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I am happy with performance. The highway noise has certainly decreased and ride is much better. No issues faced yet. Would recommend over stock like Bridgestone.

Got the roof spoiler damaged by a proturding tree hump while reversing. Will the entire unit to be replaced? What will be the cost?

Finally the left aligned steering issue is resolved after 3.5 years. I had visited the Topsel Toyota Ruby service center in Kolkata for 40,000 Km major service and reported the steering problem again. New Engineer assigned meant newer pair of eyes, I also had a squeaking sound coming every now an then suspected from the rear although with all seat belt adjustment and lose item elimination from car the noise existed, more so during going over uneven roads.

During the test drive, the guy impressed me with his skills to troubleshoot. He identified the squeaking sound to be uneven buffer adjustment on bonnet and with some hand adjustment fixed it in 2 minutes. Now the main issue with steering alignment to left, he acknowledged it, for the first time someone from Toyota, and turned out its not a wheel alignment problem rather a steering wheel adjustment issue.

It got corrected soon and on asking to waive off the charge they readily waived it off on grounds that car is under warranty and they recalled discussion with service manager 3.5 years back who somehow happened to agree that this problem was reported earlier and I should not be charged for it. An exemplary service from Toyota yet again, keeps our faith and trust in the brand high.:thumbs up

Hello BHPians,

This post is about the completion of 20,000 kms of my Toyota Innova Crysta 2.4 G AT (BS VI) “Airavat”



I brought Airavat home on 18th October 2020. Yes, it took me quite long to complete 20,000 kms mainly due to Covid restrictions.

Initial impression:

What I like:
• Bullet-proof reliability and low maintenance cost
• Abundant space and practicality
• Resale value
• Outright performance

What I don’t like:
• Overpriced for what it offers
• Lack of basic features (in lower variants)
• Impractical for city-use due to heavy steering and length of the car
• Small size of the tyre compared to competitors

Observations about the car after more than 2 years of ownership:

Alternatives considered – I was only looking for a diesel automatic MPV/SUV which could accommodate 7 people comfortably. Considering this, i did not have too many options. I test drove the Mahindra XUV 500 diesel AT but thinking over the long term reliability and after-sales service of Mahindra, i decided not to go ahead with it. The Toyota Fortuner and Ford Endeavour being the other options that i had, were way more than my budget, hence went ahead and got the Innova Crysta.

On-road price & discounts – 22.3 lakhs (including extended warranty on car (1,50,000 kms/5 years) and accessories like leatherette seat covers, rear parking camera, auto-folding ORVM, bike protector etc.)

Styling & design – Overall design is eye-catching and still looks fresh after many years of this model being launched. It is one of the most aerodynamic and sharp looking cars in it’s segment.

Overall build quality, fit & finish, paint quality and panel gaps – The car scores a commendable 4 star rating (GX variant) in the ASEAN NCAP crash test. Doors close with a reassuring thud. Paint quality is decent and until now there are no areas of the vehicle that have rusted. Panel gaps are well-proportioned. I did not notice any uneven gaps.

Space & comfort – Very spacious, comfortable and airy cabin. More than enough head room, knee room, shoulder space and under-thigh support in the first 2 rows. 3rd row comfort is unmatched compared to any other MPV.

Storage, practicality & boot space – This is one of the areas where the Crysta tops the list. There is ample amount of storage space. The car has more than 20 bottle holders, each one with a capacity of holding 1 litre bottles. There is class-leading boot space even while using the 3rd row seats.

Wheels & tyres – Quality of apollo tyres (apterra) provided by Toyota are bad. Within a month of getting my vehicle, one of the tyres had a big cut while travelling on Mumbai – Bangalore highway. This was followed by frequent punctures on 2 other tyres during normal city drives. The design of alloy wheels too are quite basic and look boring.

Safety & other features – Toyota has been generous in providing ABS with EBD and BA, vehicle stability control, hill start assist and cruise control as standard in the GX variant. Features like 7 airbags (in the lower variant), front parking sensors and rear disc brakes are a big miss at this price point!! Lower variants of the Innova Crysta come with only 3 airbags which is disappointing as well. Output of the music system is good even with only 4 speakers. AC is a chiller and the provision of 3rd row AC vents enhances the cooling. Despite having halogen headlamps, the throw of low and high beam on the highway is more than adequate.

