Toyota Innova can carry 7 people and climb steep passes, is it "delicious"?

Toyota Innova is designed to carry the most people with maximum comfort for each passenger in the car. So how does this car perform in the challenge of carrying 7 people on a mountain pass?

After 12 years of presence in Vietnam, Toyota Innova has been proving its position as one of the most popular MPV multi-purpose vehicles on the market. Toyota Innova continuously sets and breaks sales records with cumulative sales over 12 years reaching over 120,000 units, approximately 80% of the multi-purpose vehicle market share. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand that Toyota Innova has become “the car for every family”, ready to roll across the country’s roads.

We already know the strengths of Toyota Innova. With proven advantages such as spacious interior, smooth experience and low operating costs, Toyota Innova is always a car model trusted by individual customers, both old and new cars. Just scroll through used car sales sites and you’ll see how well the Innova holds its value compared to competing models. It can be seen that if you need a 7-seat car and need a durable car that maintains its price, Toyota Innova is always an optimal choice.

We reviewed the Toyota Innova Venturer in detail during a trip to Hoa Binh not long ago. With a 5-person experience group, the Innova can still serve the needs of carrying many people in the car and overcoming steep passes in a relatively convincing way. However, many readers still wonder whether with 7 people and belongings in the car, the Innova is “out of breath”. That is the question that today, the experience group and I will find the answer through a similar journey. The destination of the test with the Toyota Innova Venturer was Moc Chau, a great place to avoid the heat about 200 kilometers from Hanoi.

Moc Chau is a mountainous, highland and border district, located in the Southeast of Son La province, 180 km Northwest of Hanoi. Moc Chau Plateau has a large area with cool climate conditions and a convenient location, close enough for guests to come, far enough for guests to stay; The ecosystem is diverse, especially the steppe region with beautiful landscapes (grasslands, flower gardens), temperate climate, with scenic spots like Ngu Dong Ban On, Dai Yem waterfall, Pha Luong peak, pine forest ecological lake in Ang village, tea hills, peach gardens, plum gardens, dairy farms…

Currently, Moc Chau is one of the most attractive tourist destinations in the North with hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. From Hanoi, you can go to Moc Chau by personal vehicle with a travel time of about 5-6 hours depending on weather conditions. However, the goal of today’s experience is not to “go out” but we will discover whether with the need to travel to steep mountain passes with 7 people in the car, whether the Toyota Innova Venturer has enough power to conquer steep passes or not.

Let’s take a look at the highlights of the Innova Venturer version before we start our journey. Venturer is the most fashionable and youthful version in the Innova product range with very different exterior highlights. The set of 16-inch wheels painted in matte black, front and rear bumper panels mixed with black, glossy chrome and a black panel connecting the two taillights also make the Venturer more youthful and eye-catching than the most advanced 2.0V version.

Inside the interior, Toyota Innova Venturer still maintains the practical, fully equipped design style like other Innova versions. The seating system for the new Venturer version is covered with felt in all 8 seating positions. Personally, I find the felt material to be softer than the Innova G and E versions, and the patterns on the seat surface are also more beautiful. All seats of the Innova Venturer are mechanically adjustable: 6-way mechanically adjustable driver’s seat, 4-way mechanically adjustable driver’s side seat. The second row of seats is 4-way mechanically adjustable and has a folding ratio of 60:40. Finally, the third row of seats can be folded 50:50 and folded to the sides. With a smart and scientific seat folding mechanism, when needing to transport goods, users can completely fold the 2nd or 3rd row of seats to increase storage capacity or adjust to suit the intended use.

On this trip, the experience group includes 7 people, including 1 guest family with 2 parents and 3 children of different ages. The first thing that young people (from 6 to 16 years old) find interesting when stepping into the Toyota Innova Venturer is the interior decorative lighting system with soft blue light mounted on the ceiling. This is the detail that Innova Venturer shares with the highest-end 2.0V version, and is what creates the difference between Innova and other MPV models in the same segment.

Another equipment that quickly received praise from the guests’ families were two plastic tables for passengers sitting in the second row. These tables can be collapsed into the back of the front seat and have a load capacity of up to 10 kg, enough to hold snacks on long trips. Not only that, the water tank is also integrated, suitable for holding half-liter water bottles or regular-sized thermos bottles.

