Toyota Innova Crysta diesel-AT review by ex-Tata Hexa owner

Even when driven calmly, I've never managed to achieve a fuel efficiency figure above 14 km/l.

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Our Pure White Innova Crysta ZX AT Diesel comes home, our White Knight.

We let go of our beloved Blue Hippo and brought home our new Innova Crysta. You can read all about it here. I am a bit sad about letting go of the Hexa but something old must go for something new to be enjoyed. At the time of writing this ownership, I have completed about 4 months of ownership, 4000 km and the First service (1 Month) for the car is already done.

So first things first, what is the need to write an Ownership review of Innova Crysta? I don’t think anyone ever reads a review or searches for any feedback before buying an Innova. Hell, there are a few guys who just send their secretaries to order the car and get it delivered.

Team-BHP already has a comprehensive review of the Pre 2021 Model Innova Crysta here.

However, in my review, I would focus on some key aspects like Comparison with Hexa on all aspects of driving dynamics and the 2.4 Engine and Auto Gearbox combination.

Pros:

• Drives like a car, not a heavy MU
• The third row of seats are actually very useful for long distances for kids as well as adults less than 5’ 6’’ height
• Boot space at the back, with the last row of seats being used, is ok for some luggage (two small suitcases) unlike others in the segment like Safari and XUV700
• Smart one-touch tumble middle row seats which slide forward as well to liberate more space in the third row as required
• Proven reliability and Robust build quality, any roadside mechanic worth his salt would be able to fix small issues.

Cons:

• Quite a bit of body roll, floaty drive, especially on curbs and undulated roads. It feels like riding a boat on choppy waters, Try driving on the cemented highway with undulations or expansion joints.
• It's not really a seven-seater, it’s a 6 Seater, the middle row bench seat is not available in 7 seater model
• Expensive for the value proposition and misses out on some of the regular features from cars at least two segments lower – Sunroof, Auto Wipers, Auto-Dimming IRVMs, Wireless Android Auto, Apple Carplay
• No clear Crash testing/rating was done for the Indian Version. Internet is filled with videos of Innova crashes where Airbags didn’t open.

A first Teaser Image to get you engaged:

The review is divided into the following sections:

Purchase Decision:

If you are in the market today and want to purchase a 7 Seater highway cruiser, then there are not a lot of vehicles in the market. On top, I wanted to upgrade from my current ride A Tata Hexa XT Manual. Additionally, I didn’t want to go for a Front-wheel drive setup, so an RWD or AWD was a must-have for me (Why do you ask – well in my Ertiga days, I was once stuck at a slope where it was raining and my car just could not pull me up due to the slippery surface and it was swaying side to side on pushing the accelerator hard. I was stuck completely and there was no way out. It took a good 30 mins to finally make it out somehow. I never faced such an issue in my Hexa which had an RWD setup and that started my fascination with Body On Frame RWD MUVs).

So Must haves:

• 6 Airbags
• ABS, ESP, TC
• RWD at least, AWD would be better
• Budget – under 25L Ex Showroom
• Great and fuss-free ownership experience without frequent Service station visits

If you consider the realistic options then the contenders were the following:

1. Mahindra XUV700 – was not launched yet, after going through the reviews now, I am happy I didn’t wait. Loved the new car but was not willing to bet on a fresh Mahindra model with so much electronics within the first year. If I had to, I would have picked up the Diesel AX7 AT + AWD combo.
2. Tata Safari – Not considered due to FWD configurations. A small note here, I did a test drive of the Tata Safari and it drives better than the Crysta. So judging purely on ride quality, it’s a better product. However, I am in no mood to go back to TASS again.
3. Hyundai Alcazar – My friend brought the 2.0 Petrol AT model and he was happy with the car. The petrol engine suits the car. Mileage was showing up as 12 in the city. Feature loaded, but again, I passed on due to FWD configuration.

Dealership Experience:

We all have a high expectation from Toyota when it comes to Showroom experience and I must say that it has been top-notch overall.

