Toyota Etios Liva [2013-2014] User Reviews

Final Words We Purchased Toyota Etios Liva last year during Diwali and it was maintained only with the dealer from the beginning. No additional extra fittings were deployed in the car other than what the dealer provided for extra cost at the time of purchase.

But before this year Diwali, the car burnt automatically (on a rainy day midnight 11.30 PM) while it was parked in my house porch in side locked gates. Since it was first year itself, we will get the basic cost from the insurance. But the arrogant Toyota Kirloskar Motor management is giving a sterio  type reply that their vehicle is not having any fault, that too when Toyota Japan has recalled about 2.8 Million cars of other brands worldwide. The way they are repeatedly replying seems as such we ourself set fire to our own brand new car (it has hardly run about 2000 kms). The blunder what I did was chossing Toyota car. As a middle class person, even if I have hired vehicle to travel these 2000 odd kilometers, I would not have spent more than one tenth of this lost amount (almost more that two lakhs I lost just buying Toyota Etios car). At the same time, my entire family was saved by God’s grace, since the flame not reached luckily to the petrol tank (if it so, nearby my house electricity main boards also been involved), before the fire brigades put off the fire. Otherwise my entire house and nearby houses & vehicles might have been blasted, because it’s a 100% residential area.

 

Even as I am using Toyota (Japanese) car for the past more than 18 years, my sincere advise not to buy Toyota cars in India, even though it's a Japanese tied-up brand of car. You will not get proper response from the local manufacturer, TKM. This is my experience, even after appealing directly to their CEO of TKM, a typical Indian Manufacturer who don’t take responsibilities mostly. DUE TO THE WORST EXPERIENCE WITH TOYOTA INDIA, I REQUEST FELLOW CUSTOMERS NOT TO CHOOSE TOTYOTA ETIOS LIVA - BETTER GO FOR SOME OTHER BRAND.

When it was burnt, as a first time user of a car, we checked with the dealer what further steps we have to do &  they assured that they will take care of the rest of things and took the vehicle to their yard & sold to a salvage company also. But couple of days back, insurance company told to cancel the Registration of the vehicle to process the claim and when we went to RTO office to do so, we have been asked by the RTO, why it was not cancelled immediately after the incident and why you sold the debris before we inspect & cancel the vehicle registration. So in this way also, very very bad experience from the Toyota dealer. I doubt whether they know the procedures well or not taking that much serious about customers & their affairs.

I was thinking it happened to me only, but one more gentleman from Mumbai also written that the same thing happened to his car around 5 O’clock in the morning and flame also started from the bonnet only, as happened in my case (you can refer under my comment in Mouthshut.com - user's review).

Since there is no provision to upload here, I could not able to upload horrible car photos (in another web site it has been uploaded).

Appearance & spacePoor plastic body, performance, consumption & reliability and Manufacturers support

Exterior Very good, conservative but after a while the overall excellence asserts itself.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Spacious but basic instrumentation is what you will use.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Very good and responsive diesel engine, excellent acceleration if you know how to use the gears. This is a drivers car- a great pleasure to be behind the wheel and excellent at higher speeds.

Ride Quality & Handling Soaks potholes and is comfortable in crawling traffic. The single wiper  is great in its sweep.

Final Words Only three things are missing 1) electric ORVM,2)Light in rear cabin, 3) light in luggage portion.Excellent vfm - no other car comes with ABS,EBD, power windows on all doors and two airbags at this price.

Areas of improvement Could do with a little colour in the interior, electric ORVM, lights in rear seat portion and luggage space. Headlights and horn should be better.

Comfortable, easy to drive , good all round view. VFM dieselNo electrical ORVM, lack of light in rear

Exterior Its neat & simple design. Have descent look from any view. Body Quality could have been better, not typical Japanese or not like its elder siblings like innova. But to be honnest it may not be big concern. Paint finish is good.  Bad thing is GD SP version also do not have Rear Wash & Wipe & Rear Defogger. But The Top Petrol V model has both.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Recent models (2013 model) Interiors are better. GD SP has 2 tone iterios & looks lot lot better. Fit & finish is good. Cabin noice & Quiteness is good. Has good inbuilt Music system with speakers. Seats are very comfy & very big. Back seat is superbly specious, can swallow 3 big guys easily. I bet no other car in this category is as specious as Liva.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Engine is quite smooth & no harshness. Many big Humps in Banaglore road can be easily passed on in 2nd gear. Great low end tourque. Very smooth & precise Gear box. Great Fuel economy. I got my LIVA on 13th Sept 2013, Odo reading is 300Kms so for. Got 17Kms in city with AC. Isn't it great!!!.

