New Toyota Altis – New Body For the Corolla
UMW Toyota Motor recently introduced the new Corolla Altis. Having had it for a weekend, I have just stepped out of the new Altis and I am actually in a mixed frame of mind. Whilst I do like the new shape, I cannot come to grips with the fact that there are almost no mechanical improvements, as the Toyota designers have decided to stick to their old formula of success insofar as the engine and transmission are concerned.
However, having driven it, I find that the new Corolla Altis, surprisingly, is actually quite a nice car to drive! The four speed box still drives smoothly, and pulls strongly from rest until the legal speed limit and over it as well. Joe Average, who drives sedately and never ventures beyond the straight and narrow where driving is concerned will never know the difference, but the man in a hurry will note the huge gap in the engine speed when the gearbox kicks down in response to pedal pressure. A five-speed box would make the Altis an even better car than it is now
The suspension in its present form, to be honest, is adequate for the performance of the Altis. Straight line stability is good, at least up to 160 km/h, after which there is some movement. Understandably so, as the Altis is not built for sporty handling; it is a family car, and is not meant for those who like sporty performance, which is probably why the average age of people who buy the Corolla in Japan is actually somewhere up in the late forties. To be fair, the ride is quite comfortable, and people can actually enjoy the ride. Overall handling is pretty good, and if you overcook it, the VSC (Vehicle Stability Control) system will help you to regain control. Around corners, it behaves decently, and as long as you don’t think you are an F1 driver, you should be okay.
In the looks department, it is a very subjective matter. There are those that like it, and there are those who don’t. Even our test team is divided. There seems to an attempt to model it after the (in my opinion) very nice looking Camry, just as the Vios was, but again the proportions just don’t seem to gel together. Perhaps it’s the way the front and rear lights are designed; instead of following the body contours, they stick out somewhat, and I wonder what effect it has on the aerodynamics. However, from certain angles, I do find the car quite good looking, and many of the people I interacted with during the time I had the car did too.
New features in the Corolla Altis include a gated gear selector, and a manual shift mode. The mechanically driven hydraulic power steering has been replaced by an Electric Power Steering (EPS). The feel is normal and if I didn’t mention it, there is a chance that many who drive it wouldn’t even know the difference. There is a difference, however, this being some savings in fuel consumption due to less load on the engine. An electronic throttle replaces the old cable operated throttle body, and some work has been done on the ECU (Engine Control Unit) to improve engine response. An on-board computer provides useful driving data such as the car’s remaining range, average fuel consumption, spot fuel consumption, average speed, and time of day.
We put the Corolla Altis through its paces, and got a top speed of a little more than an indicated 190 km/h. It pulls from zero to one hundred km/h in 11.5 seconds with the air-conditioner on and is half a second faster with it off. It pulls strongly up to 160 km/h, and will keep on going up to 180, after which it seems to hit a wall of air, and it really needs a downhill incline to go up any more than that. As far as fuel economy goes, a full tank of petrol took us 436 kilometres before the reserve tank light came on and a check with the on-board computer told us that we only had 30 kilometre range left in the tank. you would be well advised to start looking for a petrol station when your gauge starts to go under the quarter tank mark; it is not funny to run out of gas on the North-South Highway, something that has happened to me twice already when trying to find out how long a test car will go before the reserve light comes on.
I am sure the Corolla Altis in its present form will sell by the thousands, as it is a good car, backed by the values that Toyota put into it; excellent build quality, reliability and durability. These values have made the brand the world’s number one car maker, and Toyota will remain on the top of the heap for quite a while yet.
