Toyota Urban Cruiser review
The Toyota Urban Cruiser is a bland and forgettable electric SUV with some significant flaws
Our opinion on the Toyota Urban Cruiser
The new Toyota Urban Cruiser isn’t necessarily a bad car, it’s just unremarkable. We found it lacking personality, charm and a unique selling point that will allow it to triumph in the thunderdome that is the small electric SUV segment. Put simply, whatever it can do, most rivals can probably do it better. Customers expect more from this brand, and rightfully so considering this car’s potential price.
While the prototype we drove was very close to production, we’d understand if charges or tweaks are made before this car launches, and our opinion of Toyota’s newcomer could slightly improve when we finally learn how much it will cost – or perhaps it could get worse. One of the very few redeeming qualities of the Urban Cruiser is the decent ride comfort, however, Toyota can’t take any of the credit for that, because we learned that Suzuki actually did all the hard work in that department.
| Key specs | |
| Fuel type | Electric |
| Bodystyle | Small SUV |
| Powertrain | 49kWh battery, 1x electric motor, front-wheel drive 61kWh battery, 1x electric motor, front-wheel drive |
| Safety | Not Euro NCAP tested yet |
| Warranty | Up to 10 years/100,000 miles |
About the Toyota Urban Cruiser
These days it feels like a new electric SUV is unveiled every five minutes, and just about every car maker either has one in its range or in the pipeline. But did you know, as well as being pioneers of hybrid technology, Toyota actually launched the world’s first electric SUV all the way back in 1997 – 22 years before we were introduced to the Tesla Model Y.
Used - available now
2019 Mercedes
AMG C43 Saloon
56,253 milesAutomaticPetrol3.0L
Cash £24,121
2020 Mercedes
E-Class Cabriolet
28,000 milesAutomaticDiesel2.0L
Cash £27,850
2023 Audi
Q3
38,342 milesAutomaticPetrol1.5L
Cash £25,722
2020 Audi
Q5
28,000 milesAutomaticPetrol2.0L
Cash £28,508The Toyota RAV4 EV was exactly what it said on the tin: a petrol-free version of what is also considered the world’s original crossover SUV. It had an official range of just 95 miles from a modest 27kWh battery, and was only sold in California to meet the US state’s zero-emissions vehicle mandate, which explains why some readers will have never heard about it before.
However, the brand’s latest attempt at a small electric SUV, the new Urban Cruiser, definitely is coming to the UK – although not as soon as this summer, as was originally planned. We’ve now been told it won’t be arriving in showrooms until the first half of 2026.
Pricing is still firmly under wraps, but we’re expecting things to kick off at around £30,000, and top-spec models will probably cost closer to £35,000, which would put the Urban Cruiser in a very difficult position. For a start, the Citroen e-C3 Aircross and Vauxhall Frontera Electric are both available for less than £25k, then there’s the new Renault 4, which we recently learned will start from under £27k. If we’re on the money (pardon the pun) about the Toyota, its closest competitors on price will be the Jeep Avenger, Ford Puma Gen-E, Kia EV3 and Skoda Elroq.
You might assume that the Urban Cruiser is the baby brother of Toyota’s bZ4X family SUV, but the new car is actually the nearly identical twin of the Suzuki e Vitara, which is also coming soon. The pair sit on a newly developed, dedicated EV platform that the two firms worked on together. The only real differences between the models are the front-end design and badges, plus the Suzuki will offer the option of all-wheel drive.
When order books do finally open, three versions of the Toyota will be available: Icon, Design and Excel. The entry-level Icon model will use a 49kWh battery and a 142bhp electric motor to drive the front wheels. According to Toyota, this set-up will provide up to 214 miles on a single charge, and 0-62mph in 9.6 seconds.
Standard kit should include 18-inch alloy wheels, a 10.1-inch touchscreen, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a 10.25-inch instrument panel, a sliding rear bench, an energy-saving heat pump, a reversing camera and a smattering of driver-assistance tech, including blind-spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control and traffic sign recognition.
Most buyers will probably upgrade to one of the higher specifications, because these add a 61kWh battery, which increases the official range to a more respectable 265 miles. They also come with a slightly more powerful 172bhp e-motor that cuts the sprint time down to 8.7 seconds. Top-spec models also get a panoramic sunroof, JBL sound system, adaptive LED headlights and a wireless charging pad, among other niceties.
Performance & driving experience
| Pros | Cons |
|
|
Given that this car is called the Urban Cruiser, we’d expected it to be exceptional in town. However, the turning circle isn’t especially impressive and there’s no one-pedal driving mode, as you get in the Renault 4. There are no paddles on the steering wheel either, the best that Toyota could come up with is a button on the centre control that simply turns the regenerative braking on or off.
