X HITS THE SPOT (some text hidden) SECTIONED_new_toyotaaygox_2022

By Jonathan Crouch

Introductionword count: 83

In 2021, Toyota thumbed its nose at volume brands who'd abandoned the citycar segment and brought us a fresh one, the Aygo X. It's a city car with a bit more pavement presence than those you might be used to; in terms of the statement it'll make at the gym, it's a world away from the old more conventional Aygo. Plus it's economical, promises to be fun to drive and can even be had in semi-convertible form. Trendsetters should form an orderly queue.

Modelsword count: 7

5 door citycar (1.0 petrol) [Pure,Edge,Exclusive,Air Edition]

Historyword count: 237

In the motor industry, everyone's got their own perspective. Take city cars. Back in 2021, two of the industry's biggest players, the Volkswagen Group and Stellantis, reckoned that segment was effectively dead. But Toyota, the world's biggest car maker disagreed, which is what brought us this car, the Aygo X. It's pronounced 'Aygo Cross' by the way, like the Yaris Cross, Toyota's smallest SUV, the 'X' designating the fact that in this form the Aygo had gone all 'crossover' on us. This was the Japanese maker's strategy for justifying this model's continued existence. In the Aygo's previous two incarnations, launched respectively in 2005 and 2014, it was produced as part of a joint venture with Stellantis brands Peugeot and Citroen, whose 108 and C1 models were built alongside the Aygo at a jointly owned factory at Kolin in the Czech Republic. Following the dis-continuation of 108 and C1 production in 2021, Toyota decided to take full control of the plant, then redesigned the Aygo to take a shrunken version of the Yaris supermini's TGNA GA-B platform, before starting production of this resulting Aygo X model at the factory alongside the Yaris and Yaris Cross, in readiness for this car's launch here for the 2022 model year. For the 2026 model year, a new Aygo X was introduced with the 1.5-litre Hybrid engine from the Yaris. Here though, we're focusing on the original 1.0-litre 2021-2025-era Aygo X models.

What You Getword count: 576

You can't profitably sell a car of this size without substantial economies of scale, which in this case were provided by a switch to the TGNA GA-B chassis used by the fourth generation Yaris and Yaris Cross models. Inserting a platform originally developed for a supermini meant a step up in size of course, but the dimensional upgrade is modest, the Aygo X measuring in 3.7m long and 1.74m wide, which makes it 235mm longer and 125mm wider than its more conventional predecessor. It's 50mm taller too, which is important to emphasise a crossover vibe underlined by thick plastic wheel arch cladding, an 11mm raise in ride height, a prominent front skid plate and colour-contrasted flared wheel arch surrounds shrouding larger 17 or 18-inch alloy rims. Original buyers could specify a fabric roll-top roof too. What about the inside? The previous Aygo's cabin claimed to be funky - but wasn't. This is much better. Hard plastics still abound of course across the bold, playful dash design, but that's OK in this class of car, as is the exposed metalwork on the door tops. It helps that you sit higher than you'd usually expect to in a citycar (55mm higher than in the old model) and your view out is further aided by a raked-back A-pillar. It feels more spacious too, thanks to the way the front seats have been set 20mm further apart, increasing shoulder space by 45mm as part of the 'shared interaction' cabin design. And, assuming you've splashed out a bit on trim choice, there's be more than a touch of colour, interior highlights matching the spicey exterior shades to give the dashboard and the centre console a distinctive look. Embellished of course with screen tech, though you won't get the biggest centre screen unless you end up spending an awful lot more than you'd originally intended to on your Aygo X. The display in question is Toyota's freshly-developed 9-inch HD 'Smart Connect' set-up, with cloud-based navigation, over-the-air updates, wireless smartphone connectivity and the option of a JBL Premium Sound System. The Aygo X enjoys a wheelbase length increase of 90mm on its predecessor, but it's pretty clear even before you get in that this hasn't done much for rear seat space. The door aperture is restricted - to the point where it won't be that easy for parents to lean in and strap up offspring. And once you get inside, things aren't much better. Yes of course cars of this kind are always going to be small at the back, but models like Kia's Picanto have shown that it's possible to do better than this. An averagely-sized adult will almost certainly need co-operation from those ahead to be able to sit in any way comfortably; and the headrests are of the sort that dig uncomfortably into your neck until you raise them. Worse, there are only two seats in the back (rival Kia Picanto and Fiat Panda Cross models find space for three). And the windows don't open conventionally - you can only angle them out using catches. At least things are a little better in the boot - well, assuming you don't mind the super-high loading lip anyway, caused because Toyota has persisted with the previous model's cost-saving trick of not providing a tailgate, fitting a lifting glass panel instead. Raise it and there's a deep cargo area that's 231-litres in size, 60-litres more than you got in the previous generation model.

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