My 2022 Toyota Innova Crysta ZX | Ownership Review | Upgrading from a Mahindra Xylo E8

This post is a summary of mildly interesting events that started with Aadhaar update and led to purchase a new Innova Crysta Z AT.

For the record. I bought my Innova Crysta in 2022, but I was not able to finish writing the purchase experience and review on time in 2022. After a long delay, I was able to finish in Oct 2023. So making this post - a Purchase experience summary + Review + 23K update.

This post is divided into two parts.
1. Events that led to the purchase
2. Review of the 2022 Innova Crysta Z-AT


1. THE EVENTS
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Starting from - The Xylo and us

I own(ed) a Xylo E8 mEagle - 2013 model. (Sold in 2023 March). I was a happy owner.



Xylo is big on space. Spacious for a 8 seat UV in its era.

The E8 is good on features for its time. It has ABS, Airbags, Parking sensor, Puddle lamps, chiller AC etc. The mEagle engine, which I believe is based on Bolero block, produced 112bhp/240NM. It was a relaxed engine tuned for moving a 1.7 tonne vehicle with 8 people on board. Unlike the mHawk, the younger sibling mEagle, is not a performance scorcher. It had adequate power to cruise at 100+ speeds on highways. The vehicle is mostly stable, but it will nose dive if you brake hard. The ride quality on city roads and pot hole ridden roads was average. The parts and body are well put together. I did not hear any rattles from the dash or body structure till I sold it to a Mahindra Mechanic in mid 2023.

The only gripe is the ride quality. It is bouncy. We learned to live with it.



Xylo proved to be very rain friendly. It can wade through some deep urban rain water pits without sweat (just keep the RPM right) like the 4x4s and Scorpio. Except at one occasion in Hosur, I was able through water pits successfully in all other occasions.



Xylo is a workhorse. It can haul almost any household thing and any amount of luggage. I have moved the following items in my Xylo with the last row folded forward.

1. A Top Loading Washing Machine.
2. A Bluestar Split AC unit
3. A Voltas Window AC
4. A Diwan (Middle row and last row folded)
5. A Disassembled Damro Queen size cot (Middle row and last row folded)

I am not joking. The below pic is proof. It is a Damro queen cot, dismantled and loaded into the Xylo. The photo was shot during the loading. I ensured all parts of the cot, panels etc were tightly secured before the journey started to my home town.



As a family, we liked the authority commanded by Xylo on road. While this is again an exaggeration, I have never experienced auto walas or the Bolero max pikups intimidating us in city or highway. The two wheeler folks respected our personal space by ensuring there is atleast 6 inches of gap between them and Xylo. (Just kidding)



Xylo is a good example that Mahindra can build not-so-good-looking passenger vehicles with good build quality, fairly-okay on service costs and works well till today. Till I sold my Xylo in mid 2023, it has run 1.5L kms with 70% of the run between Bangalore and Erode on highways.


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Let's move on the next part.

The Taste of Automatics

In 2014, my sister bought a Nissan Micra CVT. Micra is pretty zippy to drive even today. The CVT is pretty good and serves good till today. My sister still owns that car. After driving Micra regularly, I started inclining towards automatics. The sheer amount of convenience offered by automatics in city is phenomenal.



Around the same time, I drove my friend's BMW 3 series and was very impressed by the Torque Convertor gearbox of 3 series. ZF manufactured AT transmissions are my personal benchmark till today.

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The Conversations on Highway drives

Over the recent years, some conversations between me and my wife during our highway drives touched the subject of upgrading our car in future. Since I have an inclination towards automatics and some back pain, the discussion would touch various points about our future car with automatic transmission.

Soon we both agreed on the following points.

1. The next upgrade should be an Automatic.
2. The next upgrade should be a spacious 7 or 8 seater.
3. The next upgrade should be reliable and powerful than Xylo.

And whenever we touch upon this subject on highways, an Innova will overtake us or an Innova will be seen ahead of us or we would end up seeing an Innova soon. Some crazy coincidence. Our subconscious minds registered: The next upgrade is a new Innova.



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Timekill Experience at the Anamalais Toyota - Erode


Earlier in 2022, around January, Wifey and I were traveling to Erode.



