UMW Toyota Motor Sdn Bhd (UMWT) has reported impressive sales figures for September 2024, with approximately 7,700 units sold, bringing the year-to-date (YTD) total to over 72,000 units. This sustained growth highlights UMWT’s strong standing in the Malaysian automotive market, driven by its reliable and innovative vehicle lineup.
The Toyota Vios, Hilux, and Corolla Cross led the sales, accounting for 69% of units sold, underscoring the trust Malaysian consumers place in Toyota for quality, durability, and performance. These models cater to a wide range of customer needs, from urban commutes to off-road adventures.
Datuk Ravindran K., President of UMW Toyota Motor, expressed his satisfaction with the results, attributing the success to the loyalty of customers and the strength of Toyota’s product offerings. He reaffirmed the company’s commitment to delivering value and innovation to meet Malaysian consumers’ evolving demands.
Seorang ibu tunggal mengalami masalah besar apabila Toyota Vios terpakainya rosak hanya seminggu selepas pembelian. Berikut adalah isu utama yang dialaminya dan langkah-langkah untuk mengelakkan masalah serupa:
Isu yang Dihadapi:
Salah Nyata Tahun Model:
Masalah: Kereta didakwa sebagai model 2014 tetapi sebenarnya model 2013.
Langkah Pencegahan: Sentiasa sahkan tahun pembuatan kenderaan melalui dokumen rasmi seperti geran kenderaan atau dengan memeriksa plat nombor VIN (Vehicle Identification Number).
Kekurangan Waranti:
Masalah: Penjual menolak tanggungjawab selepas jualan, tiada waranti.
Langkah Pencegahan: Pastikan anda mendapatkan waranti bertulis yang jelas menyatakan tempoh dan syarat perlindungan.
Yuran dan Kadar Faedah Tinggi:
Masalah: Penjual mengenakan yuran yang terlalu tinggi dan kadar faedah yang tinggi.
Langkah Pencegahan: Sahkan dan rundingkan semua yuran dan terma pembiayaan sebelum menandatangani perjanjian. Bandingkan kadar faedah dengan pelbagai institusi kewangan.
A recent case involved a single mother who was scammed when her used Toyota Vios broke down a week after purchase. Here’s what went wrong and how to avoid similar issues:
Misrepresentation: The car was claimed to be a 2014 model but was actually a 2013 model. Always verify the vehicle’s year of manufacture.
Lack of Warranty: The seller refused responsibility after the sale. Always ensure you have a written warranty.
High Fees and Interest Rates: The seller imposed exorbitant fees and a high-interest rate. Verify and negotiate all fees and financing terms before signing.
The Malaysian b-segment market is never short of drama. Manufacturers are consistently trying to outdo each other, but amidst all of that outdoing, it is the consumer that always wins. The segment consists of big names like the Honda City, Toyota Vios, Nissan Almera and even the Proton Persona.
But it is fair to say that the most popular are the City and the Vios. While Honda and Toyota are always outdoing each other, we are getting ever better cars.
The Vios is currently in its fourth-generation while the City has been around since the early 80s and is currently in its seventh generation. Over all that time, both have evolved to be mighty fine cars.
UMW Toyota Motors introduced the new Vios earlier this year to much fanfare. Sales have been brisk, but that’s unsurprising considering its popularity.
The City too is the other de facto go to model for those who want practicality and reliability. It is now bigger than ever, and with a recently introduced facelift, it may not be an all-new model like the Vios, but it has everything the Vios has and is arguably better to drive.
In terms of pricing, the Honda City RS petrol costs RM99,900 while the Toyota Vios is priced at RM95,500. However, Honda provides free labour up to five times within 100,00km or five years[NTSF(1] , while Toyota charges an additional RM3,220 for a five-year or 100,000km free service package. If you opt for the service package, that would bring the price of the Toyota close to the City.
So, which should you spend your money on? We dissect the two cars and bring you our opinion on which would be worth your money:
Engine:
Beginning with what matters most, both cars are powered by a 1.5-litre naturally-aspirated engine. The Honda has offers its i-VTEC technology to make accessible power, while Toyota has its D-VVTi.
However, the Vios is down on power as compared to the City. The Vios produces 106PS and 138Nm, while the City offers 121PS and 145Nm. The difference may not seem that much but this is felt the most during acceleration where the City feels more eager to get up to speed.
As far as efficiency goes, both cars have 40-litre fuel tanks and are capable of providing about 500km of range on a full tank.
Drive:
Again, both cars ride on identical suspension set ups, MacPherson struts up front and a torsion beam at the rear.
Both do excellent jobs at keeping occupants detached from the horrors of the roads underneath them. However, in terms of handling, the City feels more alive and is quicker to oblige every turn of the steering wheel. The steering feel of the Vios feels more muted and heavy. If you are into keen on more agile and responsive handling, you will appreciate the City.
