Yes, it was time the game moved on. All automakers know that it's a bad idea to lose the buying public's interest - to have them saying that all cars look the same. So we've seen some gentle bumps and bulges in the norm-defying envelope as a bit of self-expression tries to break out.
The Ford Fiesta and Chevrolet Sonic, to name but two. But the trick is to be really bold and really mainstream simultaneously; to be truly outrageous with your biggest-volume product. It takes someone as big as Toyota to do that. And Toyota, after the turn of the Millenium, is not quite known to be forward-looking or edge-designing. But they're confident now that they've done exactly that.
Recently, it was goodbye the well-loved executive-like XV40 Camry and hello the edgier, younger-looking XV50 Camry. Oh dear, the public isn't quite ready yet. Now it's goodbye tedious and boring Vios, hello new, third-generation 2013 Toyota Vios. Are our streetscapes really going to look like that?
There's no danger of mistaking the new Vios for anything else. It pushes this edge business as far as it's safe to go. Further than Toyota did with the Camry softening-up exercise, but not quite as far as with the contrived and slightly overdone Lexus IS.
From the outgoing Vios it inherits enough of the rounded face not to look totally alien, but its profile and high-strutting stance are all-new for a mainstream B-segment family sedan. The cabin is just as full of lines and sweeps, and there's the newfound bump in refinement and comfort to think about, too.
The 2013 Toyota Vios has just been launched in Malaysia, and as expected, there's already a long queue at every Toyota dealership in the country. Should you join the line, though? That's what we're about to find out.
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