Archive for 2007 Toyota Vios

Toyota seems to have put out a very minor facelift of the Toyota Belta out in Japan. The Belta was originally launched end-2005 and right now is about the time for its mid-life facelift. The Japanese Belta is also known as the Toyota Vios in other markets such as ours, or the Toyota Yaris Sedan.

It looks like there are no changes at all to the styling on the outside except for a small grille change on the front to a mesh grille?

The 1.0 liter version is powered by the 1KR-FE DOHC engine putting out 71 PS at 6,000rpm and 94Nm of torque at 3,600rpm, while the 1.3 liter 2WD version is powered by the 2SZ-FE DOHC engine producing 87 PS at 6,000rpm and 118Nm of torque at 4,000rpm. The 1.3 liter 4WD version uses the 2NZ-FE DOHC engine with 87 PS and 120Nm of torque.

Look for more photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Toyota Belta/Vios/Yaris Sedan facelifted in Japan

Readers of this blog have already known this since last week, but now UMW Toyota Motor Sdn Bhd has officially announced the Vios J to the media so we have high resolution photos of the interior to look at, available after the jump.

According to UMW Toyota Motor MD Kuah Kock Heng, the Vios current holds 50% of the 1.4 to 1.5 liter market share in Malaysia, effectively this means foreign makes with a small engine capacity as Proton offerings are 1.3 and 1.6 and the more price-savvy Peroduas are all 1.3 and below. The second generation Vios available in E, G, S and now J form have collectively been selling about 2,500 units a month. They are targetting 700 sales a month from the new Vios J.

With the new Vios J UMW Toyota has finally executed their intention to offer a Vios model for under RM70k (see 4th April 2007 story), although quite a fair bit has been removed from the equipment list. The model under RM70k costs RM69,800 and is only available with a manual transmission. There no airbags, foglamps or alloy wheels but you do get an MP3 CD player albeit not integrated, and other safety features such as ABS remain, which is used more in day to day driving. Adding a 4-speed Super ECT automatic transmission pushes the price up to RM73,500.

Look after the jump for photos of the interiors of both the manual transmission and automatic transmission models.

Click here to read the rest of New Toyota Vios 1.5 J Official Photos

UMW Toyota Motor Sdn Bhd has added the new Toyota Vios 1.5J to their model range for the 2008 and 2009 model years. The new Toyota Vios 1.5J comes with both a manual and automatic transmission and costs RM69,800.00 or RM73,500.00 respectively, OTR with insurance.

Mechanically, the Vios J spec is similiar to its higher spec brethren, featuring the same 109 PS 1.5 liter VVT-i engine mated to a 4-speed Super ECT gearbox. As for equipment levels, it comes with 14 inch steel wheels wrapped with 175/65R14 tyres, manual wing mirrors, a bumper with no foglamps, dark grey fabric seats, a 1-DIN CD player, 4 speakers, and power windows for all four doors.

There are no SRS airbags in this car, but the anti-lock brakes and EBD remain, with ventilated disc brake at the front and drum brakes at the rear. For those who are interested, the 5-speed manual gearbox’s ratios are: 1st: 3.525, 2nd: 1.904, 3rd: 1.310, 4th: 0.969, 5th: 0.815, reverse: 3.250.

UMW Toyota Motor is also currently running a Merdeka Meriah promo for the Vios from the 1st of July until the 31st of August 2008 where buyers will get a downpayment rebate or a petrol card.

Toyota Vios 1.5J (Manual) – RM69,800.00
Toyota Vios 1.5J (Auto) – RM73,500.00

For photos of the car snapped back in late May 2008, view the related posts below:

Related Posts:
Toyota Vios J with manual transmission spotted!

Click here to read the rest of New 2009 Toyota Vios J Spec Manual and Auto

UMW Toyota Motor has prices for the new second generation Toyota Vios up on its website. There has been a small drop in prices from the estimated values announced earlier at the media preview.

The top of the line Toyota Vios 1.5S is going for RM88,100 – down from the estimated RM88,600 announced earlier. The mid range Toyota Vios 1.5G goes for RM84,800, down from RM85,300 and finally the baseline Toyota Vios 1.5E now retails at RM78,700 – a RM200 drop to the previous RM78,900 price.

