Owning a 2021 Innova Crysta diesel: 21,000 km in 2 years

Managed an average fuel efficiency of around 15 km/l with both highway & city driving.

BHPian Innysta recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Short Summary:

• Manufactured in Nov’21 and delivered in Dec’21
• Super White- Manual GX variant
• Absolutely stock except for Rear Bike Protector
• Completed 31K in 2 years on stock tyres R16
• DPF issue occurred twice within a year of purchase – 1) Force clean at Service centre 2) Tow away and replaced all injectors and converter assembly under warranty
• Overall Feel: Except for the DPF issue and post-injector replacement, GREAT. Never to worry about DPF burn nowadays.

Driving Pattern & Behavior:

• 70% Highways, 30% city drive (50% of it bumper to bumper)
• Avg. 100kmph on highways with occasional 110/120kmph to overtake at short sprint
• Eco mode in City drive and Village roads, Normal mode on Highways
• Normal mode is kind of addictive once you experience it; Love the thrust and power to the fullest
• Tried off-roading in the surfaces filled with algae in a narrow cement toe wall with tree leaves and mud + 30* inclination + right turn@45* angle; making the wheel slip; Even power mode couldn’t help; Only Fortuner made it. Without a slippery surface, Normal mode pulled it though!!
• Fill Diesel at IOC/BPCL/HP
• 1 puncture at Rear Left wheel @ 31,000 km
• Completed 4*2500km trips
• Middle-row seat belts ON always for highway drives

Positives:

1. At heart and mind, I was sold to Innova Crysta when I just test-drove 100m from home. Such a splendid display of a great product
2. Comfort at its best. Had done 700km in a day with kids, and senior citizens. Absolute comfort equivalent to flight travel as told by occupants
3. Max. distance travelled in a day: 890km; True to many of our colleagues’ feedback, the engine never asks you to stop or leave a doubt in your mind for rest under full occupancy and load with 2100 RPM @ 100kmph speed all along the day.
4. Straight line stability at curves even at 100 km/h speed
5. Road presence and its vulnerability – it’s difficult to contain speeding up to get past insane drivers to stay ahead for better visibility vs blocked by other chasers (It seems others take pride in overtaking an Innova Crysta and I never mind that; It’s just not to get vulnerable for collision risks trailing others’)
6. Superb AC effect
7. Enough storage spaces
8. Mileage – 13 km/l in the city, 14 km/h on highways (100 km/h) and rise to 15 km/l when driven on average. 80 km/h
9. Spouse feedback on driving Crysta in the Ranipet-Chitoor-Kolar route was “It’s so easy to drive at highways. So, it makes driving easier”; my response was “Yes, as long as fellow drivers behave well”. Moral of the story: You gain “confidence” when you drive and not many cars can provide that.
10. Brake pads: 7mm thickness exists in the Front and 4 mm in the Rear
11. Strength of Toyota footsteps – it withstood the impact of crashing on an uneven road surface and took the brunt without much external sign

Negatives:

1. DPF issues within 1-year ownership – Kind of stranded on busy city road (reduced engine speed of 10 km/h luckily closer to home and engine automatically switched OFF once reached home, THANK GOD)
2. No holder handle to get in, at the driver's side
3. The down arrow in the music system button moves the arrow UP
4. Wind noise starts creeping in very mildly at the driver's side from 100 km/h speed
5. Mudguards are less durable and seem like a mould of 2 hard plastic parts. Torn when you scratch it in a barricade while taking reverse slowly (or) scratch it in an uneven road surface. Have seen it in multiple cars, exactly broken in the same position
6. Manual regen not enabled from 1-6 bars a.k.a custom regen
7. ASCs don’t check for ECM software updates during service. Got 2 updates pushed when pursuing the @pridered suggestion of enabling custom manual regen (Bengaluru - Arunachal Roadtrip | 2+ weeks in a Fortuner). So, some results were achieved against custom regen enabling.
8. Felt steering pull in 5,000km duration after Wheel Balancing and Alignment every time. After 4 services and a 31k km drive, started realizing the hard fact and ASCs claimed that it was “due to the road’s uneven surface”
9. Toe was the deviation source in the 20k km alignment: 2.1mm against the range of 0.5-1.5mm; It was Castor (4.1* vs 3.5*) and Toe in the 30k km alignment.
10. Sub-standard TPMS offered as year-end accessories benefit – the readings are +5 bars against the claim of +2 bars

Service history:

1. ASCs are good for normal routine service (Replace Engine oil, Air filter, Oil filter) but not skilled for technical issues
2. Always stood next to the vehicle (thanks to ASCs) while being serviced to learn what technicians do; It helped to understand the sequence of core service activity (engine area, electrical lines, applying lubes) and you get a chance to look at the underbody of your car.
3. Avg. cost of INR 10k/service, seems bit high
4. Stock wiper blades and Exide battery still do a good job
5. One of the rear wheel rims has slightly bent (might be from an auto dashing it at 90*) but ASC said it’s not a major issue and advised to continue with it.
6. Opted for AC duct cleaning this time for INR 1.2k to remove any pathogens

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