Few Innovas crossed us. As usual, the upgrade subject came up. When I reached my home town, I thought of visiting the local Toyota showroom. Nothing significant but a timekill. That's all. The next evening, we took my sister's Nissan Micra out for a drive.

The following conversation ensued:

"Hey shall we go and check Toyota Innova?" I asked my wife.

"What? Innova? Why?" She was puzzled.

"Just a thought. We are talking about upgrading car for quite sometime. Why not go and check out the Innova?" I replied as I pressed the START button. Micra's engine came to life.

"Are you planning to buy?" She locked the seat belts on. She had curiosity in her eyes.

"Well...I don't know ... You see, I don't know if we can afford an Innova now. It was sold for 15L when we bought our Xylo in 2013. Now I read that Crysta costs closer to 24 lakhs on road."

I put the gear to D and Micra rolled on.

"24 lakhs My god. So expensive." She commented.

"Yeah. Expensive. You know? Yesterday I thought of checking out Innova just for the fun's sake. So, Let's go and kill some time". Micra picked up speed.

Wifey did not object. I know she was interested too.

Soon we reached Erode-Perundurai road and drove towards Aanamalais Toyota showroom. They are the only Toyota dealer in Erode.



We reached the showroom and the security guided us to park the car in front of the showroom. We walked in and noticed there were two Urban cruisers, one Glanza and one Innova Crysta on display in the showroom.

As we walked in, we were greeted by Vinoth. I told him, that I own a Xylo and walked in just to check the Innova Crysta interiors for some comparison. I also told him that currently I am not looking to buy an Innova and added that - even if I decide to buy an Innova Crysta, that would be in Bangalore - because that is where I work and not in Erode.

I waited for a moment to see his reaction.

He replied "No problem sir. I would be happy to show you the car". He invited us to sit in the display Innova Crysta.

"Hey interior'laam supera irukku" was my wife's first comment (In english - "Hey interiors are super").

She sat on the front passenger seat and tried adjusting the seat. Vinoth helped with seat adjustment. Meanwhile, I sat on the driver seat - with my hands on the steering wheel. Like how they show in movies, my hands touched the logo, the gear lever, the dash et al to get the feel. LOL. I liked the interiors of Innova Crysta. Though it was designed around 2016/17, the quality and feel is pretty good even today.That moment, I wished I could buy an Innova. And in reality, I do not know if I can afford such a costly MUV.

Vinoth was pretty good with all details. I liked the fact that he did not go overboard, did not bash Xylo, did not say "we are Toyota. Toyota reliability, bla bla blaah". He focused only on the product and the features we were interested in.We checked out the car. Front row, middle row and last row. We both got down.Wifey was pretty impressed. She was in all smiles.

And I? Well... I am sold already. But the practical mind of me was thinking about the ownership aspect. The cost. The loan. The EMI. The stretch. Yada yada...Out of curiosity, I asked him the on-road price of G variant with auto transmission. He quoted that it would be approximately between 23L-24L depending on the accessories we choose. I noted it. We spent another 20 minutes checking out other display cars. Throughout our stay at Anamalais Toyota, Vinoth stayed with us, explained the features and answered the questions with patience. He gave his card and asked us to contact him anytime for any help even if we are buying the car in Bangalore. I took that as a good sign. Vinoth was in all smiles from the minute we met, till we departed. He was also very professional. Even though we felt like we wasted 30-40 minutes of his time - he appeared to not think so. We thanked Vinoth and walked out.

The experience was contrary to what I experienced in Ambal Maruti, Erode during 2016. Showroom experience was 3/10. This was again contrary to the experience my friend and I experienced at Trident Hyundai, Indra Nagar Bangalore in Dec 2021. Showroom experience was 5/10.


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The Aadhaar Address Update

A month after visiting Anamalais Toyota, I had to attend a pressing matter - my aadhaar card's address update. Because of covid, I could not update my current address in Aadhaar. One of the residents in our apartment told me that a nearby ICICI bank has a Aadhaar Desk. The following friday,I visited the ICICI Bank EPIP branch near Vaidehi Hospital junction in Whitefield. I parked the scooter and noticed something was odd. Only two scooters were parked outside. The bank door was closed.



Questions ran in my brain.

