Chevrolet Sail versus Toyota Etios Liva, comparison

The Sail hatchback Chevrolet had unveiled at the 2012 Delhi Auto Expo is slated for a mid-2012 launch. It looks like a promising car. But will face some stiff competition in the market, here we pit it against the Toyota Etios Liva small car to see which one is more lucrative.

Upcoming Chevrolet Sail versus the Toyota Etios Liva!

Toyota had launched the Liva small car, last year. It is a practical hatchback with good amount of space. The Liva has been priced competitively and its sales have been around 4,000 plus units for the past three months.

Driving and Handling

The Sail is expected to be powered by a 1.2-litre petrol motor as in the Chevrolet Beat that puts out 80 bhp of power. The diesel version is expected to be powered by a 1.3-litre diesel motor which is GM’s version of Fiat’s Multijet motor. The Sail diesel can be expected to offer commendable fuel economy.

The Liva is powered by a 1.2-litre petrol motor that puts out 79 bhp of power and 104 Nm of torque. The lightweight of the Liva allows it to accelerate quickly, but it is not a fun car to drive in the city since the gear ratios are tuned in the interest of fuel economy. The Liva diesel is powered by 1.4-litre D-4D motor that puts out 68 bhp of power and 170 Nm of torque. The Liva diesel, with its linear torque delivery and good fuel economy seems more attractive.

When it comes to handling, the Liva is a decent handler too with impressive straight line stability and confidence-inspiring brakes. Before we can pass a judgement on the Sail, we have to take it for a proper road test. Overall the Sail may be a close on the Liva’s heels in terms of drivability.

Space and Comfort

The Liva measures 3,775 x 1,695 x 1,510 mm (length x width x height) and has a wheelbase of 2,460 mm. The Sail, on the other hand, measures 3,947 x 1,690 x 1,503 mm and has a wheelbase of 2,465 mm. The slightly longer wheelbase suggests that the Sail may offer more legroom for the rear passengers than the Liva. The boot space in Liva in 251 litres while that of the Sail is 248 litres, hence, no winner here.

The Liva offers adequate space in the front and the rear, thanks to the thin seats and intelligent packaging that offer more knee room. The seats provide good all round support and occupants will not complaint in both city runabouts and during long drives. The Sail is also expected to come with large interiors space, but we have to wait till its launch, to know if it can better the interior space of the Liva. Overall, we feel, both cars offer adequate interior space for four passengers and can adjust a fifth person as well.

Looks

The Liva has conventional headlamps, a smiling radiator grille and round fog lamps pushed to extreme corners of the front bumper. The side profile has mildly rising shoulder line and large glass house area. The Liva’s rear has beautiful tail lamp cluster and a thick horizontal chrome strip running across the boot door.

The Sail, on the other hand, gets Chevrolet’s bowtie grille as seen in the Beat and the Cruze. It has side swept headlamps and a clean side profile with almost flat shoulder line. The rear of the Sail resembles the Ford Figo and the Fiat Punto due to its high mounted tail lamps.

Both the cars have neutral styling and may equally appeal to potential customers.

Price, mileage and overall VFM

The Toyota Liva is priced in the range of Rs. 3.99 lakh – 5.99 lakh for the petrol version and Rs. 5.54 lakh – 5.84 lakh for the diesel version. The Sail is expected to be priced starting slightly less than Rs. 4 lakh and may go up to Rs.6 lakh for the top-end version.

Mileage wise, the Liva has ARAI-certified mileage of 18.31 kmpl for the petrol version and 23.59 kmpl for the diesel version. The Sail is expected to return a mileage in the range of 17-22 kmpl.

Overall, the Sail may have a slight advantage over the Liva, in terms of interior space. But in other aspects such as looks, performance and mileage, both the cars may be competent with each other.