Innova Hycross: 12 observations after driving it in various conditions

I've driven this car on good and bad roads, highways, and in the ghat sections. It has also been used in the city quite extensively.

BHPian KURU recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

It’s been a week since I got the delivery of my Toyota Innova Hycross (ZXO). I had a very good experience with Nandi Toyota. They have been extremely helpful and transparent. I took the car for a Bangalore-Goa trip and back after completing about 200 kms within Bangalore city. I have driven it on good roads, bad roads, highways, ghat sections (not too steep) and a lot of flat twisty roads too.

Thoughts

1. The car is extremely nimble. Very easy to manoeuvre in the city and really easy to drive on the highways too. Just two fingers are enough to steer the car on a bend even at high speeds. Steering is light but does not compromise too much in lack of feel. It is surprisingly good at cornering for an MPV and barely any body roll.
2. The ghat sections were a breeze and effortless, unlike Crysta’s hydraulic steering.
3. The car has enough power and torque to overtake on the highways. There was no lack of torque on inclines, even when the accelerator was pressed only halfway. (My car was not loaded at all, just two people and two suitcases).
4. The brakes are much better than the Crysta. Braking at 120-140 kmph is not a problem with no vibrations at all. The four discs really help.
5. Even though the suspension is soft, there is not much vertical movement felt in the car.
6. No rattling sounds inside the car.
7. The infotainment system is simple yet functional, I have no complaints about it.
8. The driver seat has a welcome feature where it moves back and then moves forward into position once the car is started (like in the 2010 Superb), something that I really missed from that car. Ventilated seats are such a blessing on long drives, even though they are not as strong as the ones in the 2022 Superb.
9. The MID was showing an average of 16kmpl during the first 200kms which was driven in the city. After running the car on highways and ghat sections, it showed an average of 15.2kmpl. The mileage did not drastically reduce on inclines like I had expected it to. Overtaking on single-lane roads with oncoming traffic is what really kills the mileage figures. I have not tried to calculate the mileage myself yet. These mileage figures are probably because of the way I drove as I am still getting used to the car, maybe others could get better economy figures from the car.
10. ADAS- DRCC and BMS work well. However, the lane keep assist doesn’t work properly most of the time. Lane departure warning does work properly though, and the steering vibrates every time the car leaves a lane. IMHO, we cannot properly make use of ADAS in our country because of the road conditions and the way people drive on our roads. It is something that may seem cool in the beginning but will never be used properly later on. Buyers who are on the fence about ZX vs ZXo, if you opt for ZX then you would not miss out on much, especially in the long run. The ADAS features could be more useful on better expressways, like the Delhi-Mumbai one. I have not got a chance to use those roads yet.
11. Lane keep assist has to be turned off every time I turn the car on. I don’t trust it enough to use it and I couldn’t find a way of permanently turning it off.
12. Bad patches of roads are felt more in the cabin compared to the Crysta. The Crysta could just float over bad patches without feeling anything in the cabin. The Hycross is not too bad though. It will be better if one upgrades the tyres and increases the side wall height. But there is no beating the body on frame on bad patches of roads.

The car is now due for its first service. Overall, I have had a good experience with the car and I am happy with the decision of sticking with the Hycross. Most of the other points have already been covered on this thread, in test drive reviews.

The quality of the interior was not a dealbreaker for me, the VAG cars do provide better interiors for an extra 5-10 lakhs. I didn’t really expect good interiors from a Toyota anyways.

The Hycross is not an enthusiast’s car, it is just a people mover and it does its task really well. It is best suited for city driving and occasional highway driving, but it did really impress me with the cornering and high-speed stability. Nothing close to the Germans but they are of a different segment and don’t offer Toyota’s reliability or resale value so it wouldn’t be a fair comparison.

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