I got in touch with Nandi Toyota in Whitefield and met Ms Subija who was my SA and Mr Sunny who is the Sales Head. They helped with all questions, arranging test drives at a convenient time at my home and the whole booking process. This was the closest to my home and office and they had Showroom, Service and Exchange options all available at the same place.I made the booking in April itself so as to buffer out the two month waiting period. It was a well-handled process and they didn’t even ask for any booking amount, just an email from my official email id and confirmed my booking.

Finally once my Hexa was handed over, and the new car leasing application started, I informed my SA and they confirmed the Vehicle availability after a few days in their stockyard and they didn’t mind that I wanted to do a Pre Delivery Inspection. They took me in their showroom car to the stockyard near the Electronic City and got the process completed.

For the final price, they didn’t add any handling charges and gave a discount without even asking which is much appreciated. I was almost mentally prepared that I would have to do some haggling here but it was amazing the way they dealt. Full marks to them here.

So after a bit of paperwork and anxiety, they went out of their way to get things in place to give me delivery on July 20th on my son’s birthday. Ms Subija had an unfortunate health emergency and Mr Sonny took over the complete process and It was seamless.

Something that Mr Sonny told me during one of our car rides that stuck to my head – there was a conversation about Toyota reliability Vs not keeping up with features available in other cars today in the market. He told me that Customers have very high expectations for electronics and fancy features like Sunroof etc and when they first see a Toyota car they are usually wondering why the cars come with minimal features. He said that Toyota is proud of their engineering and they only put those components in their car on which they have trust, with the reliability and quality, to match Toyota standards. A counter-argument would then be – why would Toyota even consider selling Maruti petrol models rebadged as Toyota? CAFÉ Norms maybe?

First time I see my car in the Stockyard:

The journey so far

As you would read the sections later on in the review, you would realize that I kept comparing the Innova with Hexa and initially was not very happy about my choice however slowly the Innova has started growing on me especially after a recent 900km round trip of Bangalore -> Mahabalipuram -> Pondicherry -> Bangalore. Ride quality, though soft, is livable and in fact, my family now loves riding in the car for long-distance travel. There was no driver fatigue after the return journey of 380kms straight. Middle row captain seats are great and the recline option gives supreme comfort to the occupants. When you are driving at less than 50 km/h speeds, road undulations, humps, speed breakers are felt in the cabin. The car is rock solid and stable at highway speeds and beyond and before you realize it due to the beeps, you are doing crazy speeds already. The car can do such speeds all day without breaking a sweat and at no time looks to be strained and always sure-footed. You don’t realize that the car weighs almost 1800 kgs.

The view from the cockpit

Typical issues of BoF MUV are present in the Innova. When you start the car in the morning, press the brakes and shift the gearbox out of P to N. Now when you want to start moving the first time and you shift again from N to D or N to R, even though you press the brakes, the car gives a jerk to indicate the movement direction. I was initially a bit disturbed due to this behaviour and went back to Toyota ASS to consult. Then I was told this is the same in all Crysta’s due to the huge engine and GB behaviour. They offered me 3 cars to try this out and I could see the same behaviour in all of them. Then there is also the nosedive due to braking action. I am guessing this is all characteristics of being BoF, Front heavy and soft suspension. Anyways now I have gotten used to all this.

Interiors

The interiors are nice and airy. You don’t get the claustrophobic feeling and you have a great view on all sides. You have light colour roof lining and darker shade panels from waist down including the floor and carpets. The seat colours add a touch of style. There are roof-mounted AC vents for the 2nd and 3rd row of seats and cools the cabin quite well. There are also interior blue mood lights across the roof liner in the middle. On the front dash, however, there are a lot of hard plastics and they are very prone to scratches. They may be built to last however there is no premium factor here.

