Test drive report on new altis…
Every forty second a new corolla rolls out of the showroom, it is the largest selling car in the world. But the story of corolla’s Indian journey has not been that great. Toyota managed to sell only 40000 units of corolla in five years at an average of 8000 units a year. To be frank, the presence of civic and Honda’s premium image has overshadowed the corolla. Toyota’s lack of attention towards to Indian market is also to blame. But Toyota now wishes to put the past behind it. Amidst mighty civic and diesel jetta, Toyota plans to sell 20000 units of new altis a year. An intensive teaser campaign, indian specific trims and aggressive marketing campaign are clearly aimed achieving this ambitious target.
1) Toyota Corolla altis: Internationally Toyota is offering two products – a hatchback and a sedan under the corolla name. To differentiate the sedan from the hatchback altis is added. Even though corolla hatchback is not offered in India, Toyota emphasizes this new car as altis rather than corolla to give a sense of freshness .
The older one
2) Toyota Corolla altis: Stylingwise the new altis is a big leap forward over the previous one. Character lines all over the car ensures better aerodynamics for the car. The muscular bumper flows upwards all the way to the bonnet. Yes, the grille, headlamp cluster and fog lamps looks like embedded in the bumper.However one thing you would surely notice is the arrangement of headlamp and tail lamp clusters. Both are not in line with body surface, projecting out a little for the 3D effect.
3) Toyota Corolla altis: We always love best of all worlds. Following the Volkswagen, Toyota has mastered the art of using LED’s. Clever use of LED’s in the Tail lamp cluster is a feast to the eyes. Overall we can define the new corolla altis as a baby camry, yet, the car looks conservative when compared to the Civic.
4) Toyota Corolla altis: The 1.6L petrol mill under the hood offers enough power and the short throw gearbox is silky smooth. The intelligent Variable Valve Timing engine churns out a decent 132bhp and provides smoother acceleration. The Corolla is being offered with five-speed manual and a four-speed automatic transmission for the top-end variant. Though we are not able to test top whack we find that altis easily moves past 150kmph. Overall mileage of the corolla altis is around 11kmpl.
5) Toyota Corolla altis: There were times corolla’s agility,lightfootedness and quick steering is said to be the best in the business. But that’s a thing of the past, civic ruled our minds and we forgot the corolla. But Toyota wishes to come back and it’s idea with the new corolla altis is “to connect, more than ever, with younger buyers on every level”. For the first time corolla gets an electric steering. The suspension is Macpherson strut at the front and torison beam at the rear.
6) Toyota Corolla altis: The solid built and stiffened frame results in minimal body movement and gives you a sense of safety. Altis offers one of the best straightline stablilty and disc brakes on all wheels. To take care of quick retardation, Altis sports new generation ABS coupled with EBD (Electronic Brake force Distribution system). The cornering ability can be called as good if not, electric.
