We now have the full details of the 2013 Toyota Vios, which made it’s global debut in Thailand today. The new Toyota Vios will be on exhibit at the 2013 Bangkok Motor Show this week which we are covering live, so we’ll be back with more live photos soon.
For the 2013 model year, the new Toyota Vios comes with a fresh new exterior and interior. The new Vios looks sharper than the model it replaces, and the big gaping upside down V shaped mouth gives it’s an aggressive look. This brings the Vios in line with Toyota’s new design language for it’s sedans – we’ve also seen this look on the US market Avalon and the US market Camry.
On the front, you’ll notice that the Vios now gets projector headlamps instead of reflectors. Projector lenses are said to be better at focusing light, but most people also associate it with looking premium, which is probably the main reason Toyota gave the option for projectors on the Vios. It’s not standard on all models though – you only get the projector headlamps on the 1.5S and 1.5G models.
There’s also minimal air intake openings on the upper half of the face, presumably for aerodynamics. You can see most of the grille area between the headlamps have body coloured paint on it, with only small openings near the headlamps for air to pass thorugh. We are guessing most of the cooling will be done through the lower grille.
On the rear, there’s a big chrome bar running between the two tail lamps. The tail lamps look like they’re lit up with a bulb instead of LED. Reflectors positioned at the very edges of the lower bumper area help the car look wider. There’s a very subtle spoiler integrated into the boot shape – you can see the shape of the boot rise up above the Toyota logo. We also don’t see any key hole for the boot.
The Toyota Vios goes on sale in Thailand with a few variants. The lower end E and J models get both 5-speed manual and 4-speed auto transmissions, while the higher end G and S models are only available with a 4-speed auto.
The interior now reverts to a layout which positions the meter panel behind the steering wheel, abandoning the centre dash mounted meter panel design of the last two generations. There are two interior colours available – a black version and a beige version, which various different trim levels ranging from piano black trim to a metal lookalike trim as well as flat black trim.
On the surface, the 4-speed auto looks to be the same as the outgoing Vios down to the gear ratios. We’ll only be able to confirm if there are any changes if we get to speak to a Toyota engineer eventually when the car is launched in Malaysia.
The engine is the same 1.5 litre 1NZ-FE as well, with a 10.5:1 compression ratio producing 109 PS at 6,000rpm and 141Nm of torque at 4,200rpm. As with the outgoing Vios, the new Toyota Vios uses an EPS power steering system to save on fuel consumption. As for the car’s platform, wheelbase is unchanged at 2,550mm, the same as the outgoing Vios. The suspension system are MacPherson struts at the front and a torsion beam with stabilizer at the rear.
The new Vios is 4,410mm long, 1,700mm wide (including wing mirrors) and 1,475mm tall. The S variant does get larger tyres now – 195/50R16 compared to the status quo 185/60R15 size of the rest of the new Vios range. It has a 45 litre fuel tank and 145mm ground clearance. It remains a pretty light car – topping the cales at 1,075kg for the 1.5S Auto model, with the lightest model being 1,020kg for the 1.5J Manual.
In terms of safety features, the 2013 Toyota Vios comes standard with 2 airbags for the front driver and passenger. There is no option for 4 or 6 airbags. ABS is standard on all variants except the 1.5J Auto and 1.5J Manual models. There is no option for ESP Stability Control, an important feature that more and more of its competitors are beginning to have.
Check out our comprehensive photo gallery for multiple studio images of the new Toyota Vios, including tables explaining the differences in specs. Some of them are in Thai language though so we apologize for that. You can also check out our live photo gallery of the 2013 Toyota Vios from the show floor at Bangkok Motor Show 2013.
2013 Toyota Vios Thailand Market Prices:
- Toyota Vios 1.5S Auto – 734,000 Thai baht (RM77,625)
- Toyota Vios 1.5G Auto – 699,000 Thai baht (RM74,028)
- Toyota Vios 1.5E Auto – 649,000 Thai baht (RM68,733)
- Toyota Vios 1.5E Manual – 614,000 Thai baht (RM64,933))
- Toyota Vios 1.5J Auto – 589,000 Thai baht (RM62,289)
- Toyota Vios 1.5J Manual – 559,000 Thai baht (RM59,117)
Malaysian Ringgit prices exchange rate converted on date published.
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