Toyota Urban Cruiser
Expert Rating:
What is it?
It's Toyota's crack at the emerging tall-hatchback-cum-mini-SUV crossover niche. The 'cubed car' has been popular for ages in Japan, where runabouts like the Scion xB, the Nissan Cube (neither of which have made it to the UK, yet), and the Daihatsu Materia (which has) have been the choice of Japan's hip youth for years. Want proof that it's catching on here? Look at the Kia Soul. Plus, Nissan promises it will sell the second generation Nissan Cube here at some point in the near future.
But the idea isn't just a visual one. In theory, the boxy hatchback combines a small, easy to manage, cheap to run shell with the looks, lofty driving position and increased interior space of a 4x4. Perfect, right? And that's exactly what Toyota has tried to achieve with the new Urban Cruiser: it's tall and big inside, and can be either front- or four-wheel drive, but it's based on the Yaris so its exterior dimensions and engines are relatively tiny. Sound too good to be true?
Is it any good?
With a starting price of £14,500 it'll have to be, because for that you could very nearly buy two brand new Yarises. That wouldn't be such a problem if the Urban Cruiser actually felt like it has £14,500's worth of quality or space - but it doesn't. Nowhere near.
It does just about pull off the 'small outside, big inside' job, though, because it will fit four adults and their luggage in pretty comfortably, partly down to clever rear seats that tilt and slide to liberate either leg or boot space depending on what you need. However, as a driving experience the Cruiser is camped firmly in cheap supermini territory on all fronts: the driving position is poor because the seat is too high and it doesn't go far back enough, and the wheel is too low. Plus, when you consider the kind of car that much money will buy elsewhere, neither the cabin quality nor general ambience are anywhere near good enough - and we haven't even mentioned the £16,400 diesel-powered 4x4 version yet.
The reason it's priced as such is because Toyota has pitched the Urban Cruiser as an upper-spec premium hatch, rather than a big, value city car. So, no Urban Cruiser will come with plastic wheel trims and black door mirrors; all get 'chromed' 16-inch alloys, air conditioning, electric this, electric that and a push button engine starter. And to make things even simpler, there are literally only two versions you can buy: a petrol-powered front-wheel drive model or a diesel powered 4x4. What the spec sheet doesn't tell you, though, is just how low rent it all feels: the interior design is grey and sparse and the plastics are all of the scratchy Japanese budget milieu. Yet if you want some very non-supermini options like integrated satnav and leather, you can have them. Strange.
Should I call the bank manager?
Given that cost is our main gripe with the Urban Cruiser, you probably shouldn't call the bank manager, as, if he knows his stuff, he'll probably direct you towards the equally as good but significantly cheaper Kia Soul. The Urban Cruiser isn't a bad car at all, it's just very, ahem, enthusiastically priced. That's emphasised by the very city car-like driving experience it serves up: the 1.3-litre Yaris-sourced petrol engine is gutless, which is a shame, because even the front-wheel drive version is grippy and composed at higher speeds - it just takes so long to get there because the car feels heavy.
The 4x4 version makes no sense at all, frankly - it's over 100kg heavier and really unsuited to the kind of terrain that demands four-wheel drive. The 1.4-litre D-4D diesel is more economical, of course, but only slightly - 57.6mpg plays 51.4mpg - and it's also quite rattly. CO2 outputs are almost identical, too, with the diesel a mere 1g/km better off than the 130g/km petrol, putting it in the same VED band. So you'll have to be doing never ending cruising to claw back the £1,900 outlay in saved fuel costs if you buy the oil burner.
Still, both the petrol and diesel models are more composed than your average city car, both in town and at motorway speeds, but they're not in the same league as a regular (and similarly priced) family hatchback for quality or quietness. Or space, for that matter.
Summary
The Urban Cruiser leaves us with the impression that it's a car made more with marketing in mind than to meet a strict need. Where, for example, the Kia Soul gets its funky boxy styling as a happy by-product of being more practical (or so it seems) and is cheap with it, the Urban Cruiser is just trying too hard. It's by no means impractical, or indeed a bad car, but it's not much fun to drive, not very exciting to look at, and fundamentally, too expensive.
Watch Toyota Urban Cruiser video
