New Toyota Urban Cruiser review

As is all the rage in Hollywood right now, the new Toyota Urban Cruiser is a reboot of something which came before. In this case, that would be the previous Urban Cruiser, which was fairly underwhelming. This new version, though, promises to be bang up to date, and, on paper at least, has most of the ingredients needed to be a smash hit.

First and foremost, those ingredients include a close relationship with the Suzuki e Vitara, with the same underpinnings, battery and motors. But where Toyota hopes to draw your attention is with the Urban Cruiser’s bolder styling. And it will need to stand out, because more rival small electric SUVs are arriving all the time, and currently include the Ford Puma Gen-E, Jeep Avenger Electric, Kia EV3 and Smart #1 to name but a few.

In this review, we’ll tell you what you need to know about the new Urban Cruiser, including what it’s like to drive and to live with, as well as how it stacks up to those rivals in all of the key areas you’re likely to be looking at.

How fast is it and which motor is best? 

There are two versions of the Toyota Urban Cruiser available, one with a 49kWh battery, the other with a larger 61kWh one. So far, we’ve tried the version with the 61kWh battery. That version is the most powerful of the two, with a 172bhp electric motor on the front axle. 

With this setup, the Urban Cruiser can officially sprint from 0-62mph in 8.7sec, giving you plenty of oomph when you need bursts of pace around town. Power starts to tail off as you approach motorway speeds though, where the Ford Puma Gen-E and Kia EV3 Standard Range feel noticeably stronger.

We haven’t tried the smaller, 49kWh battery version yet, but with 142bhp and a 0-62mph sprint of 9.6sec, we suspect it’ll feel quite sluggish for anything other than pootling around town or on country roads.

If you feel like you’d benefit from four-wheel drive, then a version is expected to arrive soon – though it’ll only be available with the larger battery.

Is it agile and is the ride comfortable? 

Given the bias towards comfort, it probably goes without saying that the Urban Cruiser isn’t particularly fun when it comes to handling. Indeed, when you corner with speed there’s some body lean, and the light steering doesn’t really give you much feedback about what the front wheels are up to. The steering doesn’t weight up when you go faster, either. While the Urban Cruiser is easy enough to thread along a country road, it won’t raise a smile in the way that the rival Ford Puma Gen-E does.

That’s not the point of the Urban Cruiser though. Instead, it proves itself to be easy to drive, with more than enough grip to give you confidence at normal speeds and steering that makes weaving through town or parking a doddle. 

As is the case with the Suzuki e Vitara, the Urban Cruiser’s soft suspension soaks up imperfections and potholes very well, only ever giving a small thud through the largest holes in the road. The softness means body control isn’t as good as in the firmer Puma Gen-E or EV3, but the Urban Cruiser never gets too wayward or floaty over undulations.

Is it quiet and how easy is it to drive smoothly? 

Wind and road noise are both unnoticeable at slow speeds, but on the motorway, there’s a fair amount of wind noise from around the Urban Cruiser’s wing mirrors. Unlike some electric cars the Urban Cruiser doesn’t have a one-pedal driving mode. Instead, the Urban Cruiser has three levels of brake regeneration, but none of the settings are particularly strong.

Luckily, the brakes themselves feel very natural when you use the pedal so stopping smoothly isn’t an issue. Indeed, compared with some small electric SUV rivals, the Urban Cruiser’s brakes are well judged, with none of the jerkiness you’ll find elsewhere.

What’s the range and efficiency like, and how quickly can it charge? 

With an official range of just 213 miles, the 49kWh battery version is best suited to town driving, because in real-world conditions, you’re likely to see significantly less than that, especially in colder weather. 

Officially, the 61kWh Urban Cruiser boosts the range to 265 miles, meaning it should travel further than the Puma Gen-E and Jeep Avenger Electric but not quite as far as the EV3 Standard Range. The EV3 Long Range beats them all, with its official range of up to 375 miles. On a cold winter day, we saw an indicated 210-mile range from the larger battery.

With its maximum charging rate of 67kW, the Urban Cruiser is not very quick to charge up. It's likely to take 45 minutes to charge from 10-80% on a fast charger, against 30 minutes for the EV3 Standard Range and 25 for the Puma Gen-E.

"While there’s no four-wheel drive version at launch, Toyota hasn’t written off the chance of one appearing in the future. That version would cut the range slightly but should be faster and give you more confidence in slippery conditions." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

What does the interior look like and is it well made? 

It’s fair to say that the Urban Cruiser’s interior feels pretty drab, especially when compared with the visual flair of the Smart #1. Even the Suzuki e Vitara – which shares the same interior – gets some brown leather inserts to help liven things up a bit. 

There are some patterned fabric inserts on the upper dashboard and around the door cards, but for the most part the Urban Cruiser’s interior features varying grades of plastics. These range from the smooth, shiny piano-black plastic you’ll see on areas you touch regularly, to rougher, harder plastics on lower-down areas, such as in the footwells.

Despite that, everything feels well made, and the switches and dials all move with satisfying precision. While it doesn’t look very enticing, then, we’d bet that the Urban Cruiser will stand up to the rigours of family life.

Is the driving position comfortable and is it easy to see out? 

It’s easy to get comfortable in the Toyota Urban Cruiser thanks to a driving position that lines you up nicely with the steering wheel and pedals. You’ll need to go for range-topping Excel trim to get electric adjustment for the driver’s seat, but it’s manually adjustable elsewhere in the range, and heated from mid-range Design trim. While the Kia EV3 places you slightly higher above the road, the Urban Cruiser sits you high enough for great all-round visibility. Indeed, at the front you have a good view out over the bonnet and the slim windscreen pillars mean you can see plenty at junctions.

