Toyota has finally view safety as a priority by making a 7-airbag Corolla Altis available, which will cost additional RM3.9k from the highest end V-spec version, making it at RM139,900. This round, the Altis even have standard rear foglamp! If you want to upgrade the ICE unit with navigation, just throw in additional RM1.8k for a Garmin system. Do note that though Toyota claimed as optional, you have to order the Safety package and navigation unit together with the car, and not available as aftermarket add-on. The Altis soldiered on with the Dual VVT engines, in the choice of 1.8-litre and 2.0-litre. To all Malaysian, if you want a good Toyota, get the full package unit, it saves life! Dual airbag cars are so outdated!
| Altis 2.0V + Safety + Navi | Mazda 3 2.0 | Civic 2.0 Navi | Sylphy 2.0 XV | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engine Power | 143HP/187Nm | 162HP/210Nm | 152HP/190Nm | 131HP/191Nm |
| Transmission | CVT 7-speed | 6-speed | 5-speed | CVT |
| Airbags | 7 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Traction Control | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Warranty (Yrs) | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
| Price (RM) | 142k | 139k | 137k | 125k |
Looking into the engine bay, it is always a disappointment to see a car of this range still using a old-style-need-to-topup-battery-water battery instead of a Maintenance-Free unit. By the way, UMW still stingy on the demo car, as the test drive unit is equipped with a 1.8-litre engine, with the navigation ICE unit. Instead of a 2-Din unit, I would prefer a nicely factory integrated unit that give the luxury feel of the dashboard. With this, the Altis looks awful, feels cheap. It is very clear that the ICE unit is an after market add-on to ease manufacturing and lower down the cost. Whichever unit you choose, your iPod cable will dangle from the player, or the USB drive will stand out as an ugly duckling. Even the bluetooth connectivity button is not integrated to the steering wheel button, thus it will divert your attention to the player button when your phone ring. Well, for those that like to mod their car, a 2-Din compartment make thing flexible for them to junk the Toyota player with a better unit.
The meter clusters for the 1.8-litre and 2.0-litre are different. 1.8-litre get a 3 binnacles cluster, minus the optitron, thus a very basic VIOS-class cluster. The 2.0-litre is much better, with Toyota trademark Optitron display, dual binnacles, and a multi-info display in the middle. As mentioned earlier, no 2.0-litre on display, only customer car, thus I was not allowed to access it.
Taking for the 1.8-litre for a spin at highway speed shown the Altis has improve in the NVH area. It is quiet and throwing the gear to Manual mode, it is willing to rev. However, this is not the smoothest CVT around, as the driver could still feel the gear shift and the 7-speed could be a gimmick, as at 110km/h, the rpm still run around 2500rpm, which is similar to other Japanese made with lesser gear. Thus, one should not be fooled by how many speed a CVT could provide, because it is just a pulley varying a belt length, and it could have infinite number of speed if wanted to. The suspension pick up all bumps comfortably. Standard Macpherson front struts and low end torsion beam at the rear. Again, multi-link rear suspension in the Civic or Mazda 3 is the preferred choice here.
Taking a serious look at the Altis, although the design is larger and longer, but it is difficult to feel so. Sitting inside, one could feel it is smaller than a Honda City. How could this be? No second row aircon vent that block the way, but still not as spacious. Could it be the compromise of an uncle-look-Altis to a not-so-uncle-Altis? It does not give the C-Segment feel. The boot is defintely smaller than its competitior. However, a full size spare wheel with matching alloy rim is provided instead of those smaller donut.
So, what is the report card look like this round for the Altis? I would comment that it is a great improvement from all previous generation, looking at the full safety package. It is not the standard model, but ask for it, you only live once, thus don't risk your life on the safety-stripped unit. With the reliability of a Toyota, it could bring you many miles ahead. For the not-so-uncle Toyota fanatic!
