Quote:
Originally Posted by mohan41 Does this issue of water leaking exist in all the Etios, or specific to some batch? Etios owners on Tbhp, can you please share your experience? The problem should be easily noticed by anyone by now, if it exists in his/her car.
It is shocking if this was a design fault. Cost cutting should not break essential functionality. I hope Toyota has not taken cost cutting that far. |
Have been hooked onto Team BHP since an year now and became a member a couple of months ago. Finally I made up my mind to participate actively.
After reading GTO's awesome review, I had booked the Etios in December 2010 and got the delivery in April 2011.
My main reasons for me buying an Etios were
1. DEFINITELY needed a car with a proper boot (since I own a Civic & Sequoia back in the US and am used to carrying lots of baggage on long drives). Use my Sequoia pretty extensively to move around the east coast and am impressed with it's rock solid reliability (inspite of it being a gas guzzling white elephant & all the recalls).
2. Whatever be the car I end up buying, I just was not ready to pay double or near-double the cost (in US) of the same vehicle. For example, Civic retails for $16000+ in the US, but almost double here in India (for various reasons, which can be a different topic altogether). That pretty much narrowed down the options to 6-9L range.
3. Needed the car pretty much only for weekends & long drives. That pretty much ruled out Diesel and put reliability as one of the top things to look for.
4. The only competitors in that range (at the time I booked Etios) were Manza (a fantastic vehicle but the petrol was seriously underpowered and not to forget the Tata *** I had read about), Accent (Poor mileage and a model on life-support) and Dzire (Did not even test drive one due to purely personal reasons)
5. Liked the power/rear legroom/boot space/chassis of the Etios and was not unhappy with the all-plastic interiors. In fact the absence of cloth in the door interiors was better for me, since it was easier to take care (maintenance-free) when my kid spilled juice/coke/anything else.
Points noted after purchase.
1. The car is very practical as I had expected. It might not be top of the line with all the gizmos, soft plastic, etc. But it does the job of comfortably transporting 5 persons + their baggage from point A to point B without any hassles.
2. The power is good enough even with the car fully loaded with passengers & baggage.
3. I must admit that the chassis & the suspension are pretty good. I've taken the car on pretty much non-existing roads (sand, gravel, ghat sections filled with only potholes, even in the muck when it was raining) and there were just no issues. The GC is fantastic compared to Honda.
4. The mileage I'm getting is 15+ kmpl on the highway (with A/C on). Believe this is OK considering that the mileage claimed officially is 17+ kmpl.
Negatives/Concerns
The poor noise insulation was definitely an issue when the car was new. But after 2000 kms, I've noticed it to subside significantly. Now my ODO reads 3500 kms. I do not think it's become as quiet as my Sequoia (but it's definitely improved). Btw, the car still has the same Goodyear tire it came with and I have NOT got the 3M underchassis treatment done.
1. Last week, I got the seat covers installed in one of the shops in J.C Road.
Until then, I did not have any other concerns.
A couple of days after the seat cover installation, I noticed one end of the rear seat was swaying from its position. On close observation, I could find a plastic lock piece below that end of the seat. This was definitely a piece broken from somewhere. Next I had no other choice but to remove the rear seat and check out where it was broken from. Finally I figured it out and was able to remove the seat (by unlatching the other end). To remove the rear seat, press the latch from below the seat on either side (first remove that part of the carpet and you'll find the access points from where the latch is accessible)
Then comes the surprise. The rear seat (not the back rest) of the Etios is just cushion to which 2 plastic lock/latches are glued at the bottom. The seat is put into its position by ONLY these two locks. There are no other metal screws, etc which hold the seat (except for a hook, which is not foolproof). That's very strange and definitely a cost cutting measure.
Fortunately I had the broken piece and hence have glued it back to the seat using Araldite. Still waiting for it to dry completely before putting the seat back into the car. Hopefully it'll be fine.
2. Yesterday I opened the boot for cleaning and found a surprise visitor in there - a small Mr. Jerry !!! Now this was definitely not funny. I never leave the car/boot doors open and park the car in the open. This pretty much means that Mr. Jerry must have got in through the under-body and into the cabin
Had to take out literally everything (dash board contents, boot mats, rear seat was anyways out) out of the car and make dessert arrangements ((Mortein Rat cakes) for Mr. Jerry.. Just hoping that Mr.Jerry would relish the dessert offered for his main course (instead of any electrical stuff in there). Need to wait keeping my fingers crossed till I start smelling the dead rat perfume. :-(
I definitely do not want to be responsible for Mr.Jerry's homicide, but I just do not have any other option. If anyone can help me out here, I'll be very grateful.
3. As pointed out earlier, I park the car out in the open (on the road) everyday. It's been raining like crazy in Bangalore off-late and my car gets cleaned multiple times pretty much everyday. Sometimes when it's raining, I do put soap on the car and wipe it clean (holding an umbrella !).
This save precious water which is very scarce in Bangalore. I have not seen any water seepage/leaks inside the car (doors, roofs, etc) till date.