Toyota Etios Diesel

With a diesel motor under the hood, Toyota adds an even more frugal touch to the Etios.

Published on Oct 03, 2011 10:22:00 PM

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The Etios diesel is powered by the same 1364cc four-cylinder motor as in the Corolla Altis. As the Etios uses a fixed geometry turbocharger, power output is a meagre 68bhp. The two valves per cylinder head engine is not the most advanced motor in the world. That’s what the spec sheets say but out in the city, the Etios is immediately impressive. Initial engine response is good and there’s very little turbo-lag. Half-throttle responses are also good and the Etios ambles along at low speeds rather well. Even better is the engine’s linear power delivery and the good spread of torque. Mid-range performance is healthy and you have adequate passing power on tap.

It’s only on the highway that you feel the lack of power and you have to constantly shift gears to keep the motor on the boil. With power tapering off as early as 3800rpm, you have a very small powerband to play with and the Etios’ performance is a far cry from that of the Swift Dzire and Indigo Manza.

Our timing equipment confirms this and the Etios takes a leisurely 15.88 seconds to reach 100kph, which is more than a second down on the Manza. while it struggles to its top speed of 163kph. Even in the in-gear sprints, the Toyota lags behind the Tata.

The Etios motor is quite noisy too and you can hear a loud clatter at idle and the engine sounds gruff when worked hard. It’s only when you are cruising that the drone subsides but you can never get away from the the fact that there is a diesel engine under the hood. It’s not just insufficient sound insulation that is the reason for the high noise levels. Unlike other cars which have their exhaust manifold in the front of the engine, the D-4D engine’s manifold is near the firewall and closer to the cabin as a result. The five-speed gearbox though has a light action. It slots into gear easily and has slick shifts.

With an astonishingly low kerb weight and a very tractable engine that has been tweaked for fuel efficiency, we would have been surprised if the Etios was anything other than very fuel efficient. We achieved a very impressive 14.2kpl in the city and 19.0kpl on the highway.