It may seem like the latest generation Toyota Estima (also known as the Previa and the Tarago) has just been launched, but Toyota has quickly given it a facelift to keep it fresh, and hopefully keep the showrooms busy. With the facelift, Toyota seems to have completely changed the shape of the headlamps to ones that point downwards compared to the outgoing model which curve upwards a little towards the center of the grille. Nothing much has changed on the rear though.
Two engines are available – an inline-4 and a V6. The baseline inline-4 version is powered by the 2.4 liter 2AZ-FE producing 170 PS at 6,000rpm and 223Nm of torque. The larger of the two engines is the 3.5 liter BEAMS Dual VVT-i 2GR-FE engine producing 280 PS at 6,200rpm and 344Nm of torque at 4,700rpm. The inline-4 gets a Super CVT-i transmission while the V6 gets a 6-speed Super ECT automatic.
The Estima has some interesting gadgets to help drivers control its bulk. One is Lane-Keep Assist (LKA) which detects the lane markers on the road and takes control of the electric power steering to keep the car on course. The Adaptive Front-Lighting System low beam headlamp also swivels according to steering position to help light up the upcoming road around a bend.
Hill assist will automatically apply the brakes for you when you move from a stop on an incline to stop the car from rolling back. Finally, S-VSC is an enhancement from the regular VSC system which uses the electric power steering to apply appropriate steering torque to help stabilize the car.
