Ownership review: My pre-owned 2018 Toyota Corolla Altis

The Altis is no driver’s car, but where it does win my heart over is in how stress-free the experience of owning an Altis is.

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My review of our new steed, a 2018 petrol manual Corolla Altis.

My favourite image of the car after a rainy, Saturday morning drive.

After 11 years of owning and thoroughly relishing our 2010 Habanero Red Honda City, and my father crossing a half-century in life, we were in the market for a new car. Didn’t have a strict list of requirements, just a wish to own a car that would not suffer from the same flaws as the Honda City and at the same time a hankering to own something that commands more aspirational value. We tried many cars and ended up with an oddball list of possible replacements to the City, a wild card entry more than a month in the decision-making process was a pre-worshipped 2018 Toyota Corolla Altis. It had at the time not completed 3 years since registration and had less than 23,000km. on the odometer, was used to chauffeur around a 75-year-old gentleman and was in more or less perfect condition. I was immediately intrigued by the value proposition it had on offer and the entire family was consensually sold on a car. Make no mistakes, we were under no delusion of buying a driver’s car at any rate, but what the car had to offer and the price point it did so at was too good to let pass. The long and short of it is that we brought it home in less than three days. Here’s my review of it after driving it for close to 1000 km.

What I like:

• Running the risk of being repetitive, the sheer practicality, comfort and easy-going nature of this car justify a mention in every review.
• Lack of pretence, everything the car claims to be, it is. Nothing more, nothing less. In other words, it delivers what is demanded of it without creating too much of a fuss.
• Seamless driveability, in-gear acceleration and mid-range make for effortless driving in the city.
• Supple ride quality owing to a soft suspension setup; filters out all sharp and blunt undulations with a rather impressive round edged-ness. Arguably, the best in the segment in this facet.
• Inoffensive yet reasonably handsome styling. I like how it looks in the Phantom Brown shade.
• The flowing dash with piano black veneer is one bold styling cue in an otherwise inoffensive car. Most people will find it fitting for a car of this segment.
• Superb refinement and NVH; this is one area in which the car leaves a lasting impression. Once the doors are shut, so is the world outside, you might even crank the car while it’s idling (there is no protection against this).
• The light and sure slotting gearbox paired with a perfectly ergonomic armrest make little work of shifting gears.
• The steering is light enough in the city and the dead centre displays no nervousness at speeds in excess of most highway limits. It does the job well by and large.
• The car feels well put together; while the quality of materials used on the inside is nothing to write home about, there is a feeling that the car is built to last, and thus far suffers from no rattles and/or squeaks.
• Braking is adequate. For the way this car is meant to be driven, all around disks do inspire sufficient confidence and the car will hold its line under hard braking. Don’t expect VAG like performance in this regard, however. The Pedal feel is progressive and adequately chatty.
• It can cruise on the highway for days on end without tiring the driver or any of the occupants out. Straight Line Stability is above average and definitely inspires confidence while doing triple-digit speeds on the highway.
• Seats are superbly cushioned and supportive. Even folks with larger frames will appreciate the way the seats are shaped.
• Offers an impressive value proposition when bought pre-owned. A good example should set you back 9-13 lakhs which is a fair price for a vehicle of this calibre.
• Doesn’t hold its value like an Innova or a Fortuner but has held its value fairly well since it was discontinued. Depreciation shouldn’t be a stressor when she leaves my garage for good.
• Service interval of 10,000km./ 1 Year. Not a lot goes wrong with this car in most cases, all it needs is its annual service which is decently priced too.
• Easy ingress and egress by sedan standards. A 180mm of ground clearance makes sure of this.
• With the aforementioned ground clearance, it clears most speed breakers and most bad roads with aplomb.
• The Toyota Corolla moniker certainly holds a certain dignity and aspirational value. Since its launch, it has successfully withheld its position as the quintessential global D-segment sedan.
• The most practical option in the D-segment sedan space currently. (pre-owned of course, with the Octavia and Elantra being the only new offerings still holding the fort for this segment)
• On a more personal note, a definitive and discernible upgrade over my 11-year-old Honda City in almost every way.
• Low end torque is above average and the mid-range offers the majority of the engine’s 138 horses.
• Has enough airbags to form an absolute cocoon for its occupants in case of a crash. (7 airbags as far as I can count based on the interior panels)
• Safe to say that it should age well based on Toyota’s history.

