Under the hood, the Vios offers a 1.5-liter DOHC engine. The 4-cylinder with VVT-i offers up 107 bhp and 142 Nm. That’s certainly enough to haul the car’s sub-1 ton weight around town and on the highway. The four-speed automatic is a willing conspirator, shifting smoothly and responsively.
The steering feels much slower than the Echo’s, but it’s still sufficiently agile for the daily commute. This subcompact seats four in comfort, five if all are well-behaved. The tall roofline gives a good impression of a large interior volume. The Vios mimics the passenger-coddling character of its big brother Corolla. The well-tuned front strut / rear beam-axle suspension handles potholes and irregular road surfaces with aplomb. It won’t worry the Camry but it can wipe the floor with most of its rivals as far as ride is concerned.
By now, the Vios should have been swamped by its newer competitors which offer more versatile interiors, diesel engines, CVT, and various other enticements. Indeed, the Vios will have to come up with a new bag of tricks soon. Hopefully that will not be in the shape of the U.S. domestic-market Yaris sedan. For now though, the current car is still a winner, thanks to its quiet ride, solid build quality, and unobtrusive road manners.
The top-line Vios breaks the P700,000 barrier, and comes perilously close to the entry prices of a class-higher compact sedan. If you still choose a Vios, you buy something that’s not on the standard equipment list: refinement. That may sound suspiciously like paying for ambience at a swanky restaurant, but you will feel the difference. Every added ounce of sophistication is worth its weight in petroleum, and the Vios delivers several extra barrelfuls.
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| Vios 1.5G gains a driver's airbag. The passenger gets two glove boxes. There's also a storage bin to the front of the shifter. |
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| Transmission is excellent and responsive. The shifter base is also finished in chrome. |
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| Haven't I seen you before? It's the same audio system shared with the Toyota Fortuner. |
