|
One of the questions we often get asked in our Which Car section is “When is Toyota going to launch a diesel version of the Corolla?”. Many people write in, expressing their eagerness to buy into the Toyota brand name, for the prestige and reliability the name represents, but these letters often end on a note of disappointment, due to the fact that Toyota doesn’t have a diesel sedan in its portfolio — or at least they didn’t, until now. Toyota has finally bitten the diesel bullet and rolled out the Corolla Altis diesel, and about time too. The competition, in the form of the Chevrolet Cruze, Skoda Laura and Volkswagen Jetta, has been doing healthy numbers in the diesel sedan market. The erstwhile segment king, the (petrol) Honda Civic, has slipped behind the Altis, a fact that the folks at Toyota must be very pleased about — and what better move to make when you’re on a winning note than to throw a diesel engine into the mix? It’s probably not an exaggeration to say that the launch of the diesel-powered Altis is a landmark event, with the potential to cause a major shake-up in the executive sedan segment. Will this mean the end of all those diesel-Toyota Which Car questions? Will the car live up to the huge expectations that have been building up well before its launch, simply because it’s a Toyota? Let’s find out.
The meat of the matter first — the new oil-burning powerplant. I have to admit that it was rather strange to fire up a Corolla and hear anything but a butter smooth, petrol engine note.
|
