[aparth]

Hello BHPians,

We wanted to buy a new family car to replace 3.5 year old NHC ZX.
Our budget was 16 lacs and we preferred a petrol car because the daily running is around 25-30 kilometres only.

The car is going to be used for daily commuting by my parents so legroom,comfort and reliabilty were the most important things.

The cars we considered :


VW Vento

The drive was good, the engine was decent and the legroom was pretty good too but the interiors were a bit plain for my parents liking even though they were of good quality.

Hyundai Verna

It looked amazing, was loaded with features, the engines were powerful but lacked legroom and was the rear seat felt a bit claustrophobic.

Honda Civic

It was pretty comfortable. It was decent to drive but it will probably be replaced by a new model next year and I didnt want to get stuck 3-4 years with an older model.

Chevrolet Cruze

Even though we preferred a petrol car we still test drove the Cruze just for the sake of it. No doubt, the performance was great!! It was loaded with features but the legroom was very cramped and my parents didnt like the interiors and the low roofline at all. Even my NHC had more legroom than the Cruze.

Skoda Laura 1.8 TSi

Me and my dad were very impressed with the power, the build quality was amazing and the rear legroom was also decent. The only thing that I was a bit concerned about was the A.S.S and reliability.

Toyota Corolla Altis

I found the engine to be more responsive than before. The fit and finish was good, the backseat was spacious and comfortable, had a lot of features, the ride quality was very good! No reliability and A.S.S issues.
So we booked the the GL model in Pearl White.

Experience with the service and the dealership

Bought the car from MGF Toyota, Sector 14 - Gurgaon. We were very impressed by the service. The staff wasted no time at all during the delivery. Found the service to be much better than Honda. The staff was very helpful and took their time to explain all the features of the car. It was a very pleasant experience.

Discounts

The on road price was around 15.6 lacs (Delhi)after getting a cash discount of approx Rs. 30,000 and got free accessories worth Rs.10,000 so we opted for 3M RE35 tints and teflon coating.

[M00M]

congratulations on your purchase. ive had the corolla automatic since 2 years and its a brilliant car to own and use. lots of trouble free miles.

[aparth]

The initial observation after 600 kilometres

* The engine is very refined and smooth. It feels more responsive now and pulls very easily from any gear. Even at 40 km/h in 6th gear it pulls
the car very easily.

* Even with 5 people on board the car didn't scrape any speed breaker so ground clearance is not an issue.

* The ride quality is very good.

* Found the touchscreen head unit's touch response to be comparitively slower than other aftermarket Head units and has no GPS. The DVD
playback is very good and the bluetooth works very well too.

* The reverse gear takes some getting used to and requires some effort to shift.

* The auto dimming rear view mirror is a very good feature for driving at night.

* The drivers seat felt much higher than my ANHC even when it was at its lowest height.


Accessories planned

* Im not a big fan of chrome but I really like the chrome muffler cutter.

* HIDs for the fog lights.

[aparth]

Likes

* MID controls on the steering are very convenient.

* Disc brakes on all four wheels

* Automatic HID headlamps with washers

* The steering is adjustable for both rake and reach.

* The sliding armrest is very comfortable.

* The twin glovebox is very useful.

Dislikes

* The design of the alloy wheels is a bit too plain for my liking.

* The sunglass holder is pretty useless.

* The gear shifts could've been smoother. The gearshifts feel slicker in my ANHC.

[aparth]

Some pics of the exterior -

[aparth]

Some pics of the interior -

[DeKay]

Congratulations! You have picked the most comfortable sedan in its segment.
Wish you many happy miles and smiles with your car.

The upgraded version looks very nice, no doubt but still I think that the interior design should have been changed. The gear-shift will become smooth once you have clocked some miles.
Do keep us updated

[drmohitg]

Congrats on your new ride. I love this colour on the car. Hey can anyone tell me whats the green sticker in front of the odometer saying P60 means? Do we need to keep it there or can I take it off?

Do post some more pics.

Also how is your ICE behaving? The one in my car sometimes gets hanged specially when I answer some phone call while listening to music on the Bluetooth through my phone. Did you face any such issue?

[aparth]

Originally Posted by DeKay

Congratulations! You have picked the most comfortable sedan in its segment.
Wish you many happy miles and smiles with your car.

The upgraded version looks very nice, no doubt but still I think that the interior design should have been changed. The gear-shift will become smooth once you have clocked some miles.
Do keep us updated

Thanks!
I think the interiors look slightly better now because of the touchscreen HU and the darker wood finish.