Driving experience – The Innova Crysta is a power horse, with more than sufficient power and torque at it’s disposal at any gear (AT adding to the driving comfort). Turbo lag is well masked by the smooth 6-speed torque convertor unit in the car, making this a delight for every person sitting at the wheel of this beast. Found the handling and dynamic ability to be very appealing, considering the length of the car. The car can cruise at triple digit speeds all day long. Suspension feels great on bad patches of highways. Steering is heavy and ride quality isn’t the best at low speeds in the city, but at higher speeds the steering becomes lighter and more accurate with very little play. Being a ladder-on-frame rear wheel drive vehicle, there is some amount of vertical movement that can be experienced when the vehicle is not fully loaded. The braking of the vehicle could have been better. On sudden heavy braking i did experience the tyres screeching. NVH levels have improved compared to it's predecessors (BS IV), but engine noise is still audible inside the cabin especially at higher revs.

Mileage – In neck to neck city traffic, i get a mileage of 10 to 11 kmpl, and in the highways, 14 to 15 kmpl is easily achievable by maintaining speeds of 120 km/h. Even with a spirited driving style, the minimum one can expect is around 8 to 9 kmpl.

Service – Overall service cost was very low (10k service cost was INR 4,000 & 20k service cost was INR 8,000) and service quality levels were top notch.


Final verdict:
This is a gem of a vehicle to have in your garage, especially if you love driving long distances. The reliability, dependability, and the resale value of the Innova Crysta cannot be compared with any other vehicle.
If you are looking for an MPV that has a wonderful blend of power, ride & handling, space & practicality and the ability to carry around 7 people in utmost comfort, then look no further than the Innova Crysta :Cheering:

Looking forward to doing many more road trips with Airavat, now that we are all back to the pre-Covid phase.

Attaching few images.

Fuel efficiency update on a Crysta BS4 2.8ZAT tankful to tankful method and in normal mode - Tvm city 14-15Km/l, KL highway @ 80-90Km/h 17Km/l. These are not from my Crysta but from a friend's 2.8ZAT which is stock except the remap which is running the same map as mine which is made as a daily driver fun map (and not an economy map and its normal mode is as good/better than stock power mode). As per him these mileage figures are better than what his BS4 Crysta 2.4VMT (sold) yielded when he had it.

Congrats Airavat2020, a great writeup. However I would definitely love to get more insight into - How are you able to derive 14 kmpl on highways ? I have done Bangalore - Madurai straight highway (600 kms one side) on 100kmph with as much cruise as possible but the best I could manage was 12.5 in Eco mode. Mine is ZX 2.4 AT. I am not able to understand what am I doing wrong ? Please do share some tips here. Only once I came close to 14 with cruise set at 80kmph on Bangalore Vellore highway but have been unable to repeat thereafter.

hello all,
I have been a Crysta 2.4G Manual user for the last 1 year after getting myself 2016 pre-owned car. Have driven for almost 13K kms till now and car has clocked 1.1Lak kilometres on Odo. I would like to know on how we will get to know whether the car is due for its clutch overhaul. I feel it's a bit tighter on the clutch pedals and i recognised it recently when i drove a relative's brand-new Crysta Manual. Also, the shifting from 1 to 2 is not that smooth for me.

Awaiting your inputs.

The highest mileage ever I've achieved ( minimum distance of 300 kms ) on my touring sport diesel AT ( BS4 2.8 AT ) in stock configuration is while driving in Kerala ( thanks to those speed cameras and narrow highways ). MID showed 16.9 kmpl when i exited Palakkad ( driving from Trivandrum ). Then it gradually dropped to around 15 kmpl by the time i reached Bangalore. I try to keep it within speed limits ( @ GPS speeds ).

• Attempted cruise speed within Kerala ( 78 kmph on Google maps or ~85 kmph on speedo ).
• Attempted cruise speed outside of Kerala ( 97kmph on Google maps or ~ 107 kmph on speedo )

I accelerate hard to reach the cruise speed and then use cruise control to maintain that speed.

Note:

1. MID values on the crysta has been consistently over optimistic ( by around 5 % ) with its numbers. So a 16.9 kmpl in reality would be 0.95 x 16.9 = 16 kmpl
2. When my wife drives it, she squeezes crazy mileage out of it. I have seen insane values like 17.4 kmpl while she drives on the Nagercoil - Salem stretch. She is ofcourse gentle with the A-pedal and cruises at anywhere between 80 and 100 kmph based on traffic conditions.

But the numbers I posted were not MID given values but what he actually got tankful to tankful.

Crysta's Gearbox is not tuned properly and unlocks even when the throttle is slightly pressed especially in higher gears which causes economy to go down, the only workaround i found is to use S6 mode and not eco but normal mode in this mode the torque converter stays locked more than D mode and it does not downshift until 1.1k rpm. The result on my 2.8Z is an unbelievable 22kmpl on my recent trip to Vellore with a full car and mixed to heavy traffic and with ac on 100%. Did the round trip of over 500km in 10 hours and the fuel tank needle is just touching half mark.

