True value: Toyota Etios VD SP vs Tata Manza EXL The Financial Express, Motobahn (For details follows attached link. financialexpress/news/true-value-toyota-etios-vd-sp-vs-tata-manza-exl/1153569/0) Our verdict !!! Tata Manza EXL The new Etios is a very competent car. It is the one that’s easier to drive, the ride has been hugely improved and it’s fuel efficient as well. However, improved as it is, it still feels a bit pared down and is not as refined as the Manza. The Manza has a lot going for it. The interiors feel premium and there’s plenty of equipment on offer. It also rides better, has the quieter engine and lets less road noise into the cabin. It has better rear seats and has more room in the cabin as well. Sure, it may not have the badge snobbery of a Toyota, but it really is a good car. What’s new? Practicality, comfort and ease of use—that’s the brief for the two cars you see here. Both have been around for a while and both come from totally different backgrounds. The Etios is Toyota’s economical family car (EFC) for developing markets and the company has shown clinical efficiency in paring down costs. This line of thinking has worked against the company—customers, even those looking for a basic Toyota, have certain expectations and the original Etios fell short by some margin, especially on the interiors and refinement fronts. It’s why Toyota has gone back to the drawing board and come up with this version of the Etios, which is the car it should have launched in the first place. It may not look new but there are a whole host of changes under the skin that help it raise its game. The Manza, on the other hand, is a Tata through and through, and that means it’s been unbeatable on size-for-price. But, it wasn’t particularly plush or exciting and that’s where this Manza EXL comes in. Tata has loaded it with features and smothered the interiors with upmarket materials, and this has worked wonders for the car. So, given that these are budget saloons, we are looking for the car that gives you the most bang for your buck, the car that feels more premium. Simple. What are they like inside? There’s no doubt that the new two-tone dash board on the Etios looks far better than the acres of dull grey that characterised the interiors of the old one. Toyota has also given the Etios better quality air-con knobs and a 2-DIN audio system, and substantially reworked the seats. In fact, the flat and thin seats, which felt quite downmarket in the old car, have been replaced by ones that feel luxurious in comparison. The front seats now get height adjustment and adjustable headrests too. Still, if you look closely, you’ll see Toyota hasn’t changed the grain of the dashboard plastics, so it’s just the better colours that make the cabin look and feel nicer. However, it’s nowhere close to how good the Manza’s dashboard feels. The two-tone dash on the Manza looks far more upmarket and the high-quality leather seats really make the cabin feel expensive. Both these cars have plenty of space at the rear, but it’s the Manza that has more. And, in addition to the extra legroom, the Manza’s seats have better support and more headroom. As for boot space, it is the Etios with its 595-litre boot that can hold more than the Manza’s 460-litre boot. What are they like to drive? The Etios is powered by a 1.4-litre common-rail turbo-diesel engine that makes a modest 68bhp. It weighs just 1020kg, and hence that modest power output is more than enough to propel it to 100kph in a respectable 15.9sec. More importantly though, the Etios’s diesel engine is responsive with very little throttle lag, so it’s easy to drive in the city. Little taps on the accelerator result in measured increments in the rate of acceleration. That said, it does feel out of breath on the highway. Also, Toyota has worked on cutting down the engine’s noise and vibrations by replacing the Etios’s rubber engine mounts with more flexible hydraulic mounts. While this has improved things over the old car, the engine still gets quite raucous when it is revved. The Manza has a more refined engine. The 89bhp, 1.3-litre engine is a lot quieter than the Etios all the way from idle to its rev limit. That said, the Manza isn’t as easy to drive as the Etios because there is considerable throttle lag. Where the Toyota responds well from low engine speeds, the Tata waits till the engine is spinning at around 2800rpm before you can feel the full effect of the 89bhp. The Manza feels more effortless once you get to speed, so it is a better highway car. It is quicker to 100kph than the Etios. Its time of 14.5sec is over a second quicker than the Toyota’s. This is impressive considering the Manza weighs 200kg more than the Etios. Ride & handling The Manza’s ride is really good. It’s very competent at absorbing jagged edges and sharp bumps, and the suspension is very refined, adding to that feeling of composure. At higher speeds, the ride is flat and the long-travel suspension absorbs bumps without throwing the car off line. As for the Etios, Toyota has tweaked the dampers and this has improved the ride. Sharp edges are rounded off well but it still makes small, sharp vertical movements over uneven surfaces. Like the Manza, the Etios is quite composed at speed and the suspension is much quieter than before as well. Still, it’s the Manza’s ride quality that’s easily the better of the two. Equipment & safety Both the Toyota Etios and the Tata Manza have been updated recently and in the process have been equipped with more kit. Both cars have alloy wheels, power windows, central locking, fog lamps, adjustable steering wheels, and steering mounted audio controls (optional in the Etios) in the respective top-of-the-line trims. The Tata leads the race with more goodies in the form of climate control, ‘follow me home’ headlamps, leather upholstery, lumbar support for the driver’s seat and an information display that reads out distance to empty, fuel consumption and outside temperature, all of which the Etios lacks. But the Etios has a smartly designed cooled glovebox standard across the range which is not featured on the Manza EXL. Toyota upgraded the Etios with an emphasis on improving the overall feel of the car. The driver’s seat is now height adjustable, the rear view mirrors are redesigned with built-in indicators and the garish looking red gear knob of the earlier versions has been replaced with a classier silver one. There is also a new two-DIN music system with Bluetooth connectivity, but the Manza goes one up here with a touchscreen system which also has a navigation system built-in. On the safety front, ABS and dual airbags are optional in the top two trims of the Etios whereas in the Manza, ABS is standard in the top two trims while airbags are standard on the top end variant.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 07:01:19 +0000
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