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Congrats on your new ride. I love this colour on the car. Hey can anyone tell me whats the green sticker in front of the odometer saying P60 means? Do we need to keep it there or can I take it off?

Do post some more pics.

Also how is your ICE behaving? The one in my car sometimes gets hanged specially when I answer some phone call while listening to music on the Bluetooth through my phone. Did you face any such issue?

Thanks

I think pearl white looks the best on Altis. Will post better pics by tomorrow!

Even I don't know what that green sticker is. Maybe its the code for some part on the dashboard or something like that?

Yes, I've faced a similar issue. My HU doesn't hang but it becomes really slow. The touchscreen takes time to respond but then it becomes normal after 2 - 3 minutes.

[DeKay]

Well, if the sticker's bothering you or you don't like it there, you can always remove it and stick it somewhere it isn't visible.
That's what I did when I got the delivery of my innova.

By the way, a friend of mine is facing somewhat similar problems with the HU in his Altis, he is so irritated now, that he is planning to get it changed altogether. I'll try getting some further information.

[subbarp]

Hey congrats!

I have a 2006 (old model) Corolla and perfectly happy with it. My only grouse is that in this choked Bangalore traffic, I have been getting 9kmpl due to 1st/gear 2nd gear travel and start stop traffic, whereas I get 15+ on the highways.

How are you doing on the mileage on this new version (Altis) with higher power (the old version is 125bhp, this one is higher so want to know)?

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by aparth

I think the interiors look slightly better now because of the touchscreen HU and the darker wood finish.

+1. The darker wood shade has added so much class to the interiors. I hated the earlier shade of wood.

Originally Posted by DeKay

Well, if the sticker's bothering you or you don't like it there, you can always remove it and stick it somewhere it isn't visible.
That's what I did when I got the delivery of my innova.

But what is it for? I don't even recall having one on my Innova. Do we need to have it on the car?

By the way, a friend of mine is facing somewhat similar problems with the HU in his Altis, he is so irritated now, that he is planning to get it changed altogether. I'll try getting some further information.

Well its working fine otherwise. But if in the middle of listening to music on the BT, I receive a call or while listening in BT mode I make changes to the volume or track through my steering controls then sometimes the screen hangs. The song still goes on playing and tracks change but the display shows whatever song it was playing and gets stuck there.

I have to then disconnect the BT and reconnect for it to work again properly.

I am not going to get the HU changed. Its working absolutely fine other then this small issue.

[DeKay]

I don't think you need to have it on the car. It hasn't been asked for or referred to even once during service. It may be for the Toyota people to keep track of the vehicle before delivery or something.
That said, I have kept it intact and it is now stuck on the cover of the Manual of the car.

Well, the HU in my friend's car works fine sometimes, but then out of nowhere when you touch the screen, it hangs. It stays that way for 10-15 minutes and then it starts working properly again. But this not only leads to inconvenience but also loss of concentration during driving. I don't believe he uses Bluetooth, so cannot comment on that.

[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by aparth

Discounts

The on road price was around 15.6 lacs (Delhi)after getting a cash discount of approx Rs. 30,000 and got free accessories worth Rs.10,000 so we opted for 3M RE35 tints and teflon coating.

Congratulations on buying a wonderful long lasting car. I am particularly interested in the discount part. When was the car bought and discount given?

My queries on discounts have met with stern NO from the dealer (both Ravindu and Nandi Toyota) and hence the interest in the discount part.

[aparth]

Originally Posted by subbarp

Hey congrats!

I have a 2006 (old model) Corolla and perfectly happy with it. My only grouse is that in this choked Bangalore traffic, I have been getting 9kmpl due to 1st/gear 2nd gear travel and start stop traffic, whereas I get 15+ on the highways.

How are you doing on the mileage on this new version (Altis) with higher power (the old version is 125bhp, this one is higher so want to know)?

In the city, I've been getting between 9.9 to 10.6 kmpl.

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Congratulations on buying a wonderful long lasting car. I am particularly interested in the discount part. When was the car bought and discount given?

My queries on discounts have met with stern NO from the dealer (both Ravindu and Nandi Toyota) and hence the interest in the discount part.

The car was bought last month.

My father knows the vice president of MGF Toyota very well so that's how we got the discount

Otherwise, I don't think there are any discounts available on the Altis.