Toyota Innova HyCross Petrol CVT: What We Learnt Over 1,000km

When it comes to understanding the core values of a car, there is no replacement for time in the seat. And when your first experience with a car directly involves a 1,000km+ road trip spanning three States, there’s nothing but time to learn. I got to drive the Innova Hycross petrol CVT from Bengaluru to Goa, and then some, to Kolhapur in Maharashtra, and discovered how the non-hybrid Hycross manages to be sensible - if only exclusively that.

Comfort Above All

Everything about the Hycross petrol is tailored towards making your drive experience smooth and relaxing. The shift to a monocoque construction vs the Innova Crysta’s ladder-frame has made a notable improvement in road manners. The Hycross limits side-to-side tossing over speed breakers or uneven tarmac impressively, especially considering it’s a tall car. It retains this composure even when the roads cease to exist as they did on our drive out of Goa (Google Maps developed a sick sense of humour).

Ride aside, the seats are generously sized and well-cushioned to make extended saddle time easy to manage. The cherry on top is the Hycross petrol CVTs buttery smooth power delivery. Unless you punch the throttle outright, it’ll glide its way up to 100kmph with no drama and you’ll have no trouble getting your kids in the back to doze right away.

It’s Actually Efficient

A naturally-aspirated petrol engine driving a seven-eight seater car is rarely a formula that proves to be fuel-efficient. This is one of two main reasons why the Innova Crysta remains on sale today, to provide the all important cost per km advantage. However, the Hycross petrol CVT is easily capable of delivering a range of 650-700km per tankful, with a drive cycle that includes city traffic, highway cruising and periodic hard throttle spurts for overtakes on single lane B-roads. On our drive that took us through these varying driving conditions, we managed to extract about 14kmpl overall.

The Big Car Experience

The Hycross is more than capable of seating six-footers in each row comfortably and with space to spare. Even the black interior doesn’t take away from how airy and roomy the cabin feels and this quality of the Hycross GX can pull the no frills audience away from top-spec versions of smaller six-seven seaters like the Kia Carens and Hyundai Alcazar.

Ahh, No Frills

But there’s a long list of frills you have to sacrifice. The Hycross GX costs about the same as a fully-loaded Toyota Hyryder hybrid. While the Hycross is significantly bigger on the inside, the cabin quality is underwhelming and the features list ends almost as soon as it begins. 

This Rs 23+ lakh (on-road) MPV gets manual AC with rear vents, tilt and telescopic steering, one-touch up/down power windows, driver seat height adjustment, smart key with button start and an eight-inch touchscreen. The touchscreen’s interface is quite outdated and the speaker quality isn’t great even in the first row. And these are features you’d get (in a well executed manner that too) on a car that costs less than half as much.

Heck, the GX variant gets a reversing camera that gives you a rather distorted and low-res view behind and for some unfathomable reason, Toyota does not fit this variant with rear parking sensors that the lower “G” variant gets! This is a price point wherein a car should have rear parking sensors, auto AC, cruise control and an auto-dimming IRVM at the very least.

Loaded Punch

Diesel efficiency aside, another advantage with the Innova Crysta is turbo-diesel torque. The non-hybrid petrol is entirely capable of running fully loaded for city commutes or highway cruises with ease. However, overtakes will see this engine getting quite vocal as you run higher up the rev range to access its performance. This will become an annoyance, especially through stretches like the Lonavala ghats on the Mumbai-Pune expressway and it’ll also have drivers around you wondering if you’re driving angrily.

Does It Make Sense?

Well, if you’re looking for the thorough improvement or levelled up “next-gen” experience vs the Innova Crysta, that mantle’s reserved for the Hycross hybrid. Not only does it manage to beat the diesel on the counts of usability, ease of driving, performance and fuel-efficiency, it’s also significantly smoother in any given scenario.

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However, if all you want is a comfortable, spacious and practical car, the Hycross petrol CVT is incredibly likeable. For the price, nothing else is as accommodating as a seven-eight seater but everything else will certainly feel richer and more bang for buck when it comes to tick marks on the brochure.