Steering and MID

The steering is good and confidence-inspiring, light at low speeds and weights up nicely on highways at higher speeds. The low-speed manoeuvrability is not Hyundai like but not bad either. You will however feel vibrations and bad roads on the steering. Well the MID is old school and love the dials for Speedo and Tacho. The centre screen displays a lot of info including currently playing music Info.

Gearbox

Now we get the option of having a 6 Speed Torque Converter AT with the 2.4 Diesel with the 2021 version. In the previous gen, the AT was reserved only for the 2.8 Diesel and 2.4 was available in 5 Speed MT configuration.

Well to be honest the 6 Speed AT is a trusty old reliable unit and surprisingly good. You have the classic P, R, N, D, S +/- layout. At least I had no complaints about its shifting behaviour or shifting speed. The shifts are relatively quick and the gearbox seems to always choose the right gear for the requirement. Even the downshifts are smooth and in case you want, the car will hold gears on inclines and slopes so hill drives should be fun.

In case you want to take over manual control you can always shift to the manual mode, however, this is something you have to learn first. Innova Crysta has sequential gears and not really a Sports / Manual mode.

What this means is that when you shift to S or Manual mode (by moving the gear stick to the right), the gearbox always moves to S4 which is the Max 4th Gear. This means that the car will at the max shift to 4th as the higher gear and then hold the gear, so 4th is the maximum allowed in this case. In case you want to change the maximum allowed, you can toggle up or down by pushing the lever + or – way. This is useful when you drive up or down the hills. Also, the car holds the rpm till about 3500 before it upshifts.

In general, if you are driving leisurely, you will not even realize the upshift and the gearbox is eager to move to higher gears always. As far as I have driven, this is a good combination of Engine and Gearbox.

Engine

The 2021 Toyota ZX AT now comes with 2.4 Lit engines only unlike the previous-gen 2.8 Lit which now does duty in the mighty Fortuner. So how’s the 2.4 and AT combination you ask? Without having driven the 2.8 or having any references, I would say it's adequate for my needs, no complaints. It churns our 150 PS power and 360 NM torque from as low as 1400 rpm which aids drivability a lot.

Inside of the Engine bay – all neat and clean, nice Engine cover, just the way I like it.

There is a huge gap between the front grill and radiators.

The headlight assembly is easily accessible in case of fused lights or if you need to change the bulbs. This was not the case with the Hexa.

Fire up the engine and it starts with the typical body shake of a Body on Frame chassis. If an Innova crosses you, with your eyes closed and just by listening to the typical engine noise, you can tell it's an Innova. There is this typical sound from the engine between 1000 rpm to 1500 rpm after which this noise is more refined. I guess this is the turbo noise like Hexa’s infamous turbo gargle.

The engine can start pulling the car from 1500 rpm and goes easily up to 3500 after which the progress is slow and it's very noisy.

You can cruise at 100 in the 6th at about 1700 rpm and you can pull up 120 at a leisurely 1900 – 2000 rpm depending on the load. In case you want to overtake that rogue State transport bus on a single lane undivided road, the GB is not hesitant to drop a gear or two and make quick progress.

You can hear the car above 2000 rpm from within the cabin. The auto box lever does not vibrate with higher rpms, unlike the Manual.

The engine comes with drive modes – Eco Mode, Normal Mode and Power Mode.

Eco: Honestly for my kind of leisurely driving, the Eco mode is sufficient and quite usable as well within the city and B2B traffic. It takes a bit longer to climb the rpm needle in this mode and honestly I have not seen any marked difference in mileage either. If you push harder, the car will automatically come out of Eco mode and shift to Normal mode and once you ease up on the throttle, it will go back to Eco mode. The Eco mode is indicated in the MID with an indicator.

Normal: There is no dedicated button for Normal mode and you just have to turn off the Eco mode and no specific indicator. Throttle response improves in this mode over the Eco mode.

