News

My remapped Toyota Innova Crysta: 216 BHP & 514 Nm

6th October 2021, 16:47 by Rahul Nagaraj

Even with the remap, my Innova Crysta returns over 12 km/l. However, press the accelerator hard and it does drop to single digits.

BHPian brraj recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I was happy with the Polo's performance and wanted to keep it for 5 more years but as kids have grown up and even parents will tag along, space was a BIG issue.

More about my previous car Polo GT 1.6 TDI

Though not a fan of SUVs or any BIG cars, Started searching for a 6 seater.

Must Haves:

Diesel.
Automatic.
Minimum 6-seater Should be able to carry 4(adults)+2(kids) comfortably.
Reliable with less maintenance.
Easily tunable according to my needs.
60” side profile tyre.
Abs + Esp + Tcs etc..
Ride quality should be good. (At least mod options should be there)
Good resale value and ground clearance.
5 star NCAP safety rating.

Cars considered:

Hyundai Santa Fe

Loved the R-series engine with 194bhp and 436nm of torque with AWD. It's faster than all 7 seater diesel suvs under 40lkhs.

Cancelled due to below reasons:

No resale value.
Sourcing the parts(other than service parts) will take its own sweet time.
Selling this car will be PITA.

Innova Crysta 2.8

Was finalised in March 2021 for its peppy 170bhp, 370nm diesel engine.

Reliable.
In stock form, it does 0-100 in around 10sec.
Good resale value.
5-star NCAP rating.

Cons:

Soft suspension.
Bad brakes.

This was our first automatic vehicle and driving it in the city/highway was easy for me and dad. Had to go for preowned as the 2.8-litre engine was discontinued in Crysta and exists in Fortuner only. I am glad that this is faster than my polo 1.6 TDI in stock form and made sure that I did not miss out on the performance front. It takes some time to get accustomed to autos as initially, my left hand used to search for gear change(effects of polo manual), Later realizing its auto had to get back to the steering wheel. If you want to have fun in crysta it has to be in power mode and no need to worry much about potholes or humps, unlike my polo.

Engine

In stock form, it has got 170bhp and 370nm of torque. There is nothing much to write about the engine when in Eco/Normal mode as we can feel the turbo lag and it's not rev-happy. It's interesting when in Power mode as we can feel the instant power with no turbo lag and it's fun to drive. NVH levels will be a bit more post 3000rpm. Toyota has released a 2.8 engine with 201 bhp and 500nm of torque in the Fortuner, looks like this engine has a lot of mod potential.

Suspension

Till 100-120kmph if driven in the relaxed mode it's fine, Anything above 120kmph or in the spirited mode we can feel the undulations, softness and its not confidence-inspiring in corners. Body roll can be felt while cornering hard.

Brakes

Thumbs down to Toyota for not doing proper quality control checks in the brake department. Giving users a powerful engine and ignoring brakes is not done. It's not confidence-inspiring when we brake hard at triple-digit speeds, We can feel brake judder and Steering vibrations as well.

Steering

It's got hydraulic steering and I did not feel heavy at low speeds like a few mentioned in their reviews. It perfectly weighs according to the speed. The turning radius is around 5.4m and it's easy to manoeuvre in cities as well as highways.

My turbo polo was tuned and maintained by TOT. When enquired about remapping and hardware mods (decat/intercooler/turbo) for my Innova Crysta they told me they only do hardware mods for German cars and for other makes they just do remaps. Thus the search for a new tuner began.

I had heard good reviews about Rajiv from Wolf moto and wanted to give it a try. When I enquired Joe about my plans they were ready to do all the mods.

My requirements for the tuner:

Max Power in Low, Mid and Top end.
Reliable.
Less smoke.
EGR delete.
Safe map of around 210bhp / 470nm.

Jayanth said it was their first Crysta 2.8 remap done by the Wolf team. Initially, they read the ECU file from the OBD port and after the changes done by Rajiv, they updated it using the OBD port. I was surprised to see they did not remove ECU to enable writing via OBD port. This kind of feature is available usually in cars like BMW and not even in my previous Polo.

Crysta was already fast in stock form, doing 9.9 sec to 100kmph but who doesn't need more power if we get it in a safe way. I was not behind numbers here considering its power to weight ratio but good in-gear acceleration and fun to drive 7 seaters.

Finally...

Decat

Air filter changed to BMC

First remap impressions:

It has got a lot more punch and overtaking is a breeze.
In Eco mode and Normal mode it's a bit reserved but in Power mode, the pulls are impressive especially when you are in WOT.
Overall improved performance across the range.
When you are in WOT initially we can see some black smoke but later on vanishes with the speed.
Driving in City/Highway, It's fun especially in power mode.
Engine does not feel strained, Pulls cleanly from 1500 rpm - 4000 rpm.
Post remap, Under hard acceleration, mileage can drop down to 9 km/l or with the light foot can give up to 12.4 km/l. This was from ODO reading and not from tank to tank calculations.
Have already surprised a few who thought Crysta is a slow car.

DYNO Time