The rear pillars are quite wide but the large rear side windows go back far enough that you still have a good view over your shoulder. Our only real demerit is that the back window could be bigger, to help when reversing. Fortunately, to make parking easier, every Urban Cruiser comes with a reversing camera, while Excel models get a 360-degree camera system which allows you to see all around the car.

For a great view at night, bright LED lights have been fitted to the Urban Cruiser. The Excel takes things one step further with an adaptive system so you can leave the lights on full beam without dazzling anyone.

Is the dashboard and infotainment system easy to use? 

The interior is sensibly laid out, with everything exactly where you expect it to be. We particularly appreciate that the steering wheel has proper buttons and you get some physical controls for the air-conditioning. True, you need to use the 10.1in infotainment touchscreen to make finer changes, but having a proper button to control the fan speed and temperature goes a long way in making it a less distracting process than in the Ford Puma Gen-E.

Speaking of screens, every Urban Cruiser has a 10.3in digital driver's display as well as the main infotainment screen. Both have crisp displays that are easy to read, but it’s a shame that the driver’s display isn’t more configurable – you can only choose from three or four pre-set ways of displaying your driving information.

Infotainment systems haven’t traditionally been a strong point for Toyota, and that’s no different in the Urban Cruiser. Toyota’s own software is graphically sparse and can be slow to respond, but at least you can bypass it easily enough with standard-fit wireless connections for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

"I really hope the infotainment system is worked on before the official launch of the Urban Cruiser because at the moment it’s one of the slowest I’ve used." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

How much space does it have for people? 

A pair of six-footers will have no trouble getting comfortable in the front of the Toyota Urban Cruiser: it offers plenty of head, leg and shoulder room. There’s also loads of storage areas in the front of the Urban Cruiser, including door bins that can each hold a large bottle of water, two cupholders, a large cubby beneath the floating centre console, a spot for your phone at the base of the dashboard (which doubles as wireless phone-charging in top-spec cars) and a cubby inside the central armrest.

Rear space is pretty impressive too. Indeed, even someone 6ft tall will have no issues with head or leg room when sitting in the rear seats. Shoulder room will be fairly tight if you want to fit three adults across the rear bench, but the lack of a gearbox tunnel means they’ll have lots of foot space.

How much room does it have for luggage? 

Handily, every Urban Cruiser comes with sliding rear seats that allow you to prioritise either rear leg room or boot space. Better still, you get versatile 40/20/40 split-folding rear seats, allowing you to load long items through from the boot without sacrificing one of the outer rear seats.

Speaking of the boot, you get either 238 litres or 310 litres of space, depending on whether you have the seats slid all the way forward or back. That's not hugely impressive when you consider that the Kia EV3 offers 460 litres and the Ford Puma Gen-E a mighty 523 litres. In more relatable terms, the EV3 managed to swallow six carry-on suitcases in our tests. We’d expect the Urban Cruiser to take four or five.

"Unlike the Puma Gen-E and EV3, the Urban Cruiser doesn’t have a front boot. I always find that a shame, especially when the underpinnings have been designed specifically for an electric car." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

How much does it cost and what equipment do you get? 

Prices for the Urban Cruiser start just above those for the Suzuki e Vitara. That means you’ll pay less for one than you would for the Kia EV3, and about the same as for the Ford Puma Gen-E.

Icon trim has most of your kit needs covered, and gets you 18in alloy wheels, adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring and a reversing camera as standard. Importantly, though, Icon is only available with the smaller battery. To get the larger battery you’ll need to go for Design trim, which is expected to take the lion’s share of sales. It’s well equipped, with a heated steering wheel and front seats as well as de-icing for the windscreen wipers. It’s the one we’d suggest you go for.

If you want luxury, then range-topping Excel models get larger 19in wheels, as well as a premium stereo by JBL, wireless charging for your phone and the 360-degree parking camera system we mentioned earlier.

How safe is it, and is it easy to steal? 

The experts at Euro NCAP have awarded the Toyota Urban Cruiser four stars out of five, which is the same rating given to the Ford Puma and Kia EV3. The Urban Cruiser got the highest score of all three models for protecting child occupants and pedestrians in the event of an accident. 

The Urban Cruiser comes with a lot of safety kit as standard, including automatic emergency braking (AEB), rear cross-traffic alert, lane-departure alert and a driver monitoring system.

Is it reliable, and how long is the warranty? 

The Urban Cruiser is too new to have been included in the latest What Car? Reliability Survey, but both Suzuki and Toyota performed well, claiming third and fourth place respectively out of the 31 brands included.

Better still, Toyota gives you a 10-year, 100,000-mile warranty with the Urban Cruiser, providing you service it regularly at an official centre. You get a separate 10-year, 650,000-mile battery warranty.

"If the Urban Cruiser's price is as we expect, its 67kW charging rate seems pretty disappointing, especially when you consider that most rivals have a rate of at least 100kW." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

Buy it if…

- You want a small SUV with lots of rear passenger space

- A comfortable ride is important to you

- You’re looking for an EV with a long warranty

Don’t buy it if…

- You want a car with a vibrant interior

- You like a fast and responsive infotainment touchscreen

- You’re looking for an SUV with a capacious boot

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