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Toyota Etios Review by Expert

Toyota Etios, the new affordable 5 seater sedan by the automobile giant Toyota offers a cut throat competition to companies like Maruti, Hyundai and Tata in the Indian car market. This affordable yet stylish car from Toyota stable offers amazingly spacious interiors at an unimaginable price tag for its variants ranging from Rs 5 to Rs 6.03 lakh. Toyota Etios is presented as a middle class luxury car in the showrooms. The car is being launched in both petrol and diesel versions across India.

Toyota Etios was initially available with single variant petrol, but lately the company has also introduced the awaited diesel engine version as well in the automotive market. The 1.5 litre 16-valve 4-inline cylinder refined petrol engine offers a peak Torque of 132 Nm @3000 rpm with a Maximum Power production of 89 Bhp @5600 rpm. Being projected as a city car it has a turning circle of 4.90 mtrs. The other counterpart under the hood 1.4L D-4D Common Rail diesel engine, famous for providing an ARAI certified mileage of 23.59 kmpl, yielding 68PS of max power along with 170 Nm of decent torque. Both the variants of Toyota Etios are packed with a 5-speed manual transmission.

The exteriors of the Toyota Etios are stylish with sharp and distinctive curve providing the perfect Toyota chrome finish, however sadly its plastic body disappoints a bit. The body colour bumpers are an attractive feature. Its design is quite basic and simple. The surface of Toyota Etios is bended extremely proportionate. The exterior view is enhanced by the superb character-line body finish. In the basic versions many features are not given however in top end variants like V and VX fog lamps, power steering outside rear view mirrors etc. are provided. The 15 inch alloy glorifies its beauty more. The ground clearance is of 170.00 mm and due this ample ground clearance Toyota Etios is best suited for uneven Indian roads.

Looking at the interiors we find that black is the theme with grey and red inputs. The seats are spacious with headrests on front seats, the rear seats are designed for three, but the rear seats are not foldable. The front seats are designed for everyone even the tall occupants can drive comfortable. The company has recently re-launched the top variant of Toyota Etios VX dressed up in a new shade of vermilion red, which is really attractive. This variant earlier had a grey colored hue that has been long serving since the debut of the car. The outside view is very clear. Toyota Etios comprises of a giant boot space of 595 litres and a 13 litre chilled glove box in the middle. The one feature which reduces its charm is the centrally configured instrument panel which looks a bit awkward. The leather covered steering wheel mounted with audio control uplifts its charm. The rear occupants are delighted with an extra vent and the A/C panel works really well however there is no option for Automatic Climate Control, the quality of ‘clean air filter’ is appreciable. Overall the interiors are decent but living up truly the style and glory of Toyota especially the VX’s sporty new ‘Red’ shade.

However if we examine the safety features the basic variants are absent of Parking Sensors, Anti Braking System (ABS) and the most important the Airbag provision all due to the cost reduction factor. Toyota Etios proves to be comfortable and stylish car for the middle income person who wishes to enjoy the benefits of Toyota.

Toyota Etios Rivals

Toyota Etios has got a closest rival in the form of Maruti Swift Dzire. Be it interior design or exterior appearance or even price range, both sedans are head-on to each other. In the older Dzire the power to weight ratio was pretty absurd, which saw improvement by leaps and bounds in the latest Dzire making it an apt competitor of the Toyota sedan.

The two sedans carry CRDI diesel engine with displacement difference of above 100cc that results in some diverse power and torque figures. But still these figures don’t share any major discern. The difference comes in when you look for a proper sedan with a real three box machine and not a mere 2½ box one like the Maruti Swift Dzire. The Japanese car has got very good styling at front with new chrome grille that keeps you delighted all the time with its smiling face and distinct looking head lamps. The Maruti Swift Dzire now has more swept lamps that appear to be more of urban sorts and grille is kept simple as seen in Maruti Ritz. The inside is spacious than Dzire, while the features present in Maruti Swift are more exciting compared to Etios. But when it comes to comfort Dzire has no answer to Toyota Etios. The mileage as per ARAI is of 23.59 kmpl and 23.4 kmpl for Etios and Dzire respectively. The safety aspects are well taken care in both the sedans and are majorly identical. Here, a multipurpose complete sedan is Toyota Etios, whereas Maruti Dzire can be termed as compact sedan with limitations to city commuting.

