[Hoopoe]

Since Dileep took the plunge to go for a newly launched Jimny, I took the Etios off him (Toyota Etios 1.5L Petrol : An owner's point of view. EDIT: 10+ years and 100,000+ kms up!) last year in August. The odo read 51,500 at the time. In my first drive over the twisty roads in Dehradun I could feel that the suspension of the car had gone a tad soft and the engine, which was never pushed beyond a point was a bit hesitant in the lower rpms. The clutch was also slightly shuddery just as we lift-off. We drove it to Delhi in intermittent rain via the scenic but congested highway that passes through Haridwar. On the Meerut-Delhi expressway I felt that the car was a less stable than I would have liked due to the aforementioned suspension and beyond 100kmph was not as reassuring as it should be.
A few things I did immediately after I reached back:

1. Got a steering cover stitched and that covered the slippery plastic of the original steering grip and helped lend more control and ease in driving.
2. Replaced and upgraded the 7-year old Bridgestone 185/60R15 tyres with Ceat Securadrive 185/65R15 (including standard alignment and balancing).
3. Cleaned up all brake rotors and drums and checked the wear on the pads. The car still sported the original pads and they still had a healthy chunk left—a tribute to Dileep’s excellent driving.
4. Replaced the engine oil and transmission oil

All this had an immediate effect in improving the characteristics of the car. The mileage improved and at the time it was ready for a pollution check in November 2023 I managed to extract 20kmpl from it in Delhi itself (in Delhi’s Autumn weather without AC). On open highways I could get as much as 21kmpl with AC and with luggage and three passengers.
Oil was changed once again at 57k mark with excellent ZIC 5w40 fully synthetic oil that I could source from a dealer in Kashmere Gate. Alas, the company has folded its business and this oil is no longer available. Right around this time I got the rear shock absorbers replaced and also added 1” coil pads at the rear thereby improving rigidity and lifting the car by half an inch (notice that due to shock absorbers pulling the setup together and also the weight of the car on the wheels, adding 1” to the length of the coils results in only marginal rise in the stance of the car but actually makes the coils a bit more compressed adding to the stiffness). This has tremendously improved its driving dynamics around corners and made the car feel more planted. Along the way, the throttle body was also cleaned (DIY at home) and molybdenum compound was added in the newly replaced gear oil making gearing more slick and smooth. Except for an instance in May 2024, when the battery went kaput in Mukteshwar, Kumaon (we have a cottage here) after it was left parked for over a week in cold conditions, the car never gave any problems at all and has had consistent performance. This is now my go-to commuter and highway cruncher.
I like several things about this car. First, due to its intentional lightweight design it feels easy and nimble to drive and thus evokes a lot of confidence in any driving situation. Second, the engine and componentry is well-designed and time-tested (it has many Land-cruiser switches and components) so parts don’t generally fail. The engine that is grunty at low end makes it quite tractable—a characteristic I associate only with very well-designed and well-engineered powertrains. Engine components and serviceable parts are all easily accessible so that service and even DIY maintenance is easy and hassle-free. I love the centre console which, contrary to general misconception, is not generic for both left and right drive models but, instead, is designed for people like us in middle age to have better visibility due to being a little distant (the Echo on which the Etios is modelled had a digitally far-spaced readouts for this purpose). In this way, this car is one of the most cleverly designed automobiles I have seen and I am surprised that few people understood this cleverness. What Toyota produces and sells today is far more mundane and pedestrian than its launch products like the Qualis and its segway into the mass mid-level segment the Etios. Incidentally, I owned the first privately registered Qualis in Delhi in year 2000 and till the Etios considered that as the best automobile I ever owned.

Some photos below and a link to the video that my son created for it:

video

[dgoyle]

I am amazed Hoophoe at the mention of 20 KMPL without AC. I have an Etios of similar vintage, but I have never crossed 15-16 KMPL in winter on highways.
I need your advice for sure.

[Hoopoe]

Originally Posted by dgoyle

I am amazed Hoophoe at the mention of 20 KMPL without AC. I have an Etios of similar vintage, but I have never crossed 15-16 KMPL in winter on highways.
I need your advice for sure.

All modern cars are designed to be frugal in the fuel delivery to the engine if the throttle is pressed lightly. Keep the tyres properly inflated establishing perfect balance of pressure in all tyres and keep the load minimum (remove unnecessary stuff from the car). Moreover, drive in the proper gear and maintain good momentum using engine breaking instead of hard breaking. You might be surprised how much improved the fuel efficiency be even in worst of driving conditions.

