Innova 2.5 G3 at 1,46,000kms (43 months)

Innova 2.5 G3

The moment this car was launched, I knew, We'll hav this car in our fleet.. This car was then primarily bought for my Father who looks after our farm in Nasik.. We wanted to go for Top-end V variant.. But it was available in 7-seater configuartion only.. We wanted 8-seater which is more suitable for families.. I even emailed Toyota to provide V variant with 8 seater.. but nothing helped.. Dealers gave option of fitting 3 seater middle row of 8-seater Innova in V variant costing Rs.40000! Now 40000 just for a seat which was available in lower variants was too much to ask for.. Finally we went for Top end 8 seater.. i.e. G3
Got the Delivery of Light Green Mica Metallic Innova G3 on 18th Aug 05.. And just within couple of months, Toyota started giving option of 7seater/ 8-seater across all the variants.. I was responsible behind this step of Toyota.. But I could not benefit from it.. I missed ABS, Alloy Wheels, Power mirrors, Airbags, Fog lamps and Crome mirrors but my simple, humble father was very happy with Innova.. He commutes to Nasik every week from Mumbai.. Car covers atleast 1000kms per week.. This vehicle though huge in size is as good as personal vehicle as it is a Utility vehicle or a family vehicle.. Innova still is the vehicle of choice for family outings, outings with frnds, long journeys, etc.

Looks: Everybody is quite familiar with looks of Innova by now.. My uncle used to say its a wagon.. And then he used it once for few days and he too was quite impressed with the car.. Agreed, looks are not proportionate.. But then Innova still looks best among all MUVs..

Interiors: Interior quality is top notch.. Built quality too is a no-compromise affair.. Theres no rattle from any of the body part or interior till date.. Dash board is huge and pleasing to look at.. Front seats and Middle seats are very spacious and comfortable.. Last row is bit lacking on under-thigh support and leg room.. But still it was considered to be the "Best Last Row" in the industry till the launch of Xylo.. Twin AC is very efficient till date and cools cabin very quickly.. All rear seats are foldable and hav carried numerous things for farm in Innova.. Once Myself and Papa even brought 600 mango, Cashew and Jamun saplings all the way from Daploi to Nasik.. And Innova never complained.. (Had a flat tyre on the return journey and had tough time lifting such a heavily laden vehicle)..
Performance: 2.5 D4D motor is torquey and best suited to Innova's character.. Performance is adequate for a MUV.. But try to go beyond 2500 RPM and engine makes its presence felt.. In 5th gear, after crossing 80kmph, engine gets quite noisy and u feel the need for 6th gear.. Top speed is 160 and fuel efficiency is 10 in city and 12 on highways (with AC).. My Papa even got upto 15 in winters without AC.. I never get beyond 11.. Thanks to my driving habit..

Ride and Handling: Ride is very good soaking all irregularities with ease.. The suspension set up is best suited to Indian conditions.. Ride though good, gets bit bouncy when fully laden.. So needs to be driven sedately when laden.. Else suspension bottoms up.. Handling too is very good considering the size of the vehicle.. Steering is perfectly weighted and gives proper feed back to the driver..
Living with it: Drive few KMs and soon u forget that u r driving such a huge vehicle.. Its that easy to drive.. All other controls are light as well.. Once u get used to it, its easy to park as well thanks to tight turning radius..

Karnataka drive: In Oct 08, one of my close frnd had his marriage in Mangalore, Karnataka.. 4 of us decided to drive down to mangalore for the wedding.. No wonder innova was chosen for its space, comfort and sturdiness (Tucson wasn't available, it was assigned some other duty).. Covered 2377 kms in 5 days.. And we were still fresh at the end of journey.. I piloted for 80% of the distance and my frnd did rest of 20%.. It was this trip in which Innova impressed me the most.. Innova was 1,34,000 odd kms old then but still it was damn reliable.. Only repair which needed to be carried out was replacement of left rear wheel bearing while on the return journey near satara.. Here, DSK Toyota's emergency service came to rescue.. (DSK is a leading Toyota Dealer in Pune).. Hav one funny incident too which needs to be shared.. On the 1st day, after filling the tank Full in Mumbai, we left towards Hubli by NH4.. And Innova's Fuel Guage is not as accurate in the lower half portion.. Once past half, it comes down very fast.. While we were nearing Belgaum, reserve light blinked.. We decided to fuel up on the next station.. Within a couple of Kms, we negotiated a fly over and while climbing the flyover, all the fuel went to rear side of fuel tank and engine stalled.. I had a minor heart attack (what to do?).. I kept my cool and since the car was in motion I let the flyover crossby in neutral gear.. I stopped after the flyover, got 4 empty bottles of a litre each, took lift on a bike, got them filled with diesel.. emptied them in innova and still it refused to start.. I called up Toyota service centre and they informed me that Innova needs to be filled with atleast 7-8 litres of diesel to start after it gets empty.. This time I borrowed a bicycle of a farmer working nearby, got 4 bottles filled with diesel in a carrybag and finally innova started.. That was a good experience right of the first day and thankfully fuel station was just 4 kms away.. Lateron we never allowed Innova to go below half mark in rest of the journey..

