The local automotive industry has seen a steady growth of seven-seater vehicles. Filipino car buyers have fallen in love with the country’s long list of capable and practical nameplates, which include the Suzuki Ertiga and the Toyota Veloz.
Having a hard time deciding which vehicle to get between the two? Join us in this seven-seater showdown to find out.
The Suzuki Ertiga dons a distinct exterior styling thanks to its unique grille. On each side are halogen projector headlamps and front fog lamps. Its side profile is highlighted by 15-inch tires with mudflaps on the wheel arches as well as three-angle opening doors. At the back are large rear combination lamps and a chrome tailgate garnish — if you happen to have picked the range-topping variant.
Dimension-wise, the Suzuki Ertiga measures 4,395 millimeters (mm) long, 1,735mm wide, and 1,690mm tall. It has a wheelbase of 2,740mm and a minimum ground clearance of 180mm.
On the other hand, the Toyota Veloz adopts the styling cues of the refreshed nameplates from the Aichi-based brand. Its clear-cut lines and aggressive angles give the Toyota Veloz a more aggressive look compared to the Suzuki Ertiga, which offers a good amount of curves and contours.
At the fore of the Toyota Veloz are split-type LED headlamps, clearance lamps with an LED line guide, and front fog lamps. The side of the vehicle features LED sequential signal lights and larger 17-inch alloy wheels with overfenders. At the back are LED rear combination lamps, a back door garnish with an LED line guide, and a rear spoiler.
For its size, the Toyota Veloz is the larger of the two at 4,475mm long, 1,775mm wide, and 1,700mm tall. It also boasts a slightly longer wheelbase at 2,75mm and a higher ground clearance of 190mm.
In terms of looks and overall size, the Toyota Veloz wins over the Suzuki Ertiga. That said, we give this round to the Toyota Veloz.
Inside, the Suzuki Ertiga offers a simple and straightforward cabin. Signs that the Ertiga is a practical economy car can be seen in its practical interior appointments, which include its fabric seats, urethane steering wheel, and urethane shifter. There are also plenty of hard plastics around the cabin that makes it easy to maintain.
The instrument cluster of the Suzuki Ertiga features a combination of analog gauges and a digital trip computer. It also has an eight-inch infotainment system with Bluetooth connectivity.
As for the Toyota Veloz, it offers owners a more upmarket interior. The seats, despite being finished with fabric have trims made with synthetic leather. The steering wheel and the gear shifter are also swathed in synthetic leather material.
It has a big seven-inch thin-film-transistor (TFT) instrument cluster paired with a relatively large eight or nine-inch infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
With a suite of better interior amenities, this round goes to the Toyota Veloz.
Under the hood of the Suzuki Ertiga is a 1.5-liter gasoline engine mated to either a five-speed manual gearbox or a four-speed automatic transmission. This setup makes 103 horsepower (hp) with 138Nm of pulling power.
Not to be outdone, Toyota packed the Veloz with a similar 1.5-liter powerplant mated to a continuously variable transmission (CVT). This configuration makes as much as 104 horses with 138Nm of torque.
With both vehicles neck and neck in terms of engine performance, we call this round a tie.
When it comes to safety, the Suzuki Ertiga offers a slew of standard features like airbags, seatbelts, an anti-lock brake system (ABS), electronic brake-force distribution (EBD), rear parking sensors, and a reverse camera.
Toyota, on the other hand, equipped the Veloz with ABS, vehicle stability control (VSC), and hill start assist control (HSAC) — that’s on top of the airbags and seatbelts of course.
The range-topping Toyota Veloz also gets a blind spot monitor (BSM), rear cross-traffic alert (RCA), and the Toyota Safety Sense (TSS) suite, namely a pre-collision system (PCS), automatic high beam (AHB), and lane departure alert (LDA).
With a more robust offering of safety features, we give this round to the Toyota Veloz.
With more rounds won, the Toyota Veloz is declared the victor of this showdown. Its more aggressive look, better interior amenities, and more robust safety features make it a must for anyone looking for a daily driver or a weekend family vehicle.
The Suzuki Ertiga is offered in three variants with prices ranging from P853,000 to P1.003 million. The Toyota Veloz, on the other hand, comes in two trims priced at P1.21 million and P1.262 million.
Photos from Suzuki and Toyota
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