CROSS PURPOSES (some text hidden) SECTIONED_new_toyotayariscross_2021

By Jonathan Crouch

Toyota's improved Yaris Cross small SUV will continue to be a hugely significant for this Japanese maker. Jonathan Crouch takes a look.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 58

In this Yaris Cross, Toyota has a credible truly class-competitive supermini-sized SUV. The Yaris Cross fills an important gap in the company's Crossover line-up, just below the C-HR, and gets a useful update here. It should continue to worry Juke and Puma sector rivals with features like full-Hybrid power and AWD that are relatively unusual in this segment.

Backgroundword count: 192

There are many supermini-based crossover SUVs now on the market, but few of them seem to have hit the B-segment sweet spot quite like Toyota's little Yaris Cross. It was introduced back in 2021 and quickly became a brand favourite and a segment best seller prior to the light mid-term update we look at here, announced in late 2023. That's brought us a more digitalised cabin and a wider raft of safety features. As before, for our market anyway, it comes only with a full-Hybrid engine, but the 1.5-litre unit is now available with a choice of outputs. This powerplant isn't a token gesture mild hybrid like you'd get in, say, that rival Ford Puma or, perhaps, a Kia Stonic, but a full-fat petrol/electric powertrain that doesn't need plugging in but can run all-electrically some of the time. In this segment, only Hyundai, Honda and Renault can also offer that. And none of them can offer this confection with 4WD, an option for this Yaris Cross at the top of the range. If your interest in this improved Yaris Cross is starting to grow, you might be interested to check it out.

Driving Experienceword count: 277

Under the bonnet, the 1.5-litre full-Hybrid self-charging petrol/electric powerplant is of course the same one that's fitted to the conventional Yaris supermini, which means that as there, you can now get it in two states of tune. Most customers will continue with the previous 114bhp output version, but you can now get this engine in a perkier 129bhp state of tune, with torque increased by 30% from 141Nm to 185Nm. That improves the 0-62mph sprint time by half a second to 10.7s. All Yaris Cross models continue with the same e-CVT auto gearbox. And the Hybrid engine continues with its pleasing preference for reverting to battery power in urban driving whenever possible. As a result, the company expects that over 80% of urban journeys in this car will be able to be completed under electric power alone. Toyota says it's put a lot of work into reducing noise and vibration with this revised model, with thicker windscreen glass, more sound deadening and a dynamic damper added to the left-side engine mount - amongst other changes. As before, along with the front-driven drivetrain, there's something unusual in this class - the option of 4WD. The 'Intelligent All-Wheel Drive' system in question is, as you'd expect, of the electric rather than the mechanical kind and operates in front wheel drive most of the time, sending drive to the rear wheels only when tractional needs really require it to. This AWD-i version gets a more sophisticated double-wishbone rear suspension set-up too, compared to the front wheel drive car's more basic torsion beam arrangement. All of this is bolted to the smallest version of the 'TNGA' 'Toyota New Global Architecture' platform.

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