Toyota Etios Mileage and Fuel Efficiency

All variants of the Toyota Etios (petrol) are equipped with the 1496cc petrol engine that is well tweaked to give an overall decent mileage which is around 11.8 Km/l in the city and near 17 Km/l on the highways. As confirmed by the ARAI, the mentioned mileage makes Toyota Etios one of the most fuel efficient 1.5 litre petrol car. On the other hand, the frugal diesel companion is big on mileage with 23.59 kmpl on smoother roads, which is validated by ARAI. Whereas a respectable 18.5 kmpl is delivered in jam packed city conditions.

Toyota Etios Variants and Features

Compare Toyota Etios Models

Toyota Etios Colors

White	Celestial Black	Vermilion Red	Symphony Silver	Classic Grey	Harmony Beige

Click Here to see more Toyota Etios Pictures

Toyota Etios Engine, Power and Performance

The Toyota Etios comes with two engine options to choose from namely diesel and petrol. The 1.5L, 1496cc petrol engine churns maximum power of 90 PS at 5600 rpm together with a maximum torque of about 132 Nm at 3000 rpm. The Engine is well equipped with 16 valves activated by twin camshafts. The power-train is coupled with a five speed manual gearbox. The DOHC type engine is based on the simple fuel supply system, EFI (Electronic Fuel Injection) mechanism and has worked for the Indian Roads quite well.

The other member of the team, the fuel economical 1.4L diesel engine smokes out 68 PS of maximum output at 3800 rpm together with 170 Nm of peak torque along with a variable rev per minute of 1800-2400 rpm. To provide better transmission this 1364 cc diesel model is mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. The Engine is super responsive and is strong even at low speeds which is beneficial in case of city driving.

Toyota Etios Pickup and Acceleration    

As mentioned earlier, the 1.5-litre, 90 bhp Engine is super responsive and delivers a pickup from 0- 100 Kph in just 12.0 seconds. The Car has a comfortable and decent top speed of 178 Km/h which again comes up within 23 seconds impressively. The Car is extremely capable on the highways delivering great performance in speed and acceleration.

The 1.4L diesel power-train generating 68 bhp of power reaches from standstill to 100 mark only in 19.0 seconds, which can be said better considering the smaller output. It provides a good amount of peak torque of 170 Nm at 1800-2400 rpm along with top speed of nearly 163 kmph. Between the two the petrol version offers a better apex speed, but the top speed of 163 kmph clocked by 1364cc diesel engine is far than the expected from this engine.

Toyota Etios Interiors and Features

As expected, the Toyota Etios is huge from inside with a supreme, imposing dashboard however with the instrument panel positioned in the centre, it is something that is not the usual and feels somewhat unexpected and out of place. The Central Console with its two vertically stacked centre vents is a very new concept offering a fresh look at the same time. The steering wheel is quite well positioned although and glove box is quite big and spacious just like any other corner in the cabin. The new alignment is very young and refreshing and somewhat gives a look of Porsche car from inside. The cabin is super handy and functional. The finishing of the steering is terrific and the stylish semi circular cluster including the speedometer and tachometer is uniquely designed with fabulous looks.

One annoying factor at the dash is that it’s not even pure fiber but plastic that gives a low grade feel, something that one cannot expect from Toyota. AC controls resemble an old look and design, even worse case is with the cable type headlamp height adjuster. Other features that are out of the place include the floor matting and the sun visors that give a toy like appearance. Toyota Etios has been built and designed quite conservatively however the interior colours cover up much for it. The interiors are available in both single and dual tone colours that differ with respect to the variants. Vibrant shades make it exquisite and beautiful from the inside.