In terms of braking, both also have the same set up – solid discs all around.
Design:
This is always subjective, but it is the Vios that has the freshest design between the two. The City has gone through several facelifts and now offers a bolder grille and sportier bumpers. However, the overall silhouette remains the same.
Toyota was keen to talk about the sportback design of the Vios when it was launched early this year. It adds character to the Toyota whose designs have always been safe and unadventurous (remember the dugong?).
But the sportback design comes at a price. Because the rear of the roofline drops dramatically into the a-pillar, this ultimately sacrifices headroom for rear passengers. Anyone above 180cm will be scrapping the top of his head against the roof liner. This ultimately results in the City having a more spacious interior.
Interior:
Building on the topic of interior spaciousness, the City does it better again. This time, the culprit is the centre console, where the gear lever and handbrake are placed.
The centre console of the Vios is simply too high as compared to the City. This results in narrower foot wells for the driver and front passenger, so you sit with your legs closer together than you would in the City. This may not affect shorter people, but if you’re tall, you may find that this limits legroom.
The taller shoulder line of the Vios also makes the windows smaller, especially at the rear. This means that there is not as much light that is fed back into the cabin, making it seem as if it were smaller than the City.
Both cars offer leather clad interiors while the seats in the Honda offer better padding, making them more comfortable, especially over longer distances.
There are no complaints about quality though as both have impressive interior builds.
Rear passengers will appreciate the fact that they have their own air-conditioning vents, as well as two USB ports.
Tech:
Both cars are also almost identical in terms of the tech and features they have to offer.
Inside, both come with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. For audiophiles, there are six speakers in the Vios and eight in the Honda. However, it is the Vios that has a bigger infotainment system, but at nine inches, it is only an inch bigger and not quite a deal breaker.
As for booth space, the Vios has a surprisingly smaller booth. At 470-litres, it is down on the Honda’s 519-litres. Before you begin to think that the difference is minuscule, that 49 litres makes the difference between space for a backpack or none.
Onto the safety front, where both cars are once again nearly identical. The City comes packed with Honda’s SENSING while the Vios features Toyota’s Safety Suite.
Both are essentially a collection of various systems that combine to enhance safety in all situations. Both offer Lane Departure Warning, Lane Keep Assist, Forward Collision Warning, Collision Mitigation Braking System, Adaptive Cruise Control, Auto High Beam and Lead Car Departure Notification System.
Building on that is the fact that both cars are also evenly matched when it comes to active safety systems as both have six airbags, vehicle stability assist, ABS, electronic brakeforce distribution, brake assist and more.
Conclusion:
The fact that both cars are so evenly matched makes it difficult to choose one or another. At this point, it is just a matter of branding, which brand are you fonder of? But if there is one thing that truly makes a difference, it is interior space.
Hoping from the Vios into the City, the difference is jarring. The interior of the City feels a lot more bigger than the Vios and the seats are more comfortable as well. That point alone would have done it for us, but the City also runs on smaller 16-inch wheels as compared to the 17-inch wheels on the Vios.
A quick check online revealed that cheapest 16-inch tyre from Goodyear costs RM262 per piece, while 17-inch tyres cost RM351. Assuming you will need to change all four tyres, the tyres for the Honda will cost you RM1,048 while the Vios will set you back RM1,404. The savings of RM356 will give you about four full tanks of petrol.
But that aside, the interior spaciousness, comfort, and the fact that it has a bigger booth makes the Honda City our choice between the two.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) Festival has undoubtedly cemented its reputation as the premiere one make race series in Malaysia. Over six seasons, TGR has provided fans with thrilling wheel to wheel racing where professionals, celebrities as well as amateur drivers compete to be crowned champion of the series at the end of the season.
The series requires teams to compete in a race spec Toyota Vios with all cars having the same state of tune. To level the playing field, drivers who are particularly quick are required to have weight ballasts that slow down their cars.
In the six seasons of racing, the Toyota Vios has been the mainstay of the series. Teams fork out about RM100,000 to buy a race prepared Toyota Vios and this also gives the access to two seasons of racing.
As season six draws to a close, UMW Toyota Motors took the opportunity to officially unveil next season’s race car.
Based on the latest generation Toyota Vios, the new race car shares the same concept as the old – with a stripped out interior and a six-point roll cage that not only offers safety for the driver but also adds stiffness to the car that gives it more agile handling.
Besides the roll cage, the new Vios also sports a new platform that adds further rigidity. This combined with new aerodynamic enhancements make the Vios more planted in corners, improves responsiveness and also provides faster lap times as compared to the previous generation race car.
