First Try: Funky Toyota Aygo X
The Aygo is a well-known asset in Toyota’s arsenal but in a shrinking market, can Toyota still produce a quality small and cheap car?
To find out, Toyota brought the Aygo X to Barcelona for some tight city driving as well as some countryside cruising.
But first and foremost the big question:
What is the Aygo X?
The Aygo X is pronounced ‘Aygo Cross’ actually. A bit confusing as the Yaris Cross just spells out the name of the car fully instead of using an X.
But other than that confusing name, the concept of the car is very straight forward. The Aygo X is the next generation of Toyota’s smallest car. And this time it lacks having its French siblings in the form of the Citroën C1 and Peugeot 108. That’s because Citroën and Peugeot decided to stop selling a car in this segment.
Sorta crossover?
And so Toyota has taken things into its own hands by splicing up the GA-B platform on which its larger cousin the Yaris is based. This results in a car that is 3.7 meters long (30 cm longer) and 1.74 meter wide (8 cm wider).
The ride height of the platform is increased by 11 mm to help the car stand out with its blend between a crossover and a small city car.
The benefits of this whole restructuring is that the driver now sits 55 mm higher than before whilst the A-pillars have been reduced and moved to a lower angle to improve visibility. Something that really comes in handy when you’re manoeuvring the Aygo X through the city. The extra 8 cm width is great inside the car, it feels very roomy. However it has a bit of a negative effect on the car’s ability to squeeze into tight gaps between cars and other things you might come across in the city.
Street cruiser
Dynamically it’s not lacking anything. The compact 1.0L engine might only produce 72 horsepower, yet the Aygo X actually dips just under 1.000 kg making it lighter than its predecessor, despite it being bigger. For city driving this power-to-weight ratio is perfect as the low weight really improves the low speed acceleration needed for city endeavours. Obviously, at higher speed that changes but it’s to be expected in a small city car.
The added benefit of a small engine in a light chassis is that it is surprisingly economical. Toyota decided not to go the mild-hybrid-route on this drivetrain as the added cost would outweigh the savings. So with a classic ICE the Aygo X realistically sips around the 5,0L/100 km mark during our test. Only a tad less efficient than what Toyota claims.
Lots of features
You wouldn’t expect it but the Aygo X packs a lot of both comfort and safety features! This obviously an additional bonus from its new underpinnings. With a big touch screen, wireless smartphone integration and cloud services, you’re not missing out on the creature comforts the bigger cars offer. And with 9 different safety systems, including adaptive cruise and emergency steering assist, you can be sure that even the smallest Toyota delivers on top tier safety.
All this makes a car super expensive right?
You’d think that, especially with the trend of cars becoming more and more expensive these days. There’s good news and there’s bad news. The bad news first, the Aygo X is more expensive than the outgoing Aygo. However, the good news is, is that it’s not a whole lot more expensive and you’re getting a much, much more mature car with very decent equipement as standard. And starting from 15.840 €, the Aygo X offers a stunning value for the money.
