2009 Toyota Corolla Altis 1.8 GL chugging along at 1,05,000 kms and 15 years

Vid6639 · 20th August 2009, 00:17

Hello Ladies and Gents. As the thread title suggests, new car in the house. Yippeeeee!!!

After much ado I finally took delivery of the first Black Toyota Corolla Altis from Ravindu Toyota on the 14th of August. It's a manual GL variant with all the bells and whistles.

I know some of the guys must be heaving a sigh of relief that I finally ended up getting a car. Yes it was a very very long process in getting this car. To be precise almost 1.5yrs since the time I had decided to change the aging lancer. The Lancer was close to 9 years when I decided it was time to let her go. This was in April 2008. Dad wanted a comfy car with no compromises. This is when it all started. I'll give a short line about each one of the cars and why in the end I went for the Altis and the complete buying experience.

It all started when VW launched the Passat. I really began to like the understated looks of the car. Decided to take a TD and both dad and me were sold. We decided to finalise once the new Accord was launched. Later on the thread on Passat reliability and the problematic PD engine and DSG box kept me away. 30L price was also too close to Audi/Merc territory.

The CR-V was a very practical choice but 24L at that time for a Honda was just not digestable.

The Civic was out in a Jiffy. Less features, low GC, low seating and the A-pillars obstructed visibility. Dad didn't let me even drive it saying it had the same shortcomings as Lancer.

Captiva was good but SUV dad did not want and the gearshift was very poor along with loads of turbo-lag.

Then came the Jetta. It was a very nice car. Like a better version of the Laura. Almost finalised it but later decided against it for lack of power and not very spacious for the same price as an Accord.

The Sonata Embera was also driven but dad did not want a Hyundai and the car was not that great to drive apart from the diesel which I was not to keen on getting.

The Accord was really good. It was super luxurious and the engine was a joy to drive. The size was huge and features were less but this car was always on my mind. That is till Skoda Launched the Superb.

The Superb made the Accord look obscenely expensive. The superb was literally flawless. Long list of goodies, amazing engine and 7 speed box. Oodles of space and excellent ride and handling. It was just too good to be true at 22.8L. There had to be a catch and there was. At around the Superb launch the Skoda thread picked up great pace and Skoda Corporates reactions really put me off. My dad would have nothing of it. He wanted this car and started the loan processing. After lots of thought I convinced my dad against the car. It was too much of a risk to take however good the package was. Since car was going to be chauffeur driven it just did not make sense to get such a complicated car.

After this my dad said forget everything, lets just get the best. Next thing I know that he has asked for a TD of the C220 CDI. This was a pure gem to drive. Just brilliant. Insane torque and amazing dynamics. I loved it but dad was like shocked. 39L for a car with lesser legroom than the Lancer and lesser features than the Superb. It was not at all comfy at the rear when compared to the massive superb.

It was finally down to the no nonsense choice which was my last option. The car was flawless, had good features, good engine, spacious and was the cheapest of the whole lot. I was not too keen as it was just too boring to drive. But in the end it fit the bill perfectly and I was pretty happy with the engine and the features it offered at the price. The Toyota Altis was finalised.

Another dilemma ensued with colour choices, they had no black and no colour really looked good. As a compromise I booked the Maroon in march 09. In April I was told that the dark grey would be launched. That was launched much later but in the stupid sports variant. I just told Ravindu to get me the maroon. The maroon car landed up in their stockyard but suddenly in June I got a call that they might get me a black but I could not cancel the booking after that. I agreed. The black took ages. TKM just didn't assemble one. Finally I lost my cool and threatened to cancel booking. Ravindu guys finally got me the car on August 10th. Went to stockyard for inspection and confirmed it was all good. PDI and registration was done and car was ready for delivery by 12th. I decided to take the delivery on the 14th which was Janmashtmi and coincidentally my birthday.

Took delivery eventually on the 14th of August. The sales experience with Ravindu was very good. I knew the senior sales manager Mouli from a long time ago along with the sales manager Vivek. They put up with me for a long time as I test drove the car in October 08, booked it in March 09 and finally bought it in August 09. Vivek was very cooperative and collected all documents from the bank and dads office for loan and registration. I never had to go to the showroom even once. Mouli was instrumental in getting me the first black Altis. Thanks a lot guys.

I inspected the car thoroughly as per the TBHP PDI and found nothing wrong at all. Everything was perfect. Car had 19kms on the ODO which was the distance from Peenya stockyard to Rajajinagar workshop to the Victoria road showroom where I took delivery.

So that's the whole saga of more than a year. A lot of Team-BHPians were instrumental in helping me with the decision and I would like to thank all of them.

