Toyota Innova: The RWD body-on-frame people carrier (and available with a manual!)

"Kar Wai Wong" (kingawesome467) 09/09/2018 at 11:55 • Filed to: Toyota, Toyota Innova, Innova

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So yeah I’m back! I was on a thing called holiday and-Wait, What do you mean no one gives a shit?

Anyways I knew that Kinja can be a pain in the arse, but on mobile, it’s feels like a fiery anal rash. Well, that’s literally how I felt with all the spicy food I’ve been eating.

Anyways, I was in Vietnam for a bit, and these things are puttering around everywhere, especially as taxis. At first glance it looks like a frumpy, ill-proportioned MPV, and you’d be right, but it holds a secret.

It’s uses the same ladder frame chassis as the HiLux pickup! Is this car the last holdout for a body-on-frame non-SUV/truck? The platform is known as the IMV platform or Innovative International Multi-purpose Vehicle , and some Toyota employee really doesn’t know how acronyms work. Were they really crying out for another use for that platform? They already have a 7 seater SUV known as the Fortuner on the platform, a descendant of the original 4Runner.

Natural of modern Toyotas, there’s a “sporty version” to appeal to the “hip” kids. Surprisingly no faux-crossover yet.

Anyways, it’s unusual arrangement is probably to help cope with harsher conditions of Asia, it’s primary market. The fact it’s based of the HiLux, means it’s made a name for itself, especially in India, for it’s bulletproof reliability, even among other Toyotas, kinda like the Land Cruiser.

With an impressive 4 facelifts.

It’s built in India (as the Innova Crysta), Vietnam, Indonesia (as the Kijang Innova), Malaysia and formerly Taiwan, it’s primary markets. It’s currently in it’s second generation, while the first had a very healthy lifespan of 11 years.

Under the hood is a longitudinally mounted straight 4, either as a 2 or 2.7 litre petrol, or a 2.4 or 2.8 litre turbocharged diesel, all of which are available in it’s HiLux brethren. If you take !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , it’s actually pretty fun to drive considering what it is, other than it’s outdated 5 speed manual.

Not exactly drool worthy, but it’s there. That or a 6 speed automatic is available.

TIMMY, STOP MOVING MY SEAT!

The person in the second hand left hand seat can...move the front passenger seat for extra legroom? Common in über luxurious cars, but this is a car for families!

Maybe it’s better in person. You can get the same colour on the Highlander.

Such disappointing colours! The only icon with a semblance of character is that lovely dark green icon, but instead it’s like they were trying to have the shade with the least amount of green as possible.

And turns out I wasn’t the only one wondering about it’s offroad credentials.

Ouch.

So that’s the Toyota Innova, the RWD body-on-frame people carrier, possibly the last holdout for a body on frame non-SUV/truck. And considering it’s popularity, I’d like to think Toyota will keep that winning formula to come.

Wait, the BMW i3 and i8 are considered body-on-frame as well? Well, who would’ve known?

dogisbadob > Kar Wai Wong 09/09/2018 at 12:03

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That is awesome

HammerheadFistpunch > Kar Wai Wong 09/09/2018 at 12:04

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Thanks for the deep dive on this.  I’ve seen this before but never dug in. I think its a smart vehicle for the markets.  Its like the crown vic of vans.

CompactLuxuryFan > Kar Wai Wong 09/09/2018 at 12:11

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I love it!

fhrblig > Kar Wai Wong 09/09/2018 at 12:16

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The Innova always looked to me like one of those pics where they p hotoshop tiny wheels onto a big vehicle.

Chariotoflove > Kar Wai Wong 09/09/2018 at 12:21

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It looks better than the Sienna we get. 

MultiplaOrgasms > Kar Wai Wong 09/09/2018 at 12:27

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I can think of another RWD , Diesel, Manual People carrier from east Asia, with available AWD and low-range, but  unibody with independent suspension.

HammerheadFistpunch > Kar Wai Wong 09/09/2018 at 14:23

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Found this image from an old post, thought I would share, since it gives a sense of the packaging compromises required with the hilux running gear.

Tapas > Kar Wai Wong 09/09/2018 at 14:59

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The Innova replaced the Qualis in India when it was launched a long time ago.

I’ve ridden in both Qualiseses and Innovas frequently because they’re used as taxis in India.

They’re pretty decent, run forever, give good mileage and eat up miles like tictacs. The interiors are pretty spartan. And they sell millions because they’re seen as SUVs, not as minivans that they clearly are.

What you don’t want to do is be in the third row. Apart from the lack of room, that’s also where you’ll feel the most bumps. It doesn’t help on Indian roads, especially on long trips with people who get motion sickness.

Also, I have never seen a Innova in this brown leather trim. I guess its the Crysta that has this refresh. Maybe 5% Innovas have that. Everyone usually has this previous year model:

Jay, the practical enthusiast > Kar Wai Wong 09/09/2018 at 16:01

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One of these drove past me last month in Winter Park Florida. I didn't recognize the license plate but it didn't look like a U.S. state tag. I went crazy searching the internet for info about it and found out the Innova is not sold anywhere in the western hemisphere. 