These prices are for Peninsular Malaysia and are on the road inclusive of insurance.

Related Posts:
2007 Toyota Vios details and photos
New Toyota Vios line-up teaser with prices

UMW Toyota Motor had a press preview for the new Toyota Vios earlier today, so here is the latest full details on the variants of the Toyota Vios that will be available in Malaysia.

The new Toyota Vios is bigger than the previous version although it looks somewhat smaller because of it’s Toyota Yaris hatchback connections. Read more on the new Toyota Vios which is in its second generation here in Malaysia, after the jump.

UPDATE: Updated with more photos today, as my DVD drive was abit wonky yesterday.

UPDATE #2: The official launch prices for the 2007 Toyota Vios has been released by UMW Toyota Motor. The 1.5S costs RM88,100, the 1.5G costs RM84,800 and finally the baseline 1.5E costs RM78,700. Click here for more details.

Click here to read the rest of 2007 Toyota Vios details and photos

[ LATEST UPDATE: Click here to find out more details on the Toyota Vios that will be available here in Malaysia, straight from the Malaysian press preview launch! ]

UMW Toyota Motor will be having an exclusive public preview of the new Toyota Vios this Friday (5th of October 2007, 5pm to 10pm) at Hall 3 of the Mid Valley Megamall Exhibition Center (MVEC) – that’s the exhibition halls on the third floor, the same level as Golden Screen Cinemas.

You will be able to see the new Toyota Vios live in person, something many of us have not been able to do except for a few who have traveled north to Thailand or other countries where the Vios has already been introduced. I am very curious as to how it looks like in real life in terms of size, interior space, quality, ergonomics and etcetera as these things are hard to judge by photographs.

There will also be special performances at 8pm by Reshmonu, Danny One, as well as Akademi Fantasia 5 winners Mila, Ebi and Aswad. I will be there and will post photographs from the event, so be sure to go to the preview as well so we will be able to talk about the car together in the comments section when I post about it.

From what I heard, there will be some art exhibits from a Toyota Vios-related art competition being held in local art colleges currently: there is a blog reader called scooterist who talked about being a participant in the previous post.

There will also be live graffiti performances being held at local shopping malls (schedule below) where professional graffiti artists will be employed to create artwork on the Vios-shaped fibreglass model we saw earlier – should be interesting to see the results of these sessions.

• The Curve, 6 -7 Oct, 11am – 1pm, 2pm – 6pm, 8pm – 10pm
• 1 Utama, 13 – 14 Oct, 11am – 1pm, 2pm – 6pm, 8pm – 10pm
• City Square, 13 – 14 Oct, 11am – 1pm, 2pm – 6pm, 8pm – 10pm
• Garage, Penang, 13 – 14 Oct, 9pm – 11pm, 12am – 3am

Related Posts:
Toyota Vios pre-launch campaign
New Toyota Vios line-up teaser with features and prices
Toyota Vios launch on 4/5 October 2007?
New Toyota Vios launched in Thailand
Toyota Belta on test in Thailand as Toyota Vios
UMW Toyota plans to price new baseline Toyota Vios at under RM70,000
2006 Toyota Belta (JDM name for Toyota Vios)
Toyota Human Touch advertisement featuring Toyota Belta/Vios

[ LATEST UPDATE: Click here to find out more details on the Toyota Vios that will be available here in Malaysia, straight from the Malaysian press preview launch! ]

Toyota definitely seems to be intent on making sure all of us know the new Toyota Vios is on it’s way to showrooms. If you check out the Toyota Vios teaser page this week, you should have noticed a link to a new microsite: My Design, My Pride.

Think of it as a way to let you see if an airbrush artist specialising in the Toyota Vios could be one of your possible career paths. You are free to use your own imagination and create your own design on a virtual blank outline of the Toyota Vios. Its mostly modifying the car’s paintjob to your liking, not more advanced stuff like bumper modification and adding spoilers and etc. Once you’re done, you can submit it and you can also download your design as a wallpaper. Then you can proceed to do more designs or vote on other people’s submitted designs.