A big thanks to NC who always used to listen to my crazy thoughts and try to confuse me further. He tried to convince me against a Jap car and wanted me to get the VW Jetta but alas it was not meant to be.

Jaggu who was the first person to recommend the Altis to me and helped me out with a lot of queries.

Rudraji, DerAlte, Ajmat and Navin for moral support.

Ishan for showering me with his colourful language everytime I would change my decision.

Samurai, Maggie, Tanveer, Stratos, Sam, Techno, Mpower, GTO and Aditya who constantly supported and some of them threatened me till I got the car. lol.

Many other BHPians were also part of this at some time or the other. Iceman91, condor, vikram_d, Psycho, kpzen, rjstyles69, Karlosdeville, F50 and a whole bunch of other guys. Thanks a lot!!!

Hopefully I haven't missed anyone out. Sorry if I have.

So without further ado here are a few pics of the car clicked by Jaggu on a small drive last weekend. You will notice that the registration number is 6639 same as the Lancer as it is also my T-BHP handle.

I'll also post a driving experience on the first 200kms I've covered by tomorrow.

2009 Toyota Corolla Altis 1.8 GL chugging along at 1,05,000 kms and 15 years-1.jpg

2009 Toyota Corolla Altis 1.8 GL chugging along at 1,05,000 kms and 15 years-2.jpg

2009 Toyota Corolla Altis 1.8 GL chugging along at 1,05,000 kms and 15 years-33.jpg

2009 Toyota Corolla Altis 1.8 GL chugging along at 1,05,000 kms and 15 years-44.jpg

2009 Toyota Corolla Altis 1.8 GL chugging along at 1,05,000 kms and 15 years-5.jpg

2009 Toyota Corolla Altis 1.8 GL chugging along at 1,05,000 kms and 15 years-66.jpg

2009 Toyota Corolla Altis 1.8 GL chugging along at 1,05,000 kms and 15 years-77.jpg

v1p3r · 20th August 2009, 00:25

Congrats! First black Altis in India?

karanraheja · 20th August 2009, 00:28

Congrats Vid on another 6639 in the house. . Now thats a long process of choosing the car. Anyways you cant go wrong with the Corolla. Looks brilliant in Black!!!!

Nikhilb2008 · 20th August 2009, 00:40

Congrats Viddy! Altis looks surprisingly good in black!

And keep me in mind when you are selling the Lancer.

Fountainheader · 20th August 2009, 00:44

Congrats Viddy

Have a great time with the Altis

Vid6639 · 20th August 2009, 00:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by v1p3r

Congrats! First black Altis in India?

Yup. That's what the dealer told me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by karanraheja

Congrats Vid on another 6639 in the house. . Now thats a long process of choosing the car. Anyways you cant go wrong with the Corolla. Looks brilliant in Black!!!!

A very long process but worth it in the end. Thanks I'll take a pic of both the 6639's parked next to each other.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008

Congrats Viddy! Altis looks surprisingly good in black!

And keep me in mind when you are selling the Lancer.

Yeah first time I saw a black altis was my car. Looks really good.

Lancer not yet decided it's future.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fountainheader

Congrats Viddy

Have a great time with the Altis

Thanks dude. Hope your enjoying your new toy as well.

ecclipse78 · 20th August 2009, 00:52

Congrats ! Car looks great in black.

vinaydas · 20th August 2009, 00:58

Congrats on the buy.
Is she available in superwhite also now? Pearl white is available i know.

ImmortalZ · 20th August 2009, 01:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by vid6639

The Civic was out in a Jiffy. Less features, low GC, low seating and the A-pillars obstructed visibility. Dad didn't let me even drive it saying it had the same shortcomings as Lancer.

Haha, this is hilarious. The drive is one of the few redeeming features of the Civic. Looks like your dad was pretty much done with such cars, with the Lancer too having relatively the same pitfalls and plus points.

'gratz on the new car. Black looks brilliant.

akroy · 20th August 2009, 01:37

Congrats Vidyut for the nice car. Welcome to another 6639 !!
Is the number 6639 by chance or you bought it? Eager to read some more on your driving experience.

Abhi

abhinav.gupta88 · 20th August 2009, 01:44

Congrats Vid.
The corolla is surely a no nonsense car. And black looks really cool.

Congrats on the 1st black altis.

Akki_5 · 20th August 2009, 02:01

Congrats Vid! Black is a beautiful color!