Power: For regular driving, I doubt if you would need this. This is more useful if you are driving on twisty, ghats, undivided single carriageways or when there is a state transport bus that is not moving out of your way and giving you a pass. In this mode, the car holds the gears till about 3500 + rpm and the car leaps forward. You can turn this on with a dedicated button and the same is indicated in the MID. However as you would expect, the car gobbles on Diesel in this mode so be careful of the thrill. Unlike Hexa or some of the other cars, I don’t know if in these modes, apart from the Engine performance, if Traction control behaviour changes automatically, however, what you get is a dedicated button to Turn off / on TC and ESP (long press) manually.

I am old school and till about 2000 km, I was following New car running in guidelines like keeping the rpms below 2000 etc. Now I can slowly start enjoying the car across rev ranges.

Kitna Deti Hai – aka Mileage

I have driven close to 4000 km till now and have done so far many Tankfuls. Never have I ever been able to get anything above 14 so far in my highway drives and 11 in the city. This is when I drive very calmly and do not push the car beyond 120 on open highways where allowed.

From the car manual, it seems Innova has a Fuel tank capacity of around 55 lit however I have not seen the maximum range on the MID to show anything beyond 650 km range. For diesel MUVs my expectations would be to have a range of 700 to 800 Kms on one tank. Maybe the tank size is less. Perhaps a 65 lit tank would have been useful.

To be honest, I never could get anything more on my Hexa as well and I am not bothered much on milage(km/lit) for a big vehicle, it’s the drivable range on one full tank which I would want a bit higher to avoid frequent fuel stops.

ICE and Music

The ICE is easy to use and comes with a simple interface. In general, the music quality is ok and livable, however, I miss the 10 Speaker + Subwoofer setup from my Hexa. The music quality was just awesome in Hexa with the Harmon + JBL combo. In Innova, it’s the standard sound controls, decent quality music. What I love is the speakers really give you the feeling that some sounds are only coming from the right speaker and some from the left. Maybe with the new ICE unit in 2021, there is an improvement compared to the previous gen – but this is just my speculation.

Notice the buttons on the ICE for quick menu access, easy to use without looking at the screen.

Headlights

The ZX model comes with White LED DRLs and White LED Low Beam and Yellow Halogen based High Beams. The white lights with DRLs switched on, looks premium, however they are not practical.

On an open highway, the low beams are ok only up to speeds of 60kmph and if you want to drive faster, thereby want longer visibility, the throw is not good at all and you would have to switch on the High Beams more often. Even during rains, the white lights are less than adequate and you are left wanting better lighting options. Not sure what other owners are doing or if there are options recommended for an upgrade. Will be happy to learn from fellow owners.

Lights during the day, Low Lights with Fogs and Welcome Lights when unlocked.

