Toyota Passo Second Generation Detailed Review

The Toyota Passo, a 5-door subcompact hatchback, was first introduced in 2004. It is a rebranded Daihatsu Boon. The third generation of the car was launched by Daihatsu in 2016. The first generation of the Passo/Boon lasted from 2004 to 2010, and the second generation was unveiled in Japan on February 15, 2010, and lasted until 2016. The Toyota Passo was revealed in Japan on April 12, 2016.

In the past, the Toyota Passo has been available with either a 1.0 or a 1.3 liter engine. The engine is paired with a CVT gearbox and is offered in both front-wheel drive and 4-wheel drive configurations. On the other hand, the Passo’s sibling, the Boon, has been released with not only a traditional 4-speed automatic gearbox but also with a 5-speed manual gearbox. Similar to the Passo, the Boon has also been marketed with a 4-wheel drive platform. The third generation Toyota Passo is solely offered with a 1.0-liter 3-cylinder 1KR-FE engine and only in a front-wheel drive layout.
Passo car comes in loads of packages. And when I say loads, I do mean loads. Few of those packages are as follows:

X Package
X V Package
X L Package
G Package
Plus Hana Package
Plus Hana C Package

Performance

The car I was driving was a Toyota Passo with a 1.0-liter 3-cylinder petrol engine. In the previous model, Toyota also offered a 1330cc engine, but it was later discontinued. The Passo’s 3-cylinder 1KR-FE engine produces 68 horsepower and 92 Nm of torque and only powers the front wheels. Those familiar with driving a 1.0-liter Toyota Vitz will recognize this engine, as it’s the same one. The car is equipped with a simple Toyota CVT gearbox.

In terms of power, the engine provides enough to move the car, considering the car’s weight of around 910 kilograms. The 68 HP is sufficient for driving this mini hatchback, which is designed to be fuel efficient and suitable for city driving. It’s not meant for high-speed performance. When you accelerate hard, the engine produces a typical burble characteristic of a three-cylinder engine. If you’ve driven the Pakistani Suzuki WagonR, you’ll understand what I’m referring to. You can hear the engine working hard. The CVT gearbox doesn’t really help in this regard. Unlike the WagonR, which has a manual transmission, the Passo and Vitz come with a CVT, limiting your control. I found the initial struggle of the engine to gain speed a bit bothersome. It felt slow and unresponsive. But considering that the Passo is essentially a big comfortable sofa on wheels, I believe the acceleration and torque are adequate. It can reach 100 km/h from a standstill in 15 seconds.

Comfort & Handling

If you’re interested in a sofa with wheels, I’d recommend considering the Passo. The interior dimensions of the Passo are 1830mm long, 1420mm wide, and 1280mm high. For comparison, the 2nd gen Vitz has interior dimensions of 1855×1390×1270mm (length-width-height). Although the Passo is slightly shorter, it has a wider and taller interior than the Vitz.

One of the great features of the Passo is its sofa or bench seats. There is a nice bench in the front, and since the gear lever has been mounted on the dashboard next to the steering wheel, there is plenty of space in the middle. You can push the middle of the back support to make it an armrest or push it back to make one large seat. The legroom in the rear isn’t fantastic, but it’s not cramped either. For someone who is 6 feet tall, you will be fairly comfortable in the back seat.

You can push the backs of the rear seats forward to create a flat loading bed, but you can also pull the seats forward to make a large sitting area in the rear. I think that’s a great feature, providing a lot of room in the rear, especially for kids.
I had a good time with the Toyota Passo. Toyota designed the car to accommodate plenty of items without scraping its undercarriage on speed bumps. The ground clearance of the Toyota Passo is just over 6 inches, so you can be confident that it won’t hit speed bumps even with a full car. The rear of the car remains relatively higher even with a heavy load, which is quite impressive in my opinion.

However, I wasn’t a fan of the feel of the Passo’s Electric Power Steering (EPS). It felt unresponsive and unpredictable. At low speeds during city driving, the EPS behaved irregularly, which didn’t inspire confidence in the car’s overall handling. It seemed like Toyota didn’t prioritize the driving experience and comfort of the car. I found the EPS to be quite frustrating. On the plus side, the car has a tight turning radius of only 4.7m. For comparison, the 2nd generation Vitz has a turning radius of 4.4m, and the 3rd generation Vitz turns at 4.5m.

Verdict

This is an excellent car for a small family of 2+2 (parents and two kids). Even if you have more people, this car is spacious enough to accommodate everyone. It offers plenty of room and the seating is quite comfortable. In my opinion, it’s superior to the 2nd generation Toyota Vitz 1.0 and the Pakistani 1.3L Suzuki Swift. As mentioned earlier, the 2015 model Passo is priced at Rs 1,430,000, but you can find a slightly older model for Rs. 1.2 million. So, if you’re looking for a car within this budget and your main priorities are space, fuel economy, and comfort, make sure to consider the Passo before making any other purchase.

It’s only a 1000cc car, and it comes with a CVT gearbox. Therefore, it’s unfair to expect it to be a high-performance vehicle. The Passo excels at what it was designed to do. It is what it is – a small car with a big heart.