Toyota Innova Crysta is one of the most capable MPVs on sale in the country today. It is highly loved by the Indian audience for the ride quality, space, and the bullet-proof reliability it offers. However, in the BS-6 era, the MPV gets an increased staring price of Rs. 15.66 lakh for the petrol variants and Rs. 16.44 lakh for the diesel variants. With the increased prices of the diesel variants and hardly any difference between the prices of petrol and diesel fuel, masses are now making a paradigm shift towards the petrol variants of big MPVs and SUVs as well. However, the petrol Innova Crysta isn’t as pocket-friendly to run as its diesel counterpart. Therefore, Toyota is developing a bi-fuel CNG powered version of the Innova Crysta, which we recently spotted during its test runs.
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The test mule of the Innova Crysta CNG was spotted on National Highway – 8, around Gurugram in Haryana. It looked exactly the same as the outgoing Innova Crysta. However, it was the lower-spec GX trim. It missed out on the LED projector headlamps, fog lamps, chrome door handles, chrome window line, chrome inserts on the radiator grille, and the 17-inch alloy wheels that come standard on the top-spec trim.
Talking of the powertrain, the CNG-powered Innova Crysta is likely to continue with the 2.7L 4-cylinder naturally-aspirated petrol engine that it currently sources power from. It churns out a peak power output of 166 PS and 245 Nm of max torque. Talking of the transmission options, one can choose between a 5-speed MT and 6-speed AT.
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The option of CNG will most likely be limited to the lower-end trims, thus the option of 6-speed AT is expected to be ruled out. In the petrol-only avatar, Innova Crysta returns a mileage of 10.75 kmpl (ARAI-claimed), however, with CNG as fuel, the MPV would return a figure of about 13-15 km/kg. With such a mileage figure, the CNG-powered Innova Crysta will be a better and cheaper substitute to the diesel variants of the MPV. As of now, Innova Crysta rivals the Mahindra Marrazzo, which would soon be making its way to the showroom floors with a petrol motor under its hood. Talking of its launch, the bi-fuel variant of the Innova Crysta is likely to go on sale by Diwali this year.