Hatchback section is the most competitive nowadays because many car manufactures have launched new cars or facelifted version of their best selling cars. Hyundai came up with new i20, Maruti with refresh version of Swift, Volkswagen with new Polo and Fiat with Punto EVO. All these cars are best selling models for their companies. Toyota also decided to try their luck with its Etios Liva refresh version during the festive season with just countable changes. So let’s have a look what positive and negative impact the updation made to Etios Liva.
High:
- The 5 seater Etios Liva is very spacious when it comes to rear bench space despite of lesser wheelbase than its sedan sibling and Liva easily beats its chief competitor Maruti Swift in this department.
- Front fascia is upgraded with redesigned front grille on smiling face which makes Liva more aggressive looking car and some refreshment in design.
- Comfort factor in terms of ride and handling is at its peak because of light controls, balanced suspension, light steering and even lighter clutch which makes the ride stress free.
- Etios Liva is safe car no we are talking about its build; it’s about the safety equipments on offer. Toyota is offering ABS, airbags and EBD on mid variants.
- Price is the main phenomena and a deciding factor when it comes in buying a car and Liva is justifies that criterion with its aggressive pricing policy.
Low:
- Interior design is still an unconventional one despite of updated upholstery; funky steering wheel etc, main villain of cabin is design of A/c vents and placing of instrumental console.
- Recently Swift have been upgraded with some good features and in comparison to it Liva is way behind in terms of feature richness. More features should have been added.
- Liva engines are underpowered and in the recent update nothing has been done for its improvement. With powerful competitors present in the segment like Grand i10, Swift and Polo with powerful performances, Toyota should have think about it in recent updation.
- Though some exterior and interior elements of have been upgraded, one major problem that Liva has is high NVH (Noise, vibration, harness) level in cabin. While driving Liva engine, wind noise are evident even on 90km/hr, which keeps irritating you as the speed ticks up.
- Toyota has made few changes in front fascia like upgrading front grille, wooden finish door arm rests. That’s it? Toyota should have brought more changes because the design of Liva is still hit or miss for many of us.
- The quality used in Liva is average and cost cutting is evident in Liva like, absence of wheel cladding which makes exposed wires look ugly, basic dashboard plastic etc.
