Vios 3rd generation in Thailand

Toyota launches 3rd-generation Vios

Hunting the market for a new subcompact sedan, but can't seem to trust anybody but Toyota? Well there is good news from the company with the launch of its latest Vios.

The new Vios is the third generation of the auto, which took over from the Soluna in Thailand.

The first generation - the Soluna Vios - sold 84,000 vehicles and the second generation 178,000, making a total of 262,000. The Soluna was an important model for Toyota as it helped the Japanese auto giant to reach No-1 spot in Thai sales of passenger cars.

"Vios is a core model for us here in Thailand, and an important model in our global product strategy," said Mitsuhiro Sonoda, president of Toyota Motor Thailand.

"Demand for small sedans is growing rapidly in Thailand and around the world. Our new Vios, the third generation, is designed and developed to meet a global standard which will attract all customers with its appealing design, higher performance, and advanced safety features and technology. In addition to our domestic sales, we will continue to export the new Vios to Asean countries." The new Vios has three main segments: J, E and G grade. Prices will be Bt509,000 to Bt549,000 for the base J range, Bt579,000-Bt639,000 for the E range and Bt699,000 for the top-of-the-range G. Also planned is the launch of S and G limited editions during the Bangkok International Motor Show 2007.

The new Vios will have the same engine as the previous version, although there are additional safety features as Toyota has stated that the main focus in the new vehicle is safety.

Toyota says that due to its focus on marketing strategy and good product quality, it has set a sales target of about 4,000 vehicles per month with no shortage of supply.

Exports to Asean nations will reach 1,400 cars per month, starting in the middle of the year. Toyota will export the Vios as a completely built-up car to Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia, and in completely knocked-down form to Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Toyota officials added that exports could be higher than this, but the company has reached its production limit at its Gateway plant in Chachoengsao. There are plans to expand annual capacity from 200,000 to 250,000 vehicles at the plant, although the time scale was not stated.

Vios Thailand awesome

Hey guys, check it out this pictures of vios from Thailand. This vios is look great after modified. The doors look like sports car. Here is the front view of the vios.



Then, this is the side view



The rear view look likes this



The vios is really look sporty, very beautiful and high class.

Vios is compatible for RON95

With recent government introduction of RON95 petrol, most petrol station diminished their RON97 products; and drivers are mostly left with RON95 option. There's a lot of argument on this RON issue, some says its a low-grade fuel, some says it is not compatible with modern cars, etc.

What is RON? RON stands for Research Octane Number. Fuels are chains of hydrocarbon (CH chains). The more stable the chain are, the more strong chemical bonding occurs between them. This will result in more output power when being burnt. Higher bond are indicated by higher RON. Contra to that, lower RON indicates that the chemical bonding of the hydrocarbons chain are weaker. They might get burnt pre-maturely; for instance, upon compression in the engine, and when spark plug is about to on, it gets combusted already. This resulted in two things; pre-mature burnt causes 'knocking' while weaker bond gives lower output power.


How to know whether you engine are design to accept which RON? Your owner's manual is always the best resource. For this Vios, it is stated that minimum RON is RON91 and higher. Thus theoretically RON95 should be no problem. I also had refuel RON95 twice; and no problem at all, did not notice any lacking though. Just the same performance. Perhaps 97 and 95 are not differ so much that will produce obvious performance difference for short journey.

What could is say that RON95 is OK but performance is a bit lower when driving in high speed.

GT Street Version

UMW Toyota has been toying with a TRD Sportivo bodykit for the Vios but perhaps they should also take a look at what their friends up north are doing. This Toyota Vios GT is on sale in Thailand and it features a bodykit which I at first glance thought was the TRD Sportivo bodykit, but after looking closely I noticed there are variances in the design.

Other than a sporty front bumper without foglamps, the Vios GT also features an improved (over the TRD Sportivo design that is) rear bumper with a little integrated faux diffuser design. They also gave it a chrome tipped exhaust pipe but made it point downwards!



But still in the end this is just another dressed up Vios. Nothing special under the hood – just a stock 1.5L VVT-i with stock output levels. With the previous generation Vios at least Toyota Thailand was adventurous enough to offer a Vios Turbo that put out 143 horses and 196Nm of torque thanks to a factory-installed bolt-on turbo (yes I know that kinda contradicts), equivalent to a 2.0 liter engine.

No factory turbocharged Vios on sale anywhere in the world as of now but in Japan, its Vitz (Yaris) hatchback brother gets a TRD Turbo M variant that puts out 150 horsepower and 195Nm of torque.

Malaysian Car Rank, Vios is 2nd Entry Midsize

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 (Bernama) -- The Perodua Myvi has for the third time ranked highest for its initial quality in terms of new-vehicle ownership, in the compact car segment, according to J.D. Power Asia Pacific.

In the same segment, Myvi was followed closely by Proton Savvy, with the Perodua Viva in tow, the marketing information services provider said of its 2009 Malaysia Initial Quality Index study.

The study examines the quality of new vehicles during the first two to six months, and measures more than 200 problem symptoms covering eight vehicle components, it said in a statement here.

Meanwhile, the re-designed Honda City ranked highest in the entry midsize car segment, followed by the Toyota Vios and the Proton Saga.

As for the midsize car segment, the Toyota Corolla Altis was top, with the Honda Civic coming in second and the Nissan Sylphy in the third place.

The Toyota Innova ranked highest in the MPV/van segment for a second consecutive year, followed by the Nissan Grand Livina and the Toyota Avanza.

In the pick-up segment, the Isuzu D-max received top spot, with the Toyota Hilux as runner up and the Mitsubishi Triton in the third place.

J.D. Power conducts customer satisfaction research and provides performance analytics services in the automotive, information technology and finance industries.

