Toyota Corolla Altis CNG for the Thai market

Toyota Corolla Altis CNG for the Thai market

Toyota Motor Thailand introduced a new variant of the Corolla Altis at the 2010 Thai Motor Expo – an automatic transmission version of the 1.6 CNG model. The new model is priced at 834,000 Bt which is a premium of quite bait over the manual version which is priced well below 800,000 Bt.

The 1.6 litre 3ZZ-FE engine continues to put out 109 PS at 6,000rpm and 145Nm of torque at 4,400rpm acceding to Toyota spec sheets. The chassis has been revised to cope with the additional weight that the CNG system adds to the car – suspension, coil springs and EPS power steering variables have been changed here.

A selector switch shows which type of fuel is being used (petrol – E20 capable or CNG gas) as well as the amount of CNG left in the tank. The CNG refueling nozzle is located near the regular petrol inlet so you don’t have to open your engine bay to refuel like the way the taxis here in Malaysia do it.

The Toyota ECU calculates the right amount of gas to be fed to the engine via the electronic injectors. The gas is stored in a 75 litre CNG tank made from Chrome Molybdenum steel that is securely held in place and flows through a stainless steel high-pressure gas pipe. The tank is separated from the rest of the luggage compartment with a partition that prevents objects from slamming into the tank during braking.

There has not been much of a push for CNG here in Malaysia by the government. No concrete plan on alternative fuel or anything like that – they seem to be too concentrated on how to save money on petrol subsidies without offering or suggesting to us any viable alternatives other than what I’m interpreting as ‘ubah gaya hidup – drive less’. What about diesel or CNG?

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Paul Tan

After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Comments

  • mohsin on Feb 01, 2010 at 4:48 pm

    Wah!, interesting idea to put the CNG refueling nozzle is located near the regular petrol inlet.

    PT, hope that CNG price still cheaper as romous said that CNG price will be revised at par with petrol @ diesel price.

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  • wakaka on Feb 01, 2010 at 4:57 pm

    beware of the tank, it's might explode!!!.wait for the recall.hahahaha

    big T is no more quality giant..they only want 'giant profit'..:-))

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  • donno on Feb 01, 2010 at 5:30 pm

    That idea (CNG refuelling nozzle) is already done here for the Naza Ria NGV OEM system. But guess what? Most people dont like it as it is difficult to enter a NGV refuelling point as mostly you need park it nose forward (like the petronas bangsar station). So those RIA NGV need to reverse park to refuel. No space to reverse park as the queue for NGV refuelling is long. So actually NGV refuelling point in the engine bay is probably the easiest in Malaysian context.

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  • japanesecarsucks on Feb 01, 2010 at 6:33 pm

    To all toyota lover, you know that toyota treat us differently from the rest part of the world.

    For the toyota corp, we are like low caste( or pariah people in india), thats why they gave us with stupid car version like unser, avanza or the 2wd rush (4wd sold in japan).

    Only nasty looking car and downgraded versions are sold in Malaysia and Indonesia. ahahaha ignorant people.

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  • mitlanevo on Feb 01, 2010 at 7:12 pm

    CNG system failure, waiting for recall again…

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  • kelvin on Feb 01, 2010 at 10:19 pm

    Dear Gov, pls bring in Euro 4 diesel fast. owh, but i forgot, potong and perodua don't produce diesel cars..

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  • malaysia memang bole on Feb 02, 2010 at 12:44 am

    hey paul,sorry to say

    if gov want to increase petrol price,sure you all complain this,that

    yeah i'm out of topic,but please don't ever relate politics in your website

    this website is about automotive not politics

    please lah paul,if you say we don't have cng,see we got ngv

    but sure you know why we have problem to promote ngv

    those fuel can't be carry by lorries

    it needs long piping system to carry it

    and it cost a lot of money to supply it to all gas station in malaysia

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  • Paul Tan on Feb 02, 2010 at 12:46 am

    Our ngv vehicles are powered by cng. And government policies that affect motorists are well within the scope of this website.

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  • donno on Feb 02, 2010 at 2:00 am

    To all ppl here:

    CNG=NGV

    NGV?LPG

    LPG is liquified low pressure gas. CNG aka NGV is high pressure gas. Most of the explosion is caused by ppl using welded LPG cooking gas sylinders in their cars. CNG cylinders are heavy, thick and not welded (one piece).

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  • donno on Feb 02, 2010 at 2:00 am

    not equal to sign is not supported by the blog hehe…

    NGV is not the same as LPG

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  • resident.wangsamaju on Feb 02, 2010 at 4:29 am

    Thanks for the review Paul. I love the Prius more. Hopefully there will be tax breaks for owners of hybrids.

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  • i don see any problem introducing cng to lorries n heavy vehicle…petronas is the main problem…only petronas got cng(monopoly)..

    …last year many cng powered bus got problem…n the cause is oil in the gas…it didn filter oil out during gas process..then the bus company file a suit against petronas….

    that y Scania n MAN…(heavy vehicle) r reluctant to introduce their cng powered vehicles here////

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  • wakaka on Feb 02, 2010 at 7:50 pm

    KKK said,

    February 2, 2010 @ 2:28 am

    i don see any problem introducing cng to lorries n heavy vehicle…petronas is the main problem…only petronas got cng(monopoly)..

