Toyota Etios Cross Review, Images, Details and Specs: Butch Couture

The Toyota Etios Cross, which in essence is the Etios Liva hatch under that belligerent new exterior, has been prepared keeping in mind the outgoing and adventure loving young audience. It’s a vehicle that projects a visually rugged image for young professionals who care for their social image, while also being price conscious. We took this interesting new Toyota vehicle out for a drive in Mumbai, as a part of a special pre-launch media drive program. Here in this review we’ll evaluate all the aspects of the newest Toyota in town. Here goes…

Word and Images : Amit Chhangani

Design and appearance

As mentioned above, the Etios Cross is an Etios Liva hatchback under the skin. No changes have been made to the basic architecture, so the size and proportions remain the same. However, the car has been extensively worked upon cosmetically by Toyota designers to give it a more rugged and brawny appeal.

Toyota asserts that the young customer the new crossover is targeted at gives a lot of importance to good design. Toyota also stresses that compact size and ease of parking is equally important for the target urban audience – and this thought is the very spirit of the Etios Cross’s design ethos.

The Etios Cross is not a full blown crossover, and Toyota knows the fact very well. Their idea is to offer plenty of character and appeal with this product to make it stand out amongst a sea of similar looking hatchbacks. The idea is to offer a bold distinction without letting the cost factor go out of hand.

The Etios Cross, in a bid to project a tough look, features a bold new bumper with a massive front grille finished in satin silver. The new bumper also features a skid plate on the lower side to accentuate the vehicle’s tough visual character. The massive new front grille features blacked out plastics on the inside, with a horizontal slat bearing the Toyota emblem. On the flanks, you have brand new housings for fog lamps, finished again in satin silver with integrated turn indicators.

Headlights too have been altered slightly and in conjunction with the massive redesign exercise on the grille and bumper area lend the Etios Cross a bold front face, which is in stark contrast with the cute looking visage of the Etios Liva hatchback.

The rugged treatment continues in profile, where the Etios Cross gets chunky black plastic cladding across the lower portion of its length. The lower portion of the door cladding gets another contrasting layer of satin silver inserts with an angular pattern over them. Door handles feature chrome inserts, and ORVMs come with integrated turn indicators. The cladding over rear door features Etios Cross embossing. On the roof, you get a pair of brand new two-tone rails, finished and black and silver. The diamond cut wheels are also exclusive to the Etios Cross.

The big bold bumper witnessed up front has its theme carried over to the rear end as well. The rear bumper, just like its frontal counterpart is a new design, and features a contrasting silver under-cladding. The bottom part of the tailgate also gets some plastic cladding, and features Etios Cross branding in silver. Above the rear windscreen, you witness a new two tone spoiler finished in body color and black. While many things have been changed at the rear, the design of the tail-lamps remains un-altered over the Liva.

In all, Toyota have managed to lend the Etios Cross the distinction they desired. It may appear a tad too loud for the taste of those who desire subtlety, but at the same time may appeal to those who fancy a rugged, SUV-ish appearance for their car on a budget.

We would like to mention here that the color shade plays an unusually important part in the appearance of the Etios Cross. While the plastic under-cladding and muscular treatment looked good on the newly introduced Inferno Orange, it didn’t look too nice on the white. In our humble view, the new Etios Cross with its dark inserts would look nicer in deeper shades like Vermilion Red, Ultramarine Blue and the new Inferno Orange as compared to lighter shades on offer like White and Symphony Silver.

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