More on the 2013 Toyota Vios - It's all a facade actually.

Like the new 2013 Toyota Vios? I'm sure about a hundred thousand of you do. I went to a Toyota Showroom sometime after the new Vios was launched and no one paid attention to the guy driving the German sedan as the sales people were too busy entertaining people who wanted to hand down their cash for the new Vios. There was an elderly auntie with her daughter who kept mentioning that the new Vios was 'Ho Leng ah', or good looking in Cantonese and had the intention of trading in their old Proton Wira Aeroback. Very sensible purchase for old ladies as well as almost everyone else.

 This is fairly understandable as the new Toyota Vios does look good from the outside and also on the inside. But. There's always a 'but' with me these days. All that new fangled sporty styling that Toyota has decided to add to their cars is paying off as the Vios looks all tarted up and sporty. Even the interior looks fabulous. But only till you get up close and personal that is. The new Toyota Vios reminds me of those fake facades or building front that movie studios use. Behind the wall is actually nothing.Or something totally scary like in the cartoon above.



The Toyota Vios is still the same car from the mid-2000s. They have improved the fuel consumption by a few percent but not by having a new engine or transmission. It still runs the same 1.5liter 4 cylinder engine and 4 speed transmission from that era mentioned above. The extra fuel economy is due to effort made in enhancing the car's aerodynamics (check out that wavy roof) and keeping weight in check. Performance should be similar because of the limitations of the 4 speed gearbox's gearing. In other words, you are not getting anything high tech here for you to boast among your friends.

Toyota has also made the car a tad bit quieter and therefore more refined. This should be the trickle down effect from their know-how in making Lexus and larger Toyotas like the Camry super silent and refined. The ride and handling would also have that same glacial progress that Toyota likes to make. So I am not surprised that the 2013 Toyota Vios is quiet and a decent (if not sporty) drive.

See the cream coloured part with supposed leather folds? Well folks, it ain't leather. It's hard plastic that LOOKS like leather.

And then you get to the interior. At first glance you will think that it has leather everywhere! The dashboard as well as the door panels have stitched leather trimming. Then when you run your fingers on the dashboard and the door trim you'd feel that it is actually hard plastic. There is not an ounce of cow anywhere. The leather with stitching isn't leather but plastic that has been moulded with some 'stitch effect'. The same thing occurs on the Toyota Camry's dashboard. But the Vios has the pseudo stitching on the door trim panels too. This is ridiculous. If perceived luxury is what you want, Toyota is feeding you super tanker sized portions of it. It just looks good, but it feels like what it is. Hard plastic.

The 2013 Toyota Vios is truly like a fake building facade. It's Hollywood built into a car.