New Toyota Innova - 2013 Test Drive Report

The Toyota India introducing the third upgrade model for Indian roads...

The First Innova came to India in 2005, eight years down the line nothing much has changed. It’s gone through its third facelift and multiple price increase and still managing to sell with a waiting even now. While this might be the last facelift before Toyota brings in the all new Innova with a completely new platform and engines, lets take a look at what this new Innova has to offer.

The biggest upgrade comes on the outside, primarily at the front. There is an all-new 3 slatted chrome grille which now extends all the way down into a new squarish bumper. The fog lights also get a chrome surround to add a contemporary touch. The sides remain the same barring a chrome strip running across the length of the car and some new body graphics. The rear gets a chrome garnish too with a pair of flush fitted reflectors with a nice little spoiler finishing things off. Overall it does freshen up the old MPV’s appeal but the front could have been worked upon a little more aesthetically. The grille is too large and the retained headlights do not gel with it giving the new Innova an odd face. Whether the new look grows on us or not remains to be seen.

Interior:
The top-end variant we’re talking about here is also – 'all new'. It sits over the earlier VX and is christened as ‘Z’. It gets more goodies than any variant has ever received. What’s new here is the addition of two-tone leather seats and darker faux-wood finish on the dashboard and door panels. Like the earlier top-end variant, it gets a media system with USB and aux inputs and steering-mounted controls, reverse camera, and auto climate control in the creature comfort list. The feature list for the rest of the trims remains more or less similar to the earlier versions.

Engine:4 cylinder, 2494cc, 101bhp, 200Nm, turbo diesel, 5M, RWD, kerb weight: 1,585kg,
Mechanically, Toyota has not bothered fiddling with what was already good.The 2.5-litre D-4D engine has proved itself to be quite a workhorse and even after all these years remains unchanged. The 2494 cc lump pushes out a 102 PS and a very average 200 Nm of torque. While the figures remain the same, we have nothing to complain about as far as performance is concerned.

The motor is mated to the same five-speed gearbox. The shifts are decently smooth but the throws are long. The ratios are on the shorter side despite it being a MPV that’ll spend most of its time on the highway. That in turn affects the kpl figures. Our run on the Innova, the on-board computer showed a mileage of 9.3kpl with both highway and city driving (thorough TopGear road test pending).

Toyota has not revealed the prices of the ‘all new’ Innova, but we expect the top-end Z variant to priced Rs 35,000-40,000 more than the earlier top-end. The price for the other variants will see a marginal increase.
The prices starting at Rs. 12.45 lakh for the base GX version and going all the way to Rs. 15.06 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi)

Price List: (Delhi)
Toyota Innova 2.5 GX 7-seater Rs 12,45,604

Toyota Innova 2.5 GX 8-seater Rs 12,50,366

Toyota Innova 2.5 VX 7-seater Rs 14,53,136

Toyota Innova 2.5 VX 8-seater Rs 14,57,780

Toyota Innova 2.5 Z 7-seater Rs 15,06,718 (NEW)