Small yet significant

1. The Last row of seats reclines and are usable for kids over long journeys
2. Last row headrests have only two positions – high and low, cannot be adjusted as per your need in the middle position.
3. Driver Seatbelt always gets stuck between seat and B pillar for me – maybe because I have the seat a bit forward due to my short height.
4. Hand rest is not usable for the driver in the AT vehicle
5. Push type stalk for the MID is not useful, should have been integrated with the Steering control. There is the steering control which can do all other stuff except switch between Trips (A / B) and Total Kms.
6. DPF Regeneration process is automatic and very smooth. I have been reading all the horror stories so far from other diesel vehicles especially the thread here on our own forum. It scares me a bit as well however I have a feeling my driving pattern is as per the recommendations anyway so this should not come up in the Crysta as I am mostly driving on long highway trips, short city trips are occasional and at least 10 km one side. When the indicator comes up on the MID, it shows 4 to 5 bars out of 10 and starts the auto DPF regen process. This happens at every 250 to 260 km during long drives or early enough if mostly driven within the city. You just keep driving or let the car take care of itself. There is also a manual button to do DPF regen process on demand if required.
7. Innova supports a GPS based tracking device from Toyota for which we need to pay extra as a Subscription.
8. It seems the last-gen 2020 Innova had to follow-me-home headlamps but I think Toyota has omitted it from the 2021 version. Could not get the wretched thing to work at all.
9. There are lights in the boot which can be switched on manually if needed.
10. I miss the 12v Power socket in the boot. It's very useful to connect the Air Pump in an emergency. But to be fair, I can still use the one in the second row and the air pumps do reach the rear wheels, it's just a bit cumbersome.
11. Innova has a cool feature, the Hatch door closes / locks automatically if the door is just placed slowly. We don’t need to slam the door like other manual hatch doors.
12. There seems to be a design problem with the rear spoiler. Every time you drive in heavy rains, the rear glass area does not get rain showers fully on all of the glass area and the dust just stick to the glass and makes it slushy which makes the rear visibility poor. Now when you use the rear wipers, it will clean only the central circular visible area and the remaining parts of the rear glass will remain muddy.
13. There is wind noise above 100 / 110 on highways. In general NVH levels are not that great. You can hear the Engine as well inside the cabin.
14. There is no lower metal guard provided to protect the engine and GB from road debris. I feel at least fibre protection should have been provided to protect from flying projectiles from gravel roads.
15. My Hexa had a Telegram Group where owners could connect with each other, raise questions and concerns and get support from each other – loved this forum. However, I have not found such an enthusiastic forum yet for Crysta Owners. There are a few FB based groups however there are mostly ads posted by others who are trying to sell some accessories and other such junk. I miss connecting with genuine owners who love their cars and want to discuss only cars. I think Tata and Mahindra vehicles have such a fan following. On the contrary – maybe Crysta owners don’t need such a forum to share concerns as there are lesser issues faced
16. I have had the pleasure to visit Toyota’s manufacturing facility at Bidadi Karnataka many years ago and as a company, they are obsessed with Quality and Process excellence. I am happy that I finally own a Toyota now. (I have no association with TKM, this was just a courtesy visit via our company)
17. Toyota is the only major company that has been able to maintain the image of the car (Innova in this case) even though it's majorly used in the Taxi segment. It's loved by cabbies, Govt Babus, Wannabe Politicians and Private buyers alike.
18. I don’t yet have a comprehensive service experience yet with Toyota apart from the first free service and some random visits due to the gearbox body shake issue. I am hoping that it will be better than Tata. The SAs are more attentive and listen and respond better at Toyota so I have high hopes here and let's see how this relationship develops.

Issues/Niggles

Who says Innova Owners don’t face issues? A few issues that I am facing are:

• When I stop the car, switch off the engine and open the driver door, the other 3 passenger doors are not automatically getting unlocked. This means I have to manually unlock them every time which is irritating. I need to check what happened because this was not the behaviour earlier. Maybe some settings somewhere need to be checked.
• There is a distinct sound of springs coming from the front passenger seat while going over broken roads. Some lubrication may be required.
• There is some metallic vibration sound/rattling sound coming from the left A-pillar – either near the dash or from near the pillar area when going over broken roads and humps. I need to get this checked and fixed.

However, I am not too worried about the above and it's just that I am a bit lazy to go and get them fixed.

Summary

If you are thinking about purchasing the vehicle, please understand what you are getting into before you sign the cheque. Innova is a Body on Frame people mover and has its own nuances and comes with its own positives and negatives.

Innova is called the Highway king of India for a lot of different reasons like Resale, Reliability, Ruggedness, Ease of Maintenance, Toyota After Sales and Support but Ride Quality is not one of the things, I will rate it as best. Innova has a boat-like ride quality below 50 km/h on broken roads where there is a lot of body roll and sideways movements and on speeds above 50kmph on an open highway, things get better, the car is more planted and you are more confident to pick up speeds.

I love the car and it's slowly growing on me. It's way expensive for the segment and features it offers, but I wanted to experience this solid Japanese engineering after owning multiple Maruti, Mahindra, Tata and Hyundai’s in these years. Now having completed 4 months and 4000 km, I hope the love story is only starting. I will keep posting on my trips and updates with the car in this thread.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.