"Am I visiting the branch on Sunday? Is today Sunday? Ayayo! Did I had a brain fart this morning?"

Seeing me standing in front of the closed door, the security guard walked towards me and said "Sir. aaj Good Friday. Bank Holiday". He smiled. I smiled. Then I scratched my head. Sigh.I decided to drive around Whitefield for a while, cool down and return home.

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Going to Nandi Toyota, Whitefield.

Returned to my scooter and drove for some few minutes until I saw Whitefield Nandi Toyota building. Only then I noticed they have a showroom as well. Until that moment, I assumed it was only a service center. Intrigued, I stopped for a moment. Why not go inside and ask the price of Innova Crysta. Kill some time. eh?




Till today I seriously do not know why I thought of walking in. Had I not walked in that day, I would be still driving the Xylo. I parked the scooter in the parking area and walked in. Being a bit early, the showroom was void of visitors. There was a Innova on display, and an Urban Cruiser. The showroom was actually kind of small. Not a big one like their Bommanahalli branch. I looked around. there were no personnel on the floor. Strange. I looked around again and noticed that an housekeeping guy was sitting in the extreme corner of the showroom. He noticed me, got up and walked towards me. He greeted me with a Good Morning.

I said "Good Morning. I am here to inquire some details about Innova Crysta".

He informed me that the sales team is attending the daily meeting at the first floor and requested me to take a seat and wait till one of the folks attend me. He offered Coffee/Tea. I politely refused. I sat on the chair and waited. After 5 minutes, Santosh, a sales person walked down. After the initial greetings, I informed him that I am there to check the pricing of Innova Crysta. He immediately offered me the price list and took me to the section behind the showroom where both G and Z variants were parked. He asked me to check out the cars. Though I already experienced the cars in Erode showroom, I did not mind checking out Crysta once again. As I started checking the interiors, I told him that I do not have any plans to buy a Crysta, but it is just my pure curiosity to check the price at the moment. His body language did not change hearing that. But he continued his job with smile. He explained the features, the variant details, and also asked me if I would like to go for a test-drive. I politely refused stating I do not have plans to purchase and hence, I am not interested in Test drive.

He asked about the car I am driving now. I replied that I currently own a Xylo which is almost 9 years old and serving me well. He asked me why not upgrade to a new Innova? I told him that even if I wanted to buy a new car, there are few issues like Aadhaar card address issues and things like my financial bandwidth to pay the EMI the car loan demands. He understood, but still insisted I check out the Z variant too. During the conversation Santosh offered me to bring a test drive car to my home the next day. I politely declined.

After checking out the cars at the back I asked him what would it take for a person who does not have proper address proofs to buy and register a new car in Bangalore? He suggested I can register the car in my wife's name if she has address proofs in the current address. Then it struck me. The LPG connection is in my wife's name with the current address. Santosh said, he was not sure about LPG bill. But he can check with his team and let me know if LPG bill is okay enough to register the car.

Suddenly my curiosity rose.

Santosh called his associate who handles loans. The loan guy told me that he can check with RTO team and let me know if LPG cylinder bill will be accepted as address proof to register the car. Then he told me that I would be facing an hurdle when I take a car loan in my name in bangalore, because banks need proper local address proofs in Bangalore.

My curiosity crashed.

I scratched my head again for the second time in the day. I told myself 'Okay. Without my aadhaar card updated with current address, it will be impossible to get a loan. Or, it would take a lot of effort to get a loan with other valid address proofs. Lot of time and hassle. Oh, wait, before everything else... What if I ready my address proofs, but the EMI is beyond my affordability? Okay. Let me ask these folks what would be the EMI amount first?



I asked the loan guy how much would be the EMI if I go for an automatic G variant? He got my initial down payment number, did some calculations and came up with an EMI value which was actually within my bandwidth.

My curiosity skyrocketed now.

"Well, well, well...What about the EMI if I buy the Z variant?" I asked the loan guy.

"Manual or Automatic sir?"

My Back pain thoughts came up. I replied "hmm.. Automatic".

He did the calculation and the ballpark EMI value came up. The value was little outside my comfort zone. But If I could stretch a bit, I can manage the EMI.

