Fuel efficiency is going to be well over 20km/l in the city if you tread carefully.
BHPian Audik75 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
My initial ownership review after 2 days of driving the Hyryder
I was in the market for a car to replace an old Wagon-R for over 20 months and considered several cars before taking the leap of faith on the Hyryder. I have been following the Team-BHP reviews for a while now and found them to be among the most factual and well written after testing a few cars.
My considerations were
- Jeep Compass 2021 facelift: I liked the Jeep, but the high 34L highway price for the S variant (and an automatic transmission that didn’t seem like the best match for the engine) held me back.
- Nanny Harrier: still in love with him. The lack of features (several of which have now crept in through multiple releases) that the Nexon/Safari had and the poorly calibrated power steering held me back.
- Maruti Brezza – I booked the new Brezza at launch, but ended up canceling while reading reviews about the performance of the K15C engine. While it largely met my use cases on the 17.3L, I felt it was too expensive compared to the previous version and no longer worth buying.
I didn’t consider the Korean (safety perception) or German twins (multiple issues have been reported by owners after launch and the compact SUVs look more like a full-size hatchback, no offense to owners). I didn’t consider Mahindra given the wait time for his SUV, though I might have planned given the time I waited to buy.
With other options largely ruled out and the post-COVID inertia coming to an end, I ended up booking the Hyryder on launch day expecting its price to be around 23L-24L for the V variant. The key factors were a car that primarily handled the city driving conditions with occasional periods on the highway. The lack of adequate electric vehicle charging infrastructure on the roads and the limitations in my apartment meant that pure electric vehicles were ruled out. I experienced the Prius almost 20 years ago and was happy to consider a Toyota hybrid.
I was eagerly awaiting Hyryder’s review and when it was released at the end of August I felt the car ticked all the boxes I wanted. More than two months after this, I still feel Team-BHP’s review is the most comprehensive and have been following the forum avidly.
Sales experience
The Toyota sales experience was non-existent during July and August and I ended up booking the Grand Vitara as a backup. Clearly Maruti Suzuki has a better sales process and dealers were more eager to do business. However, from mid-September things changed and once the show cars appeared, interest began to mount and the Toyota dealer assured me they would arrange delivery for the end of October.
Got a call in mid-October that the car had been allocated and they could arrange delivery around Diwali. However, I had some health problems at home and postponed the delivery until early November. He asked the distributor to do the ceramic coating to avoid a long waiting period (the price was comparable to the market price and also included 3 additional layers to be applied at 6/12 month intervals).
It was raining in Chennai when I received the delivery last week. Did a quick PDI and missed the TPMS check which came up blank when I got home (this has since been reset and not a problem). For the past 2 days, I’ve only driven through towns and a short drive on a highway that was congested enough to keep me from going above 53 mph.
initial experience
Detailing below some observations from my limited driving experience.
- The car responds very well and reaching 65 km/h is a piece of cake. I primarily drive a 2015 Honda City CVT and I must say that accelerating in the Hyryder is a bit easier at city speeds. The electric motor helps with low torque and no lag is felt.
- The car becomes absolutely silent on startup and is remarkably quiet in EV mode. I didn’t feel the car as loud up to 53 mph (I’ll check on my next road trip how the car handles at speeds above 100), and since 95 percent of my driving is at these speeds, I don’t feel the impact of the 3-pot motor.
- There is a distinct shudder/vibration felt when switching from electric to ICE in the parking lot. This is not so obvious while driving, although you will hear the engine. I was messing around with the infotainment to understand features and change settings, so I’ve experienced this a couple of times and it’s clearly something that needs improvement.
- There is a groan that you hear (noted in the Team-BHP review by Vid6639 as originating from the brake vacuum pump being exposed). This is only noticeable when driving in EV mode in a quiet environment. I’m not sure if damping even helps in this case and would appreciate any feedback.
- Mileage is clearly going to be over 20kmpl in the city if you pedal carefully. Coming from a Honda CVT, this is something I’m trained for.
- The 360 camera doesn’t feel like a full 360 at least in terms of display and only shows the left side while driving. While this logically makes sense in right-hand drive cars, this is a feature that can be improved unless I’m missing something to turn on (enough said about image quality).
- Wireless Apple CarPlay was very easy to set up, and overall everything worked as expected.
- Air conditioning (given Chennai weather) and sunroof were a concern. However, AC is more than satisfactory when set to auto mode. The ventilated seats are practical, although at their highest level they can be noisy. A lower fan speed seems sufficient.
- The interior is brightly lit during the day. My son commented that while he forgets the Honda City has a sunroof, on the Hyryder it’s pretty obvious. If you’re a fan of sunroofs, you’ll like it, but given Indian summers, you’re probably better off installing solar film.
- Ambient lighting is hardly noticeable. I don’t care much for this, but it seems like an attempt to just check the box on the list of features.
- Access to the spare tire is from the trunk and requires the use of a wrench to lower the tire in case you need to replace it.
- Boot space is limited, but it will perfectly suit the needs of a small family and weekend trips. I did not buy a trunk mat as it further limits the use of space.
Overall, it seems like a decent buy and no buyer’s remorse yet (I guess it’s too early). I got an extended warranty, but I hope Toyota’s much-talked-about service experience and hassle-free maintenance factors help.
Keyword: 2 days with Toyota Hyryder – Honda City owner shares 12 observations