    …last year many cng powered bus got problem…n the cause is oil in the gas…it didn filter oil out during gas process..then the bus company file a suit against petronas….

    that y Scania n MAN…(heavy vehicle) r reluctant to introduce their cng powered vehicles here////

    ————————————————–

    if i'm not mistaken, other company doesnt want to sell NGV because they dnt want to bare the subsidies. NGV's price cheap in Malaysia bcoz petronas subsidized us. not like other company which only think about profit.

    that problem might come from the NCV kit itself which not suitable for the engine system. i dnt know whether u aware there are different systems for different type of engines..for instance, if u use EFI engine, u cant use system for carburetor engine, otherwise ur might hv lot of problem.

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  • yap true….NGV on injection system…there is gas filter to filter out particles like oils,dirts and etc..

    on carb system…no gas filter…everything will be sucked in…hehheheheh

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  • Squawk on Feb 02, 2010 at 11:29 pm

    Availability of CNG notwithstanding, we are supposed to be the biggest passenger car market in ASEAN and Thailand the biggest flatbed market. But when carmakers are introducing passenger car variants in places other than here….. it tells a lot.

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  • Malaysien on Feb 03, 2010 at 6:31 am

    Didn't a Malaysian Prime Minister promise 500 CNG stations in 2008?

    Which prime minister was that?

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  • Dr John on Apr 13, 2010 at 4:49 pm

    Achtung Bangkok Calling!

    My friend Kamolchai PHD, veterinary medicine changed his white monster Toyota Fortuner (pickup truck), looking like a SUV to GMs Chevy Optra Estate CNG. He says he is saving a lot of money earlier spent on gas, benzene or petrol as you say in Malaysia . He is maybe not looking as coll in the Optra Estate as in the Fortuner. But the dough he’s saving! CNG or NGV it’s a GAS! or the new petrol while we are still waiting for the massproduced electric ‘hybrid’ vehicles – at least here in the Kingdom of Thailand.

    Dr John
    CarSanook!
    Nawamin road
    Bangkok

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  • Nobber on Apr 26, 2010 at 1:28 pm

    This is all very interesting but all of the Toyota Dealers here in Thailand have told us that it will NOT run on E20 !!!!! Maybe Toyota haven’t let their dealers in on the secret!!! Any ideas???

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  • Ragoo on Oct 25, 2010 at 6:06 pm

    To Toyota main Agent
    I wish to purchase a car seat cover from the main agent for my Toyota Altis 2.0
    new version.
    Pls teach me where could I purchase them.
    Thank You.

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  • troti on Mar 19, 2011 at 6:34 pm

    Just for clarification, although for the most daily drivers will mean nothing.
    NGV is not equal with CNG. Here in South-east Asia NGV mainly stands for “Natural Gas Vehicle”, but the name is tendentious and it could also mean “Non Gasoline Vehicle” in other parts of the world. By the way I am an European chemist working in Thailand and owning an Altis CNG and another old (modified to LPG) car. A “non gasoline” could mean anything, including LPG, CNG, hybrid, electric, and even Diesel. See wikipedia for NGV, CNG, LPG.

    Here in Asia the NGV idiom is used mainly for “Natural Gas Vehicle”, but this is tendentious too, as it could mean also CNG-car, or LPG-car, or even a LNG-car or ANG-car anywhere else in the world.

    Generally, 99% of the people here, when one says “NGV” he refers to a CNG car, because of the “natural gass” words that appears in both. CNG means Compressed Natural Gas, and is mainly formed of light hydrocarbons (methane in 98%) that is compressed about 100 to 1 to 200 to 1 in the tank. At this pressure, methane DOES NOT liquefy, it still stay gaseous. CNG is often confused with liquefied natural gas (LNG). While both are stored forms of natural gas, the key difference is that CNG is gas that is stored (as a gas) at high pressure, while LNG is in uncompressed liquid form (like in your cigarette lighter, but that is a mixture of propane easier to liquefy). CNG has a lower cost of production and storage compared to LNG as it does not require an expensive cooling (cryogenic) process. CNG requires a much larger volume to store the same mass of gasoline or petrol and the use of very high pressures (4000 psi).

    LPG stands for “Liquefied Petroleum Gas”. Some people (fortunately very few) could refer to an “LPG powered car” when they say “NGV”, that is still OK, but scientifically wrong. LPG formed of heavier hydrocarbons and is a liquid (NOT GAS!, is same as gasoline), which vaporize easy at room temperature, it is not compressed (you can’t compress a liquid). LPG is the same stuff some new modern cars (gasoline cars) use for their AirCond, and is the same stuff used by modern refrigerators to cool down your beer, and is used for this proposal since over 30 years, replacing freons and other chlorofluorocarbons, in an effort to reduce damage to the ozone layer.

    So, NGV=natural gas vehicle, is a type of CAR, mainly refer to a car powered by CNG.

    CNG=compressed natural gas, a type of FUEL used for NGVs. CNG is 98-99% methane, and gaseous. Need a large volume to be stored. Full name would sound better as “CNGV” and would eliminate the confusion (“Compressed Natural Gas Vehicle”) when referring to the car.

    LPG=Liquefied Petroleum Gas, liquid at room temperature, can not be compressed, used as fuel in cars, or as coolant in refrigerators (evaporates fast absorbing heat). Its composition are heavier hydrocarbons, and differs from country to country and from season to season (winter to summer, or in tropical countries is more butane to avoid over-pressure when hot, in cold northern European countries and Japan is more propane, to avoid freezing). This is mainly the gas that you use for cooking, more or less.

    About other differences or advantages/disadvantages you can read on wikipedia, or else on the web (no idea how long this comment can be, so I stop here).

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  • agha amin raza on Jul 28, 2011 at 6:51 pm

    thanks to lodging cng car,but it is so late,the cng suppky position is almaring,hope it will be change and then we enjoy the car

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