Toyota Avanza: A Peculiar Opportunity

Let me begin by saying that I like the Toyota Avanza. Its compact, utilitarian, durable, economical and, in its second generation at least, very pretty. Just see the picture above, I am thouroughly in-love with its looks. Now, I must admit that I have never actually driven an Avanza, but I have ridden in one a number of times thanks to its ubiquity as a taxicab and because a friend gave me a lift in one a few times. My friend commended it for its economy and nimbleness.

So what is it with the Avanza that attracted me to it? Its very concept I suppose: Its spiritual predecessor is the Toyota Kijang, as it is known in Indonesia, or Tamaraw FX in as it is known in the Philippines. This is known as the father of the Asian Utility Vehicles (AUVs): Simple, tough, durable, practical and ubiquitous. This vehicle really took the Philippines by storm, especially since Filipinos have the habit of lugging aroung their families or barkadas whenvever they go on outings.

First generation Tamaraw FX

This AUV has since been imitated by many. Some historical AUVs were the Ford Fiera, the Mitsubishi Cimmaron etc. Current vehicles of the same type include the Mitsubishi Adventure, the Isuzu Crosswind and the Carolino Supremo. The Toyota Innova is the direct descendant of the Tamaraw FX.

From right to left: old gen Toyota Kijang, 2nd gen Toyota Avanza, Suzuki APV, old gen Toyota Kijang and 1st gen Toyota Avanza. (Note: picture was taken in Indonesia)

While it is these truck-like things that inspired the Avanza, especially with their rear wheel drive (RWD) layout, the Avanza is decidedly car-like. But it is not car-like in the sense of a cross-over, which retains front wheel drive. The Avanza is RWD, furthermore, its relatively low slung and yet its very spacious inside: you barely notice the center tunnel. It runs on wheels meant for compact sedans. Lower it by an inch or two and it should be the height of a Toyota Vios.

This Avanza was modified to ride lower and its rear was chopped and doors welded to turn it ito a lowrider pick up.

As I said in the beginning, I find the Avanza very pretty. I think it has something to do with the wheel-base, the wheels are positioned as far out of the center of the car as possible, it has no overhang: it simply looks stable to me, and very sporty. The body also has soft curves. I like the headlight and grille design. I like it a lot.

 Nice curves, minimal overhang.

In contrast, I find the second generation Toyota Vios very fat and ugly (I know people voted it as the best styled compact sedan but I just don't agree). I liked the old one better. The old one had less overhang and had gentler more feminine curves. The new one looks bigger (bigger than a small-body toyota) and has too much overhang. It just feels like Toyota are wasting interior space with this one. Its really an issue where a car company takes its compact car and with every succeeding generation, it gets bigger and more decadent. Just look at the Volkswagen Golf and the Toyota Corolla.

 Look at that overhang. It looks fat and ungainly. It looks like a cockroach.

This is the idea that I want to enunciate: The Avanza is a pretty car (it definitely looks better than the second generation Toyota Vios), its rear-wheel drive, its sturdy, practical, economical and ubiquitous. So why not use it as the underpinning of a compact, practical and utilitarian RWD sedan. All that the company has to do is lower the car, cut the roofline a little and add trunk space instead of a wagon-style rear. How hard is that? I'm fairly certain that it would look more dignified than a Toyota A86, and car tuners could go mad with it. Toyota can even make a “hot-hatch”. I would definitely pick an Avanza sedan over a Vios. This might just spark a renaissance with the rear wheel drive compact car: something that we have not seen since the Boxtype Lancer went out of production.

Will be be seeing taxis powersliding the Quezon City Memorial Circle anytime soon?

Update: 10/30/14

The Indonesians sure love their AUVs and they have gone crazy for the Avanza in ways that put Filipinos to shame.  Toyota in Indonesia recently had a contest to celebrate the Avanza in a modified form.  Apparently the contest is about finding the best modified Avanza.  The contest is called "Avanza Pop You UP!" feel free to google it and enjoy the pics.

Screenshot from Toyota Indonesia Website

Typhoon Yolanda and the Vegetable Oil Connection

I was just thinking about the plight of my countrymen in the Visayas who were hit by the supertyphoon “Yolanda”, or “Haiyan” as it is known internationally. Things are well, pretty bad down there. There has been looting, people are generally without shelter and thousands have died. Villages and even cities are cut off from government help, and there are no telecommunications and electricity.

I was like a “Zombie Apocalypse” and politicians were blaming each other and some claiming that there was a “Complete Systems Failure”. But the good news is that at least the downstream oil industry remains “deregulated”, i.e. prices of petroleum shot up.

This may not be the best place therefore, to kick-start a discussion of alternative energy, but please bear with me. After seeing all these reports, I thought to myself that if I were one of the victims of this disaster and I wanted to get out, I'd “loot” some 20 liter cans of vegetable oil, pop it into my old diesel car and off I go into the sunset.

This is not as incredible as it sounds. It is generally agreed that any old indirect injection diesel car will run on vegetable oil provided that the oil is viscous enough.

I own an old car. A 1987 Mitsubishi Pajero. It hs a 4d56 naturally aspirated diesel engine. And I've run it on vegetable oil. There's also this man who owns a similar car, converted to run on vegetable oil. His name is Chips Guevarra and he's pushing that the system be installed in Jeepneys. Pretty good idea if you ask me. Better than electric/hybrid cars and biodiesel.  Here's the official website.

The problem with electricity is the batteries. It would need to be charged, they are heavy, they tend to go flat after a few years. Hybrid cars still, technically, run on fossil fuels. The problem with biodiesel is that animal and vegetable fat would still have to be chemically altered in a process called transesterification, which uses methanol.

Straight vegetable oil on the other hand does not have those drawbacks. Once you have vegetable oil, you can just pop it into the car. You don't need to waste time and resources with transesterification. Waste vergetable oil (WVO) would be the most environmentally friendly since it just uses waste by-products. The problem is that you would have to collect the vegetable oil. I've tried, I can't get anything from fast food companies since they have standard operating procedures with oil disposal and it is rather unreliable to depend on the oil coming from family restaurants. Furthermore, you'd have to try and filter the oil to make sure that only clean oil gets to your car's injectors, anything less could clog the fuel delivery system and possibly damage the engine. In short: biodiesel – wasteful; WVO – Dirty and fiddly. Thus straight vegetable oil would be the way to go in an apocalypse where there is no price or market forces whatsoever.

Back to reality. If there has been a breakdown in law and order and theres no more fuel, I'd loot some vegetable oil use it as fuel and just go. I'm honestly surprised that nobody there has tried it.