[RRU]

Indeed, Samba, Amalji, and you all distinguished members and owners of this gem have kept my fascination with this car intact. What we initially brandished as cheap and cost cutting is actually an engineering marvel...it took me several years to realize this. Now after 10+ years of owning it when I compare with other cars, including my Hyrydyer and other similar cars, I love it even more. My nephew who always loves driving the Etios claims that my car has aged better than his father's 2015 Honda city although the latter is undoubtedly a superior and more premium machine. My only gripe has been its poor insulation (NVH) and pride, inter alia, has been its drivability in Bangalore city traffic ("bestest" MT!).

Plus 1 - My 2013 December Etios petrol ekes out mileage of 12-13 kmpl in Bangalore city (latest being 470.7/36.84 = 12.78 kmpl, with only 20% AC and 100% city driven), but never got 20+ mileage on highways or 15+ in city although heard/read from many that they manage. I too need to learn a few tricks from you guys. Although I have never been for mileage and would always do a mix of sedate and spirited driving depending on need and mood, lately have been focusing on improving the mileage of my Etios - probably after acquiring a Hyryder Hybrid and getting crazy mileages in city.

I also prefer upshifting early, and this car's gearbox and ratio encourage a lot (2nd 10-20, 3rd 20-30, 4th 30-40, 5th 50+) - even then the mileage doesn't improve in city. Perhaps I have to go a little gentle on throttle and leverage momentum (others on road will clamor - "push uncle push"). However, during my recent annual service, when I complained to a service advisor in Nandi Toyota (Bangalore) of creaking noise from and hardened clutch when depressing, he ascribed my driving behavior (early unshifting) as one of the primary reasons for the wear and tear of the clutch, which is causing these - of course, he has requested to drop the vehicle and will do a thorough TD and inspection before suggesting anything, including any part replacement.

Friends, please advise if this could be the reason...

[iampulo]

Originally Posted by Hoopoe

The mileage improved and at the time it was ready for a pollution check in November 2023 I managed to extract 20kmpl from it in Delhi itself (in Delhi’s Autumn weather without AC). On open highways I could get as much as 21kmpl with AC and with luggage and three passengers.

Sir,
I too have a Pre worshiped Etios, which was purely bought based on the thread's ownership experience. The ownership and driving experience has been delightful till date.

However, I am facing few issues or rather few anxiety issues lately:

1. Car gets hit underbelly when moving with 4 pax in multiple speed breakers(obviously poorly engineered ones). Would like to increase its Ground clearance without compromising the comfort. What to do ?

2. Poor NVH levels. Over the years of ownership, i feel NVH has degraded leading to keeping constant music playing on speeds above 80kmph. Any possible solution?
For info- Bridgestone tires have 50% life , and currently on 50K odo.

3. Would love to know about any good FNG which I can rely on/do minor works. Usually car gets its annual service only from Toyota ASC, Karnal. But still would like to have a thorough inspection.

4. Also, as others suggested, getting 20KMPL is astonishing, I get an average of 16 KMPL with 70% highway and 30% city drive to office.

[hserus]

Your tyres probably have far less life than you think. If they are over 4 years old change them anyway, and also rotate / align / balance every 10k, check alignment every 5k. That'd probably also sort out a lot of the NVH issue you see.

Then check your suspension, it might need work.

Originally Posted by iampulo

1. Car gets hit underbelly when moving with 4 pax in multiple speed breakers(obviously poorly engineered ones). Would like to increase its Ground clearance without compromising the comfort. What to do ?

2. Poor NVH levels. Over the years of ownership, i feel NVH has degraded leading to keeping constant music playing on speeds above 80kmph. Any possible solution?
For info- Bridgestone tires have 50% life , and currently on 50K odo.

[Hoopoe]

Originally Posted by iampulo

Car gets hit underbelly when moving with 4 pax in multiple speed breakers(obviously poorly engineered ones). Would like to increase its Ground clearance without compromising the comfort. What to do ?

I drive up to my cottage in Kumaon quite a lot and on the sharp twisty roads and with full loads the rear wheels would scrape the arches. On my previous Fiesta sports I found that the exact problem occurs as the struts age and lose their stiffness, without any outward symptoms. I had fixed that on the Fiesta by simply replacing the struts at the FNG. So, I decided to use that experience.

With the Etios I went one step further. Not only did I procure and replace the standard Monroe shock absorbers from a Toyota parts dealer in Kashmere Gate, Delhi, but also installed a pair of 1" coil pads of decent quality. That had the effect of raising the rear suspension by around 10mm (the struts pull on the springs and so the effect is to raise just by a fraction). More importantly, this setup stiffened the rear suspension setup to just about what I hoped to achieve. Now the cornering and load carrying ability is much to my liking and the car handles better on twisty mountain roads. In regular usage the suspension is a tad bit stiffer (which, incidentally, I prefer over the factory setting).

The whole process took barely 30 minutes and cost Rs 2,960 (Rs 2,360 for the new shock absorbers set, Rs 250 for coil pads and Rs 350 as the charges by the mechanic for making the switch).

