Touring Sport: A more zesty avatar of the Innova Crysta

Looks

When you compare the Innova Crysta to Innova’s previous generation, the MPV certainly looks much better in terms of design. The Touring sport takes things a notch higher. You can see efforts have been made to get this car to look attractive and appealing The big grille on the front now gets a dark chrome tone. The bumper and the tail gate also the get same treatment. Both the bumpers get spoilers with chrome inserts. A big highlight on the MPV are the smoked headlamps which get projector lights and LED daytime lights. A big visible difference when compared to the Crysta is the plastic cladding that runs all along the car and adds to the muscular feel. The Touring sport is available in a new wine red body and pearly white colours but certainly looks better in the former. That’s not all; the B and C pillars are now blackened and make the MPV look unique. The side view mirrors also get a new tone and the touring Sport also gets new stylish alloys. Enough changes then to make this one stand out.

Interiors

The interiors of the Crysta change for the better in the Touring sport.  There’s almost an all black cabin that includes the seats and the dashboard. Red patterns on the dash that look like wood are actually plastic. The seats and console box also get a red contrast stitching on them. A red illumination combimeter compliments the colour scheme well. The driver seat is electrically adjustable in 8 different ways and the thigh support is good as well. The touch screen infotainment system comes with navigation and a lot more features. There’s also a start/stop button as well and there’s hardly anything inside the Crysta that doesn’t go with the image of a premium car. All 3 rows come with individual AC vents and there’s some cool design and lighting that makes the roof stylish. Also both the second and third rows can be folded in various combinations when required to accommodate more space.

Engine

More popular on the Crysta are its two Diesel engine options, a 2.4 litre motor that’s mated to a 5 speed manual gear box and a 2.8 litre motor has an automatic gear box. The manual is little less powerful at 150 bhp the auto is more powerful at 174 bhp and you can expect a mileage of around 15 kmpl on both the variants. The Touring sport apart from these variants also comes in Petrol automatic and manual variants.

We sampled the top Diesel 4×4 variant. A 6-speed automatic gearbox, a 4-cylinder engine and 360 Nm of torque prove to be great driving aids on the car.

The system works brilliantly in different power bands and depending on whether you’re driving in the city or the highway the car adjusts to the conditions and the requirements beautifully. The presence of 3 different driving modes, namely Eco, Normal and Power means the gearshift patterns change in accordance with the driving needs.

More popular on the Crysta are its two Diesel engine options, a 2.4 litre motor that’s mated to a 5 speed manual gear box and a 2.8 litre motor has an automatic gear box.

Ride and Handling

Compared to the earlier Innova, the Crysta is almost 200 kg heavier, which means to give you the same ride quality Toyota had to make the suspension set up softer.  The weight on the touring sport remains the same and so the ride and handling remains pretty much the same. Ride is supreme and it has remained the biggest assets of the Innova for a very long time. The handling is largely acceptable but yes cornering at high speeds the car shows that it is an MPV. The ground clearance of 167 mm is still a dampener. But safety is high on the priority list. The car can be bought with as many as 7 airbags, 3 of which come as standard. Along with that also come the ABS, the EBD and brake assist. Hill start assist control also comes in handy in slow traffic situations.

Verdict

Toyota charged a premium on the Innova Crysta and that took the car beyond the reach of some. For laying your hands on the Touring sport you’ll have to pay an added premium when compared to the Crysta.  It starts at Rs. 17.79 lakh, ex-showroom, Delhi for the Petrol manual and goes upto Rs. 22.15 lakh for the top Diesel. But if you’re looking for an MPV with some exclusivity and can’t do away with reliability, look not beyond the Toyota Innova Crysta Touring Sport.

Shams Naqvi is an anchor/producer for the News X motor show Living Cars