Toyota Altis VL Auto booked: Now Bought!

[akj53in 0]

I saw a black coloured Altis on some foreign website. It looked awsome. Toyota needs to come out of its shell of staid thinking and plan some innovative marketing plus they should provide more choices to customers on things like more colours, trims and goodies to become market leader in this segment. It certainly has the right product to become one.

 

Below are some pics of my car taken in hurry

 

[thackervijay 2]

thats a cool pic akj, have seen this colour on innova which looked good, though not my choice of colour but looks good.Are those temp. registration number?

[akj53in 0]

Yes this is a temp registration number

 

 

 

Bottle shaped door opener look cool. Plenty of space for bottles, cups and other nick nacks.

 

 

Optitron meters glow in daylight also and are very good looking

 

 

Super ECT Auto tranny - A joy to use

 

 

[akj53in 0]

@akj53n: Congrats. this car is on my radar as well (asw is the Civic). The Toyota is better equipped but has a 4-speed box as against a 5-speed in the Honda. I will be interested in knowing your experience as well as the fuel consumption. The consumption figures make no sense until you have done 3000-5000km.

 

Thanks and it is good to know that you are also considering Altis.

 

I dropped Civic as apart from a excellent engine and a fundu dashboard, I did not find any thing else exciting. The current Civic is short on kit and already feels obsolete (as compared to the competetion available now) and buying that would have amounted to buying a P-4 based computer now.

 

I was also apprehensive about the 4 speed box earlier but after having driven it , I find it a very superior gearbox. It is smooth and shifts are fast. It does not hunt between changes to decide which gear to choose. It does not need a kick down to downshift, a dab on the throttle is enough to make it understand that I need more power and it will shift to a lower gear.

 

Honda ANHC is supposed to have an next gen auto box than Civic. I had test driven a ANHC, but it was slow in response and not as refined. After kick down, it used to pause before deciding which gear to shift to.

 

Tomorrow I will write about FE part.

 

 

[bluesapphire 1]

Good pics, Akj...The front and side surely looks good but centre console has too many buttons, even Civic has it but it has in proper shape and thus looks good..

I loved the camry type steering with wooden touch, that is very good to hold but when i TD it, i had some problems while pressing the horn because of the audio controls on steering, they actually comes in between while pressing horn..

[akj53in 0]

The center console design could have been better and is certainly not impressive as Civic. But it is easy to use. The steering wheel feels very good to hold and combined with excellent driver seat, makes driving Altis a very satisfying experience. It feels like a much more expensive car than it really is. Most cars with airbags will have the horn button in center only so its a matter of getting used to. Further perhaps only in India horn button is used much more than the gear lever & clutch pedal combined. Worldwide it is a rarely used feature.

and how come bluesapphire does not like blue colour 

 

[bluesapphire 1]

Ha ha, i like blue color but not light blue/sky blue in cars actually..even i didnt liked the Bluish silver in civic which is i think phased out now, actually to me this color doesnt looks rich especially on expensive cars, but then its personal choice and no offence made here...I actually like White, Silver and black in almost all cars which are most common but nowadays i also like Maroon and Golden in cars like Linea and Altis....I also didnt liked this color in Camry, but in Altis it looks much better than Camry due to more use of Chrome in Altis..

And yes that steering is very good to hold especially the feeling to hold that wooden part is excellent, it feels that you are drving a very expensive car and car feels sturdy and heavy unlike old corolla..

Even we are considering Altis, maybe by mid of this year we may buy it also..bluesapphire2009-04-01 10:09:10

[Durango Dude 2]

Excellent Pic's and car look's great. Congrat's AKJ. I think the dash look's cool, though, I agree the Honda is more 'funky'. By the way, does it come with dual zone climate control?Durango Dude2009-04-01 13:05:31

[akj53in 0]

When I took delivery, the ODO reading was 51 km and average FE shown by MID was only 5.8 kmpl. I did not reset the FE reading.

 

Current ODO reading is 144 KM and am happy to see that the overall FE has risen to 9.3 kmpl even after covering the deficit of previous 51 kms .

This is with AC on all the time and useage in Delhi / Noida only.

 

So it means that in 93 kms of my driving, car should have given me FE of about 11-12 kmpl.

 

For a car of its weight and size and with Automatic gearbox, I would say, this is very good FE, which may increase further, after doing 1-2000 KMs.

 

Users of this car in other forums have reported FE of 11.5 to 12.5 in city and 15 on highway useage, which is excellent FE by any standard. I will now do a FE test with a tankful to tankful method and will post the result after that.

 

[mehul_bhp 0]

my corolla also averages close to 11 kmpl in heavy city traffic...on highway trips it has impressed us with its frugal nature...it has given us around17-18 kmpl on highways...akj sir u r sure to get d fill it shut it and forget it expierience...we recently got our corolla serviced after an interval of 21,000 kms and still it was going on trouble free...japanese cars cant be matched in terms of reliability !!!!

