Overview

The Aygo X, pronounced Aygo cross, is Toyota’s newest offering in the rapidly-shrinking city car segment. Bold in looks and ambition, Toyota aims to combine the comfort and space of its extremely popular B-segment supermini Yaris (using the same underpinnings) with the compact agility of an urban runaround. That’s a lot of pressure for one little city car, but the Aygo X steps up with commendable gusto.

The outgoing Aygo’s rivals are diminishing. Brands, such as Ford and Volkswagen are turning away from new releases of city cars and superminis, in favour of larger electric-only models, like the ID.3. Toyota’s challenger hopes to inject a little SUV attitude into the market, thanks to its rugged looks and slightly-elevated driving position. That puts it up against the Suzuki Ignis, Hyundai i10 and Fiat 500. But the VW Polo, Renault Clio and even Toyota’s own Yaris offer entry models for similar money to the Aygo X.

The Aygo X does have striking looks on its side. Its bold design is coupled with a really strong colour palette. Spice-inspired flavours with loud yet tasteful contrasting accents adorn the three trim levels, Pure, Edge and Exclusive. All feature, as standard, Toyota’s T-Mate suite, a combination of its Safety Sense system, rear view parking camera and rear seatbelt reminders.

Pure features a 7.0-inch touchscreen and 17-inch alloys, while the Edge trim upgrades to an 8.0-inch touchscreen, 18-inch alloys and privacy glass, as well as the optional fancy canvas roof and parking sensors. The highest-spec Exclusive trim factors in keyless entry and upgrades to 18-inch matt black alloys. If your music means a lot, an optional five-speaker JBL audio suite is available, though only with the Exclusive spec. In short, it’s a big-car spec in a small-car package – which should help it appeal to a wide variety of city slickers.

Over the next few pages, we’ll be thoroughly reviewing all aspects of the Toyota Aygo X and rating them in our verdict. Along the way, we’ll consider the car’s driving experience, the quality and comfort of its interior, the level of practicality available and how much it’ll cost you to keep it on the road.