The new Vios challenger is still powered by the same 1.5-litre engine producing 106PS and 138Nm of torque. The power figures are the same as the street car but the biggest difference is the transmission. While the road going model uses a CVT gearbox, the race car sends power to the front wheels through a 5-speed manual transmission.
The Vios also includes a new race exhaust manifold, exhaust mid-section and muffler, a limited slip differential and race tuned suspension.
Season seven of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Festival will continue next year and interested parties can get in touch with the management of the series at 60163673300.
The complete list of modifications to the Toyota Vios is offered in the table below:
A father survived but unfortunately, his 26-year-old son was killed in a collision on Friday morning on the North-South Expressway.
According to Rembau District Police Chief Deputy Superintendent Hazri Mohamad, initial investigations report that two cars collided before one of them skidded and slammed another vehicle.
UMW Toyota Motor has officially launched the all-new 4th generation Toyota Vios with two variants – Vios 1.5G and Vios 1.5E. The prices (without insurance) are RM95,500 and RM89,600, respectively. Since order-taking began February 24, over 5,000 orders have been received nationwide. These will join the more than 505,000 units that have been sold over the previous 3 generations since 2003.
As before, there’s only a 1.5-litre 4-cylinder Dual VVT-i engine with an output of 104 ps/138 Nm. The automatic transmission (no manual choice now) is a new 7-speed CVT with Shiftmatic manual selection. Paddle shifters are available in the Vios 1.5G and there are 4 driving modes to suit different driving preferences and conditions.
Reliable, fuss free, efficient and comfortable, the Vios has been the choice of the Malaysian middle-class since it was first introduced in 2003.
It is almost impossible to fault the Vios but if it had to be brought up then the second-generation “Vios Dugong” that received the most heat for the way it looked.
But in all fairness, pareidolia is the last thing car designers consider when coming up with a new design. Fair play to Malaysians though, we are the best at coming up with imagining things and coming up with car names – ‘Civic Mayat’, anyone?
So there is no denying that the Vios is hugely popular, Toyota Malaysia says over 505,000 units have been sold since the early 2000s.
But the Vios was quickly becoming stale and many started to ponder whether Toyota was even serious about continuing to produce the Vios. It’s not often that car makers push a model over five years without an update, but Toyota had milked the third-generation Vios for nine whole years before the new fourth-generation model was introduced in Thailand towards the tail end of 2022.
Now that the new Vios is here, the spotlight will undoubtedly will be on it. But the new Vios is prepared to shine, it is well-prepared to even steal the spotlight from its competitors in some aspects because there are some things that it does better than even the likes of the much loved fifth-generation Honda City.
But there’s so much that is new, we decided to break it down to bite sized nuggets of information for you:
Design
This is definitely the most obvious thing but the new design (which to some eyes happen to look like a compressed Camry) is not just visual, but it’s also functional as well. Take the front bumper with aerodynamic wings (or curtains) at either end, finished in gloss black. These are not just for visual drama but are there to improve aerodynamic efficiency and reduce drag as the car slices through the air. Toyota also says that it works to cool the brakes as well. And to ensure that bystanders that are curious enough to look closer know what they are for, the words Vortex Generators are boldly printed on them.
The rear of the car looks like it was perhaps inspired by a 3-Series or even a Honda City, though that is up for debate. However the rear diffuser is also said to be functional and has “flat-ish” under body rear tray that perhaps aids aerodynamics as well. We were also told that the gloss-black aerodynamic wings at either end of the rear bumper are said to channel air away from the car rather than letting it swirl at the edges of the bumper. Supposedly to reduce drag and reduce noise that may intrude back into the cabin.
It has grown in size
The new Vios is based on the new Daihatsu New Global Architecture (DNGA), and is a product of a Toyota-Daihatsu collaboration called the ‘Emerging-Market Compact Car Company’ (EMCC). This is an internal company, and for those not in the know, Toyota is the parent company of Daihatsu.
Now that we have those details aside, the Vios’s underpinnings means that the car is now 5mm longer, 10mm wider, 5mm taller and more importantly, the wheelbase of the Vios has grown by 70mm.
The increase in size is quite clear to see with the new design clearly making the car look much bigger.
Fast-Back Design
It may sound like a stretch for Toyota to use that word on a Vios, but that swooping rear roof line is what inspired the adoption of that monicker. And in all honesty, the design of the new Vios looks fantastic. It is the single biggest leap forward for the all-new Vios and as far as first impressions go, it had us at Hello!
But that Fast-Back design which Toyota so loves to talk about comes at a cost, and unfortunately the head room and overall feel in the back takes a beating. Because of the way the roof sweeps down, there’s hardly any headroom for anyone taller than 178cm and the windows seem a little smaller than before and this sacrifices the amount of light that gets into the back cabin, making it feel smaller.
