Alternative review of Toyota Urban Cruiser

Alarm bells start ringing with me when I sense that Toyota is trying to get down with the kids. This is the world's largest car manufacturer and it reached its powerful position with cars that were overwhelmingly functional and reliable, not with mobile baubles for youthful trendies to impress their friends in. There have been small signs that Toyota could be getting fractionally cooler of late but too many of its forays into fashionable areas of the car market resemble your inebriated uncle on the dance floor wearing your auntie's hat. All of which brings us to the Urban Cruiser, Toyota's stab at a chic and practical urban 4x4. I liked it from the start. The car looks compact and chunky from the outside but its styling stops a long way short of the usual 4x4 excesses. The appearance is one of a jacked up supermini, which isn't too far from the truth, with a big grille and a very shallow glass area. The name Urban Cruiser is harder for me to get on with and smacks of something that's been insensitively translated from the Japanese. I might be way out there on this one but the images Urban Cruiser conjures up for me are on the, shall we say, seedy side. The concept behind the car is far easier to relate to. 4x4 vehicles are not the flavour of the month in our towns and cities. Even the smaller ones have been tarred with the same public opinion brush as the V8 gas-guzzlers. The Urban Cruiser sets out to package the bits that people like about 4x4 vehicles into a far less bold and confrontational package. It makes sense and you certainly couldn't saddle this little Toyota with too much blame for the environment's ills.

The supermini-sized dimensions of the Urban Cruiser give rise to a predictably supermini-sized interior. It's quite spacious for four adults though and the boot is roomy and usefully shaped at 314 litres. One side effect of the shallow window area that enhances the exterior styling is a lack of light in the cabin and this is accentuated by the dark trim materials chosen. As usual with Toyota products, everything seems sturdily built. Effort has been made to inject some interest but it doesn't quite hit the right notes, especially as Toyota is marketing the Urban Cruiser as a trendy premium product. The instrument panel is of neat layout with tachometer and speedometer positioned around the same circular display and the centre console is clearly designed with its curvy lower section. The 2WD version that we tried features Toyota's Easy Flat seating system which allows the seats to slide, recline and fold but the presence of a transmission tunnel precludes the 4WD models from utilising this feature.

Don't buy the Urban Cruiser if you want to cruise on anything other that paved or tarmaced surfaces. It's not that kind of 4x4 and the 2WD model we tried isn't any kind of 4x4. Even in all-wheel-drive form, power is sent exclusively to the front wheels until they slip and then the computer redirects it to the rear. This will be handy for safety reasons in the wet or in the snow and ice but most people will be perfectly well-served by the 2WD model. Our car was powered by a 1.3-litre Dual VVT-i petrol unit producing 99bhp. It can cover the 0-60mph trip in 12.5s and it feels reasonably tractable in urban situations. The ride quality isn't great and the Urban Cruiser does get fidgety over the bumps but it does have the elevated seating position that attracts a lot of people to 4x4 vehicles. Obviously, in a car of this size, it can only be elevated so far. The stubby extremities and light steering are perfect for city driving. From an economy standpoint, the Urban Cruiser fares well. The 1.3-litre petrol gets 51.4mpg and 129g/km with the aid of its Stop & Start technology. Toyota's Stop & Start system is simple but effective. When you come to a standstill in a traffic jam or at the lights, put the car in neutral and lift off the clutch, this causes the engine to stop. Depress the clutch and it instantly restarts so you can move off. In an urban setting where sitting motionless in traffic with your engine ticking over is the default state, the system has the capacity to save significant amounts of fuel, lowering emissions in the process.

Toyota still hasn't quite got the knack of the trendy urban car but the Urban Cruiser does have an element of style and some extra design flare compared to a run of the mill supermini. It's a good fit in its intended urban environment and being a Toyota, it's well built and engineered. Considering it's unlikely to be bought as a fashion accessory and that a number of supermini-based MPVs do the practical thing a bit better, the pricing might be a shade ambitious so you'll really have to like the look of this urban 4x4 to take the plunge.

TOP 2 URBAN CRUISER DEALS

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Toyota Urban Cruiser 1.4 D-4D 5dr 4WD diesel hatchback
Price £11,280 Read Urban Cruiser Reviews	Save £4,529
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Price £15,510 Read Urban Cruiser Reviews	Save £955
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