The mainstay of the Innova is going to be the diesel-powered version. The new diesel engine (coded 2KD-FTV) is a four-cylinder unit that displaces 2500cc and it drinks diesel through a common-rail system. This is good enough for 102 bhp at 3600 rpm and 20.4 kgm of torque between 1400-3400 revolutions. Not earth-shattering numbers here but a quantum leap when we consider the 74 bhp/15.4 kgm motor of the Qualis. Obviously, it is a quicker and faster car, and Toyota expects this engine to be 25 per cent more fuel efficient than that of the Qualis. We will wait for a proper road test to find that out, but it sounds brilliant. It is a quiet engine and it works very well with the five-speed manual transmission. I drove the car with a load of four passengers and found it very tractable.
The petrol engine employs Toyota’s variable valve timing (VVT-i) technology and is as refined as four-cylinder petrol engines get. This 2000cc engine is good enough for 136 bhp and is almost as torquey as the diesel, with 18.6 kgm. While the Qualis petrol was a dud that failed to notch up any significant numbers, expect the petrol variant of the Innova to attract a great deal of sedan buyers – especially the top-end variant which has all the safety bits thrown into it.
We didn’t have a chance to drive the Innova on the road, but what I can tell you is that the ride quality on good surfaces is very car-like. Gone is the leaf-spring rear suspension borrowed from bullock-carts, and in comes a splendid four-link setup that compliments the double-wishbones up front to offer a more or less neutral handler. Safety has been a priority in the development of the Innova and it is even more evident when you notice that it comes with tubeless radials across the model line-up.
Naysayers who worry how they can get punctures repaired can take a walk – tubeless radials contribute to safe handling of a car, and if the Innova is the future, soon the smallest towns in India will have puncture repair facilities for these tyres. Hello, we have to move on someday, right?
It is a tough task to tell you everything about an all-new car in a few pages and I am running out of space. The Innova is priced between Rs 6.7 lakh ( base petrol) and Rs 10 lakh (top-end diesel) – a price-band elastic enough to appeal to a host of car buyers. They have reason to relish – this is, in all probability, the first ever product meant for developing economies that does not look or feel like one. Period.
As for my advice to GMI, perhaps I am wrong. Till recently, I thought Leonardo de Caprio was a medieval painter. Oops!
|
