The Toyota Etios Liva marks the company’s début in the hatchback segment.
We got behind its wheel to see whether it will succeed in creating ripples in this populous segment
Story: Aspi Bhathena
Photography: Sanjay Raikar
After being in india for more than a decade, toyota finally decided to enter the small car segment with the etios at the end of last year. it was an instant success with more than 70,000 bookings within the first month itself.Six months later, toyota are getting ready to launch the etios Liva, the hatchback version of the etios. in most cases a hatchback is launched first and then follows the sedan. it is the other way round here and this car is being perceived as a sporty hatch compared to the workhorse sedan.
The Liva definitely looks better than its sibling from all the angles and especially from the rear. the chief engineer and head of the etios Liva project, noritake San, spent more than five years in india meeting people to gauge views and inputs on what the buyer and end-user wanted from his or her car before starting work on the project.
The moment you open the door and step inside, you can feel the space that has been created by the designers and engineers of the car. One instantly gets the feeling that one is sitting in a big car and not a small hatchback. the grey interior is typically toyota understated with the speedo and rpm meter placed in the centre of the dashboard, so that the driver can take a quick glance at the meters without taking his eyes off the road. the red-and-black seats with built-in headrests give good support to the driver and also add a touch of sportiness to the interior. the centre air-conditioning vents are stacked one on top of the other for better air circulation for the rear passengers. the flat bench-like seats at the rear may not look very nice, but they are very comfortable, especially when three people are seated. the only grouse is that the quality of plastics used could be better.
The suspension set-up is MacPherson strut at the front and torsion beam at the rear. this is a common set-up for most small cars these days. though the drive was a short one, we still got an opportunity to test suspension capability to the maximum.
The Liva’s ride quality is excellent as it soaks up all the potholes and rough roads without bottoming. At the same time, its handling is not compromised either as we had the opportunity to put it through a slalom course and it came out with flying colours, ably holding a tight line throughout. the car’s high-speed stability was good too as i managed to get it over the 140 km/h mark and it continued to be steady. it is the fine-tuning of a very simple suspension set-up for the indian condition that is very impressive.
The only area where the Liva loses out to the etios is in performance as it uses the same DOHC 16-valve engine as the etios and it has the same stroke, but uses a smaller diameter piston to bring the engine capacity down from 1,496 to 1,197 cc to be able to get the excises duty benefit. it is sad that manufacturers have to do this as it only increases cost and also spoils the car’s power-to-weight ratio. this not only affects the performance of the car, but also plays havoc with its fuel efficiency. the loss of 299 cc has caused a dip of 10 PS and 28 nm and spoilt the excellent power-to-weight ratio that the etios enjoys.
Even with the dip in power and torque the spread of power is good at low rpm and gives the engine a fair amount of grunt as one can drive the car around town in the third or fourth gear without having to shift constantly. it was not possible to explore the top speed, but one could cruise comfortably thanks to the tall gearing.
The new etios Liva will definitely cause sleepless nights for other small car manufacturers with a diesel variant due to appear later this year.
The Toyota Etios Liva is sure to rock the small car market
