AniketBapat
New Member
I got my driving license in March 2014 and first car was WagonR CNG, in 2015 we shifted to Panvel in Navi Mumbai and daily commute to office to and fro was more than 100 km which meant frequent CNG filling and wasting a lot of time in CNG queues, hence I decided to purchase a diesel vehicle.
My requirements were Diesel hatchback(2k km per month + long long drives), Spacious, good fuel economy with less service cost.
Considered the following given I had Maruti vehicle already and Honda showroom was nearby as well
1) MS Swift - Boot space and rear leg room was inadequate also felt a lot of turbo lag so city drivability wasnt great , safety features in base variants were not great needed to get to VDI min which was costly .
2) Honda Amaze - Good looks specially in Silver , drive was also decent , Honda for me always meant petrol engines so was anyways hesitant about their Diesel engines as had not heard anything on the same , also didn't want a Sedan and was getting less exchange benefit for WagonR
Then I searched for diesel hatchbacks and read that Toyota Etios Liva has Dual Airbags , ABS and EBD from GD itself which was great . I did consider Liva Cross but was costlier with same engine so decided against it.
First impressions Liva GD
The first thing that impressed me was the rear leg room , the central console was to my liking and the grey and beige interiors felt really good , also the window glass felt bigger and enough light gave that roomy feeling .
I also got to know about the Sportivo model and i was blown away by the look of the white TRD Sportivo but sadly it was about to be discontinued so decided to go with GD model for test drive .
The Test drive
I took the test drive on Worli seaface(same for Honda Amaze as well) which was perfect as i had clear road to rev the engine and i was able to ride the torque for the first time and felt the rush more than in the Honda , it felt really good for someone coming from petrol car , that initial feeling of torque is something that i cannot forget and spontaneously i was in love with Liva , my wife sitting in the rear seat also liked the drive and that roomy feeling , the suspension was good and didn't feel stiff , the brakes were great and clutch was light enough , it had a lot of usable place in door panels and to keep small things around , the AC was also good , so overall I just loved the Liva , the classic design also appealed to me .
So Liva it was, I bargained for a good exchange price for WagonR and booked Liva in July 2015, I liked the silver color but waiting time was more so decided with Grey instead which looks equally great .
Got delivery in a weeks’ time which was great.
Since then in the last 4.2 years have covered 125000 km and plan to continue owning my Liva hence thought of this thread to make sure I can appreciate my car enough for as long as I can and give Liva the recognition it deserves .
Car details
- Etios Liva GD, 2015 August purchase from Wasan Toyota Deonar , Mumbai
My driving style and commute
- Aggressive driving style , use engine braking and love riding the torque
- Daily 75+ km office drive 70% city 30% hway
- 100% AC on mostly at 60-70% capacity
Fuel filling and economy
- Always fill at BP Coco kharghar, if outstation I prefer BP then HP and worst case IOC
- Fuel filter is stock Denso
- I fill to the brim (so I see the level) and take tankful to tankful average.
- Started tracking average in Fuelio app at 90k km
- Overall average is 16.5 km/l
- Best average was 22.65 km/l on a rare sedate drive Kharghar - Hyderabad
The current state
- switched to fully synthetic oil at 1.1 lakh km service,no fuel additives
- clutch and shock absorbers changed at 1.2 lakh service before bhutan trip
- brake pads changed at 60k and then at 1.2 lakh service
- first 40k km goodyear stock tires, since then 2 sets of yoko earth1
- yoko earth1 are really great tires for Indian roads no punctures in full ladakh circuit or bhutan trips
Servicing
- Servicing regularly done at 10k interval, Wasan Toyota, Deonar (Shirish Or Jayesh and always good work no complaints)
- Purchased 5 yr 1.80 lakh km extended warranty
- Have zero dep insurance policy with Engine protect
- Always on Smiles package
Major accidents, claims so far?
- Engine seized at 90k km - fully covered under Toyota protect Insurance which included Engine Protect.