The Malaysia Initial Quality Index is one of three consumer-based studies and was based on responses from 2,874 new-vehicle owners who purchased their vehicles between September and May 2009.

Vios TRD

The new Toyota Vios TRD Sportivo is here, and it replaces the Vios 1.5S as the flagship model of the Vios range. The Vios TRD Sportivo is estimated to be priced at RM90,900.00 OTR with insurance, though apparently it’s not 100% finalised yet.

The Toyota Vios TRD Sportivo project started off as a response to customer feedback that they wanted a sportier Vios. This new variant is a development of the 1.5S, the model that it replaces. What you get is a new bodykit, Enkei alloy wheels, door visors, a new interior trim style, and an optional sports suspension kit.

TRD Sportivo is not TRD. It’s a Toyota accessory brand that’s more towards aesthetics. In fact some accessories that UMW Toyota were trying out with the Vios TRD development cars such as the air filter did not make it to this production car that will go on sale. Even the different exhaust system from the development cars did not make it to the production car. UMW Toyota says they did not want to touch those to keep the regular Vios 3 year and 100,000km warranty.

The bodykit consists of front and rear lips, a bootlid spoiler, and side skirts, all made of polyurethane (PU) except for the bootlid spoiler which is made of ABS plastic. This particular bodykit is exclusive to the Malaysian market – it is not the same one as Thailand’s Toyota Vios GT.

On the interior you get two-tone red and black fabric on the seats and door panels, TRD Sportivo floor mats, a leather gearknob, stainless steel cruff plates with the TRD Sportivo logo on the door sills, and some carbon fiber lookalike inserts on the center console. The 15 inch alloy wheels were wrapped with Bridgestone Potenzas at the media launch, and the wheels manufactured by Enkei are said to be 10% lighter than the standard Vios 15 inch alloy wheel.

There is an optional sports suspension kit that’s not included in the standard car. This suspension kit has a sportier damping rate and also lowers the car by 10mm.

Toyota Vios 1.5 TRD Sportivo (AT) – RM90,900.00
Toyota Vios 1.5G (AT) – RM85,025.00
Toyota Vios 1.5E (AT) – RM79,425.00
Toyota Vios 1.5J (AT) – RM73,525.00
Toyota Vios 1.5J (MT) – RM69,825.00

Vios J (Manual & Auto)

UMW Toyota Motor Sdn Bhd has added the new Toyota Vios 1.5J to their model range for the 2008 and 2009 model years. The new Toyota Vios 1.5J comes with both a manual and automatic transmission and costs RM69,800.00 or RM73,500.00 respectively, OTR with insurance.

Mechanically, the Vios J spec is similiar to its higher spec brethren, featuring the same 109 PS 1.5 liter VVT-i engine mated to a 4-speed Super ECT gearbox. As for equipment levels, it comes with 14 inch steel wheels wrapped with 175/65R14 tyres, manual wing mirrors, a bumper with no foglamps, dark grey fabric seats, a 1-DIN CD player, 4 speakers, and power windows for all four doors.

There are no SRS airbags in this car, but the anti-lock brakes and EBD remain, with ventilated disc brake at the front and drum brakes at the rear. For those who are interested, the 5-speed manual gearbox’s ratios are: 1st: 3.525, 2nd: 1.904, 3rd: 1.310, 4th: 0.969, 5th: 0.815, reverse: 3.250.

UMW Toyota Motor is also currently running a Merdeka Meriah promo for the Vios from the 1st of July until the 31st of August 2008 where buyers will get a downpayment rebate or a petrol card.

Toyota Vios 1.5J (Manual) – RM69,800.00
Toyota Vios 1.5J (Auto) – RM73,500.00

Vios Grades

The second generation Vios is currently available in three grades: two grades initially available on the previous Malaysian Vios (E and G), and a new grade (S).

The E grade is the entry-level model, branded as a cost-effective version of the Vios, and is the cheapest and most stripped-down Vios among the three grades, priced at around an estimated RM 78,900. The car includes several cut-backs compared to the G and S grades, including:

* Rear drum brakes instead of an all-disc set-up for the G and S grades;
* 14-inch alloy rims as oppose to 15 for the G and S;
* driver's side only airbag as opposed to dual-front airbags for the G and S;
* driver's side only pretensioned, forced limited seatbelts as opposed such seatbelts on all occupants' sides for the G and S; and
* a single-DIN CD receiver and four-speaker system, instead of steering mounted audio controls and six-speaker, dashboard integrated CD receiver with MP3 and WMA-playback capability for the G and S.

The new Vios line saw the inclusion of a new S grade Vios. The S grade features cosmetic enhancements rather than a performance-based ones, sporting a set of "aero parts", a minor body kit encompassing a front bumper spoiler, side skirts and a bootlid spoiler. The interior receives a dark grey/black trim treatment, and includes an "Optitron" meter with a multi-information display, as opposed to the E and G grades' conventional backlit display. The S variant is estimated to be the most expensive Vios among the three, at around RM 88,600.

The G grade is considered to be a mid-priced model between the E and S grades, retailing at an estimated RM 85,300.

Toyota added a fourth grade called the J grade, which is the cheapest and most bare bone grade of the Toyota Vios in Malaysia. Unlike the other grades which are only available with an automatic transmission, the J grade has the option for a manual transmission. The manual J grade Vios is priced at just under RM70,000 (RM69,825.00 or RM73,525.00 for manual and automatic respectively). The J grade Vios does not come with any airbags.[1]

All model grades were reported to include ABS, EBD and brake assist, as are passive safety features such as whiplash injury lessening seats, a collapsible steering wheel column and an impact sensing fuel cut-off.