Toyota expands into yet another new motoring niche with all-new Suzuki-cloned Cruiser
Toyota South Africa today continued its passenger car expansion assault into yet another niche by introducing another all-new nameplate. Enter the Urban Cruiser.
FUN, AFFORDABLE & COMPACT
A fun, affordable and compact crossover, Urban Cruiser is built to both to play in the city in the week and take you on your next adventure over the weekend. The second product of the Toyota-Suzuki alliance after the Starlet and Baleno twins, Urban Cruiser shares its heart with the Suzuki Vitara Brezza launched in SA just two weeks ago.
Now Urban Cruiser offers owners the same technology out of Toyota’s comprehensive dealer support, customer service and parts’ supply network. But for the rest — bar a few subtle styling tweaks highlighted by that Fortuner-like grille between standard daylight running LED projector headlamps and the front bumper — it’s all the same under the skin. Which means a raised stance, textured side body and bumper mouldings in a squared-off look, with short overhangs.
Roof rails when fitted, a roof spoiler, large rectangular taillights and Urban Cruiser branding add to the exterior effect. Step inside to comfortable, spacey and ergonomic room with great visibility out. The dash is dominated by a large infotainment touchscreen system and piano-black framed vents, climate control switchgear, a storage compartment and power and USB jacks.
A COOL, HARD-WEARING COCKPIT
A sporty 3-spoke multifunction steering wheel sits ahead of easy-to-read twin-hooded elliptical gauges and a central Multi-Information Display. Honeycomb pattern black fabric seats set the scene in the hard-wearing black cabin that comes with large door pockets, a glove compartment and additional oddment binnacles provide convenient storage spaces.
Weighing in at under four mters long, Urban Cruiser is both easy to park and carries a tall, solid stance. Its large boot opening makes for easy loading to a 328 litre trunk that can be expanded by the folding rear seats down, while a handy and 1100 kg braked towing capacity adds even more utility. All models get ABS and EBD braking, side protection beams, driver and passenger airbags, ISOFIX and an alarm and immobiliser across the range.
Powered by a 77 kW 138 Nm normally aspirated 1.5-litre petrol four-pot driving the front wheels via the choice of 5-speed manual transmission or 4-speed automatic transmissions, Urban Cruiser sips 6.2 litres per 100 km and tops 170 km/h. It has McPherson strut front and Torsion Beam rear suspension and 205-60-R16 or 215-60-R16 rubber on steel or alloy 16-inch wheels, depending on the grade.
IMPRESSIVE SPEC ACROSS THE RANGE
Entry-level Urban Cruiser Xis get keyless-entry with push start, power mirrors and power windows all round, air-conditioning, tilt-adjustable steering and rear park distance control. Add Apple CarPlay and Android Auto touchscreen infotainment with Bluetooth, Aux and USB; Google Maps, Waze and Apple Maps navigation and Apple Music, Spotify, SoundCloud and JOOX music connectivity. It even has speech-to-text functionality.
Urban Cruiser Xs adds alloy wheels, roof rails, body-coloured door handles, power-retractable mirrors and a rear window wiper and de-mister. Step inside to auto air-conditioned climate control, a reverse camera, a secondary glove compartment, rear armrest and a 60:40 split backrest.
And the flagship urban Cruiser Xr adds LED fog lamps, auto headlights, cruise control, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror, rain-sensing wipers, dual 12-volt power outlets, a front armrest, leather steering wheel and two extra tweeter speakers. The Xr glove box is lit and its storage compartment cooled, and there are map reading, front footwell and luggage compartment lighting too.
IT’S A TOYOTA, AFTER ALL
All Urban Cruisers come with Toyota Connect telematics with an in-car Wi-Fi hotspot and complimentary 15Gb data to link owners to customers to the MyToyota App of intuitive on-demand service bookings, vehicle information and history, tracking data as well as Toyota Connect data recharge services and much more. The Toyota Connect MyEntertainment e-services suite includes Videoplay and MyMuze streaming.
Urban Cruisers come with a 3-services or 45 000 km service plan at 12 month or 15 000 km intervals, a 3-year 100 000 km warranty and additional service plan and warranty options via Toyota’s extensive 220 dealer network, where yours is waiting to meet you right now.
Toyota Urban Cruiser Pricing 1.5 Xi MT R247K 1.5 Xs MT R267K 1.5 Xs AT R289K 1.5 Xr MT R294K 1.5 Xr AT R315K
