[Auto] We got into the new Toyota Yaris Cross for the first time!

[#Steeven.™]

Toyota confirmed during the past year 2020 the launch of a new model for the B-SUV segment, using the platform of the newly renovated Toyota Yaris. A few months later, in full confinement due to the Covid pandemic, the Japanese brand virtually presented its Toyota Yaris Cross to us.

That has been almost a year and, logically, the coronavirus crisis has not helped to accelerate the processes precisely. However, Toyota Spain summoned us yesterday to come to its headquarters and see first-hand the new Toyota Yaris Cross. We could see it live, touch it, get on and ask anything we wanted about it. So here we go.

 

Bigger with the subway, and much more in its visual impact

The Toyota Yaris Cross looks much more robust and larger than the plain Yaris. Specifically, it is 24 centimeters longer, 9 taller and 2 centimeters wider. Live, it is appreciated even more, the truth. Of course, the wheelbase is maintained. The specific dimensions are 4.18 meters in length, 1.76 in width, 1.56 in height and 2.56 meters of battle.

Beyond the proportions, at the design level there is no doubt that it will work. Toyota wanted to differentiate it well from the Yaris. They didn't want it to look like just a taller Yaris, and they really did. It is a new model that brings its own personality, with bumpers, headlights, lights, wheel arches and all its own details.

Where it hardly changes visually is inside. It maintains the style seen in its brother in the line of the dashboard, using the same steering wheel, center console, main controls and even the transmission knob. As a curiosity, the unit that Toyota exposed us was all-wheel drive, so a selector of specific driving modes appears in the central area.

 

How spacious is this new Toyota Yaris Cross?
At the level of finishes I cannot comment on anything because the specific unit was a pre-series, so it has not passed the relevant quality controls or has all the finishing finishes that will be carried by the models that arrive at the dealerships. What we can talk about is habitability, and here it improves the Yaris in many ways.

Probably if we take a meter there is not so much real difference in the rear seats, but a few centimeters of height are gained, that is, of space for the head. The exposed unit had a panoramic roof and still felt more comfortable than its little brother. It also helps that access to the rear seats is much better, and also that the rear windows are considerably larger.

Nor will it be the most spacious of its rivals, that must be clear. And it is that the hollow for the knees is still not as generous as we would like. In the end, as they have not been able to stretch the battle, that height for the rear occupants has hardly changed. Anyway, there is more of a feeling of space than in the Toyota Yaris and, beware, in the Toyota C-HR.

The boot capacity is also notably increased, reaching up to 400 liters. It is a good fact that places it at the height of rivals such as the Seat Arona and above leading models, such as the Hyundai Kona. The trunk of the Toyota Yaris Cross is also wider than that of the C-HR, which invites us to think that it could steal more than one and two sales from its range partner.

 

Same efficient 116 hp hybrid engine

In principle, this new Yaris Cross will only be marketed in Europe with a 116 hp non-plug-in hybrid mechanical version, based on a 1.5-liter three-cylinder petrol engine. As usual in these hybrid cars from the Japanese manufacturer, it works on the Atkinson cycle.

The novelty is that it will be available both with front-wheel drive, and with a four-wheel drive version called hybrid AWD-i. For the latter, one more electric motor is used, which is located on the rear axle. It is not a high performance engine, but it will help to overcome difficult situations or low grip.

According to Toyota, and although the figures are still pending approval, official consumption will range between 4.6 and 5 liters per 100 kilometers. For its part, emissions will be between 103 and 110 g / km in the single-wheel drive variants, increasing to 107-112 g / km in the all-wheel drive.

Safety hand in hand with Safety Sense
You already know that Toyota is committed to a good endowment of equipment from the lowest finishes, especially in the safety section. Thus, the brand confirms that in Spain the structure will be very similar to that of the Yaris, sharing the latest version of the Toyota Safety Sense.

Among other things, it will have a pre-collision safety system, pedestrian and cyclist detection, obstacle control at intersections, emergency steering assistance, adaptive cruise control, signal recognition, warning of involuntary lane change, trajectory maintenance in the lane and intelligent control of high beams.

 

Marketing and market arrival of the Toyota Yaris Cross

The Japanese firm has not wanted to give specific and exact dates, but it has made it clear that the Toyota Yaris Cross will begin its pre-sale phase this spring; that is, from a few weeks. At that time the final price of the car should be made official, which is still a mystery although we can assure that it will play in the range between the normal Yaris and the C-HR.

And despite the fact that reservations will begin shortly, it will not be until the last quarter of this year 2021 when the Yaris Cross begins to be seen on the streets and in dealerships in our country. Toyota has not wanted to "catch the fingers", but it has told us that it is probably rather near the end of the year when the first deliveries begin.