firstly, congrats on your car. Thanks the detailed and valueable info. Just wanted to confirm if the delivery time is indeed in the range of 5 to 7 months as i friend of mine is interested in the etios.

Yes. At the time of delivery my SE told that it would be 6 months officially but most likely to be delivered in 4 months for the new bookings. You can check the etios facebook where many people who booked during the first 2 weeks had written that either they got the car already or given a delivery date in Feb.

[tj123]

Originally Posted by Upgrade

Then the next disappeared in another 80 km. Only after refill, I realized that the FE was only around 15.

The indicator is too small, too far from the driver. On a bright sunny day, it is difficult to read.

15Kmpl is pretty good was it on highway / city ride condition , with Aircon on/off ? Please elaborate.

Yup I agree that the digital fuel gauge is too small to read especially as the instrument console is centrally placed.

[headbanger]

Originally Posted by Upgrade

Thanks! Talking about fuel consumption, I wanted to share about the fuel indicator of Etios.
==============
The indicator is too small, too far from the driver. On a bright sunny day, it is difficult to read.

Please do a tank-full to tank-full calculation. That would provide the most accurate results.

[RGK]

Congrats Upgrade . Car looks wonderful. Definitely toyota has not let its customers down. As you clearly mentioned tyre noises are irritating. Good year is also famous for that. My figo has GT3 from Good year and it is more. As GTO says, it may be also due to poor insulation.

That is the reason people go for imported ones.

Happy Motoring and Enjoy the highway trips...

[parsh]

Originally Posted by Upgrade

Thanks! Talking about fuel consumption, I wanted to share about the fuel indicator of Etios. It has an eight bar digital indicator. But the bars do no represent equal amount of fuel consumed. The first bar disappeared only after 180 km and I was thrilled (180/(45/8)=32), but I know something was wrong. Then the next disappeared in another 80 km. Only after refill, I realized that the FE was only around 15.

The indicator is too small, too far from the driver. On a bright sunny day, it is difficult to read.

It is indeed misleading in most of the cars, the divisions on the fuel gauge (even the mechanical one) are not exactly even. I used to get confused earlier with my Innova in 2005 in similar manner but then soon learnt the truth that it is not all that hunky dory as it looks.

But, 15 looks promising. If that out of a city/Hway combo then thats even better. Do post on details on that if you can.

Now that it is coming on the threshold of 1000km how is the engine noise and response?

Originally Posted by Upgrade

Yes. At the time of delivery my SE told that it would be 6 months officially but most likely to be delivered in 4 months for the new bookings. You can check the etios facebook where many people who booked during the first 2 weeks had written that either they got the car already or given a delivery date in Feb.

Yeah, dealers were quoting Oct/Nov in Jan and now drastically come down to below 6 months and looks like even much less than 4 months soon. All the people in waiting line would be relieved.

[Upgrade]

Originally Posted by parsh

It is indeed misleading in most of the cars, the divisions on the fuel gauge (even the mechanical one) are not exactly even. I used to get confused earlier with my Innova in 2005 in similar manner but then soon learnt the truth that it is not all that hunky dory as it looks.

But, 15 looks promising. If that out of a city/Hway combo then thats even better. Do post on details on that if you can.

Now that it is coming on the threshold of 1000km how is the engine noise and response?

Mechanical gauge theoretically gives you infinite number of fuel level and over a period time you can guestimate how exactly the fuel consumption is happening at any time based on the needle position. But here you have only eight chances in a single fill and you should notice immediately when one bar disappears, if not your calculations will go awry. With my previous car, I learnt to calculate how the fuel consumption is happening by seeing the needle position at any time and at the time of refill, the guestimate value will differ by less than 1 km only. I don't think I can do this with the digital gauge.

One more update: The 8th bar disappeared today at 125 km. Doing a reverse calculation based on my previous recording (see other posting - 180 km for the same resulted in 15 kmpl), it looks like city driving mileage is around 10 kmpl. I'll go for a refill after driving another 150 km to calculate the full tank to full tank FE.

[sidms]

Congratulations on your upgrade, Upgrade..
And thank you for the detailed initial ownership review. Can you please let us know about the handling of the car on highways? (whether it has any stability issues on highways; given its weight)

[Mafia]

Hey, Congratulations on your Upgrade !!

very detailed owner reveiw! love it! keep it coming

I did not catch the OTR price! what was it?

[V-16]

Im surprised.... isnt the steering supposed to have a flat the bottom, below the third spoke? How come its not so in this Etios??

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by V-16

Im surprised.... isnt the steering supposed to have a flat the bottom, below the third spoke? How come its not so in this Etios??

Gogi only the VX has the flat bottom steering with audio controls and leather wrapped. The V and below have full round one.

[Upgrade]

Originally Posted by sidms

Congratulations on your upgrade, Upgrade..
And thank you for the detailed initial ownership review. Can you please let us know about the handling of the car on highways? (whether it has any stability issues on highways; given its weight)

Excellent is one word to describe. I went upto 100 kmph and absolutely no issues; and in the corners, you will feel like accelerating further instead of the typical "slow it down" feeling you will get with hatches and SUVs.

Originally Posted by Mafia

Hey, Congratulations on your Upgrade !!

very detailed owner reveiw! love it! keep it coming

I did not catch the OTR price! what was it?

I think it is On The Road price (all inclusive price)

I completed my first free service today. My next posting has all the details on that.