My brain went on overdrive now. Looks like I can buy a Crysta Z Automatic. Wow! But I decided to stop for the day and leave. Too many things in my mind. Got up and thanked them. Santosh gave me his card and asked to call him any time. He still offered me a test drive the next day. Again I declined.

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@ Home

Returned home and showed the numbers to my wife. She asked "What are you doing? Are you in plans to buy a new car now?". She took out the wet clothes from the washing machine and put in the bucket. We both walked to the balcony to hang the clothes to dry.



"I don't know. On one side it looks like I want to buy. On the other side - I don't know if I can pay the EMI"

She looked at me for a moment. "But you said the EMI is not a big stretch. Then what?"

"Well..." Suddenly my heart wanted to buy the car. But my mind was skeptical about the EMI.

She smiled. "Don't eat my head. If the EMI is manageable, just go ahead and buy the Innova. I know you love cars. Deep inside you have been wanting to buy a new one for quite sometime. Buy the Innova and be happy"

I simply looked at the hanging wet clothes and did not say anything. I walked out of the room and saw my mother sitting in the hall watching TV. I told my mother about the Innova inquiry. She was surprised and echoed my wife's words. I indulged in deep thinking with a filter coffee in my hand.

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The Test Drive, The Booking and The PDI

LOL. It feels very surprising when I recall the events that unfolded in the following days. A couple of days later I called Santosh to ask for a test drive. That's when he dropped a bomb. Toyota increased the price again. I guess it was around 60K (not sure) for the Z Innova Crysta. I sighed. I told "That's okay Santosh. Can you get me a Crysta AT to test drive tomorrow?"

"Sure sir. I will do".

I shared my Google maps coordinates to his whatsapp. Next day, true to his words, Santosh reached my apartment's guest parking lot with a white Crysta Z with an automatic transmission.



Myself and wifey hopped in and drove it through Borewell Road, Brookefield main road, Varthur Main road and then back to Borewell Road.

The ride quality was super-good compared to Xylo. Except for the space on offer, Innova Crysta excelled in everything else. The Torque convertor gearbox was pretty good and adequately responsive. It is competent, yet it is not super quick like a ZF gearbox. I found the automatic transmission is nicely tuned towards comfortable cruising. The ECO, Normal and POWER drive modes offers flexible driving modes. I liked the POWER mode above all. After we returned to our apartment, Wifey was in all smiles. She felt the Z variant interiors looked better than the G variant. The leather seats, faux wood panels etc appealed to my wife. Appealed to me as well. Seeing our bright faces Santosh was in smiles. Lead changed to Potential. Deal confirmed.

It was a no brainer then. We decided to book Innova Crysta Z Automatic. After making up my mind to buy a new Innova Crysta, I finally figured an easy way to update the address in aadhaar and did it. Aadhaar was ready in 9 days. We visited the showroom on Tamil New Year (Mid April 2022) , paid 50K and did a formal booking. I got a very small discount from the total price.

The color chosen was AvantGrade Bronze. The model was - Z with Automatic Transmission. During booking, Santosh informed that it would take usually 4-5 weeks for delivery. We agreed.

The following day, the loan papers were submitted to SBI for processing. The loan got approved in the next two days. A whatsapp group was formed by Nandi toyota that included myself, Santosh, Sales Lead, Accessories guy, Loan guy, and other relevant folks. The communication was good and prompt. The accessories list was shared to me but they did not push or nag to buy accessories. For accessories I opted for the OE side steps, OE boot mat and dealer procured PU full floor mat. In my opinion the OE accessories are way expensive though. I was okay with it. The 5th day Santosh called me and said that there were huge number of dispatches from the production plant. So I can expect my car by end of the April month itself. TBHP car sales analysis showed that Toyota dispatched close to 6K+ Innova Crystas for April. I told him to send me the VIN number. Two days later, the VIN number was shared to me. I verified the VIN and it was an April 22 manufactured car.

Once all pending payments were done and accessories were fitted, I paid a visit to their bommanahalli branch and did the PDI.




Everything was good. No issues. No scratches, No dents, No spots. I opted for a fancy number and same was arranged by their RTO guy. The cost for buying a preferential/fancy number is now 25K. I agreed to take the delivery in May 6th 2022.

