Selection
wanted a diesel car which should be.
very driveable(my definition to this word is without frequent gear changes and should be able to negotiate most speed breakers in 2nd gear) in city.
should have ABS and Airbags.So I wanted a topend model in any car that I select.
composed highway drive(at 90-110kmph).as I travel almost 1500kms per month on highway.
Good mileage and ride quality(I doubt whether my Liva met ride quality req).
Shortlisting and Delivery:
It was easy for me as most of the models are out of my budget:) my budget was 6.5 to 7 at max
I20/POLO/PUNTO/MICRA/PULSE/SWIFT - topend models are out of my budget more than 7.5L
vista - not considered for its build quality(may be should have considered this too after looking at LIVA's average build quality)
Beat - I liked everything apart from sapce
LIVA - in my budget and good proven D4D engine and spacious I alomost selected Chevy beat.as it had everything I wanted and most importantly it is the cheapest of all(6.5L onroad hyd LT with OPTION pack).I must say Beat's driveability and ride quality is excellent.Finally my wife's suggestion arrived. She wanted a "spacious" car.All of a sudden by selection is gone.Beat has very less rear seat space.no thigh support at all.
Now I left with only one option LIVA as vista is out of my mind.without lot of thinking or research I selected LIVA by trusting T-brand
Delivery was smooth as expected from Harsha Toyota, Hyderabad.they did nothing wrong here.So now did I get what I wanted?
Initial observations
pros: Very driveable in city.spacious.three guys can perfectly fit into back seat
good progressive braking(personally I dont like swift/beat sudden baking mainly at lower speeds)
cons: Very average build(way below expectations) finishing.
Look at dash and other interior corners for 10 mins.u will come to know I am right.Am disappointed with Toyota in this regard.
Car doors looks very light.not sure how safe is it.Its lightness is evident from its weight of 980kgs(smaller beat weighs nearly 1100kgs).
When I close the back doors it makes lot of noise.reminds my 4 year old 800.I can give u hell lot of examples that its not built well.bad insulation(high NVH).
u will hear hell lot of tyre and engine noise from inside even when you are on good road with AC on.On bad roads it gets worst.i could not believe that 10days old car rattles like this.
not very smooth gear shifts(hoping it will improve after first service)very soft front suspension.
front suspension jumps and gives weird sound at small sharp speed brakers at low speeds.
low ground clearance.In paper it might look same as other(173 mm).My car hit the ground 4 times in first 3 days.nothing major though:)
costly spares(4 chrome finish rings for AC vents costs 1500 antenna costs 1800, got antenna installed for 300 outside) Missing features like(alloys/autodown power windows/fog lamps/boot lamp)
In-built speakers sound quality is below average.
Mileage and performance:performance is good if u shift gears correctly to stay in turbo zone.If u dont it struggles.To stay in turbo jone the gear shift speeds are.
1st to 2nd at 10kmph
2nd to 3rd at 25-30 kmph
3rd to 4th at 40-45 kmph
4th to 5th at 60 kmph
Every gear pulls well from even lower speeds than mentioned above but pulls slowly.I tried to pull from 50 kmph in 5th but it took lot of time(5-8 secs to get past 60kmph).
Weekend I went to Kurnool from Hyderabad(230+ 230)Full tank to full tank mileage 20KMPL with 95% AC on(but AC at min level).480 kms(460 on highway+ 20 in city) with 24 litres of diesel.
hoping it to be improved another 2kmpl after first service.Highway driving is mostly at 90-100 kmph, occasionally touched 110-120.engine is happy at 110kmph. I tried to push it further but it looked stressed.Gear shifts are as specified above to keep it in toubo zone.
Other observations: Antenna wont come as standard.and u must buy it from showroom.its not available in open market.
Need to leave engine idle for 2-3 minutes to allow turbo changer to get cool down(after long drives, not required for city driving though).is it the case with all the diesel engines?
Service intervals are 10k, where as its 5k for beat.
Final verdict: Its early to say but I am already feeling that should have gone for beat:(
Update after 20K service:
No major problems faced.once driven continuously for 10 hours without any problem.
service experience was good.first service costs 50, second(10k) and third(20k) service costs 1850 each.
Mileage in city with very little trafic 22kmpl, on highway 24kmpl with 40% of the time AC on.
Best mileage got: 25 kmpl
Worst mileage: 17.5kmpl(on bad roads 10 hours without engine off, fully loaded and 1 hour of idling 100% AC)
Top Speed achieved: 140 kmph
Avg speed on highway: 100 kmph
Problems: Engine noise, bad interior quality, Interior rattling, front suspension noise, there is no power in 1st and 2nd gear.will struggle to get past 40kmph if car is fully loaded.
I still stand by my initial review of my car.Nothing really great about this car apart from reliable engine and good mileage.I am still disappointed with toyota.
