Door structure
Stamped hinges, welded doors

Like most Japanese cars, the door hinges are stamped hinges.

The door structure is also a common welding structure in Japanese cars. However, like the Camry, the Asian Dragon does not beautify the door weld like the Lexus ES. Maybe it is because the luxury level is not enough.
Sound insulation cotton
No soundproof cotton.

Remove the door trim panels, and you can see that the door structure of the Asian Dragon is very similar to that of the Lexus ES and Toyota Camry, both of which are hard plastic sealing plates. But none of these three cars has an air pressure sensor that activates the side airbag faster. This level and this price point really shouldn’t be.

In terms of door sound insulation, the Asian Dragon is obviously on par with ES. The door interior panels do not have any sound insulation cotton, even a small area of recycled cotton like the Camry. Obviously, this provides more DIY space for small partners with sound insulation needs.
Side collision beam
circular tube beam

The front and rear doors each have a tubular side bump beam, which is consistent with most Toyota vehicles.

The front door has one stiffener and the rear door has two.
rear seats
No steel plate.

The Asian Dragon’s rear seat backrest cannot be reclined, and like the Lexus ES, there is no rear steel plate, only a V-shaped beam, in order to pass the national mandatory standard of "double 18 kg weight test". In addition, the Asian Dragon does not have the ES’s rear backrest sound insulation cotton, only a thin layer of fiberboard.

The Camry’s rear seats have complete steel plates, which is better than the Asian Dragon and ES. Of course, some friends may say that models that cannot be reclined in the rear seats do not have steel plates. But why is there a complete steel plate for the same Teana that cannot be reclined in the rear seats?

Our low-end Asian Dragon is also equipped with airbags on both sides of the rear seats, unlike the Lexus ES.

Rear headrest
There is no independent headrest in the center.

Although the rear of this Asian Dragon appears to have three headrests, the rear center headrest is just a sponge bulge without any metal skeleton support, which lacks neck protection for the center passenger. The Camry is the same design as the Asian Dragon, but the Lexus ES has a separate headrest in the center.
floor
The package is tight and the floor is recycled.

The big package of this Asian dragon is very good and tight.

Floor sound insulation materials, Asian Dragon, like Lexus ES and Camry, are recycled materials. As for the amount of formaldehyde released, professional instruments need to be used to measure.


After testing, the formaldehyde emission in the floor was measured at 0.037 milligrams per cubic meter.


The measurement value of formaldehyde emission in the seat is 0.021 milligrams per cubic meter, and the measurement value of formaldehyde emission in the ceiling is 0.098 milligrams per cubic meter.

Once again, our testing methods are relatively extreme, but each car is tested under the same conditions, and the Horizontal comparison is fair.
Interior air
In order to more accurately detect the amount of formaldehyde released in the air inside the car, we use "pump suction sampling" and "phenol reagent spectrophotometry" to test the air inside the car. This test method is currently used by regular testing institutions to test formaldehyde.

Test method: place the test vehicle in a natural environment, open the door and window for complete ventilation; then, fix a silicone hose near the driver’s headrest to simulate the human breathing position; close the door and window, and park the vehicle in a constant temperature of 23 ± 1 ° C for 16 hours; use a sampler to suck out 10 liters of air from the hose pump and react with a phenolic reagent; drop the chromogenic reagent into the phenolic reagent and let it stand for 15 minutes; use an aldehyde-formaldehyde detector to detect the chromogenic sample and obtain the result.

After 16 hours of closure at a constant temperature of 23 ± 1 ° C, the measured amount of formaldehyde released from the air in this car was 0.088 milligrams per cubic meter.

In addition to formaldehyde in the car, TVOC is also an important toxic and harmful gas, which is one of the main reasons for the strong smell in the car. TVOC refers to the general term for all organic gaseous substances in the space, such as benzene, alkanes, aromatics, olefins… These organic substances can cause harm to human health.
Test method: The test vehicle is fully ventilated by opening the door and window in a natural environment; then, a silicone hose is fixed near the driver’s headrest to simulate the human breathing position; the door and window are closed, and the vehicle is parked at a constant temperature of 23 ± 1 ° C in a sealed and standing environment for 16 hours; using the MP181 TVOC detector, the air in the car is sucked from the hose pump until the value is stable, and the final result is obtained.

After 16 hours of containment at a constant temperature of 23 ± 1 ° C, the air TVOC emission measurement value in this car was 2.13 milligrams per cubic meter.

summarize
Toyota very close to Lexus
Through dismantling the car, it can be seen that this Toyota Asian Dragon has a different positioning from the Camry. Obviously, the Asian Dragon is relatively more mature and sits in the car more solemn. It is clear that it needs to draw a line with the sporty Camry.
As for the interior materials, although all three cars are based on Toyota’s TNGA architecture, the Asian Dragon is closer to the Lexus ES in terms of front and rear collision beams, chassis, and interior workmanship details. Obviously, the Asian Dragon is one level higher than the Camry, but compared with the Lexus ES, the Asian Dragon is still slightly inferior in terms of sound insulation. Therefore, the Asian Dragon is actually a model between the Lexus ES and the Toyota Camry.
However, most people will think that the Asian Dragon is the sister car of the Camry, and it should follow Toyota’s "two-car strategy" in China, similar to the relationship between the Corolla and Leiling. Except for the different manufacturers, the quality of materials used and the internal workmanship should be consistent. From the perspective of maximizing profits, the workmanship of the Asian Dragon should indeed be the same as that of the Camry, so that the cost can be minimized. For example, there is no need to use aluminum alloy for the anti-collision beam, and it is only logical for the businessperson to replace it with the same lower-cost steel as the Camry. But why didn’t FAW Toyota do this?
We proposed several conjectures:
1. Enterprise conscience makes cars. For the first batch of models, we must improve product power and attract users to buy. After the operation is smooth, we will do "cost reduction and efficiency increase".
2. Lexus has been rumored to be domestically produced for many years, and in 2018 there were finally some "eyebrows". Some insiders were certain that Lexus would cooperate with FAW to build a factory in 2019 to realize the localization of Lexus. However, the Japanese high-level officials suspended the cooperation intention for some reason and announced in early 2019 that Lexus would build a factory in India. In order to ease the cooperation relationship, the Asian Dragon, which is closer to Lexus, was introduced, so that the things prepared for Lexus would not be in vain.
3. Lexus does want to be domestically produced, but it has very high requirements for quality control and assembly. There were also rumors at the beginning that the Japanese side was not at ease with the quality of the localized production line, so it caused Lexus to put its domestic production on hold. In order to predict the quality of Lexus after it is domestically produced, the Asian Dragon is first introduced to test the waters and produce according to the quality of Lexus, paving the way for the localization of Lexus in the future. In the future, two cars can be produced on the same line. If Lexus is domestically produced, the sales volume is insufficient, and there is no need to reduce the price for promotion. Allocating the production capacity to the Asian Dragon can ensure the normal operation of the production line and protect the Lexus brand
Finally, some friends asked, which Asian Dragon or Camry to buy? From the perspective of the car itself, the Asian Dragon is definitely more cost-effective. After all, wouldn’t it be fragrant to buy a car close to the Lexus ES at a price similar to the Camry? But the premise is that you can accept the appearance and interior shape of the Asian Dragon, and there is another point that the second-hand residual value of the Asian Dragon is definitely not as good as the Camry, after all, the Camry is more famous. As for how to choose, you have to decide for yourself. (The conclusion of the measurement data in this article and video is only responsible for this car, and the measurement data is responsible for the published experimental method.)
2019 Toyota Asian Dragon Interior Ratings