I was on the way to Joshimath which was the base village for Kuari Pass trek in Uttarakhand on 23rd March 2018 , plan was to reach Jaipur on the first day and it was very HOT , I was 90 km from Udaipur near IOC petrol pump in Bichhiwara and had covered nearly 650km in about 8 hours and thinking i would have dinner in Jaipur for sure and then there was a noise , something hit the car from below and next i notice the car just stalled and there was smoke coming from the bonnet and engine light turned on , luckily i was on a slope and next to IOC petrol pump so parked it in the pump and opened the hood which was so hot i had to put on my safety gloves to open it , Next i observed in complete disbelief there is no coolant at all and it hit me my Car Engine is probably dead now given the steam and heat , was absolutely heartbroken and got to know the nearest service station is in Udaipur 90km away , I then called up Toyota RSA and in 30 mins got the car on flatbet and started towards Udaipur toyota service center . It was about 3-330 by then and 90km to Udaipur meant I reached service center only in evening around closing time .
With the goal to trek kuari pass fast losing ground i decided to leave the car at the center and continue via other modes of transport , honestly that was one of the saddest days of my life and i thought rather than worrying about the car let me complete my trek and keep myself distracted and in the meantime hopefully the service guys will have fixed whatever is broken and i can go back home in my car . So optimistically and with a heavy heart i got myself together and focussed on getting the job at hand done , goal was to complete the trek and not let the setback affect my plans .
So i took an overnight bus to Delhi , then took a train to Haridwar and from there took a bus to Joshimath , completed the trek and camback the same way completely exhaused to service center only to know that unfortunately i had a seized engine and will need overhauling and a lot more time , that was like a mini heart attack for me but anyways had no option but to leave the car behind and apply for a claim .
Good news was I had Toyota Protect policy including engine protect and Toyota honored the same , it took about 2 more months from there to get the engine fixed(new pistons and rings ,some lathe work for Block , valves and 1 injectors replaced + 1 repaired along with head repair) and tested and overall bill was about 1 lakh of which i had to bear Rs. 1000 , Thanks TKM .
The engine work was well done although it took a long time and honestly the engine felt like before which says a lot about Toyota service and very happy for the same . They also agreed to send back the car to Mumbai as a goodwill gesture for the delay in getting the engine repaired which is absolutely fantastic .
35k km later I can say the car is running great and average is pretty much same and continues to bring a smile everytime I ride .
- Idler pulley/bearing and tensioner assembly changed under warranty at 99k km
Memorable trips ex Kharghar in Navi mumbai
Solo trip to Ladakh June 2017 - 6016km
Ladakh Blog (only covers till Ladakh) - Ladakh Blog.docx
Trip Itinerary - https://www.bcmtouring.com/forums/attachments/ladakhtrip-xlsx.774323/?hash=d0241d0840021d883cddb3fdc442969d
Photos and Videos - https://drive.google.com/folderview?...3BBMDNOa21UbTA
Towards Leh
At Pangong Tso
Stuck in Khardungla descent in traffic due to truck breakdown
Returning from Turtuk
Bhutan Sept 2019 - 5700km
Photo Link(Still Consolidating) - https://drive.google.com/folderview?...vPETDBIM7iZj-B
At Dantak Canteen by Indian Army enroute Thimpu from Pheuntsholing
At the Dochula Pass enroute Punakha
Dochula Chortens
Suspension Bridge Punakha
Most kms done in a day
- 1060 km Kharghar - Ajmer in etios liva
- 1200 km Amalapuram-Dadar in WagonR Cng (my first car)
Best things about Liva
- Reliability, no issues in long trips like ladakh Or bhutan
- Linear torque delivery no turbo lags, lower end torque is great thanks to the 1.4 ltr engine
- Good brakes and light clutch
- Lowest servicing costs thanks to smiles package
- Steering weighs up nicely at high speeds and in city it’s like point and shoot
- With the low end torque climbing hills and ghats is a breeze , even with 4 people during Bhutan trip the car didnt feel strained at any point .
What can be improved
- Stock headlights and fog lamps not powerful enough
- NVH levels
- Wish there was sunfilm by default on windscreen , it gets pretty hot to drive in the summers as the glass area is also at an angle and pretty large .
- Wish the ground clearance was 190+, would have helped a lot in Ladakh trip.
- A pillar driver side visibility could be better especially when at lowest cat seat height (i prefer low seating so it might just be a specific issue for me)
So given this context for car and driver, starting point at 1.25lakh km let the journey begin!!