There can be a whole article just for the space that the car has to offer, it is simply brilliant and drastically spacious. Both of the front and rear seats are quite wide and huge offering extremely comfortable back support. The legroom and headroom are spacious too adding further more to this marvellous feature of the car. Toyota Etios is as wide and broad than any other Toyota sedan and hence rear portion of the cabin has enough room for three people easily. The only problem here is the lack of headrests at the rear portion however the car has to offer a very comfortable seating which does compensate the missing aspects. The CD/DVD Mp3 player with 4 speakers is excellent and the illumination at night is fascinating.

Toyota Etios Exterior and Features

There would be a tug of war between the ones calling Toyota Etios very pretty and others calling it a not that impressive piece of design. Here is point where Toyota has somewhat disappointed its fans in the overall style of the car as the head lamps have ‘something’ that goes completely missing. Hence, a facelift can be ordered. But this criticism is comprehensively addressed by the extraordinary front grille that is placed with outmost neatness in the front. The chrome finished ‘smiling’ grille holds the reliable emblem of Q-class that is Toyota with pride. The overall body design does not carry much of lines and cues but it still looks simple yet elegant. With its front it can easily provide a tough competition to segment master Maruti Dzire.   

The tail lamps look good from a distance and are bettered as soon as you reach near to the rear of the Toyota Etios. They are very well structured with more respect to the vehicle along with clearer and high mounted that are easily visible to the approaching vehicle. However people would like the rear finishing much more as in comparison to the front design of the car. This sedan carries a tall image that was not seen earlier with the Toyota models, which offers maximum leg room and head room to the occupants with above average height. On the sides on can notice the wheel arches designed with intelligence and classiness. The high ground clearance is one of the important aspects in the exterior part as it’s a must when you are driving through the city roads that are filled with potholes and oversized speed breakers.

Safety Features in Toyota Etios

Toyota Etios has been designed keeping in mind the safety standards according to the Indian terrain and Toyota has provided twin airbags and ABS (Antilock Brake System) with EBD (Electronic Brake Distribution) is available only in the top model though. However, for the lower models, the mechanism is not very good as far as safety is concerned. The other security aspects comprise of seat belt warning and open door warning indicator, while keyless entry and engine immobilizer is kept standard on all the variants.

Toyota Etios Driving and Handling

Toyota Etios has left everyone wonder with a drastically unreal kerb weight of just 930 Kg which makes it the lightest sedan in the country. Not just the weight but an observation at the long wheelbase is simply excellent. The car has a 2550mm wheelbase which adds to the responsive handling.  The suspension is very firm which supports driving at higher speeds. However at lower speeds, the car gives a bumpy ride on uneven surfaces. Since the engine lacks insulation, all the chunks from the road are quite audible inside.

The ride is smooth on higher speeds with a less body weight, the car easily turns around. The credit for the same would go to the light weighted and super responsive electric steering. Gear shift ratio is smooth and the clutch is sensitive which favors the comfort ability of the driver.

Toyota Etios Accessories

The Toyota Etios doesn’t come with most of the accessories fitted but offers a wide range of accessories to choose from in manual configuration. The esteem features include bumper corner protector, car cover, fabric seat cover, floor matting, mudguard, security system and trunk mat. The audio accessories include CD/DVD, USB and AUX support which comes embedded in top models. Other configurable features include back sensor, leather seat covers, leg room lamp, luggage tray, radiator chrome grille, rear door lid garnish, steering wheel cover, sun visor organizer, front and rear bumper spoiler, side skirt, trunk spoiler and door side visor.

Toyota Etios Conclusion

The Toyota Etios comes at a very affordable price delivering some unmatched features in the segment that include space, superb comfort and great fuel efficiency with perfect handling making it effortless in driving. A good performance delivering benchmark from Toyota and a trustworthy brand, Toyota Etios is just like any other sedan from the company. Though with the inclusion of frugal diesel mill the sales of the Etios model has pumped up, but the mileage offered by its petrol variant is below average and company really needs to retune the engine if it wants to compete with likes of Maruti Dzire.