Toyota Etios Liva - What is different?

30/06/2011 - 08:45 | Toyota Etios Liva, Etios Liva, Toyota | Kaustubh Shinde

The Toyota Etios Liva follows the Japanese company's philosophy - A Toyota for everyone. The Liva is the cheaper Etios designed to take down the Maruti Swift with its XL cabin, A-Class fuel economy and mass-market price. Toyota launched the sedan model last year and they had to delay the Liva's introduction from April to June because the production line was not able to keep up with the demand.

So will the hatch generate such a phenomenal response? Let’s find out:

The Toyota Liva, in essence, is an Etios without a boot and that’s about it! No really, that is all there is to say about this hatchback. Whereas the Etios sedan has a length of 4265mm, the Liva gets a length of 3775 mm with a 9cm reduction in wheelbase (roughly the passenger cell's length). If you leave dimensions and engine specs aside, the Liva’s spec sheet and Etios’s spec sheet look like photocopies.

Design wise, the Toyota Liva and the sister Etios are exactly identical in the front. However, because the sedan was launched first, the hatchback doesn’t look odd (unlike Swift and Swift Dzire).

Overall, both sisters, at least design wise, look as individual products. Maruti Suzuki gives the Dzire a chrome strip on the grill to make it look different from the Swift, the Liva gets no such treatment to make it recognizable.

However, considering the Liva is targeted towards the youth audience, you get a rear spoiler, alloy wheels and front & rear bumper side skirts on the top variant to make it look sporty.

The Liva, being a hatchback, gets a smaller engine. But that doesn’t mean that it is a completely different engine. It is just a smaller capacity Etios engine. The Etios gets a 1.5L engine, whereas the Liva gets a 1.2L engine. However, despite of not having a boot, the kerb weight of the top variant of Liva is only 10 kgs lighter than the equivalent Etios.

The Liva produces only 80 bhp and 105 Nm of torque whereas the sister produces 90 bhp and 132 Nm of torque. Both are mated to the same 5 speed manual transmission. Other tech specs such as suspension, brakes, tyre size etc are exactly the same for Liva except for turning radius which 0.1 m shorter than Etios (just saying).

The dashboard is straight from the Etios with no quality improvements. You get the same recycle grade plastic quality on the inside with black and red interiors and a sticker as a center console.

Although, you also get a flat bottom steering (which I personally love) coupled with Audio control. Even the music system is lifted from the Etios, but at least its USB and Aux ready, and comes with a remote.

Clearly, being a hatchback, you can’t expect a massive boot capacity. You get 251 litres of boot space which is good for its class. The Etios gets 595 Litres.

On the fuel economy side, the Etios sedan gives you 17 kmpl whereas the Liva returns 18 kmpl.

On the safety side you get ABS, EBD and Airbags coupled with a crash energy absorbing body shell.

It is offered in the same variants as the Etios ( J, G, G spl, V, VX) but the Liva comes in a new color – Aquamarine Blue.

Overall, there is nothing new or interesting in the Liva. It is just smaller version of the same Etios that we have seen before. Considering, the Etios is a proven product in the market now, the Liva should do well. After all it is brand ‘Toyota’

However, because it is very predictable product, we doubt it can really sustain the stir in the market. Hopefully the new Swift and the Honda Brio will give us something totally new to talk about.