[iampulo]

Fellow Seniors. Need your Insight. Recently my Etios has been making some clicking sound coming somewhere from the Steering's right side of dashboard. The sound appeared only when revving at high RPMs in any gear. The sound would disappear when clutch would be pressed for changing gears.

As Hoopoe Sir, elaborated via PM, that in such cases it might be an issue with Bearing assembly.

On visiting he ASC, they also claimed that there has been dust ingress in the Bearing & Fork assembly and as a result, Fork assembly, bearing assembly and sub parts is required to be replaced.

Surprisingly the clutch and bearing assembly was changed in this Jan'24 itself from the ASC. On asking the ASC about the bearing assembly warranty, they said warranty is not applicable.

As the parts shall come in Aug 2nd week, I have been returned my car for the time being.

What shall be my further course of action?

I am attaching the last service invoice


Last service History_.pdf

And snip of the parts they are going to order for reference.

[Hoopoe]

The AC on my Etios (8 years and just 62,000km) had been acting funny for around two months now. Cooling would deplete gradually till a point it would be useless. Then I got gas recharged and it worked perfectly for around three weeks and then the chill effect went down again. We checked all the exposed lines but found no leakage. So, we were pretty certain that it was the evaporator that had a leak. ASS quoted around 18k and FNG quoted around 10k. I went to Kashmere Gate (an auto wholesale market in Delhi) yesterday and got the original Toyota evaporator. Today I got it replaced and got the gas recharged. It took almost half of the day but the process was interesting. I wonder why auto manufacturers design things in such a way that even for a simple replacement of an evaporator one needs to strip the entire dash. I remember I got AC evaporator installed long ago in my Qualis and it took just around 30 minutes (and never gave any problem all its life and 1.6 Lakh kms). Photos attached.

[Samba]

117,000 km update. A sad story with a happy ending

The good part-

Mechanically the car is running absolutely fine. I took it for a 600+ km day trip to Dalma Hills in Jharkhand. With 4 people and AC on, the car was cruising effortlessly at 120 km/hr. I took the Etios for a long drive after a long time, and it felt as if the good old days were back when this car used to hit the highways frequently!

Few pics from the trip-







The sad part-

It was 11 in the night and we were coming back via Benaras road in Howrah. I was with family. I noticed that the road had been waterlogged after a very heavy rainfall, but not being able to gauge the depth of the water, I stopped the car and waited to see if other cars in front of me were able to ply. A Hyundai Xcent overtook me & entered the water.

With a substantial gap, I started following the Xcent. But to my horror, the water level kept rising! After driving for a couple of mins the water level was nearing the Etios bonnet. To make things worse there were huge craters under the water and the car got hit in the underbelly thrice. At one point I saw the Xcent nearly stop and then regain traction. I stopped before that. Once the Xcent crossed that stretch I entered there and my car was literally floating with no traction on the front wheels! This was scary at 11 in the night with full family on board! Somehow I was able to cross this stretch in 4 mins 30 secs without stalling the car.

This caused some substantial damage to my car, but luckily all were cosmetic damages.

Few screenshots from the dashcam footage-



The dashcam footage-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpgePli0nVY

Coming to the damages-

The front fender lining tore off from both the wheel well. (left and right). This deformed the fender on both sides and caused uneven panel gaps with the door and running panel.

The front plastic engine guard was washed off.

The left-hand side mud flap came off.

The right-hand side mud flap came loose.

Lost the wheel cap of the front right wheel.

The air filter was wet.

Attaching the pics for reference-

Wet Airfilter





Deformed front fenders. Notice the uneven panel gaps with the door and running panel.











The inner fender lining and the engine guard are missing. Just notice how the clips tore off due to the force of the water!









This time I decided to give the car to HB Autoneed at Baruipur for the whole work instead of giving it to Toyota.

I had a long talk with the owner of this FNG (Mr.Hritam) and gave him my car's VIN number so he could procure all the OEM parts from Toyota. Except for the wheel cap, he managed to get all the OEM parts. I picked a couple of wheel caps from Saini Toyota Howrah. I kept one as a spare.

So apart from the damaged parts, we decided to get these added works done-

Replace the gear oil.

Replace the air filter.

Clean all 4 brakes.

The wheel bearings in Etios come in a hub so they can't be opened. But as of now, there is no sound from the wheel bearings.

Cleaning up the suspension and engine bay.

Repaint the front left Fender as it needed some tinkering. The right fender was realigned without any paint damage.

Once the FNG opened up the rear brakes, they found both the wheel cylinders to be leaking. Sourced OEM wheel cylinders for both sides and replaced them along with the brake fluid.

The engine oil was thoroughly inspected, and it had no trace of water or contamination hence it was retained.

