2019 Toyota Vios - First impression

MANILA: After what can be called months of speculation and whether they will or not questions, Toyota Philippines has an answer for us. They have launched the new Toyota Vios here and bookings have already started with deliveries to begin in a couple of days.

There are six trims on offer and the prices are as follows:

1.3 Base MT for Php 659,000

1.3J MT for Php 685,000

1.3E MT for Php 828,000

1.3E CVT for Php 878,000

1.3E Prime MT for Php 883,000

1.3E Prime CVT for Php 933,000

1.5G MT for Php 981,000

1.5G CVT for Php 1,040,000

1.5G Prime CVT for Php 1,095,000

Toyota Philippines will also charge you extra for the pearl white colour - Php 996,000 for the 1.5G MT, Php 1,055,000 for the 1.5G CVT, and finally Php 1,110,000 for the 1.5G Prime CVT. Now with the numbers out of the way, we can definitely get the groove going on with the first look of the new Toyota Vios.

This one looks smart but in a typical Toyota fashion. The company’s design language is confusing and while the world over auto companies follow a single design ethos, Toyota doesn’t have it. Their cars can look utter boring, slightly interesting, a bit more and then back to bland again. The Toyota Vios subscribes to this and while it's your guess as to which of the four aforementioned options you want to go for, for us it is plain jane.

There are changes to the front of the car. Noticeably that's the one area where every manufacturer concentrates when they facelift a model. The grille has become wider and is a significant black expanse. Toyota has added halogen projector lights to the equation to give the Vios some kind of flair and it works too. The grille itself has become much smaller in the process. There is the 15-inch alloy wheel and while we hoped for something radical out there, it is quite plain too. The rear of the car has a fourth-gen Corolla-like styling with LED lights as well as reflectors mounted on the lower half of the bumper. The car still measures 4,410 mm in length, 1,700 mm in width, and 1,475 mm in height. All this with a wheelbase of 2,550 mm.

Inside, there is new upholstery and Toyota Philippines has now started assembling the car here and hence the lower asking price that you see above. The best part is that the car looks well put together just like the outgoing imported spec then. The speedometer, as well as the tachometer, are analogue in nature and a multi-information display along with a digital clock too are present. Strangely enough, there is no automatic climate control being offered. This is a shame considering every other car in the segment offers one.

There are rear AC vents though. A 7.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Mirror Link is offered. Outside, you get this same system with gesture control but Toyota has skipped it here. The music system supports Bluetooth, CD, aux and MP3. There are dual cup holders in the front and a single one at the back. The ORVMs can be folded as well as adjusted from the inside.

The best part is that Toyota offers its safety equipment as standard with the Vios. This includes seven airbags with one for the driver’s knees, ABS along with EBD, and Stability Control. This is commendable as none of the manufacturers does that in this segment. It helps that Toyota received a 5-star rating with the previous generation car and this one, while not being crash tested yet, too seems to toe the same line. Toyota has given front discs and rear drum brakes.

There are two engine options available with those jungles of trims we discussed above. Both are petrol and while one is a 1.3-litre, 4-cylinder, dual VVT-i that makes 98 PS of power and 123 Nm of torque, the other one is a bigger 1.5-litre unit. This bigger engine also uses dual VVT-i and produces 108 PS of power and 140 Nm of torque. One can opt either engine with a 5-speed manual gearbox or a sequential CVT that has seven ratios. Both the engines are claimed to be more efficient than before, however, Toyota has not specified any numbers as of now. We expect the CVT to be aptly suited for the city as well as highway driving whereas the manual will have a light clutch with decent shift action.

Toyota uses MacPherson struts in the front and multi-link axles at the back in terms of suspension. The Toyota Vios, we expect, will be tuned more for comfort and hence should deliver on this count. The earlier car used to sag with a full load, however, it used to have utmost comfort over potholes. Expect the latest generation to have the same qualities. The handling will strictly be okay and as it is Toyota doesn’t claim it has a corner carver at its hands either. The NVH is claimed to be really low. Something we will verify when we have the test units coming to us.

All being said. The Toyota Vios is your safety card in this segment. You cannot go wrong with it and since the allure has been refreshed by the Japanese company, we expect more and more people to queue the Toyota showrooms.