Like the new 2013 Toyota Vios? I'm sure about a hundred thousand of you do. I went to a Toyota Showroom sometime after the new Vios was launched and no one paid attention to the guy driving the German sedan as the sales people were too busy entertaining people who wanted to hand down their cash for the new Vios. There was an elderly auntie with her daughter who kept mentioning that the new Vios was 'Ho Leng ah', or good looking in Cantonese and had the intention of trading in their old Proton Wira Aeroback. Very sensible purchase for old ladies as well as almost everyone else.

 This is fairly understandable as the new Toyota Vios does look good from the outside and also on the inside. But. There's always a 'but' with me these days. All that new fangled sporty styling that Toyota has decided to add to their cars is paying off as the Vios looks all tarted up and sporty. Even the interior looks fabulous. But only till you get up close and personal that is. The new Toyota Vios reminds me of those fake facades or building front that movie studios use. Behind the wall is actually nothing.Or something totally scary like in the cartoon above.



The Toyota Vios is still the same car from the mid-2000s. They have improved the fuel consumption by a few percent but not by having a new engine or transmission. It still runs the same 1.5liter 4 cylinder engine and 4 speed transmission from that era mentioned above. The extra fuel economy is due to effort made in enhancing the car's aerodynamics (check out that wavy roof) and keeping weight in check. Performance should be similar because of the limitations of the 4 speed gearbox's gearing. In other words, you are not getting anything high tech here for you to boast among your friends.

Toyota has also made the car a tad bit quieter and therefore more refined. This should be the trickle down effect from their know-how in making Lexus and larger Toyotas like the Camry super silent and refined. The ride and handling would also have that same glacial progress that Toyota likes to make. So I am not surprised that the 2013 Toyota Vios is quiet and a decent (if not sporty) drive.

And then you get to the interior. At first glance you will think that it has leather everywhere! The dashboard as well as the door panels have stitched leather trimming. Then when you run your fingers on the dashboard and the door trim you'd feel that it is actually hard plastic. There is not an ounce of cow anywhere. The leather with stitching isn't leather but plastic that has been moulded with some 'stitch effect'. The same thing occurs on the Toyota Camry's dashboard. But the Vios has the pseudo stitching on the door trim panels too. This is ridiculous. If perceived luxury is what you want, Toyota is feeding you super tanker sized portions of it. It just looks good, but it feels like what it is. Hard plastic.

The 2013 Toyota Vios is truly like a fake building facade. It's Hollywood built into a car.

This will be a short one without any complains about how bad something is at this point of time in and around Malaysia - like why the heck is the Malaysian Ringgit dropping against most major currencies and why is a deputy minister complaining about gangsters biting the dust. I am actually pleased that Toyota has come up with a Toyota Vios that looks pleasant from the outside and now the inside.

You see, I have no complaints about the exterior of the current Vios. It looks like a mini Toyota Corolla or Camry. In other words, it is as offensive to the eyes of the general public as a wall painted white in colour or a coconut tree on the beach. The upcoming one however is actually nicer to look at. Toyota have put more effort into styling the darn thing this time around and it looks good. The latest Toyota design philosophy is all over this Vios.



Toyota's current emphasis on design is on the lower part of its vehicles and to bring some 'soul' into their overall designs which Toyota themselves have admitted as slightly bland (more like watching paint dry dull actually). Note that there are more styling cues on the lower part of most new Toyota vehicles that have been launched recently. The lower part of the bumper/grille is aggressively styled and sculptured even more than before and I have to say that its a good effort by them. In short, I like the styling of the new Vios. The only issue I would have about this car's styling is that eventually it will become as common as a mamak restaurant in every corner of Kuala Lumpur when everyone starts buying them and driving them all over Malaysia.


Now it is the interior which has basically made my day. The meter cluster of this new Vios is now located where it should have always been - right in front of the driver. I hated staring at a blank plastic dashboard everytime I sat in the driver's seat of one of these cars with a meter cluster in the middle. The Toyota Estima, Hyundai Matrix, Perodua Kancil and the Toyota Vios has this middle of the dash meter cluster. It isn't as intuitive as Toyota wants you and me to think. You still have to glance a fair bit further than usual instead of those normal meter clusters. If you were a chap like me, who gets in and out of various cars (due to testing them, renting them whilst on vacation and so on) it is troublesome to adjust. And furthermore, even if you get used to driving a car with the meter cluster in the middle, it basically tells me that you driving a car which is not driver oriented. i.e not sporty.

So those Ah Bengs who think that their souped up Vioses are TRD speed machines, they are not. Whatever you add to the car will not make a difference if your meter cluster is situated in the middle of the dash (pictured above) . Your seat isn't situated in the middle of the car like the McLaren F1 okay? And get this, I believe Toyota or was it Perodua actually stated in one of their marketing blurbs that the middle position meter cluster was there so that the information on the meters could be shared with the other passengers. I suppose that would be a good thing for backseat drivers and for wives who love to nag at their husband "Wei, you're driving too fast lah, slow down. Why so slow lah? Yellow light lah...go faster..slow down...wait wait...go go". A middle meter cluster doesn't work.

The rest of the car's mechanicals are unchanged. You still get the 1.5liter engine coupled with with either a 4 speed automatic transmission or a 5 speed manual as previously. The rest of the mechanicals are also unchanged with slight tweaks to the suspension and safety equipment. I suppose this isn't so much of an issue as this would still make the Vios an inexpensive car to maintain in the long run. This would keep second hand residuals high and demand for it steady in the long run. I have to state that a 4 speed automatic is adequate in entry level cars for countries where cost is an issue in the long run. Toyota automatic transmissions are bombproof and you can't complain about that if this is your first car or you want to keep maintenance costs low throughout the car's lifespan. Furthermore then car is sub 1,100kgs, adequate gearing for a light, econobox.

And so, I like the upcoming Toyota Vios. I hope it comes soon and starts eating up sales of the supremely ugly, big arsed and therefore unbalanced looking Nissan Almera. You have to by one with the bodykit and big wheels to tone down its unbalanced looks - this adds money and isn't worth for such a basic car in the first place. This is regardless of the space it has. Heck, if you want so much space, buy a Perodua Alza. Or the hell with space, buy a Toyota Vios instead. You could get a Honda City, but that's not the point of this article.

I actually can't believe I am quite intrigued with a Toyota Vios and would be willing to actually get up from my lofty perch and test one. Times have certainly changed. Expect the new Toyota Vios to be launched in October 2013 here in Malaysia.