Ride Quality & Handling Ride is very smooth & comfy. Handling is very nice & nimble. Easy to drive & do not take much time to get set & go. This is both, Driver's & Passengers delight car. Fantastic ground clearence of 172mm. Humps on roads & poth holes can be easily handled by this car.

Final Words Easy, Simple,Good looking Car with Legendary TOYOTA RELIABILITY. Cheaper Service costs & easy to Operate & maintain. Perfect Family Car.

Areas of improvement For Diesel varient, GD & GD Sp, need fetures like Rear Defogger & Wash & wipe. DO not understand why it availble only in V model Petrol version.

Mileage, Cabin Space,Quiteness inside Cabin,Ease of Drive,Descent Bootspace(251Ltrs),Boday quality can to be improved, GD SP version also do not have Rear Wash Wipe & Rear De fogger.

Exterior

 Excellent paint, Good design. I have a G version Petrol, and find the tyres one size smaller than ideal.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort)

 Good space. Seats 5 comfortably. The driver's seat is comfortable, overall seating is good for a hatchback.

 AC is excellent. The interiors are well screwed together and I have had no rattles whatsoever in the last one year. The car has covered 12,000+ kms.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox

 1.2 petrol is good. I am happy with the fuel economy of 13 - 14 considering my driving style :)

Ride Quality & Handling

 Excellent. Very confidence inspiring handling. My car does not have an ABS, however, the brakes are excelent.

 The ride is flat and very comfortable.

Final Words

Excellent product from Toyota. I agree, there is evident cost cutting, but then the mechanicals are prefect and better than any other car in the segment. This is more of a driver's car and has exceeded all my expectations.

Areas of improvement  

 The interior plastic qulaity is not great. 

Excellent handling and braking, Ideal for city driving and capable in highwaysInteriors may not be of everyone's liking

Exterior'

Looks good from the front, but rather dismal from the rear. Overall the car looks OK and is not the best looking car in the class. I was not so much into the looks and hence didn't matter much to me.  

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort)

The best thing about Liva is the space inside. Good rear-front legroom and seat width makes it a comfortable ride. Seating comfort os also good.

Found a lot of comments criticizing the placement of speedometer, which I quite liked. 

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox

Engine performance seems good and as the car is new I am not that sure. Gear box is a breze

Ride Quality & Handling

Handling seems good. I took the car for a 300KM drive the next day I got it and found the ride comfy. Handling is easy and riding comfor ig good. The suspension did a decent work on some really bad roads. 

Final Words

Liva is a good premier hathcback. Looks wise it is not so great, but will be better for someone who is looking for interior space, performance and ride quality. 

Areas of improvement  

 

 

 

Inside Space, Front Styling. Drive QualityRear Styling, Interior

Exterior As usual Toyota's Conservative Styling (who cares if the car is reliable and save your fortune), Styling is is decent for my eyes compared to other ugly looking out there. wish the side skirts and spoilers ame with the car for free which will add more style, but I am happy with the price I paid for this car.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Can you show me a reliable car in India that has comparable space for this price. As my title says its ambassador in toyota's dress. I have a old ambassador, My family feels same kind of comfort as Amby in this car. Once 8 people 6 adults and two 8 year old kids went in the car. No worries, this car can pack a whole family and take them with comfort and thats why I compared this car with Ambassador.

Regarding gadgets this car does not even provide basic things like Cd player, but we have the flexibility to put anything we want. Like the cooled Glove BOX(don't forget to open the small door inside the glove box to let the AC air flow inside).

Also lot of people in this forum are complaining about road noise, I am really surprised my car is reasonably quiet in the city as well as in the Highway, it is quieter than   any other car I went  or drove in India, I took the option Rust coating at the time of purchase (toyota people told me that this rust coating has sound deadening compound that reduces road noise and that might be the reason why my car is very quiet.

car has two speaker components in the front (two 51/4 speakers in the front and two tweeters on the dash) I added two 6X9 speakers in the rear behind the rear seats with a custom tray

3 Adults can sit comfortably in the rear seat, AC is powerful at any load or speed.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Milage is outstanding if less load (4 people and lighter things in the trunk), once got 24kmpl when I drove 500KMS in one stretch at 80km/hour. I now have 9000kms and the car still drives same as it was new, waiting for 10,000 km servive

This car doesn't drive like a small car, it is very stable and feels big when driven on the Highway no problem overtaking it is little sluggish even when you pass, this  might be because the engine is still new and hasn't been broken in, hope more kms I put in the car the pickup will increase.