Kar Wai Wong > Tapas 09/10/2018 at 12:23

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I’m confused and interested to how normal people see them as SUVs. It’s ironic considering the Innova is more of a true SUV than crossovers yet it has absolutely zero visual resemblance to a SUV at all! The fact people are fooled when they slap plastic cladding on a hatchback and jack it 2 inches makes it even more mind-boggling ! The vast majority why people buy SUVs is for the SUV- style, so I don’t know why they go for the Innova, which isn’t the prettiest thing in the world . Maybe it’s really well known that it has frame and is practically an SUV, but even the n I’ll be surprised if the average customer even knows what “body-on-frame” means.

Tapas > Kar Wai Wong 09/10/2018 at 12:36

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It comes down to the options in the market back when this was launched.

There were no SUVs that were both comfortable and affordable. 90% of the SUVs in India 15 years ago had to be imported or at least brought in as CKD kits and then assembled. This attracts a 60 - 120% import duty.

This is still the case for maybe 50% of the SUVs sold today. The M Class, Q5, etc all cost like $85k in India because of this.

This is when the Qualis came in. It was actually marketed as a “ people-mover” . Same thing with the Innova. But it was the closest thing to an SUV, so the name stuck. They are used in rough but sort of paved terrain by ballsy taxi drivers that make me afraid of falling down a cliff, even though they have zero offroad capability apart from ground clearance .

So, if you’re left with choosing between a Mahindra Scorpio, a Tata Safari and a Qualis, Qualis wins easily. Because the Scorpio and Safari were very uncomfortable and almost agricultural.

After seeing the success of the Qualis, Mahindra started making more up-market SUVs with regular car creature comforts. Tata had to update their Safari too.

Then Toyota made an Asia wide platform for trucks and SUVs, among which the Innova was the first car to be sold. Then, the Fortuner (a version of 4Runner) came along.

Kar Wai Wong > MultiplaOrgasms 09/10/2018 at 12:39

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I legitimately love these things.

I feel the Rodius gets alot of undeserved flack , due to the infamous first generation, but it has some really innovative seating.

I should write a post expanding on this.

Kar Wai Wong > Jay, the practical enthusiast 09/10/2018 at 12:39

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What! How on Earth did one of those end up there?

Kar Wai Wong > Chariotoflove 09/10/2018 at 13:17

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I’m afraid I have to respectfully disagree. Keep in mind that both cars are built for the same purpose. F or carrying people, which means space and practicality is very important .   Although it’s body-on-frame RWD construction gives it some enthusiast points, it’s frankly not a good idea when space is a necessity . The Innova’s third row is presumably much more cramped than the Sienna due to the axle and t he Sienna also has no transmission tunnel while the Innova does. Also the Sienna’s third row folds flat into the floor, while the Innova’s third row is stored on the side, which also creates a flat floor, but gives a narrower boot. Also the Sienna has sliding doors.

In terms of driving dynamics, well they’re both Toyota minivans. Both cars are not something enthusiasts would really want to drive. Sure you can get the Innova with a manual , but it’s a 5- speed slushbox.

What about status? The Sienna may seem to have an extremely uncool reputation as a minivan , but in India and Thailand and all those other countries, this is the family carrier that everyone buys, and it’s really no different .

As for looks, well beauty is the eye of the beholder, and while I can’t change your opinion of which aesthetically looks better, In my opinion the Sienna looks meh , while the Innova looks weirdly proportioned and has really tiny wheels, which ruins the whole look of the car.

So basically the Sienna is better in every way , other than the fact that the Innova i s body-on-frame RWD , and the Sienna will never be that cool. Which to be fair is a fine reason to prefer it over the Sienna. I’m definitely not hating on the Innova, quite the opposite (it’s why I wrote this post), but the Sienna does everything the Innova does better.

However I hope that we can both agree that the Toyota Alphard blows both of these cars out of the water. It’s practically a business jet on wheels.

MultiplaOrgasms > Kar Wai Wong 09/10/2018 at 13:18

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The OG Rodius is pretty much an ML with four rows of seating, on the same footprint I might add, which really explains the styling. But what I love most about Ssanyong is that their 2.7L Diesel is actually better than Mercedes own 2.7L CDI, and they did it by licensing the rights to an older Mercedes design, the excellent OM602, and then modernizing it with common rail injection etc. As a result their OM662 delivers similar power, torque and efficiency to the concurrent OM647 but is a lot more reliable. 

Kar Wai Wong > MultiplaOrgasms 09/10/2018 at 13:33

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The old family runabout used to be a terrible, terrible ML270 CDI, so this was very interesting to hear. To be fair, the engine was the least of our problems .

Chariotoflove > Kar Wai Wong 09/10/2018 at 14:04

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I’ m not doing a performance comparison of the Toyota Sienna against a car I’ve never seen in person before. All I’m saying is this thing you’ve shown me looks better than a Sienna (to me) , mostly because of the front end, and I like the pics of the interior.

My wife and I looked at and drove the Sienna. We didn’t like it. W e bought a Sedona. It’s also a FWD people carrier. There’s nothing “ cool” about it in the popular sense . But we like it.

Jay, the practical enthusiast > Kar Wai Wong 09/10/2018 at 17:45

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I’m guessing an Embassy or C onsulate workers car. Except we don't seem to have either of those in central Florida.