Sneak peak at the Toyota Yaris Cross
Toyota has announced a new addition to their line-up and it’s a small SUV they call the Yaris Cross. Now don’t imagine a regular Toyota Yaris when you think of the Cross because this car has its own unique design. Toyota has been consistent with creating new cars that are not boring to look at and this one should be fun to drive. Let’s see what they had to say.
This Toyota Yaris Cross looks great on the outside.
It’s bigger than a Yaris and smaller than Toyota’s other SUV, the C-HR. It boasts a good ground clearance aided by 18-inch wheels that should help you if you find yourself in a bit of an off-road situation. Even with that, it’s still clearly a city driver.
The body is brilliant in my opinion with a mix of smooth surfaces and creases. I’m not even a fan of taillights that fun right around the back of the car with a big black border like in the (car), but I like the look of this one. In the front, it’s not as crazy as some small SUVs with huge grilles and cool daytime running lights, but it is still exciting enough.
Toyota does say it’s inspired by a diamond which I don’t quite see represented anywhere on the exterior design. Maybe the interior?
The interior is why this Toyota is called a ‘Yaris’ Cross.
From what was shown of the interior, there was nothing special. In fact, Toyota hardly said anything about it which leads me to believe, it’s going to be exactly like a regular Yaris. There are some unique features like metal trim and some new designs, but it’s all really the same. That infotainment screen, however, will come with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Thank you for including that, Toyota.
Because this car is smaller than the C-HR and the space in that car is not great for passengers, I imagine it won’t be great for this Yaris Cross either. Although there isn’t a sloping roof to reduce headroom like the C-HR, so there could be hope yet.
There are no exact numbers for the storage size in the boot, but it does look quite spacious. One thing that was not mentioned but only shown briefly is that the false floor seems to be removable in separate parts. If this is a feature, then we could customize the boot space a little bit to whatever we want to fit in it.
It’s a hybrid SUV with all-wheel-drive.
The Toyota Yaris Cross is a hybrid which will boost fuel economy and make driving in town more fun. The main engine is a 1.5-litre 3-cylinder petrol and it works with a 59 kW electric motor to create a total of 85 kW. While this won’t give you, a sports car feel in the drive, the instant torque from the electric motor will allow you to zip around short roads with ease.
Many new SUVs have no all-wheel-drive capabilities at all. That is not the case with this Toyota Yaris Cross. With the petrol engine powering the front wheels and the electric motor driving the back wheels, it is fully all-wheel-drive which makes it more off-road capable and will help you get out of a tight spot.
We hope that it comes to South Africa.
It looks good and while boring on the inside, drives well. However, the car is designed for the European market. Even though Toyota expects to make 150 000 of these a year, it would be a good guess to say they won’t bring them here to South Africa. It will take another year until we can confirm anything like that, so I hope Toyota prove me wrong.
Source: Cars | Carwow | Toyota
