Toyota Innova Crysta India review, test drive

What is it?

The current Toyota Innova is over a decade old, but through that time, it has found many happy owners. When it was first introduced to replace the boxy Qualis, many found the hike in price too great and unjustified. However, soon enough, the Innova won Indian buyers over with its space, comfort and, above all, its rock-solid and hassle-free reliability. And, though its prices rose by as much as 60 percent over the years, it never seemed to deter buyers, who kept flocking to the big MPV. Now, history is about to repeat itself, as Toyota is finally replacing the Innova with a new-generation model, and, as expected, it is a good deal more expensive than the outgoing car. But is it worth it? We have driven the India-spec car in Goa to find out just that.

For starters, its name has a new suffix – Crysta – which, as Toyota did with ‘Altis’ for the Corolla years ago, is meant to signify just how new this car is. The first thing you notice is that it’s clearly larger than the outgoing car, both in length and width. And though it has the typical MPV shape overall, the new styling is very dramatic. There’s a huge grille with black slats in its lower section and two chrome bars at the top that really grabs your attention. Flowing out from the chrome bars is a pair of large swept-back headlamps that contain LED running lights and projector elements. 17-inch wheels are standard now (they are alloys on high-spec cars), and what really gives character to the sides of this MPV are the flared wheel arches and the rearmost window glass that kinks up sharply towards the D-pillar. At the back too, the Innova Crysta looks quite attractive with its ‘inverted L-shaped’ tail-lamps.