What could’ve been better but I can live with:

• The Altis has a torsion beam setup at the rear while the Octavia was sold with the option of an independent rear suspension in L&K guise. The real-world dynamics of VAG offerings are far superior.
• 8-10 km/l in the city. I have really low running, so this doesn’t bother me as much, but with petrol prices soaring obscenely high, it does slightly bother me to drive the car unless necessary.
• The clutch has a long travel but is light enough to not be too much of a bother. The biting point is a little aggressive in first gear, so one invariably ends up stalling it at signals before getting the hang of it.
• Wide turning radius. Gets bothersome in tight Kolkata streets.
• The headlights offer sufficient throw and intensity but are not comparable to the LED setups of many cheaper cars on sale today (e.g. Toyota Glanza).
• The alloy design on the G variant is not the prettiest one. Manages to look too busy and too bland at the same time.
• Stock Bridgestone Turanzas aren’t the grippiest or quietest. Waiting on these to make way for some Continental UC6(s)
• The paint quality is decent. Nothing special, but doesn’t warrant criticism either.
• Doesn’t adhere to the ground as well as it should when faced with undulations on the highway at cruising speeds.
• Electronically adjustable seats should have been standard in all variants.
• The fabric seats feel good but are stain magnets and require meticulous care.

What I don't like:

• A car that appeals to the mind more than it appeals to the heart.
• Not the best car in the segment as far as driving pleasure and sense of occasion are concerned. The Octavia is a far superior car and my personal favourite if only I could ignore the more pragmatic of my reasons.
• The Civic too is a better handler and looks drop-dead gorgeous with that wide and inviting rear, if only it was sold sans that horribly misplaced CVT.
• The abject lack of personality and soul. If you enjoy the little but significant sensations and emotions associated with driving, as most of us do, this is not the car for you. There is a constant sense of insulation from what the car is doing, some see this as comfort, many see this as an uninvolving driving experience.
• As stated previously, the driving experience leaves much to be desired. There is a constant sense of disconnect between you and what the car is doing.
• The music system leaves much to be desired.
• When revved up, the engine feels and sounds strained towards the red line. It’s never overly harsh but isn’t inviting either.
• The car understeers excessively and its composure suffers to a worrying degree when faced with a bump mid-corner. The suspension setting and ride height are to blame IMO. Not easy to keep a line in a fast sweeping turn by sedan standards.
• Hard and cheap looking interior plastics are plentiful. The quality of materials leaves much to be desired and is simply unacceptable for this segment.
• Misses out on traction control. Again not acceptable for what is among Toyota’s most successful offerings the world over.
• The ground clearance makes the rear wheel well and the general stance of the car look unnatural. Looks like the car is permanently on stilts.
• If something does break down, OEM original parts are properly expensive, e.g. a set of wiper blades will set you back Rs. 4500.
• The turning radius makes U-turns in the city a properly tedious task.

Another good angle of the car but brings out the unnatural stance of the car.

Why not an Octavia or Jetta?

CSUV(s) were out of the contention due to a personal affinity to sedans, and I have little faith left in Hyundai’s QC, so the Elantra was out as well. Civics were simply too expensive in the pre-owned market. The cars that made the strongest case for themselves were the Octavia and its twin sister, the Jetta. I have always felt that the Octavia deserved to sell better and made a very interesting case for itself as a true blue German sedan at a great price point, if only Skoda offered a better after-sales experience and the temperamental gearbox didn’t insist on failing ever so often. However, the constant fear of DSG failures and fat repair bills made me look elsewhere. Some of us have a greater risk for appetite, but my father who likes cars for the practical value they create and nothing else, would simply not have been able to wrap his head around the kind of care that the Octavia would have needed. Diesel powered cars weren’t our first preference but we were open to them, I was at one point hell-bent on bringing a Jetta home, I figured with the couple of lakhs that we would have saved in buying the Jetta over the Altis, maintenance would’ve been sorted for the foreseeable future and diesel bills would have been smaller too. But there were two on sale in Kolkata and one of the more popular pre-owned car dealers insisted on only harassing me with phone calls to later fail to make the car available to me for a look each time I did try to move things forward, the car, however, seemed pretty great prima facie with under 30,000 on the odo. It was a 2018 brown Jetta Highline listed at nine lakh rupees. So the Jetta and Octavia were out, every once in a while I still ponder upon how it might’ve been if I had brought the Jetta home instead. But NGT ban (Delhi is where our permanent home is) concerns and my experience with the dealer quickly shoved those thoughts away. Maybe, it’s the Octavia in its VRS guise that is meant to come home someday. (I mean, a guy can dream.)

