Toyota market the Vios as a family sedan, which places its high on the comfort pedestal and since that is the case, the Vios leans more towards comfort rather than outright handling, though its handling characteristics are not bad either. The soft suspension ensures a smooth and comfortable ride, no matter how rough the terrain gets. Surprisingly, this little Toyota tackles the corners quite decently. The steering is a bit on the heavy side right from the word go, very unlike the Honda City or the Hyundai Verna or even the VW Vento. But this weighted steering comes in handy while tackling corners. Even though the soft suspension approach clearly highlights body-roll, it is not bad at all. I was driving the Vios enthusiastically on my way up to Cameron Highlands, where twists and turns stay with you all the way up, and the Vios behaved surprisingly well.
The steering feel and feedback is pretty sorted and the body-roll doesn’t bother much while taking corners enthusiastically. However, rein in your enthusiasm a bit and body-roll seems to be very much under control. The highlight in terms of ride and handling was comfort and a superb ride quality. It is a very comfortable car with soft suspension, which will make it feel right at home here in India. So far as enthusiastic driving is concerned, the Vios behaves pretty decently, but one should not get carried away and push it like a sports coupé.
To sum it all up then, I was very happy to drive the Toyota Vios. It is a comfortable car which boasts of an efficient and refined engine, good build quality, generous cabin space, decent handling and, most of all, superb comfort, ride quality and safety features. It offers adequate amount of features that one expects of a car like this one and I am sure that Toyota will offer a lot more features once the car goes on sale in India. The Vios has quite an uphill task in the Indian market, and standing in its way are segment veterans such as the Honda City, Hyundai Verna and Volkswagen Vento/Škoda Rapid. However, if Toyota succeed in pricing the car right, then the Vios will be able to attract a huge chunk of the pie for the company. We expect Toyota to price the Vios in the Rs 8.5–10.5 lakh range, which along with its highly impressive credentials and the Toyota brand value, will help the car market itself as a quality product. Meanwhile, we keep our fingers crossed.
