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Hatch Wrangle - TOYOTA LIVA vs RIVALS
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Toyota have come out with a hatchback version of their sedan, the Etios. In this highly competitive segment of the Indian market, does the Etios Liva possess what it takes to emerge victorious? We pit it against four competitors to find out if it does

Story: Adhish Alawani
Photography: Sanjay Raikar

It is a well-known fact that the indian automobile customer has typical traits, which centre round fuel-efficiency, cost, styling, features and, of course, the brand name. Very little importance is accorded to the engineering aspect of the car, its drive quality, handling and functional design.

why are we talking about all this in the context of our five-hatch shootout? Precisely because that is the theme for this comparison wherein we have tried to keep the more important aspects above the pseudo factors that affect the decision of a customer.

The indian market has shown exceptional growth in the mid-size hatchback segment in recent times. while the nissan Micra and Ford Figo have entered the fray of late, the Hyundai i10 and Chevrolet Beat have been around for some time. the latest entrant in this segment is the toyota etios liva and, as we said last month after a first drive of the car, this one is sure to rock the small car market. However, how good it is and in what way was something we wanted to find out. Hence this comparison among the tried and tested cars of yesterday and the new fighter of today.

As mentioned earlier, we decided to conduct this test keeping in view the various considerations that need to be kept in view before buying a new car. The cars in this competition – the Ford Figo, Nissan Micra, Hyundai i10 and Chevrolet Beat, apart, of course, from the Etios Liva – were chosen from  the price bracket of Rs 5 to Rs 5.5 lakh (OTR, Pune) and all are powered by 1.2-litre petrol engines

With these basic criteria in place, let us now proceed to plumb the depths of these cars.

The PowerTrain
Though 1.2-litre engines have powered all the five cars under consideration here, each one has its own pluses and minuses. The i10 has been around for a long time and has proved its mettle. Its refined and smooth engine produces 80 PS of peak power and a class-leading 112 Nm of maximum torque. With such high power and torque figures, there is no doubt that the i10 is one of the quickest cars, capable of 0-100 km/h in just 14.02 seconds. The gear throw is a little notchy in the i10, but the shifts are super smooth, probably the smoothest of the lot.

The Beat has an engine that also makes 80 PS of peak power and a slightly lower 108 Nm of peak torque as compared to the i10. Again, owing to these figures, there is no doubt that even this one accelerates from naught to 100 km/h in 14.2 seconds.

Coming to the younger cars, the Micra and Figo have 76 PS and 71 PS of peak power and 104 Nm and 102 Nm of max torque, respectively. Although the Micra doesn’t have a high output engine, its body weighs just 860 kg and that makes this Nissan the quickest car from 0-100 km/h at 13.51 seconds. The Figo, on the other hand, has the lowest output and weighs the maximum at 1,090 kg, making it the slowest of the lot (0-100 km/h in 17.09 seconds).

While this is the story of all the other contenders, the Etios Liva, the latest entrant, makes sure that it fits in among them all and doesn’t give us a cause for complaint. Its 1,197-cc engine makes 80 PS of peak power, which is at par with the best in the segment, but loses on the maximum torque (104 Nm). Its 0-100 km/h acceleration time of 14.94 seconds also tells us that it is not up there with the Micra, but doesn’t disappoint like the Figo either. The five-speed transmission offers smooth throws. However, there was only one complaint during the performance test. The shifter needed extra careful guiding into the third gear slot or else it would hit the gate between the third and fifth gears.