First Class Experience For The Road: All You Need To Know About The Toyota Vellfire

• The Vellfire is a 7-seater luxury MPV with lounge-like experience for the middle row.
• It is powered by a 2.5-litre petrol engine with strong hybrid tech.
• Toyota claims an efficiency figure of 16.35kmpl.
• We expect it to be priced around Rs 85 lakh mark.

India definitely has a dearth of luxury MPVs. The only one we got up till now was the V-Class, which made its debut in its latest avatar along with the uber luxurious Marco Polo variants. Meanwhile, Kia is taking a crack at the lower end of the luxury MPV space with the highly desirable Carnival. In the midst of all this, Toyota had been preparing its Vellfire for launch in India. We now have a launch date along with everything you want to know about it.

February 26. That is when Toyota plans to launch the Vellfire in India. Aimed squarely at the Mercedes-Benz V-Class, the Vellfire comes with enough arsenal to put up a worthy fight with the Germans.

Enough bling?

The Vellfire is unmistakably an MPV or a van. The whole design has a boxy approach to it with a tall stance. Chrome is religiously used over the MPV with the front ‘samurai armour’ front grille being the main attraction. The front end also features a split headlight setup while the rear features huge tail lamps, again with generous use of chrome. The Vellfire is not exactly a pretty MPV in our books and you can hate it or love but you can't ever ignore it!

Is it more luxurious than a Beverly hills mansion? 

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This is the most defining trait of the Vellfire, the cabin. Now, where do we begin? Yes, the middle row seats ( read: couches) are massive with dedicated armrests, extended thigh support, wood inserts and enough leather to make you feel guilty. It also comes with lounge command (a remote thingy to control seats, temperature and the infotainment system), VIP spotlight and dedicated cubicles for your smartphone. The front passenger seat is powered and it also gets extended thigh support. 

If you’re wondering, the Vellfire is a 7-seater, although all the opulence is reserved for the middle row passengers. The dashboard is huge, with silver and wood inserts and a massive 10-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Now, if that is massive, what would you call the secondary 13-inch display with HDMI and Wifi support?

Apart from the lounge experience, you also get private screens, powered seats with memory function, one touch for panoramic view and seats, chauffeur controls, power sliding doors, and a dual sunroof.  No, sorry if this is getting too long but there’s also a 17-speaker audio JBL system, parking assist, 7 airbags, 3-Zone AC, 16 colour roof ambient lighting, green tinted and acoustic glass, hill start assist, TPMS and a whole lot more. 

Propulsion? 

The Vellfire uses a  2.5-litre petrol engine with hybrid tech up its sleeve. The IC engine’ output is rated at  115PS/198Nm. The party trick here is the two motors at the front and rear axles. The motor at the front is capable of producing 142PS while the one at the rear is good enough for 68PS. 

The Vellfire is basically a self charging hybrid vehicle which runs on different driving modes. The powertrain on default runs on battery with a 60:40 split between electric and internal combustion engine. It switches over to the IC engine when the battery runs out. In the meantime, the excess energy from the engine and brake regeneration replenishes the battery.  The battery in question is made of Nickel Metal Hydride while the power is sent to all four wheels through an electronic 4WD system.  

Toyota claims an efficiency figure of 16.35kmpl which is really impressive considering the Vellfire weighs 2280kg and can seat 7 people in utter luxury. 

When and how much?

When launched, the Vellfire will come with 4 paint options (Burning White, pearl white, graphite and black) and two interior colour options: beige and black. You don’t have to wait that long as the prices will be out in a couple of days. We expect it to be priced around the Rs 85 lakh mark. Toyota has homologated the Vellfire in India and the MPV is being imported as CBU from Japan.

Also Read: 
Toyota Vellfire First Drive Report