The top 3 designs will win a Panasonic DVD camcorder each, and will be featured in ads taken up in local newspapers, so it’s a shot for you to get the whole nation to look at your designs. Art students: this should be a good chance to add to your portfolio. I’ll be sending in some of my own “attempts” at a design as well, we can share our creations in the Photoshop and Design section of the forum later perhaps?

The Vios outsells all of it’s same segment competitors here, so despite divided public opinion there is much reason for Toyota to be very proud of their B-segment compact sedan. In general, Toyota Vios (and Honda City) owners seem to be quite proud of their cars. For many, it is their first non-national car; a graduation from local makes and finally a step into the world of imports, even though now imported has taken a different meaning and the car comes into Malaysia as a CKD pack.

There are so many Toyota Vios owners who have customised their rides in so many ways – different wheels, different grilles, some with turbokits perhaps? One way of looking at it is that these are each individual owner’s own personal designs. It’s really built into all of us – why else are we so excited whenever Theophilus Chin or Chaku cooks up an artist impression of a newly launched car? I usually just keep it to personalised alloy wheels though.

My guess is that Toyota is trying to connect with that part of us through this whole My Design, My Pride campaign. A very subjective and emotional thing, but refreshing in the world of launch advertising where others usually just harp on features and/or price.

Click to enlarge

There is also something else that reader Ben has sent in: some trucks have been going around the Damansara Heights area carrying white Toyota Vios models. They’ve also been spotted in Kepong and Sri Hartamas. Another reader Richard has spotted them and uploaded some photos here.

Some kind of teaser campaign leading up to the launch (tentatively 4th or 5th of October?). There’s really nothing hidden – it’s obviously the new Vios, just that it’s not a real car, just a white fibreglass model of sorts. It should give you an idea of how the Vios looks like in metal (albeit being an albino version), instead of just photos.

Let’s wait and see what happens the end of next week.

More photos after the jump.

Related Posts:
New Toyota Vios line-up teaser with features and prices
Toyota Vios launch on 4/5 October 2007?
New Toyota Vios launched in Thailand
Toyota Belta on test in Thailand as Toyota Vios
UMW Toyota plans to price new baseline Toyota Vios at under RM70,000
2006 Toyota Belta (JDM name for Toyota Vios)
Toyota Human Touch advertisement featuring Toyota Belta/Vios

Click here to read the rest of Toyota Vios pre-launch campaign

[ LATEST UPDATE: Click here to find out more details on the Toyota Vios that will be available here in Malaysia, straight from the Malaysian press preview launch! ]

I was surfing Maxis’ new PacMee service and I spotted this small posting (cropped screenshot above) by jLinkModels advertising for 4 models for a Toyota launch on the night of 4th October 2007, 5 to 7pm. A night event could mean the car will be officially launched the next day, so the official launch could either be on the 4th or 5th of October 2007, about two weeks away. The product will most likely be the new Toyota Vios. Read more in the links below. The teaser I blogged about recently has information on specification levels for the E, G and S models as well as estimated pricing.

Related Posts:
New Toyota Vios line-up teaser with features and prices
New Toyota Vios launched in Thailand
Toyota Belta on test in Thailand as Toyota Vios
UMW Toyota plans to price new baseline Toyota Vios at under RM70,000
2006 Toyota Belta (JDM name for Toyota Vios)
Toyota Human Touch advertisement featuring Toyota Belta/Vios

[ LATEST UPDATE: Click here to find out more details on the Toyota Vios that will be available here in Malaysia, straight from the Malaysian press preview launch! ]

[ LATEST UPDATE #2: The official launch prices for the 2007 Toyota Vios has been released by UMW Toyota Motor. The sporty top of the range Vios 1.5S is priced at RM88,100. The mid-range Vios 1.5G costs RM84,800 and finally the baseline 1.5E costs RM78,700. Click here for more details. ]

UMW Toyota Motor has put up a teaser section on the new 2nd generation Toyota Vios (known as the Toyota Belta in Japan) on their website in place of the usual section where information on the first generation Vios was available.