I will update on servicing and long trips, any niggles/issues, hope the car goes on and on!!!
My requirements were Diesel hatchback(2k km per month + long long drives), Spacious, good fuel economy with less service cost.
Considered the following given I had Maruti vehicle already and Honda showroom was nearby as well
1) MS Swift - Boot space and rear leg room was inadequate also felt a lot of turbo lag so city drivability wasnt great , safety features in base variants were not great needed to get to VDI min which was costly .
2) Honda Amaze - Good looks specially in Silver , drive was also decent , Honda for me always meant petrol engines so was anyways hesitant about their Diesel engines as had not heard anything on the same , also didn't want a Sedan and was getting less exchange benefit for WagonR
Then I searched for diesel hatchbacks and read that Toyota Etios Liva has Dual Airbags , ABS and EBD from GD itself which was great . I did consider Liva Cross but was costlier with same engine so decided against it.
First impressions Liva GD
The first thing that impressed me was the rear leg room , the central console was to my liking and the grey and beige interiors felt really good , also the window glass felt bigger and enough light gave that roomy feeling .
I also got to know about the Sportivo model and i was blown away by the look of the white TRD Sportivo but sadly it was about to be discontinued so decided to go with GD model for test drive .
The Test drive
I took the test drive on Worli seaface(same for Honda Amaze as well) which was perfect as i had clear road to rev the engine and i was able to ride the torque for the first time and felt the rush more than in the Honda , it felt really good for someone coming from petrol car , that initial feeling of torque is something that i cannot forget and spontaneously i was in love with Liva , my wife sitting in the rear seat also liked the drive and that roomy feeling , the suspension was good and didn't feel stiff , the brakes were great and clutch was light enough , it had a lot of usable place in door panels and to keep small things around , the AC was also good , so overall I just loved the Liva , the classic design also appealed to me .
So Liva it was, I bargained for a good exchange price for WagonR and booked Liva in July 2015, I liked the silver color but waiting time was more so decided with Grey instead which looks equally great .
Got delivery in a weeks’ time which was great.
Since then in the last 4.2 years have covered 125000 km and plan to continue owning my Liva hence thought of this thread to make sure I can appreciate my car enough for as long as I can and give Liva the recognition it deserves .
Car details
- Etios Liva GD, 2015 August purchase from Wasan Toyota Deonar , Mumbai
My driving style and commute
- Aggressive driving style , use engine braking and love riding the torque
- Daily 75+ km office drive 70% city 30% hway
- 100% AC on mostly at 60-70% capacity
Fuel filling and economy
- Always fill at BP Coco kharghar, if outstation I prefer BP then HP and worst case IOC
- Fuel filter is stock Denso
- I fill to the brim (so I see the level) and take tankful to tankful average.
- Started tracking average in Fuelio app at 90k km
- Overall average is 16.5 km/l
- Best average was 22.65 km/l on a rare sedate drive Kharghar - Hyderabad
The current state
- switched to fully synthetic oil at 1.1 lakh km service,no fuel additives
- clutch and shock absorbers changed at 1.2 lakh service before bhutan trip
- brake pads changed at 60k and then at 1.2 lakh service
- first 40k km goodyear stock tires, since then 2 sets of yoko earth1
- yoko earth1 are really great tires for Indian roads no punctures in full ladakh circuit or bhutan trips
Servicing
- Servicing regularly done at 10k interval, Wasan Toyota, Deonar (Shirish Or Jayesh and always good work no complaints)
- Purchased 5 yr 1.80 lakh km extended warranty
- Have zero dep insurance policy with Engine protect
- Always on Smiles package
Major accidents, claims so far?
- Engine seized at 90k km - fully covered under Toyota protect Insurance which included Engine Protect.
