The Toyota Innova was the replacement for the Qualis which was selling very well. To replace the best seller is a tricky task, if it goes wrong, criticism will kill the new product.
The Innova not only was the ideal replacement but it outsold the Qualis' figures. The Innova was face-lifted a few months back and we have it in our garage for the week. So why not join us as we figure why the Innova's an ideal highway cruiser?
The first thing that we noticed when we entered is the airy cabin, neatly dressed with beige interiors and a two tone dash. The doors have large bottle holders with correct shape to hold and lots of space remaining to keep files, papers etc.
A small storage space available on the door hand rest stores the cell phone. Wood finish inserts are seen on the door panels, we would have liked a darker shade for them, since the existing color does full justice to its name - faux wood.
There's this deep storage box between the front two seats which reminded us of the mighty Land Cruiser that we road tested some time back, just that the LC had the box chilled, and this is not, portion ahead of the box near the gear shifter is reserved for small items.
We like our glove boxes to open slowly, which the Innova exactly does not do. The glove box is deep, and it is dark, so at night the need for a light is felt.
The power window switches positioned on the doors are easily reachable with the switches on the driver side equipped with a LED. We would have liked all the power window switches with such a feature.
The bonnet and the fuel lid opener lever are very conveniently placed on the right side just below the steering. One other complaint is the seat belts are not height adjustable, we have the top-end variant and atleast the this one should have had a height adjustable seatbelts.
There are deep map pockets behind both the front seats. Small bottle holders for the 3rd row passengers is unique. Under seat trays are not present as in the Xylo.
Two cup holders are present for the rear passengers placed on the base of the utility box. A sunglass holder neatly sits near the front roof lamp, which is where we like it.
The middle row seats are 60:40 split type. Like the front seats, they can also be pushed forward or back, but only slightly. The seatbelts here have a buckle which helps to retain the belt to the pillar while folding the seats.
The middle row seats fold towards the front seat, and the 3rd row seats go up on either sides, generating enough space to transport horses.
The seat folding is easy, and it took a few minutes for us learn the procedure.
We would be covering some more aspects of the Innova tomorrow, watch this space then.
