I really don’t know whether it is a disorder that needs attention, but I do suffer from what can be aptly named the ‘I-could-do-it-better’ syndrome. So when I see a Picasso, I think I could have done similar work had I been a painter. Actually much better, since my three-year old daughter can beat Picasso any day. Ditto with movies – I think I have a latent script writer/movie director/actor in me and I could have made most of these new movies at half the budget, and better too. Being a motoring journalist, I confess that sometimes I feel I can out-think some car companies. At times I even bring out the sleeping Lee Iacocca in me when I meet car company executives. Much to their amusement, I am sure. But then I can’t help it, because half of all car executives seem to be dispassionate number crunchers.
But let me tell you, this time I am right. After seeing and driving the new Toyota Innova, I called up General Motors India and asked them to bring out a basic version (white paint, black bumpers, cotton for upholstery) of the Chevrolet Tavera as soon as they can. I ignored the giggles at the other end and told GMI to price it at around Rs 6 lakh to get the juices of fleet/taxi operators flowing. I even asked them to ramp up production. You know why? The Toyota Qualis, the king of the tourist taxi trade in India, is dead and the new Innova is far too good an automobile to get into the taxi business.
The Innova, dear readers, is good enough for you to drive to work, take your family (and your neighbours) out for a wedding and even cross the subcontinent faster and more comfortably than most forms of mass transport. Seriously, this Toyota is arguably one of the best cars that I have driven in recent times. And I have been driving Porsches lately.
Maybe I went a bit ballistic there. True, it is no Porsche, but it is what you get when a Toyota Camry gets into bed with a Qualis. Thankfully, there is more of the Camry than the Qualis to look at, but most of the Qualis virtues are still intact. So is it a car? Or is it a van? Will it attract the prospective Skoda Octavia buyer? The answer is a resounding yes to every one of those questions.
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