Maintainence: A paid service typically costs appx 4000-6000 per service..

Non routine repairs:
Changed Ball Joints of left and right side twice costing 5k each time..
Changed wheel bearing for Rs. 7k in karnataka trip (bearing for 2k, break down charges 3.5k, and rest, labour and tax)
Never did any suspension job and its still working perfectly..
Cost of service is reasonable and cost of spares is slightly on higher side..
Tyre life is appx 50000kms.. My car is still on 3rd set and looks like it can go for another 10000kms
Innova is the one which unfortunately met with maximum number of accidents.. Made 4 claims above Rs. 1 lakh till date and 6 claims in total.. Every time it was driven by different driver and met with a different kind of accident.. But in all of the accidents, passengers walked out scratchless thanks to studiness of Innova's bodyshell.. (In 2006-07, made 4 claims for Innova in a year. No wonder, Ifco-Tokyo refused to renew the insurance next year. Got renewed with Bajaj Allianz)
Now, at 1,46,000kms Innova hardly looks and feels like a year old and we feel like it can go on and on in the trouble free manner till 3 lakhs kms..

Few days back, I was just having a casual discussion with dad regarding his next car.. What would that be? I was shocked to know, "Innova 2.5 V (8- seater)".. I said, "Not again.. Lets go for Fortuner.."

My frnd Hari who was my Co-driver in Karnataka trip, he is the only one among my frnds who has driven all cars in my fleet.. He rates Innova highest among all the cars in my fleet (Q7, Passat, Optra, Tucson included).. Now thats too much..

Good review again abhi, Innova is a wonderful car, I've sat in it and its so silent from inside and the car touches three digit speed so easily that don't get to know when all windows are rolled up and AC turned on BTW, whats that last pic?Any breakdown?

gr8 share of review abhi, no wonder why Hari ranked innova as best of thelot, easy to drive in any kind roads, smooth refined performance, still feels new with those lacs run, toyota has really given us good muv's from qualis to innova both doing wonders on roads and running lacs of kms without any much of hiccups. Well even i didnt knew that it needs atleast 8L to start :lol!: .Keep updating and your bicycle journey also seems to be wonderful and did you took cycle too offroading as your routine habbit..ha ha..

@ Vibhor: I hav mentioned in the post that while on the way back from Karnataka, Left rear wheel bearing gave up at Satara.. theres no Toyota Service centre in Satara so had to call Break-Down Vehicle from DSK Toyota Pune for rescue..

@TV: Lols.. I have used bicycle for better part of 13 years.. Hav done some long journeys too.. And yes did lot of off-roading on bicycle too.. I always used to carry my bicyle on top of our Mahindra Commander/ Tempo Trax/ Tata Sumo while going to Farm/ Native place in vacations.. Now planning to buy a High end bicycle too..

Oh sorry, Didn't read about your Karnataka drive.:oops:

abhi post someinteriors pics if you have them of innova.Also how would you rate the last seat comfort as compared to scorpio, are both almost similar or innova better then scorpio, as i heard that underthigh support lacks in innova'a last seats.

Don't hav any pics of interiors as of now..

For the last seat, here is the rating..
1) Xylo : 9 / 10
2) Innova : 7 / 10 &
3) Scorpio : 5 / 10
Scorpio's Thigh support is decent but seriously lacks leg room.. Ur knees rub constantly with middle seat.. After some time, u tend to sit in a crossed manner to avoid knee-rubbing..
Innova though lacks under thigh support, but its not as poor as Endeavour or Montero.. Leg room is decent too though not as generous as Xylo..
Xylo is the new benchmark for Last seat space.. last seats comes with armrests, seats are very supportive, are the most spacious with good under thigh support, good head room and leg room..

hi abhi, great review. even i have an innova. i agree to most of your points. but i was simply shocked to see the dirty plants loaded in the boot. i would never do that as i wont want the beige interiors to get stained.

raj_5004 wrote:hi abhi, great review. even i have an innova. i agree to most of your points. but i was simply shocked to see the dirty plants loaded in the boot. i would never do that as i wont want the beige interiors to get stained.

We believe Cars are for us and not the other way.. We consider cars as drivers of our business and when it comes to business, we don't spare any car.. And No, those plants didn't spoil beige interiors of car.. The Car's loading bay was covered with plastic paper from 3 sides.. So when plants were unloaded, the interior was just like the way it was before loading.. (Theres a big Plastic paper in Innova all the time).. And we love plants.. Its part of our business..

ahh nice review again abhi
your innova looks good infact all cars in your fleet do!
and even though u have all the best cars- u havent forgotten the mighty bicycle!

Good review abhi. The pics are awesome :kewlpic: . Innova is a great car and the only car with no turbo lag, as far as i've driven.

Hmmm waiting for some Bi-cycle adventure.