I was on the way to Joshimath which was the base village for Kuari Pass trek in Uttarakhand on 23rd March 2018 , plan was to reach Jaipur on the first day and it was very HOT , I was 90 km from Udaipur near IOC petrol pump in Bichhiwara and had covered nearly 650km in about 8 hours and thinking i would have dinner in Jaipur for sure and then there was a noise , something hit the car from below and next i notice the car just stalled and there was smoke coming from the bonnet and engine light turned on , luckily i was on a slope and next to IOC petrol pump so parked it in the pump and opened the hood which was so hot i had to put on my safety gloves to open it , Next i observed in complete disbelief there is no coolant at all and it hit me my Car Engine is probably dead now given the steam and heat , was absolutely heartbroken and got to know the nearest service station is in Udaipur 90km away , I then called up Toyota RSA and in 30 mins got the car on flatbet and started towards Udaipur toyota service center . It was about 3-330 by then and 90km to Udaipur meant I reached service center only in evening around closing time .
With the goal to trek kuari pass fast losing ground i decided to leave the car at the center and continue via other modes of transport , honestly that was one of the saddest days of my life and i thought rather than worrying about the car let me complete my trek and keep myself distracted and in the meantime hopefully the service guys will have fixed whatever is broken and i can go back home in my car . So optimistically and with a heavy heart i got myself together and focussed on getting the job at hand done , goal was to complete the trek and not let the setback affect my plans .
So i took an overnight bus to Delhi , then took a train to Haridwar and from there took a bus to Joshimath , completed the trek and camback the same way completely exhaused to service center only to know that unfortunately i had a seized engine and will need overhauling and a lot more time , that was like a mini heart attack for me but anyways had no option but to leave the car behind and apply for a claim .
Good news was I had Toyota Protect policy including engine protect and Toyota honored the same , it took about 2 more months from there to get the engine fixed(new pistons and rings ,some lathe work for Block , valves and 1 injectors replaced + 1 repaired along with head repair) and tested and overall bill was about 1 lakh of which i had to bear Rs. 1000 , Thanks TKM .
The engine work was well done although it took a long time and honestly the engine felt like before which says a lot about Toyota service and very happy for the same . They also agreed to send back the car to Mumbai as a goodwill gesture for the delay in getting the engine repaired which is absolutely fantastic .
35k km later I can say the car is running great and average is pretty much same and continues to bring a smile everytime I ride .
- Idler pulley/bearing and tensioner assembly changed under warranty at 99k km
Memorable trips ex Kharghar in Navi mumbai
Solo trip to Ladakh June 2017 - 6016km
Ladakh Blog (only covers till Ladakh) - Ladakh Blog.docx
Trip Itinerary - https://www.bcmtouring.com/forums/attachments/ladakhtrip-xlsx.774323/?hash=d0241d0840021d883cddb3fdc442969d
Photos and Videos - https://drive.google.com/folderview?...3BBMDNOa21UbTA
Towards Leh
At Pangong Tso
Stuck in Khardungla descent in traffic due to truck breakdown
Returning from Turtuk
Bhutan Sept 2019 - 5700km
Photo Link(Still Consolidating) - https://drive.google.com/folderview?...vPETDBIM7iZj-B
At Dantak Canteen by Indian Army enroute Thimpu from Pheuntsholing
At the Dochula Pass enroute Punakha
Dochula Chortens
Suspension Bridge Punakha
Most kms done in a day
- 1060 km Kharghar - Ajmer in etios liva
- 1200 km Amalapuram-Dadar in WagonR Cng (my first car)
Best things about Liva
- Reliability, no issues in long trips like ladakh Or bhutan
- Linear torque delivery no turbo lags, lower end torque is great thanks to the 1.4 ltr engine
- Good brakes and light clutch
- Lowest servicing costs thanks to smiles package
- Steering weighs up nicely at high speeds and in city it’s like point and shoot
- With the low end torque climbing hills and ghats is a breeze , even with 4 people during Bhutan trip the car didnt feel strained at any point .
What can be improved
- Stock headlights and fog lamps not powerful enough
- NVH levels
- Wish there was sunfilm by default on windscreen , it gets pretty hot to drive in the summers as the glass area is also at an angle and pretty large .
- Wish the ground clearance was 190+, would have helped a lot in Ladakh trip.
- A pillar driver side visibility could be better especially when at lowest cat seat height (i prefer low seating so it might just be a specific issue for me)
So given this context for car and driver, starting point at 1.25lakh km let the journey begin!!
I will update on servicing and long trips, any niggles/issues, hope the car goes on and on!!!