Ride Quality & Handling Ultra smooth, can drive on second gear in bumber to bumper traffic without changing gears, literally no engine knocking. Once on a heavy rain on the NH my car slid a bit, if not ABS my car would have hit the road divider, ABS saved our life during sudden breaking.

When more people and heavier loads are taken in the car, it hits the speed breaker quiet often which is obvious in any other car in India, can install stiffer springs(bilstien) in the rear to  solve this problem. when few people travel in the car, the car jump over the speed breakers with great ease.

Future upgrades I am planning to install Biltien B3 coil springs for the rear to stiffen the suspension, I think the front suspension is good. When time comes to replace the front struts, I will replace it with Bilstein struts after 60,000kms. Also planning to install strut tower brace connecting two front struts inside the hoodto control the wandering so that the car handles sharply. Install 15 inch wheels.

Final Words I couldn't be more happier with the purchase, myself and my family are completely satisfied with Liva. As a previous Camry/corolla owner, I like toyota for their rock solid reliability. Regarding Liva, this car is made for ordinary Indian people with basic  luxury features like cd player missing  but they haven't compromised anything otherwise (reliability, safety, quality) and have produced a car that is as reliable as their most expensive Lexus brand cars.

Areas of improvement Stiffer Coil Springs/Suspension, more free goodies (CD Player). I hate the front seats( wish they split the front seats  with a separate neck rest), more lumbar support for the front and rear seats for back support. Add a RPM tachometer for diesel cars as their petrol versions, Clock in the dash , Rear Wiper. Automatic rear view mirrors. 15 inch wheels. All these features for a Rs20000 price increase. Will ToyotaListen.

Space/Milage/Toyota's rock solid reliabilityStiffer Coil Springs for the suspension would have been better

Exterior I personally liked the exteriors of the car. Fell in love with the exteriors. Great paint quality. After I20 and Polo, for me, Etios liva comes in next in terms of exterior attraction.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Very Spacious (best in segment and one level above), great drivability, great brakes, very reliable engine, very good AC, a lot of equipment holder areas, great visibility from inside. The new Beige interiors makes the diffrerence betweeen the current version and its older version.

Cons - The plastic quality can be improved a bit, need to provide tachometer in the G SP version too, MID information. 

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Best in class, very reliable engine, great fuel economy (given its light weight), good gearbox, Hassle free ownership experience - At the end of the day, its a Toyota product.

Ride Quality & Handling Superb - best in class.

Final Words A great VFM package from Toyota. Go for the G SP model if you are buying the petrol car. At the price it comes, its a VFM car with all the safety features loaded. Try negotiating for the Audio system to be installed within the price. I could manage it :)

Areas of improvement Interior plastic quality can be improved further, MID in a better visible way, auto climate control in all versions of the car.

Reliability, Very Spacious, Comfort (best in class), hassle free ownership, low cost of maintenanceInterior plastic quality, some more features

Exterior

good,UMBlue is attractive

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort)

spacious,more leg room

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox

fine,more than 18kmpl,easy gear shifting.Electric power steering is a fun.After third gear you love to drive it.Grey upholstry looks nice.Great leg room for the driver.My wife chose Liva only for its style and rear seat space.Many did not like the dashboard.But I like it.All the five travelling can see the speedo meter.My wife discarded the driving of a particulr driver for driving more than 70kmphr by lookin clearly the dash board on TIRUNELVELI-KALLIDAIKURICHI.(TAMILNADU).The digital odometer,tripmeter,fuel tank indicator is novel.I live in a small town. I need a good performance car.The fuel economy is exellent with the help of the electronic fuel injection.(EFI) TOYOTA gives me a good spacious and performance car.I never need a sports car to ride in my small town.ANAMALAIS TOYOTA gives me a good after sale service and advice.

Ride Quality & Handling

nice,easy handling,good ground clearance.It has easily climbed MANJOLAI a hill station .

Final Words

we need a good performance car,not a sporstcar on Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu.Good dealership from AnamalaisToyota,Tirunelveli.So I bought Liva G on 26-12-2011for an affordable price.

Areas of improvement  

gap in the door(can be waxed) Second gear power.

 

front look,central locking,tilt electric powersteering,, ,engineimmobilizerprice Toyota has improved the interiors.Value for money

There is no question about welcoming or any facilities about showrooms of toyota.its amazing. Very good engine and smooth for riding and give us relaxtion . Its look is ok,but perfomance is excellant. Servicing and maintainance is amazing and best thing is there is very minor maintaince charge. I think this car have lots of merits comapre to demerit. And i think dmerits are unneccesary.