Toyota Yaris Cross

The cabin of the Toyota Yaris Cross doesn’t look highly tech-rich but is modern enough to make it look appealing and youthful.

The rounded theme carried out for the steering wheel and instrument console looks decent. The digital layout for the instrument console in the rounded pods with colored MID in between do spice up the things here in the driver’s cockpit.

The upper part of the center console gets a free-standing 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system and sleek AC vents below it. On the other hand, the lower part of the center console just below it looks quite simple with a trapezoidal panel of automatic climate control. The round-looking AC vents on the corners of the dashboard look much similar to that in the GR Yaris. The equipment list of the Toyota Yaris Cross feels decent with push-button start, height adjustment for driver seat, leather upholstery, 6-speaker audio system and powered rearview mirrors.

The Toyota Yaris Cross looks nowhere as close to the hatchback and sedan versions of Yaris sold overseas. Instead, it gets its own individualistic design, which looks rugged and modern enough by SUV standards.

The Toyota Yaris Cross has a well-sculpted upright bonnet, which ends up in a small trapezoidal grille quite lower at the front. The upper edges of the front bonnet get large curved wing-like headlamps, which come integrated with LED projectors and sleek daytime running LEDs at their top. The corners of the front bumper come with C-shaped inserts with vertical LED lights recessed in them.

Move towards the side, and the Toyota Yaris Cross impresses with its taut stance and sloping roofline towards the rear, which indeed adds a good dose of style in its appearance. The Yaris Cross comes with body cladding over squared wheel arches and bottom of the door panels, thus adding some ruggedness to the design. Adding more style to the SUV are blacked-out pillars, 16-inch machined alloy wheels and door-mounted mirrors.

At the back, the Toyota Yaris Cross continues its stylish persona with a raked windscreen and large curved tail lamps which stretch towards the centre. The width of the tail lamps is further accentuated by the long strip of LEDs within them. Like the front bumper, the rear bumper too comes with sleek looking C-shaped inserts on its corners.

The Toyota Yaris Cross is built around a monocoque frame, with a suspension combination of Macpherson struts at the front and torsion beam at the rear. The ride quality is on a stiffer side and there is a small hint of body roll at times, but most of the time, the Yaris Cross feels sure-footed and planted, making its driving dynamics very likeable.

The Toyota Yaris Cross is the only SUV in its category to get a hybrid powertrain under its hood. Here, a 1.5-litre three-cylinder naturally aspirated petrol engine is paired with a 1NM Permanent Magnet Synchronous motor and a lithium-ion battery. The maximum power output of this combined hybrid powertrain stands at 110 bhp, while the claimed fuel efficiency is 26.3 kmpl. A CVT is the only choice of transmission here in the Toyota Yaris Cross.

The list of safety features in the Toyota Yaris Cross is quite rich, with inclusions like a pre-collision warning, intersection turning assist, emergency steering assist, dynamic radar cruise control, lane tracing assist, lane departure assist, rear cross-traffic alert, automatic high beam, front and rear parking sensors, rear camera, electronic parking brake, six airbags, blind-spot monitoring system, vehicle stability control, traction control, hill start assist, active cornering assist, crosswind assist, ABS with EBD and brake assist.

The Toyota Yaris Cross offers the exclusivity of a hybrid powertrain, which makes the driving experience sophisticated and economic at the same time. With a healthy list of features and visual appeal in and out, the Toyota Yaris Cross is here to stay in the segment of premium compact crossovers and SUVs.