Is Crysta 2022 model RDE and E20 fuel complaint? Is RDE to do with better emission control like showing real driving emission and giving manual option to driver to trigger DPF cleaning? What is the advantage to the user?
Is E20 fuel complaint means vehicle can ein in flex fuel (Ethanol)?

I did see that. The point i was trying to make was that kerala's roads can give the best fuel economy even though we might feel otherwise. On the open highways in other states, we end up cruising at 95kmph or above ( GPS speed ) and that brings down the fuel economy

Hi swarnava.ch,

Apologies for the late reply. Thank you for the appreciation :)

I personally feel that a mileage of 12.5 kmpl for 2.4 AT on the highway is quite low (if only with 1 or 2 people in the vehicle, including driver and some mild luggage). Few reasons as to why i think you are getting lower mileage could be:

1. In cruise control, the car would always try and maintain the set speed, irrespective of whether there is a downslope or upslope, and tends to downshift and accelerate on upslopes to maintain the speed. This affects the mileage, and hence activating cruise control frequently does not necessarily ensure better mileage. In my opinion, cruise control gives best fuel economy only when driving on long stretches of straight roads like Samruddhi Mahamarg.

2. Fuel economy displayed on the MID is not fully accurate and there is slight variance between the actual mileage of the car and the mileage displayed on the MID. You could try using the tankful-to-tankful method for accurately calculating the mileage of your car.

3. I experienced this strange behaviour of the engine while cruising on Samruddhi Mahamarg; I was getting fuel efficiency of around 15 kmpl using cruise control at 120 km/h in eco mode and 100 km/h in normal mode (in both cases car was in 6th gear). You could try this.

In case you got the mileage of 12.5 kmpl on a full load, this is surely not bad at all !!

In Kerala the 2.8AT doesnt give better fuel mileage compared to the 2.4MT when both are driven under at similar speed and similar traffic conditions, my point was the (mapped) 2.8AT yielded a better mileage than the 2.4MT, as confirmed by the owner who was using a bought new V2.4MT from 2016 and now a pre-owned Z2.8AT. Although its my map I have not done a mileage run to find whats the best possible fuel economy, because its not fun.

Yesterday returning to Tvm from Cherthala starting at 7.30pm it took 3hours 30mins reaching at 11PM at vazhuthacaud. At cherthala I filled Diesel at KSRTC stand for 2000Rs in an almost empty tank with low fuel warning on and needle at last marker, ~21ltrs was filled and fuel needle moved to halfway point. I reached Tvm with a quarter tank left. If the engine used up half of what was filled that would give me an excellent figure (~16km/l) for the distance/avg speed/traffic condition. Just for sake even if it use 75% of the fuel filled (which it did not) I still would end up with a respectable figure (12km/l) for the distance/avg speed/traffic conditions.

In my usage I have found that on multilane highways outside kerala I always get better fuel mileage and at much higher speeds because the torque converter tends to stay locked for longer periods and at constant speeds. Last bangalore trip took ~9hours 30mins from Tvm to Elec city inclusive of breakfast and lunch breaks, fuel economy was good (iirc 17+km/l) for the distance/avg speed maintained. I didn't use cruise control and if I did it would have bettered.

Of the time I have driven the Crysta, I can tell you that the FE variance is very high and is very sensitive to the driving conditions and load. And it is irrespective of drive modes. Some pointers from my experience with it:

• The car is inefficient in 1,2 and 3rd gears due to torque converter being unlocked, which will cause unnecessary revving. So if you happen to drive at speeds where these gears are mainly used, you should accelerate quick and let it coast as much as possible
• Once in 4th and above gears, the TC locks up and after that the acceleration is more linear to engine speed. Yet again if the throttle is pressed slightly harder, it will downshift and revv away to glory. This must be avoided.
• If you use Eco mode on highways, that will work only if you are driving with a light foot and accelerate very gradually. Otherwise if brisk acceleration is required, it ECO mode will just delay it and you will end up pressing accelerator more than required, which will just go back to the revving state without much progress.
• Best reference is to use the instantaneous FE displayed as a bar graph in the instrument cluster and vary throttle input based on that. It will give you a fair idea where the sweet spot of the engine and transmission combo will be.

These days I somehow manage 11-12kmpl even in the city. On the highway I get anywhere between 14-16kmpl even though I am usually above 100. On the highway the longer it doesnt downshift, better the FE will be.


Does S6 really prevent downshift? I thought that the S mode will just keep the selected gear as the highest gear with TC lockup while it will downshift as usual and unlock torque converter below the selected gear.