Why Innova Hycross is a good car but ruined by unnecessary cost-cutting

I am willing to overlook the minor issues but it is difficult to justify the price tag with this quality.

BHPian Totoro11 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Background

While buying a car 1.5 years back with a limited budget, I had looked at Venue, Sonet, Seltos, Harrier & MG Hector that I booked and cancelled. Creta was love at first sight and luckily I was able to get an SXO-IVT in 4 days from first call to delivery, but that's a story for another day. It is serving us well but with the kid getting taller and knee issues with parents, we felt it will be nice to go for a bigger car.

I have been keenly following the 7 seaters on offer: XUV700 (takes longer than a highway to build), Kodiaq (only lucky draw winners can get one), Safari (added benefit: the service center will feel like a second home). I don't feel rich enough to go for a less than 10kmpl car yet. And then Toyota came up with Hycross with an attractive pricing. Reading all the Team-BHP reviews I felt it is a good value-for-money car (Toyota) with enough space for the family, Toyota reliability and best-in-class mileage.

Everything else is covered in detail in reviews and comments but I was really keen to see for myself:

• Space and accessibility for the third row
• Does it really have the SUV looks
• Plastic quality, I mean how bad can it be

Was getting bored in the office in another city yesterday so went out for a stroll and entered Shaw Toyota, Pune to check out the Hycross in person.

What I saw (GX and VX)

Space & accessibility

Pleasantly surprised. Not just the 3rd row, all passengers get ample space and legroom. Yes, the battery does occupy some space but for me, the second row passengers are of short height so no problem. Reclining third row is the cherry on top. The Hycross rates high on comfort.

SUV looks

4/10 as only the front view is decent. No escaping the MUV looks from the sides and rear. Not enough differentiation from Crysta (once it starts getting used as a commercial vehicle, the brain will automatically perceive it as a Van/taxi). Not a deal-breaker though.

Plastics

In one word PATHETIC. I sincerely hope someone gets fired from Toyota for approving this quality. Having read so many reviews, I was ok to expect average plastic quality, but boy I was wrong! It is downright flimsy.

• The Matt finish AC vent controls are thin, and loose and can probably break within a year or two if you are not careful.
• Gear lever is very ordinary and the push button on the gear lever too was loose and had vertical play when you put your thumb on it. The stalk doesn't give you any feeling of strength or sturdiness let alone being premium.
• Steering control buttons also feel ordinary, and so do the driver-side door pad buttons.

All the above have a slightly grainy texture and a faded black look that make them feel cheaper.

Other observations

• Fabric seat covers felt soft but since they are synthetic, sitting on them for a long might become a sweat problem in North Indian summer.
• Rear sun shades are also of average quality compared to Creta.
• The carpet cover in the boot (the one you have to remove to access the spare wheel nut) was shabbily fit (perhaps an oversight by showroom staff or lack of attention by Toyota).
• The 360-degree camera quality is average but gets the job done.
• The captain seat hand rests are thin and felt very slightly slanted sideways. Your hand will keep sliding off.
• The handrest on the bench seat is also not exactly horizontal.
• The blue tube lights look aftermarket.
• The plastic tray between the captain seats is good but not intuitive. Some uncle is bound to use force to push it down and break it.

One last let-down: the part where the roof liner meets the sunroof, just above the sunroof controls, was poorly fitted or rather it was hanging down due to the weight of the controls and lights. You could insert a hand in the wide gap between the sunroof and the liner.

This was my first time driving a Hybrid. The power delivery is decent and never felt any lack of grunt. Given the size of the car, the turning radius is tight and the steering felt very easy while taking a U-turn. (Rant: why do they always keep the fan at high speeds, couldn't make out the noise levels properly… the noise even drowned the indicator beeps if they were not faint, to begin with).

Verdict

There are a lot of positives going for it but the Hycross interiors lack finesse. It is mechanically a good car thoroughly ruined by unnecessary cost-cutting. Our frame of reference being Creta/MG Hector/XUV700/Kodiaq, it will be really difficult to convince my family and myself to go for Hycross. I was really looking forward to it and willing to overlook minor issues but it is difficult to justify the price tag with this quality. What a missed opportunity!

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