The front is much better looking than the pre-facelift in my opinion, but still a touch too cluttered.

The stance is most prominent in this image, notice the gap between the tyres and the arch.

I think the clear lens treatment of the facelifted version helps somewhat unclutter the rear, inoffensive and easy on the eyes.

So was it purely elimination that brought home the Altis?

Well, the answer is both yes and no. Yes, because if there weren’t at least one hamartia with all of the cars that we considered then we probably would not have concluded our decision making process with the Altis as top dog. It was anyway, by sheer luck that we came across this specific example of the Altis. However, once we did see the Altis in flesh with our mindsets open to the idea of owning one, it made a very strong case for itself. It offers the ground clearance of a CSUV, so no worries of scraping speed-breakers as the old Honda City did, it has all the features one could need, is easy to maintain for its class of vehicles and even one or two below even with complex and small petrol engines being the standard now. And it was a discernible upgrade over the CIty in every way. The only real downside would’ve been size, but once you get the hang of it and are somewhat selective of not entering particularly congested streets, 9 times out of 10 you’d be fine.

Engine performance:

The 1800cc naturally aspirated motor is pretty old school, the starter is as loud as a heavy turbo diesel engine's, I quite like it.

It is in no way a scorcher of a motor, coming from a very rev-happy i-Vtec engine that had the mechanical purity and eagerness of few engines that one could ever experience, this one felt lumpy and heavy in comparison, a 130 something bhp too, while a respectable figure is nothing exceptional. The nature of power delivery will not make you particularly thirsty to kick the throttle into the floor. Make no mistake it will take you to the redline with zero reluctance in a reasonably refined manner too, but won’t impress you or ask for more either. It doesn’t sound nice yet it’s not harsh. Where the engine does excel however is driveability and the seamless mid-range acceleration. It delivers its power with a butter-smooth effortlessness. The car is the happiest between 1000-3000 rpm and is easily able to keep up, overtake and leave in its dust most of the city traffic in this range. This quality of the engine to serve up power as and when demanded in a very linear and smooth fashion is what makes it an absolutely effortless cruiser. The engine doesn’t encourage you to work it to extract performance, but is rather happy serving up more than adequate power whenever necessary as long as you drive with a light foot. In gear, acceleration is decent too if you’re doing more than 1500 rpm at which you will not have to downshift for an overtaking manoeuvre. Overtaking in this vehicle is an effortless process. It is however very easy to stall when driving from a standstill and does not have any kind of anti-stall or stall warning before it cuts off, doesn’t even make the car shake before it does to let the driver know. Essentially a good highway cruiser, one that will give you peace of mind, but would not excite you. Having said that coming from a 118 bhp i-Vtec motor that is intoxicating at 3500 and beyond but a little sluggish below, the mid-range power is something that adds to the overall feeling of comfort and the general experience for me. The gearshift is butter smooth and the knob feels good to hold, the throws are not too long and the clutch while on the longer side is light. As for fuel economy, we have been getting in the range of 8.5km/l to 12.5 in city traffic based on the MID.

Lift the gear collar to engage reverse. The Gear Knob looks and feels premium. Has a small scratch will be replaced in the coming year.

Ride and Handling:

The Altis does not excel in this area. The car feels floaty when going over undulating surfaces or the unscientifically designed expansion joints that are so plentifully available in Kolkata. The handling is nothing special by sedan standards, the car feels stable in a straight line, but if thrown in a sweeping curve, it understeers like a boat and if you combine cruising speed, an expansion joint with a sweeping curve, prepare yourself for a very scary second or two. As long as you keep your expectations in check, you’ll enjoy the comfortable cruising. The steering while confident at dead centre and adequately heavy isn’t very communicative. Essentially, highways are a lot of fun but sweeping ghat sections, only if it’s the view you’re after with no expectations of road-hugging cornering ability.

Vanilla and cluttered. Difficult to clean too! Some of my first money is going to spend replacing these. Will upsize and move to better tyres in due time.