Autonorm · 20th August 2009, 02:12

WOW! Black looks hot on the Corrola Altis. Congratulations on your new car. I guess Toyota may after all add black to the list of colour options for the Altis after making one for you

.

nishant_kingpin · 20th August 2009, 05:37

Congratulations Vid she is amazing to say the least. Wish you and I know for sure: This cars gonna be another love story with no hassles for a long time.

Keep her shinning

musicmanaman · 20th August 2009, 06:05

Congrats Vid, I think you made a very sensible choice, the Altis is a no nonsence car, and I'm sure it'll serve you well.

20th August 2009, 00:17	#1
Vid6639 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 17,709 Thanked: 44,133 Times View My Garage	2009 Toyota Corolla Altis 1.8 GL chugging along at 1,05,000 kms and 15 years Hello Ladies and Gents. As the thread title suggests, new car in the house. Yippeeeee!!! After much ado I finally took delivery of the first Black Toyota Corolla Altis from Ravindu Toyota on the 14th of August. It's a manual GL variant with all the bells and whistles. I know some of the guys must be heaving a sigh of relief that I finally ended up getting a car. Yes it was a very very long process in getting this car. To be precise almost 1.5yrs since the time I had decided to change the aging lancer. The Lancer was close to 9 years when I decided it was time to let her go. This was in April 2008. Dad wanted a comfy car with no compromises. This is when it all started. I'll give a short line about each one of the cars and why in the end I went for the Altis and the complete buying experience. It all started when VW launched the Passat. I really began to like the understated looks of the car. Decided to take a TD and both dad and me were sold. We decided to finalise once the new Accord was launched. Later on the thread on Passat reliability and the problematic PD engine and DSG box kept me away. 30L price was also too close to Audi/Merc territory. The CR-V was a very practical choice but 24L at that time for a Honda was just not digestable. The Civic was out in a Jiffy. Less features, low GC, low seating and the A-pillars obstructed visibility. Dad didn't let me even drive it saying it had the same shortcomings as Lancer. Captiva was good but SUV dad did not want and the gearshift was very poor along with loads of turbo-lag. Then came the Jetta. It was a very nice car. Like a better version of the Laura. Almost finalised it but later decided against it for lack of power and not very spacious for the same price as an Accord. The Sonata Embera was also driven but dad did not want a Hyundai and the car was not that great to drive apart from the diesel which I was not to keen on getting. The Accord was really good. It was super luxurious and the engine was a joy to drive. The size was huge and features were less but this car was always on my mind. That is till Skoda Launched the Superb. The Superb made the Accord look obscenely expensive. The superb was literally flawless. Long list of goodies, amazing engine and 7 speed box. Oodles of space and excellent ride and handling. It was just too good to be true at 22.8L. There had to be a catch and there was. At around the Superb launch the Skoda thread picked up great pace and Skoda Corporates reactions really put me off. My dad would have nothing of it. He wanted this car and started the loan processing. After lots of thought I convinced my dad against the car. It was too much of a risk to take however good the package was. Since car was going to be chauffeur driven it just did not make sense to get such a complicated car. After this my dad said forget everything, lets just get the best. Next thing I know that he has asked for a TD of the C220 CDI. This was a pure gem to drive. Just brilliant. Insane torque and amazing dynamics. I loved it but dad was like shocked. 39L for a car with lesser legroom than the Lancer and lesser features than the Superb. It was not at all comfy at the rear when compared to the massive superb. It was finally down to the no nonsense choice which was my last option. The car was flawless, had good features, good engine, spacious and was the cheapest of the whole lot. I was not too keen as it was just too boring to drive. But in the end it fit the bill perfectly and I was pretty happy with the engine and the features it offered at the price. The Toyota Altis was finalised. Another dilemma ensued with colour choices, they had no black and no colour really looked good. As a compromise I booked the Maroon in march 09. In April I was told that the dark grey would be launched. That was launched much later but in the stupid sports variant. I just told Ravindu to get me the maroon. The maroon car landed up in their stockyard but suddenly in June I got a call that they might get me a black but I could not cancel the booking after that. I agreed. The black took ages. TKM just didn't assemble one. Finally I lost my cool and threatened to cancel booking. Ravindu guys finally got me the car on August 10th. Went to stockyard for inspection and confirmed it was all good. PDI and registration was done and car was ready for delivery by 12th. I decided to take the delivery on the 14th which was Janmashtmi and coincidentally my birthday. Took delivery eventually on the 14th of August. The sales experience with Ravindu was very good. I knew the senior sales manager Mouli from a long time ago along with the sales manager Vivek. They put up with me for a long time as I test drove the car in October 08, booked it in March 09 and finally bought it in August 09. Vivek was very cooperative and collected all documents from the bank and dads office for loan and registration. I never had to go to the showroom even once. Mouli was instrumental in getting me the first black Altis. Thanks a lot guys. I inspected the car thoroughly as per the TBHP PDI and found nothing wrong at all. Everything was perfect. Car had 19kms on the ODO which was the distance from Peenya stockyard to Rajajinagar workshop to the Victoria road showroom where I took delivery. So that's the whole saga of more than a year. A lot of Team-BHPians were instrumental in helping me with the decision and I would like to thank all of them. A big thanks to NC who always used to listen to my crazy thoughts and try to confuse me further. He tried to convince me against a Jap car and wanted me to get the VW Jetta but alas it was not meant to be. Jaggu who was the first person to recommend the Altis to me and helped me out with a lot of queries. Rudraji, DerAlte, Ajmat and Navin for moral support. Ishan for showering me with his colourful language everytime I would change my decision. Samurai, Maggie, Tanveer, Stratos, Sam, Techno, Mpower, GTO and Aditya who constantly supported and some of them threatened me till I got the car. lol. Many other BHPians were also part of this at some time or the other. Iceman91, condor, vikram_d, Psycho, kpzen, rjstyles69, Karlosdeville, F50 and a whole bunch of other guys. Thanks a lot!!! Hopefully I haven't missed anyone out. Sorry if I have. So without further ado here are a few pics of the car clicked by Jaggu on a small drive last weekend. You will notice that the registration number is 6639 same as the Lancer as it is also my T-BHP handle. I'll also post a driving experience on the first 200kms I've covered by tomorrow.
	(10) Thanks