You can actually adjust the strength of the regen via the touchscreen, like some other electric cars, however, it’s a ridiculously convoluted process in the Urban Cruiser that involves trawling through settings menus and when you find the right one, you can opt for levels ‘low’ ‘medium’ or ‘high’. You can’t change this while you’re driving, probably because Toyota knows drivers would be too distracted. And even after all that, the strongest mode takes a long time (and distance) to slow the car to a crawl.
One of the few redeeming qualities about the Urban Cruiser is the suspension does a decent job of cushioning the impacts from potholes and the like. Toyota can’t take any of the credit for that though, because we were told that Suzuki handled tuning the chassis and suspension for the e Vitara/Urban Cruiser twins. That said, the ride is generally quite wallowy, and the car feels floaty on a motorway, where a lot of road noise also creeps into the cabin.
More annoying is the emergency lane-keep assist that gave us no forewarning and would suddenly start pushing us around in our lane, and deactivated just as quickly, often after putting us on a collision course with a barrier or towards the other lane.
But our biggest gripe is with the system Toyota calls ‘active cornering control’. This is essentially torque vectoring by braking, so when you’re cornering, the car uses the brakes on the inside wheel to prevent understeer. We certainly couldn’t detect any on the twisty roads through the Spanish countryside, but the unsettling side effect is that the car feels like it has no grip at the rear, which is the opposite of confidence-inspiring – and we can attest that the handling feels even more unnatural from the passenger seat.
Performance, 0-60mph acceleration and top speed
On the road, acceleration is relatively nippy. The Urban Cruiser doesn’t feel quite as slow as its 0-62mph time suggests, and if you’re gentle with the throttle then quick bursts of acceleration are fine, such as 0-30mph or 30-60mph. There’s enough poke leftover for overtaking on a motorway, however. Top speed hasn’t been confirmed yet, but we expect it’ll be around 90mph.
| Model | Power | 0-62mph | Top speed |
| Toyota Urban Cruiser Icon | 142bhp | 9.6 seconds | TBC |
| Toyota Urban Cruiser Design | 172bhp | 8.7 seconds | TBC |
Expert view, on driving experience
“I’m baffled why Toyota and Suzuki have spent more time trying to eliminate understeer in their new small SUVs that’ll mostly be used to potter around town, instead of a one-pedal driving function that this car’s buyers might actually appreciate.” - Ellis Hyde, news reporter, who drove a near-production prototype of a car in Madrid, Spain.
Range, charging & running costs
| Pros | Cons |
|
|
All but the base version of the Toyota Urban Cruiser can cover close to the same distance as the Renault 4 or Jeep Avenger, or base versions of the EV3 and Elroq. But critically, if you get the Kia or Skoda with the appropriate battery, both can cover more than 350 miles in one go. Meanwhile, we averaged 3.7 miles per kWh in a near-production prototype, which would equate to a rear-world range of more than 210 miles from the Toyota’s bigger 61kWh battery.
More embarrassing is the Urban Cruiser’s maximum charging speed of just 67kW, which is rather disappointing by 2025 standards. Because of the car’s relatively big batteries, it means a 10 to 80 per cent top-up takes at least 45 minutes, when most other cars in this class can do the same job in about half an hour or less.
Toyota’s explanation is this maximum speed helps ensure the longevity of the battery, which it will cover under warranty for up to 10 years or 650,000 miles (one million kilometres), so long as owners get the car serviced annually at an approved Toyota dealer. We can understand the thinking, however, none of that is going to matter to anyone who’s leasing this car for just a couple of years – as a lot of people do with electric cars – who will have to sit plugged into a public rapid charger for nearly an hour, while other drivers with cars capable of faster speeds come and go.
To get an accurate valuation for a Toyota Urban Cruiser, check out our valuation tool...
| Model | Battery size | Range | Insurance group |
| Toyota Urban Cruiser Icon | 49kWh | 214 miles | TBC |
| Toyota Urban Cruiser Design | 61kWh | 265 miles | TBC |
Interior, design & technology
| Pros | Cons |
|
|
We were told the only differences between the very close-to-production prototype we’ve driven and customers’ cars are the finish on the centre console and door cards. However, Toyota should consider changing a few more things if it has a chance before the Urban Cruiser launches, because this interior isn’t just bland, it’s soulless.
It feels cheap, too, with almost all the surfaces made from varying textures of plastic, and the dashboard has just a thin layer of soft-touch fabric. The seats are incredibly hard and felt like they had no side bolstering; we slid around in them through corners, and the headrests are rock solid, which made us very grateful the Urban Cruiser doesn’t have enough torque to pin us back in the seats like some EVs can.
Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment
Again, this is a prototype, but even so the infotainment system shouldn’t be as painfully slow as it was in our test car. Menus took a long time to load, with the touchscreen often needing a second prod to get it to do what we wanted, which is all especially infuriating because there are so many menus to navigate through just to complete simple tasks. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto come as standard, so you don’t have to deal with the built-in software for media and navigation at least.
