New variant joins Toyota Corolla Altis range UMW Toyota Motor recently announced that the Toyota Corolla Altis 2.0G variant, part of the 11th generation range launched in Malaysia in January this year, will be discontinued. Instead, the company is adding a new Corolla 1.8G variant which is said to respond to market needs better. The Corolla 1.8G has an upgraded equipment package which includes a Smart Entry & Start System for keyless unlocking of the doors and starting the engine with just the press of a button. Illumination for the cupholders between the front seats, and for the front foot well, are also provided. Incidentally, these upgrades also apply to the latest Corolla 1.8E. For the Corolla 1.8G, there’s also combination leather upholstery and an upgraded instrument panel which uses Optitron meters. Optitron technology, originally developed for the Lexus luxury models, gives the meters a brighter and clearer 3-dimensional appearance, making viewing easy under any lighting conditions. There is also a Multi Information Display which provides information on various operating aspects of the car. The new variant also has an upgraded infotainment system with a 2DIN head unit. This now consists of a DVD player with a 7-inch touchscreen that also acts as a display for the rear view camera. The audio unit, with an AM/FM receiver has connectivity options for various devices and also accepts SD cards as well as voice commands. A smartphone link is also available for compatible smartphone models, as well as Bluetooth handsfree system along with steering wheel switches. On the outside, the 1.8G door handles now have a chrome finish which matches the character line along the side of the car. Not so evident but which will be a convenient feature is the auto on/off mode for the headlamps. When set to AUTO, the headlamps will automatically come on when the external lighting level is low (e.g. entering a basement carpark), and switch off when the lighting level is high. As before, customers can also select options such as a custom-designed aerokit. For those who require a GPS route navigation system, there is also an optional upgraded package which fits neatly into the 2DIN space on the dashboard. The Toyota premium security and solar film, which is JPJ-compliant with a 7-year warranty, remains standard for all variants. Technically, there are no changes to the 1.8-litre Dual VVT-i engine with 7-speed Super CVT-i. The latter has been carefully tuned and designed to provide a characteristic that is almost like that of a conventional automatic transmission. Toyota’s engineers achieved this by adapting discrete stepped “gears” or shift points into the car’s acceleration and deceleration curves. The Corolla Altis’ Super CVT-i even mimics the familiar characteristics of hydraulic automatics creating a sense of positive shift engagement. There’s also a more linear connection between pedal effort and acceleration feel compared to previous CVT designs. There is also a transmission fluid warmer is used to help get fluid to optimal temperature faster. As the Competition Commission prevents transparency in business by declaring that sharing of model sales data is an offence because it believes that this will cause prices to go up, we have no data to determine the size of each segment and number of units sold. However, according to UMW Toyota Motor’s data, the Corolla Altis has doubled its local sales volume (compared to previous generation) since being launched this year, and currently leads its segment in market share.
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 01:54:36 +0000
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