Feels good to hold, thumb pads and leather add to the premium feel. The buttons feel plasticky, the stalks feel built to last though. The buttons on the left are for the audio system and the ones on the right are for the MID in the instrument cluster, which offers little functionality or information warranting so many buttons.

Comfort, Refinement and NVH:

The insulation is really good and keeps the cabin nice and quiet, except for road-noise, I feel that there isn’t enough cladding in the wheel arches and perhaps the Bridgestone Turanza aren't the quietest. But nothing bothersome as far as NVH is concerned, the car is very quiet at idle and exhaust noise is drowned out below 2500rpm.

The flowing design and the piano black of the dash are the most is the most audacious design element, soft-touch plastics have been used on the top, feels built to last, albeit a little difficult to keep clean. The climate control feels very premium.

The comfort and refinement are something to speak of, as far as my experiences with automobiles are concerned, I have had a fair amount of experience with SUVs this side of 50 lakhs and the oddball luxury sedan here and there, the car is not on acutely at either end of the spectrum but clearly much closer to the latter, the seats are very well shaped and are very supportive, under-thigh support, side bolstering and angle of the seat base are spot-on and comfortable for various kinds of frames. The rear seatback is also adjustable and is also very well cushioned. My car has fabric seats, so you don’t miss ventilated seats as much as you would if they were leather seats. Another thing that warrants a prominent mention, is the bone-chilling AC. The car doesn't have rear AC vents but the AC will chill in the cabin even in 40 degree plus heat in no time.

Not common practice in a lot of petrol cars this side of 25 lakhs, adds to the refined NVH.

Practicality is another area where this car shines, all four door pads can hold 1l bottles.

In-Car Entertainment, features and niceties:

Conventional flippy key, long hold the boot release button to open the boot. Has been covered in a silicone case because it is hard and easy to scratch. Would've liked keyless entry. Both keys of the car are identical.

The annoying message that needs to be acknowledged each time the car is started. Who thought this was a good idea?

Nothing special at all, the head unit offers a function I have only ever seen in this car where a motor can angle it in different positions to adjust to the viewing angle of the driver, not left and right, just downwards and upwards. The only time it's necessary is when you want to pop in a CD or SD card, pretty wasteful in my opinion. Would've appreciated it if these funds have been diverted to a better sounding audio system. The rear speakers are located on the parcel shelf of the boot and the sound is very rear-biased, to the point that we thought the front speakers weren't working until the tweeters blasted the bright highs, a touch too bright in fact. The mids are clumsy and the bass is very unidimensional and lazy, would've loved it if it came with better speakers like the new i20 especially considering that good music is essential for where this car shines, the open road! The audio also distorts if you push the volume up. There is something called miracast instead of apple car play or android auto. There is also an annoying disclaimer that you need to acknowledge before the music starts playing. The rear cameras aren't the most high resolution but work well in low lighting situations. The non-adaptive guidelines are useful but not entirely accurate. The HU display is bright enough, even for sunny days.

The auto-dimming IVRM and OVRMS that fold at the press of a button are also very good to have.

I really like the look of the instrument cluster, very 2000s premium car-like with a nice soft blue glow at night.

Conclusion:

For a couple of weeks after the Altis came home, I was conflicted at the idea of having a car that wasn’t particularly fun to drive, my father is no enthusiast but he wanted something that had a powerful motor under the hood. The Altis is no driver’s car, but where it does win my heart over is in how stress-free the experience of owning an Altis is. Whenever I took the City out, ground clearance would always invariably be a concern, I would have to slow down to crawling speeds at every speed breaker and bear the brunt of impatient motorcyclists honking incessantly behind me, just one such area where the Altis offers peace of mind like nothing else. Most enthusiasts love their cars despite their shortcomings, tolerating drinking habits, droning exhausts and low ground clearance because they plaster wide grins over the driver’s faces every time they open up the throttle and see the world around them turn into blurry scenery or because of their go anywhere charisma, but there is a reason, Hyundais, Marutis and Toyotas sell as well as they do. No one grows up putting up posters of VWs and Toyotas, but they sell the most even with the affluent sheikhs of the middle east and there is a good reason for this. It’s because these cars make for incomparably reliable companions on good days and bad ones, whether it’s a work emergency to attend to or a weekend trip, you can always rely on your Toyota to get you where you need to be without the fear of being left high and dry. The Altis has grown on me in many ways and the larger majority of car owners across the globe agree with me since it’s the world’s most selling car of all time for a reason.

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