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The Delivery Day - Surprise for a few

The thing is - My sister and my niece were not aware that I have booked an Innova. I wanted to reveal it as a surprise news to them later. On May 4th I called Santosh and set the delivery time between 9:30 am - 10:30 am on May 6th. After fixing the delivery day and time, I invited my Sister, my niece and my friend Peri to my home on May 6th morning. Among those three, only Peri knows that I am taking the new car delivery. My niece reached my home the night before. She was confused, like why did I invited her for a shopping around 9:30 in following morning. My sis arrived from Dharmapuri by 7:30am in a cab.

By 8:30am we finished our breakfast. Niece again asked us "This is so early. Who goes shopping around 9:00am in Bangalore?" She was quite puzzled at my super-early shopping idea.

I managed to get everyone ready and started traveling in two cabs. Looking at me booking cab, Niece asked "Why don't we take the Xylo for shopping?" I again managed to say to avoid parking issues bla bla. She did not buy any of those reasons. We hopped into the cabs soon. We reached Nandi Toyota by 9:20am and stepped out of the cabs. My sister and niece had big question marks in their face. As I exited the cab, I noticed my AvantGarde Bronze Innova was parked near the delivery bay.



"Mama, why are we here?" My niece asked me. It was time to break the suspense.

"Do you see that Bronze color Innova Crysta there?" I pointed that car.

"Yeah." She replied.

"We are taking delivery of that car today".

Her eyes widened. My sister was in shock. With puzzled faces, they followed me into the showroom. Sanotsh greeted us, and we were seated in the lounge. Once my niece and sis realised that I was not joking, they were in all smiles. SMILES.

Coffee was offered to us. There were two other cars ready to be delivered between 9:30 - 10:30. Santosh brought the files and we completed all the pending delivery formalities.



The other two cars, another Crysta and a Urban Cruiser were delivered first. And by 10:25, We received the key from their Team Lead.



We all took a customary photo



An enjoyable life moment. I presented the sales team with Sweets purchased from Anand. Peri presented me a Ganesh idol. He liked how well the delivery was handled.



After collecting the papers, we drove back to home in the new Innova Crysta Z-AT.


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Conclusion.
So that is the summary of events that led us to buy a brand new Innova Crysta Z - AT. I must agree that the show room experience in Erode and Whitefield was pleasant throughout. I am not endorsing any showroom here, nor advertising them. But I felt the sales was pretty good, if not outstanding.

Alternatives considered
None. Because, back in our minds, we knew that Innova is the next logical upgrade to Xylo. Also, only Innova matched all the 3 conditions we had.

About the Sketches
Sorry about the art quality of the sketches. I am not an artist. Also I am not very good in colors too. Those sketches are just representations/scribbling of the said moments. I tried to capture the real world elements as much as possible.


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The Review

Innova Crysta needs no introduction. It sells in huge numbers every month. The commercial and non-commercial owners vouch for it. Except a few, most of the owners are happy. Since Innova Crysta is well known to a lot of people, I will keep the review super short.


Pros
1. Good ride quality. I can cruise for hours. My family loves the ride quality.
2. Toyota's brand recall and peace of mind feeling.
3. Great diesel engine. Good power to haul 7 passengers and comfortably cruise on all type of roads.
4. Pretty decent fuel economy. I was hoping it would yield in single digits. But to my surprise - I get upto 12KMPL.
5. Pretty solid interiors, and interior quality.
6. Nice features like puddle lamp, automatic lights, ACC, chiller AC etc.
7. MID is informative. Coming from Xylo, the MID of Innova Crysta is overpowering to me.
8. Less crowded service centers.
9. The ASS is good, compared to other service centers.
10. I like the PWR button. Transforms the UV into a beast on highways. Good for occasional quick overtakes.

Cons
1. Expensive. And everyone agrees to that. But the brand value trumps. So that's okay.
2. Less Gizmos for a 32Lac UV in 2022.
3. The last of the Diesel AT generation.
4. Less space than Xylo (not a con actually)

I could not find many cons with Innova Crysta. To me, this UV is superior in many aspects.

Customary Outer view photos












Open the door, get inside and start the engine. It comes to life with the typical diesel clatter. During cold starts, you can hear the engine sounding a bit more audible for the first few kilometers.