HB Auto Needs took around 5 days to deliver my car. The work was done to perfection and I am more than satisfied with their work.

Few pics after delivery-

The new fender lining and engine guard.















Etios is back in its former glory!





The total damage to the pocket was Rs 18,000. HB AutoNeedes charged Rs 17,000 and another Rs 1,000 for the OEM wheel caps from Toyota.

Reasons for not giving the car to Toyota-

My car does not have B2B insurance as it's a 13-year-old car. So I won't gain much by claiming the insurance for these plastic parts.

The labor charge at Toyota is very high.

HB AutoNeeds agreed to get all the OEM parts from Toyota.

My wife Bhpian DogNDamsel12's Polo had a suspension issue and VW gave an unreasonable quote to fix that. HB Autoneeds did an excellent job and fixed the suspension issue of the Polo. Hence I got even more reasons to trust them with my Etios and they have not disappointed me. Kolkata always lacked a good FNG, so to date, I have always given my car to the authorized service centers.

[ritedhawan]

Originally Posted by Samba

117,000 km update. A sad story with a happy ending

The good part-

Mechanically the car is running absolutely fine. I took it for a 600+ km day trip to Dalma Hills in Jharkhand. With 4 people and AC on, the car was cruising effortlessly at 120 km/hr.

The sad part-
It was 11 in the night and we were coming back via Benaras road in Howrah. I was with family. I noticed that the road had been waterlogged after a very heavy rainfall, but not being able to gauge the depth of the water, I stopped the car and waited to see if other cars in front of me were able to ply. A Hyundai Xcent overtook me & entered the water.

This caused some substantial damage to my car, but luckily all were cosmetic damages.

Nice to hear the Etios going strong past 6-digit mileage. As for the sad part, when it comes to water wading with ones car. I would rather follow a truck or a bus rather than a car like xcent, as the higher ground clearance of the larger vehicle coupled with its massive footprint sifts through water in adequate quantity and thus following in its wake , ones car can come out unscathed , atleast in terms of not getting 'water-logged'. Nevertheless, the pot holes the size of craters are a different matter altogether, and whether its a large vehicle or a small , they offer the punishment depending upon the kind of vehicle that comes in contact with them.

I would say, inner fender lineings replaced in pairs with mud-flaps were the need of the hour anyways on a 6-digit mileage car. Not to forget, hardened rubber seals, rubber gaskets , o-rings all require replacement as these gets hardened over time and a 6-digit mileage car or 13 year old car definately deserves a change of those.

[sumeethaldankar]

Sad to read about the damage to the Etios but glad it came out ok. I am curious though considering the rainy season why did you not choose the Jimny for this trip? I think it would have handled the wading part better.

[Samba]

Originally Posted by ritedhawan

Not to forget, hardened rubber seals, rubber gaskets , o-rings all require replacement as these gets hardened over time and a 6-digit mileage car or 13 year old car definately deserves a change of those.

I do not want to touch the gaskets from the engine unless I see any leakage. The engine has not been opened even once.
The gearbox oil seal and the petrol filter O-Ring have been replaced earlier.
The rubber hoses, the timing belt, and the fan belt are regularly checked during routine services. They are holding up pretty well.

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Sad to read about the damage to the Etios but glad it came out ok. I am curious though considering the rainy season why did you not choose the Jimny for this trip? I think it would have handled the wading part better.

Actually, out of the 600 km, 550 km was on 4/6 lane smooth highways! So I just wanted to have some fun!

Another reason is, that the rear seat of the Etios is way more comfortable than the Jimny's rear seat. And this trip was with my wife and parents. So the rear seat comfort was an important aspect.

I have previously been to Dalma Top with our Figo TDCI and our Duster AWD. So I knew the Etios wouldn't face any trouble on this route.



Lastly, the road where the car got damaged was just 8 km from our house. It was beyond our imagination that this road would be so much waterlogged. Though this is a known route, on our daily run we generally do not take this road, but on that day the highway near Dankuni was stuck with truck traffic and it was showing a delay of +XX mins. So we took this road to avoid the congestion.

This car had gone to Ladakh, Spiti, Bhutan, North Sikkim & many more, but never on a single trip on these tricky terrains, this car incurred any damages. The wheel caps and the mudflaps were still the stock ones that came with the Etios from day one! But as luck would have been, this damage occurred just 8km away from our home!

[rajathv8]

Originally Posted by Samba

Somehow I was able to cross this stretch in 4 mins 30 secs without stalling the car.

That was 4 mins 30 secs of horror!
Glad that the car made it out. Do give the AC condenser a thorough wash to get all the muck embedded in the fins out.
If at any point in time you remove the bumper, I recommend making use of an alkali foaming condenser cleaner.
I was surprised with the amount of muck it got out of my 15y old A-Star condenser in 5 iterations.