20th August 2009, 00:25	#2
v1p3r Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: BLR / DXB / LON Posts: 5,359 Thanked: 7,444 Times View My Garage	Congrats! First black Altis in India?
	() Thanks

20th August 2009, 00:28	#3
karanraheja Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Coimbatore Posts: 1,961 Thanked: 436 Times	Congrats Vid on another 6639 in the house. . Now thats a long process of choosing the car. Anyways you cant go wrong with the Corolla. Looks brilliant in Black!!!!
	() Thanks

20th August 2009, 00:40	#4
Nikhilb2008 Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 5,195 Thanked: 10,177 Times	Congrats Viddy! Altis looks surprisingly good in black! And keep me in mind when you are selling the Lancer.
	() Thanks

20th August 2009, 00:44	#5
Fountainheader Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Silicon Valley Posts: 1,501 Thanked: 13 Times View My Garage	Congrats Viddy Have a great time with the Altis
	() Thanks

20th August 2009, 00:52	#7
ecclipse78 BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Chennai Posts: 327 Thanked: 55 Times	Congrats ! Car looks great in black.
	() Thanks

20th August 2009, 00:58	#8
vinaydas BANNED Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 1,399 Thanked: 148 Times	Congrats on the buy. Is she available in superwhite also now? Pearl white is available i know. Last edited by Rudra Sen : 20th August 2009 at 07:38.
	() Thanks

20th August 2009, 01:37	#10
akroy Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: San Francisco, CA, USA Posts: 2,424 Thanked: 88 Times View My Garage	Congrats Vidyut for the nice car. Welcome to another 6639 !! Is the number 6639 by chance or you bought it? Eager to read some more on your driving experience. Abhi
	() Thanks

20th August 2009, 01:44	#11
abhinav.gupta88 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Delhi , India Posts: 4,090 Thanked: 341 Times View My Garage	Congrats Vid. The corolla is surely a no nonsense car. And black looks really cool. Congrats on the 1st black altis.
	() Thanks

20th August 2009, 02:01	#12
Akki_5 Awaiting Email Confirmation Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Mumbai Posts: 310 Thanked: 67 Times	Congrats Vid! Black is a beautiful color!
	() Thanks

20th August 2009, 02:12	#13
Autonorm BHPian Join Date: May 2009 Location: Chandigarh Posts: 83 Thanked: 21 Times	WOW! Black looks hot on the Corrola Altis. Congratulations on your new car. I guess Toyota may after all add black to the list of colour options for the Altis after making one for you .
	() Thanks

20th August 2009, 05:37	#14
nishant_kingpin BHPian Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: New Delhi Posts: 335 Thanked: 4 Times	Congratulations Vid she is amazing to say the least. Wish you and I know for sure: This cars gonna be another love story with no hassles for a long time. Keep her shinning
	() Thanks

20th August 2009, 06:05	#15
musicmanaman BHPian Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: kolkata Posts: 927 Thanked: 25 Times	Congrats Vid, I think you made a very sensible choice, the Altis is a no nonsence car, and I'm sure it'll serve you well.
	() Thanks