Toyota Innova Crysta review, test drive

WHEEL TIME

Setting off into Jakarta traffic is similar to ‘seamlessly’ merging with traffic back home – you have to spot a gap, shoot for it and then quickly judge if it is too tight to wedge yourself in or not. This leap of faith is sometimes a bit nerve-wracking in something as large as the Innova. Luckily, the gearbox and engine respond when I put my foot down, and we are soon on our way, nicely slotted into the flow.

I’m soon jostling for space with the locals in the stop-start traffic. I initially pay attention to how responsive the engine is and am busy judging the length of the car. But then, I notice, the hydraulic steering is inordinately heavy. It does improve as I go faster, but at low speeds, it feels downright weighty. So much so, I need to recalibrate how much effort I need to put in when parking. And that’s not it, the new Innova feels much larger from behind the wheel. It feels wider at the front, a little less keen to change direction than the earlier car, and isn’t nearly as friendly or as agile in traffic as the current car. And this is likely to be missed in India.

Overall ride quality, however, is even better than the current car. There is a layer of firmness at low speed. At city speeds, some amount of the pockmarked surface does filter in. Bumps are soaked up better as speeds rise though, the larger and heavier Innova smothering broken bits of road better. And ride is even flatter than the current car. There’s less bobbing, and pitching is also almost nonexistent, and that’s despite the greater front and rear overhang – impressive.  

Stability at speed is even better. This is well demonstrated on the wide, open intercity highways we encounter. Despite speeds rising over 160kph in places, the new Innova remains plated to the road, with no hint of nerves from the chassis or steering system. It even responds to the steering well, changing lanes in one solid fluid motion, so slop, no sway encountered.

Even high speed corners are tackled with plenty of confidence. There is a bit of body roll, but apart from that, the new Innova tracks true and provides the driver plenty of confidence – and that’s something that will be appreciated on our increasingly faster highways.

The new Innova isn’t as agile as the current car in tighter corners, though. This is not a car you want to flick from one lock to the other; something I discover while driving over some lonely mountain roads on the outskirts of the city. The Innova rolls more than a fair bit around tight corners and so I’m not too comfortable attacking a series of bends at speed. What’s good is that this is communicated through: “slow down, I’m not enjoying this”, the car seems to say. And you do.