But the quality is amazing!
We drove the top of the line G-spec that comes with all the goodies and a full leather interior and it is just WOW! The design is fantastic and there’s soft touch plastics everywhere and the plush leather covers the dashboard, the door panels, the raised centre console and even the sides of the console where your knees rest.
Current Toyota Veloz owners will recognise the interior but that’s not a bad thing.
The switches and buttons are from the Toyota/Daihatsu parts bin
And yes even the meter panel is similar to the Myvi. Remember the EMCC company we mentioned earlier in this article? Well that’s the by-product of having one company produce a diverse range of models, you can’t run away from the parts sharing.
So the air-conditioning dials are from the Veloz as is the steering wheel. The switches too. The meter panel too is similar to the Myvi and Axia, which to some might be a deal breaker. So the only way around that is to not get inside a Myvi or an Axia.
It is loaded with features!
The new Vios is undoubtedly going to give its competitors a hard time and that’s not just because of its looks and quality and the fact that it’s a Toyota.
It comes with WIRELESS Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which is a first for its segment. To complement that it also comes with a wireless charge pad for added convenience.
Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) is amazing and always handy especially during long distance drives. It also comes with Lane Keep Assist and Lane Departure Warning – as annoying as those features can be, they work great with the ACC.
Front Departure Alert is one of the most underrated pieces of technology in a car. How many times have you been stuck behind a car or held up traffic just because the driver ahead or you were too busy scrolling through Facebook? This feature is for you! It alerts you when the front car has driven off so you never hold up traffic again.
Safety is the name of the game
This is probably the most cliche part of this article but it is true and essential for the people that buy the Vios – young college go-ers, first car buyers, young parents, retirees. The Vios comes packed with six airbags and the Toyota Safety Sense (TSS).
TSS alone offers seven different technologies to keep occupants safe and that does not yet include passive safety features.
The car is lighter and more rigid
Achieved by using that DNGA platform, the car weighs in at a full 110kg lighter. And though it may be down on power when compared to the Honda City, it actually has the same acceleration figure because it is much lighter.
The chassis is also stiffer than before making the car safer. This also gives it a nimbler feel and that is felt through the steering wheel that reacts to every input.
Same powertrain!
Well, almost the same powertrain – at 106hp and 138Nm of torque, the new Vios is slightly down on power compared to the model it replaces.
But there’s a new D-CVT gearbox that uses a single pulley and dual gears to offer seven virtual gears (the technical details warrant an article by itself).
The new gearbox makes the car more economical yet gives it a spirited feel during acceleration simply because it is lighter.
There’s only one USB slot at the front
Yes that’s quite a bummer but Toyota is only offering a single USB slot up front and that too in the housing of the 9-inch touchscreen which makes it feel like an afterthought.
Toyota’s engineers from Japan were available for questions and we did ask them why they only offered one USB port.
Besides pointing towards market research results and the fact that there is a wireless charge pad, they also say that too many USB ports tend to clutter the area which makes it too messy and dangerous even.
There are two USB ports at the back though, one Type C and one Type A.
Oh, and we love the fact that there are cupholder built into the dashboard and into the rear door panels, making this the perfect road trip car.
And one final detail that you should know about is the fact that the all-new Vios is quieter. Achieved through the clever use of foam technology around strategic areas (Toyota didn’t say where), Toyota also uses acoustic glass for the three front glass panels (driver, passenger and windscreen). This helps to keep the NVH levels down to an impressive level.
The Toyota Vios goes on sale on the 20th of March with only two variants being offered and a possible price tag of RM90,000 for the entry level E-Spec and RM96,000 for the top of the line G-Spec.
Back-to-back class victories in the opening 2 rounds of the Idemitsu Super Turbo Championship were a great start to young Malaysian Hayden Haikal’s international racing campaign in Thailand this year. The 18-year-old put in maximum effort as he got the job done and gave the Malaysian Wing Hin Motorsports team its first two victories on its maiden appearance in Thailand.
This is Hayden’s second year competing in Thailand, his first appearance in the Idemitsu Super Turbo Championship, and also the first time that Wing Hin Motorsports is racing in Thailand.
The countdown for the launch of the all-new Toyota Vios in Malaysia has started. Following past practice, UMW Toyota Motor (UMWT) has announced that customers can book the new model from today at all authorized Toyota dealerships nationwide. This means that the launch should take place within a month, going by the usual time-frame for most companies.
The new generation, which has been in the regional market less than a year, shows a big departure from the design language used in previous generations. Like the other new Toyota models we’ve seen in recent times, the appearance is more aggressive like the latest Camry. It also looks sportier with the fastback silhouette giving a stretched look.
