Toyota Etios G Diesel Review
I had booked a ford Figo from Carzonrent Chennai but got an upgrade to Etios G diesel as Figo was not available. With that, I realized that I had never driven a diesel version of Etios. In 2012 it was G Petrol variant from Avis, in December 2014 it was a relative's V Petrol variant again.
So happy with the upgrade, I set off for my drive. Our drive was to Pichavaram, some 200kms from Chennai. On the way, we diverted to check out Sadras Dutch Fort, Chinn-Veer beach etc and in total I logged about 500kms in 24 hours.
This post shares a few thoughts about the Etios diesel sedan, much of it is already well known.
Etios diesel is getting increasingly popular among taxi operators, who are buying more and more Etios than the erstwhile favorites- Indigo and Ford Fiesta-both aging and not getting much attention from their manufacturers.
The single most factor for Etios's success seem to be its fuel economy. Even when I was done driving 100kms, the fuel indicator still indicated full. (That doesn't mean Etios doesn't consume fuel for first hundred kms, it means fuel indicator is not very precise and could give wrong readings at the top). For the overall 500kms I drove, I had to refill only Rs 1300 worth diesel, which means about 23 litres, resulting in a practical fuel economy of 21.7kmpl. This is on a summer afternoon with AC and a faster than taxi driver style driving. That is brilliant.
Apart from great economy, space is another good thing at Etios.
Reverse gear involves pulling a ring and moving to first gear position, something that takes time to get used to. Central console is difficult to look at while driving. Micro LCD display doesn't even show time. Not much of a use.
Above: Etios clicked with another Carzonrent self drive Swift.
I noticed that Carzonrent has stopped adding a mini TV screen on back of the head rests (Like I used to find them in 2014- they were hardly used, as no one needs a portable TV for entertainment these days and they wouldn't support most of the file formats anyway)
This was an early 2014 model. Etios got some mild facelift later in 2014. Naturally G Variant misses on severalcost saving elements such as alloy wheels, fog lamps and so on compared to V and VX. On the Innova toyota has introduced a ZX variant, but not for Etios.
Overall it was a good car to be in.
So happy with the upgrade, I set off for my drive. Our drive was to Pichavaram, some 200kms from Chennai. On the way, we diverted to check out Sadras Dutch Fort, Chinn-Veer beach etc and in total I logged about 500kms in 24 hours.
This post shares a few thoughts about the Etios diesel sedan, much of it is already well known.
The single most factor for Etios's success seem to be its fuel economy. Even when I was done driving 100kms, the fuel indicator still indicated full. (That doesn't mean Etios doesn't consume fuel for first hundred kms, it means fuel indicator is not very precise and could give wrong readings at the top). For the overall 500kms I drove, I had to refill only Rs 1300 worth diesel, which means about 23 litres, resulting in a practical fuel economy of 21.7kmpl. This is on a summer afternoon with AC and a faster than taxi driver style driving. That is brilliant.
Apart from great economy, space is another good thing at Etios.
Reverse gear involves pulling a ring and moving to first gear position, something that takes time to get used to. Central console is difficult to look at while driving. Micro LCD display doesn't even show time. Not much of a use.
I noticed that Carzonrent has stopped adding a mini TV screen on back of the head rests (Like I used to find them in 2014- they were hardly used, as no one needs a portable TV for entertainment these days and they wouldn't support most of the file formats anyway)
This was an early 2014 model. Etios got some mild facelift later in 2014. Naturally G Variant misses on severalcost saving elements such as alloy wheels, fog lamps and so on compared to V and VX. On the Innova toyota has introduced a ZX variant, but not for Etios.
Overall it was a good car to be in.
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