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Long-term review of 2 Toyota Innovas: Evolution of MPV over the years

12th May 2022, 08:03 by Rahul Nagaraj

The 2006 Innova & 2012 Innova have completed 83,000 km and 95,000 km, respectively.

BHPian vigsom recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Introduction

It is now commonplace to see extended warranty for cars as a must-have, but there is this long-distance runner that by design throws the word warranty out of the window. That vehicle is India’s champion MUV, the Toyota Innova.

This is an account of my encounter with many Toyota Innovas, showcasing some finer points of two diesel Innovas - a 2006 Innova G4 and another 2012 Innova V that are still serving their owners with no sweat. Both the cars just defy the meaning of the wordage, as we can all see through the next few posts.

The trigger for this write up

This thread created by BHPian anjan_c2007, in which the Innova was voted the clear winner, got me into action on posting on the Innova and showcasing the mettle of this vehicle yet again.

My encounters with Toyota Innovas this far

Circa 2005: My first encounter with a Toyota Innova was way back in 2005 when the vehicle came in as a market replacement to the blockbuster Toyota Qualis. I got to do a very brief test drive of a one-month-old car. A modern design then – it made me wonder why Toyota brought the Innova in when the Qualis was already doing so well. The test drive of the Innova was ahead of other MUVs then – smooth as silk steering, early upshifts in diesel and dead easy to drive even through narrow lanes. The owner had just upgraded the headlamps to 90/100W halogens and boy, the car lit up the road like day !!

Circa 2008: After a long day at work, it suddenly started to pour and there was an urgent task to be completed in another area approx. 700m from where I was sitting. There was no way I could walk down since the rain was crazy. I borrowed a senior executive’s almost new Innova V, drove to the building, and fulfilled the task. The experience of driving and being cocooned in this vehicle, at 25kmph in the pouring rain, was unforgettable.

Circa 2016: A friend in Chennai was looking to move from his 2007 Camry, and we’d gone to test drive a 2007 Innova G4, done some 1,29,000km. This example was in average cosmetic shape but excellent mechanically. What this revealed was that a vehicle that hasn’t been cared for cosmetically can still be relied upon to take one from point A to point B with peace of mind intact. That made me realize why this vehicle was the darling of all fleet operators and mile crunchers.

We also test drove another 2008 Innova V. The G4 was a city car while the V was in a place called Minjur, on the northern outskirts of Chennai. We took an EMU train to get there since the road route was unfamiliar. The car turned out to be okay despite the 1,90,000km on the clock.

Neither of the above deals came through. The owner of the G4 was stubborn on his expected price while the 2008 V had hypothecation which he said would be removed only after the full money was paid up.

Next, we got to drive a grey 2010 Innova V which had the dash illumination control and climate control as added features over the earlier gen Innova V. This again, had both sides touched up, with some cosmetic deficiencies on the inside, but mechanically sound. By then, my friend got more keen on an automatic and eventually went in for a Ford Endeavour AT.

2005-2012: I’ve used Innova taxis to ferry me from Mumbai to work locations out of Mumbai several times, and in Chennai and out of Chennai too.

I also got to drive another friend’s 2005 Innova E-PS that has done over 2.50,000km and is still going strong.

I never got into details of any of the above until I encountered the following examples over the last 5 years:

2006 Toyota Innova G4 green mica with the odometer currently at 83,000 km
2012 Toyota Innova V silver with the odometer currently at 95,000 km

Evolution of the Innova

The Innova was launched in India in 2005 and featured two engine options – the 2.0-litre petrol 136 PS 1TR-FE VVT-i (same engine as the Camry until 2005) and a 2.5-litre 102 PS 2KD-FTV D-4D common rail turbocharged diesel engine.

Petrol engine 1TR-FE

Diesel engine 2KD-FTV D-4D

2005-2008

The 2005 Innova came in the E, G and V trims, with only manual AC options. Also, the Innova was also available in the dark blue metallic shade only in 2005. I'd request readers to chip in with what the G2 and G3 variants meant.

Innova in Dark metallic blue (shade available only in 2005)

+ power steering option called E PS

- no power windows, no ABS, no Airbags, no gear console, no rear wash wipe, no defogger, no wheel caps

+ power steering, power windows, grey trim

- no defogger on G1, no ABS, no Airbags in any G variant

- no rear wash wipe on G variants except G4

The G4 came with a defogger, rear wash wipe and a rear AC as standard, a neat console around the gear lever, and a 7 seater option

+ all of G4 plus ABS, dual airbags, alloy wheels, fog lamps, chrome ORVM covers, chrome door handles(inside and outside), chrome rear number plate garnish, doors ornament strips with chrome inserts, walnut finish faux wood door inserts, in-dash 6MP3 plus cassette Head Unit, chrome exhaust tip

A brochure explaining features in the Innova (variants named here are different)