Toyota Liva in India compared to its competitors

With the Toyota Liva in India just beginning its innings, it would be but natural to pit it against its competition. The competition is in the form of hatches which are Japanese conceived, German, Korean as also Indian. With so many options available in the over crowded hatchback segment, it becomes very confusing for the discerning buyer to select a car for himself. We have listed out the pros and cons of Toyota Liva compared to its hatchback competitors. As many as 7 competitors have been considered here. Here is a neutral view (as always) not favoring any car particularly or not even proclaiming a winner out of the 8 cars. Instead, we leave it upto the readers to decide which car they want to be in their driveway or garage.

Main contender : Toyota Liva : The Toyota Liva in India is the newest offering by the Japanese car maker and it is billed as the volume driver for the company. That the Etios has set the pace for it is another thing and that the Liva would fully exploit the situation is for given. It comes with an exterior which wouldn’t offend anyone and at the same time feels similar to its bigger sibling, the Etios. Just like the Etios, the Liva also can be had with side skirts and an added on spoiler. Inside, the story is no different from the Etios with the hatch sharing the same instrumentation and some dashboard plastics. Interior space is the forte of the Liva and its interior space is almost similar to that of the Etios. User friendly controls are present while the top of the line variant is stacked with goodies, though not class leading. Currently the engine in the Liva is a 1.2 one, which is tuned to be more fuel efficient rather than being an outright drag strip racer. The engine produces 79 Bhp of power and 10.6 kgm of torque. A 5 speed transmission handles the transmission duties. Overall fuel efficiency is quoted as 18.3 kmpl, as per ARAI. Ride and handling characteristics are similar to what the Etios has to offer and this means a neutral behavior. EBD, ABS and airbags are present in the top end variant. Price start from Rs 3.99 lakhs.