Expert view, on design
“Design-wise, the Toyota Urban Cruiser is just an uninteresting car that doesn’t manage to look sleek or futuristic, can’t play off people’s nostalgia or even appeal to young buyers who want something really boxy. I imagine this is what a street sweeper in the Star Wars universe would look like.” - Ellis Hyde, news reporter, who drove a near-production prototype of a car in Madrid, Spain.
Boot space & practicality
| Pros | Cons |
|
|
The Urban Cruiser doesn’t feel particularly spacious up front, and taller individuals may find the driving position quite cramped – our hands kept hitting our knees whenever we turned the steering wheel. The long rear windows help mitigate the blindspot created by thick C-pillar, but we wish the rear windscreen or rear-view mirror was bigger to improve visibility.
There is a surprising amount of kneeroom in the back – plenty for six-foot-tall adults – and sufficient headroom, but the floor is high and you don’t get much under-thigh support, so it won’t be terribly comfortable back there on long journeys. There are two sets of ISOFIX mounting points for child seats in the back, and the wide-opening rear doors help when loading up the car. The only creature comforts are a pair of USB charging ports, and if you fold down the middle seat there’s a pair of cup-holders for the rear passengers, too.
Dimensions and size
The Toyota Urban Cruiser measures 4,285mm long, with a wheelbase of 2,700mm, and is 1,800mm wide and 1,635mm tall. That means it’s 105mm longer than the more established Toyota Yaris Cross, and there’s an extra 140mm between the wheels that helps provide more space. The newcomer is also wider and taller than its sibling.
Compared with rivals, the Urban Cruiser is smaller than the likes of the Skoda Elroq and Kia EV3, but bigger than the Renault 4. However, the French model offers more passenger and boot space inside – proving once again, that size doesn’t matter.
Boot space
The 238-litre boot is only slightly bigger than a MINI Cooper’s, and far less practical than any rival’s. The rear seats can be pulled forward by up to 16cm to expand the capacity, but even then there’s still only 306 litres available. For context, the Renault 4 boasts 420 litres, while the Elroq can haul 470 litres of stuff and its cabin feels far more spacious. Fold the 40:20:40-split rear bench down, and the Urban Cruiser offers 562 litres of cargo space, which is less than you get just in the Skoda Enyaq’s boot. The Toyota has barely enough underfloor storage for the charging cables and no extra stowage space under the bonnet.
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 4,285mm |
| Width | 1,800mm |
| Height | 1,635mm |
| Number of seats | 5 |
| Boot space | 238-562 litres |
Reliability & safety
| Pros | Cons |
|
|
The Toyota Urban Cruiser hasn’t received a crash-safety score from Euro NCAP yet, and we don’t have the full list of standard safety equipment either. However, every model is expected to come with the brand’s ‘pre-collision system’ with vehicle, pedestrian and cyclist detection, adaptive cruise control, a driver monitoring camera, lane departure alert and lane-keep assist systems.
Similarly, while this car is based on a brand-new platform, Toyota is well known for making reliable cars and EVs are generally very reliable. Plus the Japanese brand finished eighth (out of 32) in our 2024 best car manufacturer rankings, which is based on owners’ feedback from the Driver Power satisfaction survey.
The Urban Cruiser will come with a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty, which is industry standard nowadays. However, customers can get up to 10 years or 100,000 miles of warranty by getting their cars an annual service at a Toyota dealership. As we mentioned, the battery pack is also covered for an entire decade, or up to 650,000 miles.
| Key standard safety features | Euro NCAP safety ratings |
|
|
Buying and owning
Best buy: Toyota Urban Cruiser Design
It’s hard to tell which version of the Toyota Urban Cruiser will be the most popular, because pricing hasn’t been announced yet. But our best guess is it’ll be the mid-range Design model, which adds the bigger 61kWh battery that provides a much more usable range. Standard equipment will be the same as base cars, that come with dual 10-inch displays, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a sliding rear bench and an energy-saving heat pump.
Alternatives
The Toyota Urban Cruiser is a small electric SUV, meaning there’s about two dozen alternatives you could (and probably should) choose instead. If it’s style you want, there’s the new Renault 4, MINI Aceman and even the Jeep Avenger. Meanwhile, the larger and more sophisticated Kia EV3 and Skoda Elroq offer extra space inside and much larger range figures. Pricing for the new Toyota hasn’t been confirmed yet, but we can pretty much guarantee that the new Citroen e-C3 Aircross and Vauxhall Frontera Electric are going to undercut it, because both cost less than £25,000.
Deals on the Toyota Urban Cruiser's rivals
Toyota Urban Cruiser pictures
Frequently Asked Questions
The new Toyota Urban Cruiser isn’t a bad car, it just doesn’t have a unique selling point or give us a reason to recommend it over any of the multitude of small electric SUVs that are available right now.
More reviews
In-depth reviews
