Warning: Buying and Driving a Toyota Vitz or Platz in Pakistan
That said, there are some major drawbacks you should know if considering buying a Toyota Vitz or Platz in Pakistan.
Low Clearance
These cars were made for city driving in Japan, not in Pakistan. Speed bump engineers have some learning to do, as many speed bumps are too high or made it such a way that they can damage your car. These two models have lower clearance than most other vehicles on Pakistan's roads. As a result, they take the worst beating from speedbumps, potholes, and generally bad road conditions. It is also extremely dangerous to drive these vehicles in the rainy season (July to September), as the low clearance makes flooding and electrical damage more likely. You will also have trouble on some of the steeper driveways in big cities.
Driving these cars off the beaten path is certainly not advisable. Perhaps the stupidest decision I have made in my entire life was to drive a Toyota Vitz up the Karakoram Highway to Karimabad. It took three days driving during daylight hours, and the car did not fare well in landslide zones. Suzuki Mehrans and Corollas may be able to zip and bump along on mountain roads, a Vitz or a Platz can not.
Not Compatible with CNG
Local mechanics will not fit these cars for use with Certified Natural Gas (CNG). That means you'll always have to drive on petrol which currently costs ten times as much as CNG. This makes these mid-range cars very expensive to run for your average use. Most more expensive city cars, including the Honda City, are compatible with CNG kits.
Poor Fuel Quality = Pollution Machine
Pakistan's fuel quality is no where near what a Japanese car is used to. Japanese cars are fitted with catalytic converters, which can only be used with unleaded fuel. A lot of fuel in Pakistan, although it may be called unleaded, is not really unleaded. Driving your car with a catalytic converter and unleaded fuel is like the car slowly committing suicide. You absolutely should not drive a Vitz or a Platz with a catalytic converter when fuel quality is low. Your car will run rougher and get lower mileage. In order to drive your car to performance, you must have the catalytic converter removed. This is horrible for the environment and embarrassing if you environment conscious in any way. You can smell your car coming when you run it without the catalytic converter.
Spare Parts & Insurance Problems
Spare parts for the Vitz or Platz must come directly from Japan. That makes them very expensive in the market. It is currently very difficult to insure these cars, particularly the Vitz, as thieves find selling a Vitz in pieces to be a profitable trade. Theft for a Vitz or a Platz is more likely than other more common models, and the crooks will make the most money by gutting it and selling it piece by piece on the black market. You'll pay a hefty fee for insurance if anyone is willing to insure you car, and you'll need extra security measures such as alarm system and steering club.
So What?
All in all, we do like our Vitz, but we certainly would not buy one again in Pakistan. In Japan, yes, we'd love to drive one, but in Pakistan it's just too expensive and inconvenient. We don't like being big time pollutants driving around without our catalytic converter, and the price of petrol is always rising. Both the Vitz and the Platz are comfortable and well--built, but not for Pakistan's shoddy roads. Do yourself a favor and look for a car that is CNG compatible and has parts easily available in the local market. This will cut down on your driving budget considerably.
Published by Heather Carreiro
Heather is a freelance travel writer and editor. Her articles include travel tips, free ESL lesson plans, teacher training resources, and information about expatriate life in Pakistan. Learn more on her blog... View profile
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30 Comments
Post a Commentdont publish the things what u dont know. All world knows about toyota.toyota has became to the worlds best name.what about you?. Are You a mad man ??????????????????????????????
I would never recommend vitz, its not meant for our roads. I would strongly suggest cultus over vitz. Definitely you dont get the luxuries of vitz but cultus is far more better performer considering our road conditions and parts cost and availability.
This looks like a paltz and vitz lovers/owners forum. i recently bought a platz.thankfully the previous owner had looked after the clearance issue and now it never touches any road bump where as my honda civic and suzuki khyber do touch the bumps. It works perfect on cng with automatic transmission i think i was lucky to have a good mechanic. Besides it is a luxurious car, i have all the facilities in it which are ther in my 1.6 lac civic. Those looking for a cultus or any other locally made must consider the good aspects of these fine cars ie vitz and platz.
the applicability of this article was valid till 2009, the points mentioned here are mostly not true anymore.
in 2010 i'd say vitz is one of the best buys. the pros of this car outdo the cons.
u get abs, rear seat belts and airbags a must with this car, moreover this car has a 6 inch filter in its exhaust that filters all the emissions. the seats are by far comfortable then any higher range car, its a/c is far better then many other brands, even its own makers like corolla and above all it gives u an economy of 15 in urban drive and u can pull it up to 17 in sub urban drive using regular fuel not even the high octane, the trick for this is to maintain ur car speed between 90-100kph.it steering wheel is much lighter then corolla and stick shift gear is much lighter in conversion of gear. i can make comparisons for sure as i own both a corolla and a vitz 04. cant say about cng, but i've heard that 04 vitz models were the last best for cng, it has problems with newer models and yes t
i agree about the low clearance....but it is the best car i have driven in Pakistan (peshawar) and it is soo spacious...considering the price i bought it for it is great. i have had no problems with it if u maintain the car well that is a point to note....my relative has alto and always they are having problems wid it..
I suggest talking to people who've owned the cars for at least a year so you can get a good idea of what type of maintenance the vehicles required and how expensive they are to insure/maintain. I've never been to Karachi, but I'm guessing the roads are similar to Lahore. All the best!
Thanks again Heather. I live in Karachi and I guess Karachi roads are not ideal for Vitz or any imported cars. But still I see lots of Vitz on roads these days. Also I was reading forum on http://www.pakwheels.com/ and it seems majority of Vitz owners are actually in love with their Vitz..
But you're right, I should do more research and talk to some Alto/Coure owners to get better idea of available alternates.
For us, a Vitz didn't make sense as we had to sell it after two years and it didn't hold its value in light of inflation. If you're planning to keep it for a long time and are willing to pay insurance on it, it makes more sense. You can now get Vitzes raised up a bit higher, so it depends what the quality of roads are in your area (and how high the speed breakers are) whether it would work for you. We'd probably go with a Suzuki if we had to do it again, not necessarily because it's better quality (no question Toyotas are made better), but because they are easier and cheaper to fix, easier to adjust with CNG, less likely to get stolen and higher off the ground. I'd suggest talking to some Coure and Alto owners to hear their experiences. Our Vitz was a good car and we'd love to drive it in the US where the roads are not so bumpy, parts are cheaper, insurance is easier to get, etc.
My bad.. didn't notice the date.
Thanks for sharing your experience about Vitz. I am now seriously confused about what to buy. In my limited budget of 800K, I can only get a decent Vitz, New Coure or Suzuki Alto.
Thanks for sharing Munir. This article was published in October 2008, and CNG prices have risen significantly since then.