There are 3 trim levels available, up from two from the previous generation Vios. All three are 1.5 liter versions and none of them are under 70K as previously mentioned, so I suppose either the cheaper models will come later, or they are just missing from the teaser and will all be launched together.

Toyota Vios 1.5E

The baseline Toyota Vios is the 1.5E model which features front disc brakes and rear drum brakes with 14 inch alloy wheels wrapped with 175/65R14 tyres. This baseline model has it’s turn signals on the fender and foglamps on the front bumper.

On the interior, you have an electric power steering with a steering wheel that’s tilt adjustable but not reach adjustable. Seats are fabric seats done up in beige, and the interior is generally a two tone dark grey and beige/silver colour scheme. The centrally-mounted meter cluster uses analog white meters are there is no multi-information display – this will probably be a trip computer with fuel economy calculation of sorts. The in-car entertainment system uses a 1-DIN standard size CD player with 4 speakers.

Both the 3-spoke steering wheel and shift knob are wrapped with urethane. Wing mirrors are manually adjustable. The Vios 1.5E has no hood silencer and only has an inner dash silencer. This shouldn’t be too much of a hassle as you can add your own sound-proofing later from aftermarket accessories. Safety features include ABS, EBD, Brake Assist, and a single driver airbag.

The Toyota Vios 1.5E is estimated to be priced at RM79,200.

Toyota Vios 1.5G

The middle-child is the Toyota Vios 1.5G. Brakes have been upgraded to include discs at the rear. The steering wheel is similar to the 1.5E, but it is now wrapped with leather, and so is the shift lever and knob. The in-car entertainment system uses a dash integrated head unit with a tuner and a CD player featuring MP3 and WMA support. This is hooked up to a 6-speaker system.

Other than that, the interior is the same 2-tone dark grey and beige/silver interior as the baseline model. The turn indicator is now mounted on the wing mirrors, which are power adjustable and retractable. As for sound dampening, this mid-range model gets a hood silencer and a better dash silencer with both inner and outer silencing material. Safety features are similiar to the 1.5E, except this model has two airbags – one for the driver and one for the front passenger.

The Toyota Vios 1.5G is estimated to be priced at RM85,300.

Toyota Vios 1.5S

This is the top of the range Toyota Vios. The Toyota Vios 1.5S can be seen as the sportier model of the range as it is fitted with an aerokit on the exterior. It’s specifications are an upgrade over the Toyota Vios 1.5E, so whatever the 1.5E has, the 1.5S will have something equivalent or better.

The interior is a more sporty dark grey and black combination colour scheme, and the centrally mounted meter cluster are Optitron meters which light up in amber. There is also a multi-information display, something all the other variants do not have. This display will probably be a trip computer of sorts, providing you with various information like average fuel economy.

The Toyota Vios 1.5S is estimated to be priced at RM88,600.

Mechanically there is nothing much new Toyota Vios as the proven 1NZ-FE 1.5 liter engine with 109 PS at 6,000rpm and 141Nm of torque at 4,200rpm is retained, but the usage of an electric power steering in this new Vios instead of a hydraulic power steering in the old Vios might contribute a little to fuel economy and power.

As it is counter-productive to repeat everything about the car here, please read my previous posts on the new Toyota Vios linked below to learn more about the car and view more photos.

Related Posts:
New Toyota Vios launched in Thailand
Toyota Belta on test in Thailand as Toyota Vios
UMW Toyota plans to price new baseline Toyota Vios at under RM70,000
2006 Toyota Belta (JDM name for Toyota Vios)
Toyota Human Touch advertisement featuring Toyota Belta/Vios

A report in The Edge Daily on UMW’s rising share prices carries some information on when we can expect to see the new Toyota Vios in Malaysia. The report says the new Toyota Vios is expected in 4Q07, which should be anytime between October 2007 to December 2007. Read more about the new Toyota Vios in the related posts below:

Related Posts:
New Toyota Vios launched in Thailand
Toyota Belta on test in Thailand as Toyota Vios
UMW Toyota plans to price new baseline Toyota Vios at under RM70,000
2006 Toyota Belta (JDM name for Toyota Vios)
Toyota Human Touch advertisement featuring Toyota Belta/Vios