The Ride
Innova Crysta offers a very good ride quality though it uses a Ladder on Frame architecture. Very pliant and comfortable for a UV. No wonder it is loved by almost everyone.It is far better than Xylo and most cars in the "less than 20 lakh" segment in India. Once you get used to it, you will love it. The road noise is well controlled in spite of Toyota's india specific cost-cutting I read earlier. On highways, Innova Crysta excels in offering a smooth, comfortable ride quality for long hours. In city, it again offers very pliant ride quality. Rolls over the bangalore speed breakers and pits without any complaints. My Crysta came with factory fitted Turanza rubbers. I prefer these as they are less noisy, offers better ride quality. What I heard is, the life span is less with Turanzas. Let's see.

The OE Diamond cut alloys for the Z variant is pain to maintain. More spokes and requires regular cleaning. Takes good amount of time.




The Engine Performance
The ECO, NORMAL and POWER mode offers varying degree of power modes. I use ECO mode for 95% of the time. Power Mode comes in handy in highway overtakes. My son loves the seat-push-back feel when Innova Crysta surges like a rocket in POWER mode. The engine is smooth and less noisy.



The AT Gearbox Performance
I love the AT box in my Crysta. This is my first TC box vehicle I own. Compared to the other AT's I drove, I would say this is a very good one. One can notice when the gears change, but it does not cost the performance or drive. The Torque convertor is smooth in Innova Crysta and is tuned towards comfortable cruising rather than sporty driving. The ECU does a good job of learning your driving style in ECO and POWER modes and works in tandem with the AT box to give you a great performance. Paddle shifters are totally missed here.



The Cruise control is probably the less used feature in my Crysta. I find it difficult to enjoy the cruise in BLR - CHN and BLR - SALEM highways. Only on few occasions I have used it for some 3-4 KMS. I love the convenience, but what I feel is - Cruise control is impossible to use in busy indian highways. Especially BLR - SALEM highways.



The Dashboard
Nothing much changed in 2022. The Hycross has a better dash compared to 2022 model.











Fuel Efficiency
My Innova Crysta's MID reports it offers anywhere between 11 to 12 KMPL on highways. If offers 10-11 KMPL in city traffic.
On average I find that if I fill the tank, I can drive to Erode and return to Whitefield in Bangalore, with close to 40+ KM showing as cruising range in MID.

My old Xylo excelled here - It offered 13 - 15 KMPL on highway drives and 11 KMPL in City drives.

Seat comfort
The Z variant comes with 2+2+3 configuration. The seat covers look like they are mix of genuine leather and art leather. The front row and middle row are captain seats. The third row is marketed as 3 seats by offering 3 headrests. But the 3rd row is actually two seats only. It is only good for 3 kids or 2 adults at max.







The seats offer firm cushion and comfortable seating experience. Only the driver seat gets button controlled seat adjustment feature. Navigator seat and other seats comes with manual controls only.




Ingress, Egress
My Innova Crysta offers a better ingress and egress support, compared to Xylo. The less body height allows people to comfortably climb / get in. My mother with her weak knee, find Innova to be more comfortable to get in and out.

In Car Entertainment
The ICE in Innova Crysta offers connectivity with Android Auto. I am not sure about Apple Car play. The only grouse is - to use Android Auto, your phone must be connected via the USB cable. Also Android Auto is slightly irritating to use as it "locks" UI when you try to skip tracks consecutively. I stopped using Android Auto.

The sound quality is "just okay" for every day listening. There is bass, but it is not chest thumping. It becomes boomy at high volume. The treble is okay.

The Z variant comes with 2 tweeters on door frame, and 4 speakers palces at the bottom of each door. The 7 inch display is good to view from most angles. But the resolution is just adequate for today's standards. The user interface requires a lot of learning curve to operate.







Overall - the SQ is 6/10 and User interface is 4/10.

ACC
The Z variant comes with Automatic Climate Control, and it works pretty good. Cools the cabin in no time. It worked very effectively in Chennai, Erode and Pondichery summer weather in 2023. I keep it in 26 to have a comfortable climate inside the cabin. The middle row gets a roof-top control to adjust fan speed.







Storage Space
Pretty decent boot space, to store cabin baggage sized bags and medium sized duffel bags. Anything bigger? you have to fold the seats. Or, buy a roof-top carrier. I do not think i can comfortably move a outdoor AC or Washing machine in my Crysta (as I did with my Xylo).