[akj53in 0]

Excellent Pic's and car look's great. Congrat's AKJ. I think the dash look's cool' date=' though, I agree the Honda is more 'funky'. By the way, does it come with dual zone climate control?[/quote']

 

Thanks DD. No it does not come with dual zone climate control. 

Tonight I will try to post a list of all the features available in the car.

[FuelRunGod 200]

Lovely colour, the best in the range in my opinion. Congratulations!

 

FRG

[akj53in 0]

Thank you. FRG

 

Mehul: 17-18 kmpl on highways is amazing FE you are getting. You must be a careful driver. Mine being automatic, I shaould be getting about 16 kmpl, which again would be very good.

 

Service interval of Altis is 10,000 km. It should be same for Corolla also. So please dont stretch it to 21000 kms to ensure getting trouble free service.

Cheers.

 

 

[tanmay87 0]

Nice pics akj, even my Altis is of the same colour, i did consider pearl mica but light blue looked best to me.

It is surely a great car, i have done 6000 kms and it has surely been a great experience.

[akj53in 0]

Thanks Tanmay. I notice that you also have a Matiz like me, so we have few things in common. Please post your ownership experience after having done 6000 kms.

[tanmay87 0]

Right akj, i will surely post my ownership experience soon.

[flASh 0]

congrats akj for your new sedan....this shade looks so pleasing on altis ..fabulous pics ..also interiors r so airy n fresh..n the mileage of 17 on highway is unbelievable..my civic just does atmost 12 km/litre...may be because i drive mostly in d 100-120kmph region..

               anyways..enjoy your Altis..CHEERS

[anjan_c2007 1]

Hearty congratulations akj53in. A fantastic car in a fantastic colour. Its the AT version ! Which music system is the car fitted with as OE ? The dash looks plush with the integrated ICE.

Wish you many miles of happy driving.

[Durango Dude 2]

12kmpl city and 17 kmpl highway: these are Swift's FE figure's. I think that's a 'little' too optimistic for a Corolla/Altis, unless you live in a ghost town with no traffic and highway's are arrow straight and deserted.

[akj53in 0]

Bash and DD: Mehul is getting 11 & 17 KMPL. I said that if he gets 17 then I should be getting about 16 kmpl (as I rarely exceed 100 kmph). I had estimated 11-12 in city (New Delhi - Noida including ring road) based on MID reading.

 

I shall do a FE test on tankful to tankful method and will then post my results. But yes result will vary depending on the congestion.

[akj53in 0]

Thanks Anjan. I will have to check the brand of the music system from the dealer. It is good but certanly not in the category of BOSE.

 

Yes the car looks and feels plush from inside. Also features like automatic HID Xenon lamps with washers, 8 way power adjustable driver seat with lumbar support, auto dimming mirror etc., add to the feel good factor.

[sarabjeet 3]

Bash and DD: Mehul is getting 11 & 17 KMPL. I said that if he gets 17 then I should be getting about 16 kmpl (as I rarely exceed 100 kmph). I had estimated 11-12 in city (New Delhi - Noida including ring road) based on MID reading.

 

I shall do a FE test on tankful to tankful method and will then post my results. But yes result will vary depending on the congestion.

 

?? mine corolla AT gives me around 7-9 in city and 13 on high way how do u guys get this high FE ? corolla uses an CVT 4 gear transmission and such high FE is doubtable , this is one of the reason i converted it into CNG

[akj53in 0]

Your FE figures seem to be quite low. I dont know if the older Corolla had the CVT Auto, may be that consumes more fuel. You may also be driving in a congested area of city as 7-9 is very low, but 13 on highway is slightly low. It also depends upon the driving style and the load on the car.

I think Toyota service manager may have the correct answer to this.

 

Also currently the Altis has a Super ECT Auto box (Electronic control transmission). In this box, electronic sensors monitor speed, gear position selection and throttle opening / brakes and send this info to a separate ECU. The ECU then controls operation of clutches, shift points and torque convertor lockup, based on this data.

 

In summary this provides smoother, faster and more efficient operation of the auto box. I found this box to be better even that of ANHC (which in turn is supposed to be more advanced than Civic)

 

 

akj53in2009-04-03 13:26:54

[tanmay87 0]

@ akj : I have the manual variant and it shows me around 13 overall(60% highway and 40% city use) with A/C on all the time.

[BonFre 0]

@Sarabjeet, Ive also heard of similar FE figures as yours.

Even a maual Corolla shall be hard pressed to give 11 & 17!

 

Interesting, share more on CNG conversion & comparable drivability afterwards.