The Engine is Beating

After a visit to Toyota showroom, I felt that Toyota Rush is just a little bit bigger than Perodua Kembara. I have sat into both of these cars before and both of them gave me the same kind of feeling. It is quite tight in the interior. To me, I will categorized it into a mini SUV if compare to other SUV such as Nissan X-trail or Honda CRV. I heard that this SUV is using the same platform with Toyota Avanza. But I don’t know how true the fact is.

There are no test drive unit available yet by the time of writting this blog. According to the Toyota salesperson, I may need to wait for another 2 weeks in order to get a test drive. There are 3 variants for this Toyota Rush, 1.5G M/T, 1.5G A/T and 1.5S A/T which is the top model.

When the salesperson told me that only 2 airbags are available in the 1.5S version, this makes me feel a little disappointed because both 1.5G A/T and M/T only have 1 airbags. With a price tag of above RM 80K, I think 2 airbags safety features is a must and should be compulsary. Our second national car which is MyVi, also provide 2 airbags. I guess Toyota want to reduce its cost for this SUV which is imported (CBU).

Don’t be confuse that this SUV is a 4WD. It is a 2WD machine with a drivetrain at the rear wheels and not front wheels like our normal sedan cars. Thus, the power produce might be good from my experience. Why did I say so? If the drivetrain is at the front wheels, that means the engine is “pulling” the car all the while. In contrast, if the drivetrain is at the rear wheels, it is “pushing” the car forward. Pushing a car forward is much easier than pulling a car forward. You can imagine this by pushing and pulling a table.

It is good that to have a 2wd for this version instead of 4wd. Because it can save fuel consumption. According to the salesperson, the fuel consumption for this SUV is around RM 0.16 - 0.17 km/l. If this figure is true, I can say that the FC is really good because this SUV is 1200++ kg in weight with 16 inch rim. The projector headlamp and power retractable wing mirrors are only available to 1.5S model only. That means you need to pay more than RM 90K to have that!

Pop open the hood and you will be greeted by an In-line 4-Cylinder DOHC VVT-i engine with a max output of 109PS / 6000rpm and max torque of 141Nm / 4400 rpm. The value shows that the peformance is adequate enough for a normal city drive. Going up Genting Highlands should be no problem at all.

In-line 4-Cylinder DOHC VVT-i

What I like about this SUV is the seating arrange mode. It actually has 4 types of seating mode which are 7-seater mode, Space mode, Long Space mode and Relax mode. All these modes are set by folding down the second and third row seats. By changing the modes to Long Space Mode, you can fit in extra long items inside the SUV. If you wish to pack all your friends or family members in one go, you can change the mode to 7-seater mode.

The price:

• RUSH 1.5G M/T - RM 85,888.00
• RUSH 1.5G A/T - RM 88,888.00
• RUSH 1.5S A/T - RM 94,888.00

* All prices shown above are inclusive of insurance. On the road price.

I hope that after 2 weeks, I can have a test drive unit to review. Below are more of the photos of Toyota Rush. Enjoy!