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Maruti Celerio owner checks out the Toyota Hyryder & shares his views

17th July 2022, 16:30 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

I'm planning to upgrade, hence, along with Toyota's new SUV, I have also booked the new Maruti Brezza.

BHPian MiKeMo recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Today we visited Wasan Toyota, Navi Mumbai for HyRyder. Spent about 30-40 minutes there, and here are my initial impressions.

Please note that I'm planning to upgrade from Celerio ZXI AMT and hence my benchmark has been Celerio. I have done booking for HyRyder and new Brezza. New Brezza has already been allotted (as per the SA), but I wanted to see HyRyder first and hence I haven't yet seen Brezza.

Toyota showroom was a crowded place, which shows the interest the vehicle has generated. As per my SA, only one vehicle has been received for Mumbai - the top end, full hybrid, eCVT in blue color. The vehicle will leave for other Mumbai showrooms tonight, so BHPians in Mumbai will have a chance to view this vehicle over the next few days.

What I liked

Size - HyRyder is quite big. Clearly in Creta league, or bigger. It will have a good road presence for sure. I liked the overall proportion. It looked quite good from all sides, except the rear (my personal opinion).
Exterior: Overall quality, sheet metal, paint etc all look good and quality much better. Placement of DRLs and LED headlights is quite different from vehicles I have seen/driven yet. We (meaning wifey, princess and self) all liked the new arrangements and lighting overall. No fog lamps, as already mentioned in a few walkarounds here.
Interior: Fit and finish are way above my Celerio. Due to the rush, I could sit inside only for a few minutes, but it was a nice place to be.
This one had ventilated seats, which are good. Airflow at the highest setting was not much/or I felt that way, however, I could "feel" cooled seats in just under a minute of starting it.
Sunroof is quite big, would definitely bring enough sunlight when its opened.
360 Deg camera had good resolution, SA could just show it for few seconds, though.
Heads-up display is also having very good resolution, and well positioned.
Seat comfort - could not judge much in short time I was inside the vehicle - but felt quite good.
SA confirmed availability of wireless charging, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.
Space - both in front and rear - was very good. The space utilization has been a plus point when I see boot also in tandem. I'm 5'8'' and had enough room at the rear when driver seat was set at my position. I asked my daughter to move the driver seat to the farthest and I still had good legroom available in the rear.

Now, the elephant in the room: boot space. Thankfully, I found it to be adequate, at least not a deal breaker. The battery pack had eaten away some precious real estate there, but we would be able to manage - I'm so much relieved. After having a good look at it personally, and a few videos, I'm of the opinion that it will be able to hold two medium suitcases kept upright and four cabin bags behind - after removing parcel tray and a levelling tray kept at the battery pack level. Rearward vision may get a little bit affected if we load so much luggage, though.

What I did not like

Keeping the driver seat position at the highest level, still, I couldn't see the full bonnet. Driver seat doesn't get electric seat adjustments - it's manual only.
Doors have good heft, but still lack in comparison to older Germans. A new crop of VAG cars and HyRyder are the same on this aspect, though.
Missing pedal shifters. I was quite surprised to know that this doesn't have ANY manual mode, so how to handle situation when you would like to take control of gears? SA had no answers. This being an Automatic, I feel a strong need of this, am I mistaken? I use manual mode in my Celerio AMT often in ghats, single-lane highways etc. How HyRyder will fare in such situations? Any comments from more experienced members would help me here.
Battery operated boot - boot can be opened ONLY when battery is charged. The vehicle here had low battery, and boot couldn't be opened. Later on they Jump started the car to charge battery and opened the boot. There's no way to open the boot with a key or lever, is that possible? If true, it's strange
Headroom in rear - found to be less. Tall people or a normal person with a cap / paghdi, will feel this for sure.
Plastic-ish air vents of AC looked/felt quite ordinary and flimsy. I thought my Celerio has better vents! Glove box is illuminated, but not ventilated.

Some additional info

Test rides only after 10 to 12 days, so mostly in the last week of July. Pricing also in some two weeks. SA reconfirmed his understanding - 18 to 20 Lac, ex-showroom for strong hybrid top model. Soft hybrid would be below this range (in range of new Brezza?).

I am attaching a few snaps I could take in a sea of people. On my way back, I was wondering if I have missed a few points today, and yes, seem many.