Seven long years ago, Toyota spiced up its bland and predictable lineup when it introduced the Echo. A sub-compact hatchback with unabashedly modern lines, the Echo was just short of being an excellent package. Designed with the European market in mind, its fortes were quick handling, responsive acceleration combined with fuel efficiency, and roomy passenger space that belied its puny exterior. Its weaknesses were: a lack of luggage room, deletion of equipment like split-folding and sliding seats, and a crashy and noisy ride. It was relatively expensive too, retailing for about P605,000 then. Not surprisingly, it tanked at the market and was soon withdrawn. It seems that sheer fun behind the wheel was not the subcompact holy grail in the Philippines.
Toyota went back to the drawing board, and soon introduced a bland, predictable sedan version called the Vios. Everything that held back the Echo from wide acceptance was fixed: vehicle body type, interior and exterior styling, and ride. Since then, the Vios has gone on to enjoy a healthy slice of the market,
For starters, the Vios stretched out the Echo’s bulbous lines. Angular doors took over from the Echo’s egg-shaped openings. A conventional trunk sprouted out from the back. It’s not exciting, but it meets all the requirements of a transporting a small family and their belongings.
One of the few novelties in the Vios’ interior is its center-mounted gauge cluster. Instead of the usual analog dials, information is offered in a semi-circular pod canted towards the driver. Looking at the deep-mounted digital display is like staring into a deep pool. The supposed logic is that you don’t have to change focus when looking from road to speedometer. Whatever the reasoning behind it, it’s a welcome diversion from an otherwise standard-issue interior.
The design may be standard-issue, but the execution is exemplary. Plastics are tightly-mounted and pleasantly-surfaced. Switchgear and controls click and glide with precision. Sound from the standard audio system seemingly emanates from a tin can, but at least it has MP3 playback capability (from a CD, that is). Cranking up the volume to drown out ambient noise is not such an appealing prospect. Fortunately, there’s not much road and engine noise to bother with. The Vios has incorporated plenty of sound-deadening material.
Under the hood, the Vios offers a 1.5-liter DOHC engine. The 4-cylinder with VVT-i offers up 107 bhp and 142 Nm. That’s certainly enough to haul the car’s sub-1 ton weight around town and on the highway. The four-speed automatic is a willing conspirator, shifting smoothly and responsively.
The steering feels much slower than the Echo’s, but it’s still sufficiently agile for the daily commute. This subcompact seats four in comfort, five if all are well-behaved. The tall roofline gives a good impression of a large interior volume. The Vios mimics the passenger-coddling character of its big brother Corolla. The well-tuned front strut / rear beam-axle suspension handles potholes and irregular road surfaces with aplomb. It won’t worry the Camry but it can wipe the floor with most of its rivals as far as ride is concerned.
By now, the Vios should have been swamped by its newer competitors which offer more versatile interiors, diesel engines, CVT, and various other enticements. Indeed, the Vios will have to come up with a new bag of tricks soon. Hopefully that will not be in the shape of the U.S. domestic-market Yaris sedan. For now though, the current car is still a winner, thanks to its quiet ride, solid build quality, and unobtrusive road manners.
The top-line Vios breaks the P700,000 barrier, and comes perilously close to the entry prices of a class-higher compact sedan. If you still choose a Vios, you buy something that’s not on the standard equipment list: refinement. That may sound suspiciously like paying for ambience at a swanky restaurant, but you will feel the difference. Every added ounce of sophistication is worth its weight in petroleum, and the Vios delivers several extra barrelfuls.
By Jason Ang | Photos By Ulysses Ang
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