Service
I serviced my Crysta in Nandi Toyota-Whitefield for two times. The first service was handled by a SA who was good and very helpful. But the second service was handled by another SA who sneakily inserted 4 unwanted items in the job card. When I asked him, he sheepishly smiled and removed it. Saved a good 5K. Contradicting experience at Nandi.

The service costs are okay. I spent around 12K+ and 17K+ respectively. Not sure if this is high or normal for an Innova Crysta.

Here is another interesting experience with Nandi's Accessories. During 2022 September I enquired about upgrading the speakers as they ran some offers at that time. I asked for the 30K package, but the accessories guy was pushing me to buy a package that was close to 70K or something (JBL components + JBL sub) citing reason that their vendor has run out of stock for the 30K package. And he did not respond when I asked for customised package (Components from them, but under-seat sub from my side).

I then spent the money in purchasing a pair of ELAC Debut 6.5 bookshelf speakers and a Norge Gold 100w+100w amp. Best audio investment so far.

Overall Ownership experience
So far, the Crysta has run 23K kms. In one word, the ownership experience is "BEST" among all the cars I owned so far.

I haven't read this thread yet. I've literally only skimmed through it but the sketches are SO beautiful and at a quick glance what an awesome style of narration.

Every now and then you come across a thread that you choose not to read in a rush. They're to be savoured on a weekend over a nice cup of coffee, completely free and at leisure. This is right up there in that latter category, and duly pencilled in for the coming weekend.

Wish you a long and happy ownership experience with this and hope to see regular updates from time to time.

Cheers.

Loved reading your ownership review. Very well written and the sketching is amazing ! Brings out the exact moment when it happenned.

Enjoy your Innova and I hope you keep it for a long time. You look to be a long term holder of a vehicle.

Will keenly follow the thread for updates.

Congratulations on getting this Mile Muncher! Simply loved the narration and better late than ever, eh?

This will easily serve you for long considering our previous gen Innova served us well for 7+ years and 2.6L KM until.

We had considered the Innova Crysta in March 2023 but the only variant available was the bare bones GX and the other variants were yet to be announced and would have a waiting period of minimum 4 months. So had to skip it with a heavy heart.

I hope you have taken the Smiles Package to get some more smiles.

Your narration and sketches were so good, for a second I felt that I was watching you both from my balcony while you were hanging the wet clothes

Thank you for a wonderful review.

Amazing narration and lovely sketches. Your sketch speaks thousand words and showcasing the emotions involved. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

Amazing sketches.

It brings back my memory of buying the first car and emotions involved.....

Never expected a car review to be narrated by sketches. Excellent job.....

I would mark these lines as the understatement of the year!!

I spend more time admiring the art work than reading the thread.
The narration is also spell binding and very endearing to read, like a well made movie.

What medium is the art work on?

...and before I forget, happy motoring!

Thanks for a wonderful morning read. I really loved walking through your story as if it is mine.

And congratulations of the amazing steed you got, man! Many smiles and miles with the Crysta.

I will try to be honest without meaning any disrespect. On seeing the headline my first thought was 'Why are people crazy about Innova'. But as I kept going through your post there was a wee smile on my face. Your narration and sketches (they are very good), and the surprise you gave to your family were all so heartwarming. It may sound clichéd, but all my cynicism vanished in a moment because of your post.

Hearty congratulations on your new car, wishing you lakhs of pleasant and stress free KMs ahead. Take care and drive safe.

Ignore the decision, Ignore the review, in fact Ignore the Innova itself, THOSE SKETCHES!! Man I was looking at each of the sketches for 5 minutes, what a talent you have, beautifully done!! Looking for more, please do more sketches then add some some auto posts related to it and just POST.. waiting to enjoy it!!

Friend. That felt like reading a great middle class related short story with beautiful illustrations. All the characters are good and come and go at great moments in the story. Hats off. I get emotional very easy and had some humid eyes.

Also, Hope you enjoy your Crysta for a very long time.

You sketch beautifully, Rajesh. You also have a lot of skill in putting a narrative together. Have you ever put sketches together in a story format before you made this post?