beware

we liked the corolla altis when we test drove it. found it comfortable and smooth. the dealer delayed us almost a month before disclosing that there will be at least six weeks wait for an automatic transmission model.

we bought the six speed manual version.

within a week i found several drawbacks and actually regretted buying the altis.

the altis was an upgrade to corolla i was using for last six years. following are the plus points and drawbacks.

Plus points - 1. good looks 2. comfortable ride 3. reasonably good safety 4. decent leg space 5. capacious boot 6. decent audio system with bluetooth streaming for mobile phone as well as audio

drawbacks 1. cost cutting - cheap and plasticky interiors, no flow control for central vents, difficult to see the clock , tiny clock display in instrument cluster, illumination of instrument cluster and audio system in unmatching and variable colours, tiny control knobs on audio system makes the car accident prone 2. short rails for front seat adjustment - a trick to increase rear leg space. but tis compromises how far back the seats can be moved. with the seat all the way back i’m still finding driving position too close to steering wheel 3. underpowered engine. although the engine specs are decent i find the car much less powerful compared to me previous corolla. 4. dull six speed transmission. struggles to find right gear at medium speeds. drive made boring and sluggish further worsened by the tardy engine.

do consider other cars in same class before commiting. take a test drive on a highway as well as city road.

while its a great car if you sit back and relax while your driver does the hard work; its not at all a driver’s car. if you are a petrol head forget corolla altis it’s just not good enough.