Besides the small but useful utilities, the highlight of the Venturer version is the safety equipment. Besides the Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Emergency Brake Assist System (BA) and Electronic Brake Force Distribution System (EBD), Innova Venturer is also equipped with many outstanding safety features such as Electronic Stability System (VSC), Hill Start Assist (HAC), reversing camera, 7 airbags and 2 reversing sensors at the rear of the car.

And yet, the strength of Toyota in general and the Innova car line in particular is the support of third parties. Customers can easily add the equipment they feel necessary at many car toy stores nationwide. The car in the article is equipped with a sports body panel, Android central screen, 2 screens mounted behind the front seat headrests, panoramic camera and many other amenities.

Currently, the most optimal route to Moc Chau is to go through Hoa Lac – Hoa Binh highway instead of taking Highway 6 from Xuan Mai as before. This highway shortens 20 km compared to the old road and with the current design speed of 80 km/h, you will shorten your travel time by nearly 1 hour compared to traveling on Xuan Mai road. Therefore, you can drive continuously for 100 km before stopping at Thung Khe Pass, also known as White Rock Pass.

This road is not very difficult, so I “volunteered” to sit and experience the third row before driving the more difficult section of White Stone Pass – Moc Chau. Since we plan to go out with 7 people, the things we bring must be very compact. However, the Innova Venturer can still accommodate 2 medium-sized suitcases, 1 backpack and a few other small items even when the third row of seats is installed with a comfortable backrest.

I am 1m7 tall and traveling nearly 100 km in the back seat of the car is not too difficult: the back of the seat reclines just enough to not strain my back, my legs still stretch comfortably and the air conditioner reserved for my seat is still cool. Personally, I like the arrangement of air vents for each row of seats of Innova more than Mitsubishi Xpander. Not only the air conditioning vents, but other utilities on the Innova Venturer are also very good. It has a spacious armrest, comfortable head space and one more interesting little thing: the cup holder of the third row of seats has air conditioning, helping to keep drinks cool throughout the journey. If I have a hot drink, I can turn off the cold air with a switch. This is a very small detail but useful for those who regularly carry 7 people in the car. Furthermore, with a chassis shared with the Hilux pickup truck, the Toyota Innova Venturer can confidently carry 7 people without the “sagging tail” like some MPVs with sedan-derived chassis.

After stopping at White Stone Pass, we continued on our way to the pine forest of Ang village in Moc Chau, with me directly driving. Similar to other Innova versions, Toyota Innova Venturer also uses a gasoline engine, dual VVT-i, 4 cylinders in line, 2.0L capacity, 16 DOHC valves producing a maximum capacity of 137 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and 183 Nm of torque at 4,000 rpm. Power is transmitted through a 6-speed automatic transmission.

Turn on Power Mode, the 2.0L engine roars clearly after each decisive step on the accelerator. Because I’m carrying a full load (7 people + gear) and the car itself is not light in weight, it’s hard to use words like “light, flexible, loading” to describe my experience with the Innova when climbing the pass. However, if I carefully observe the road ahead and proactively shift into a low gear, I can still pass other cars relatively safely and quickly. The feeling of the oil-assisted steering wheel is relatively real and sturdy enough, although many people who are used to driving small cars will feel that the Innova’s steering wheel is heavier than they would like.

The soundproofing ability of Toyota Innova is relatively good, of course except for the sound of the engine reverberating into the cabin when accelerating. When traveling on the road and playing some gentle music, wind and tire noise are something you almost don’t feel. Another plus point is the car’s smoothness when traveling in a straight line. No matter how big the deceleration or pothole is, Innova still passes quite smoothly, of course not compared to more expensive models with more superior suspension systems. At the end of the 2-day journey with Innova, the Innova Venturer’s fuel consumption when traveling on the Hanoi – Moc Chau mountain pass was 10.4 liters/100 km, a very good number for a car carrying 7 people on steep roads.

Thus, Innova can accompany you anywhere, whether just wandering around the inner city, going on long trips to visit the countryside or traveling to the mountains. More importantly, the car still provides comfort for all 7 people on board even on any terrain.

Vi Pham (Tuoitrethudo)