Toyota Yaris Cross Adventure review: A Yaris, but tougher and more imposing

When I was younger, small cars were, well, small: Definitely much smaller than they are today. 

They were ‘superminis,’ a term that dated back to the 1970s, when manufacturers needed a phrase that designated something other the original and ubiquitous Alec Issigonis-designed Mini.

The Mini was produced by the grandly named British Motor Corporation, the company name, perhaps, a legacy of those ‘great’ days (great for some, not so great for many others) of imperial and colonial power exercised from London.

Many Britons are still in disbelief that the world has moved on from the time when ‘Britain ruled the waves’ or, as has been said, ‘waived the rules’.

Oddly, it was the Italians who broke the mould on the Mini and its many impersonators, when Fiat — remember them? — built the 127 in 1971. 

Sure, it had the same transverse engine and front-wheel drive layout as the Longbridge car, but the Pio Manzu-designed Fiat set the trend for a new breed of small family car.

Built at the legendary Mirafiori plant in Turin, Fiat sold a million 127s in just three years — which was quite an achievement — and others took note and followed suit. 

The Renault 5, VW Polo, and (the original) Honda Civic came on stream quickly, although Ford was slow out of the blocks, not launching the Fiesta until 1976.

‘Supermini’ was an informal categorisation and in the lingua franca of the industry such cars are known as the ‘B-Segment.’

But there has been an expansion in the class and superminis are larger than ever, having grown from little four-seaters into grander things.

Look at the current crop: The Renault Clio is roughly the same size now as the Renault 19 (precursor to the Megane) was; similarly, the current Polo is the size the Golf originally was, and the current Fiesta is as big as an Escort was, and so on.

But what of the Toyota supermini, the Yaris? Well, the Yaris is the same size it always was, but Toyota’s expansion plan for it is called the Yaris Cross. 

This is not a phenomenon unique to Toyota: SUV fever has spread across continents and caused manufacturers to re-evaluate their model-line ups.

This is why we now have the Fiat 500 L and X, the VW Taigo, and other cars that are SUVs, but based on the platforms of the Fiat 500 and the VW Polo and much bigger than anyone might have envisioned when they produced either the ‘supermini’ or ‘B-Segment’ formats. 

Even Toyota have shaken this thing down. They now have a mini-crossover, their Aygo Cross, that fits in somewhere between a four-seater bike and a Tuk-Tuk.

Now this preamble to our review of the Toyota Yaris Cross, this week’s tester, is just to illustrate that Toyota is merely exploiting the zeitgeist among customers for SUVs — big and small — and ones that are environmentally responsible, which is why this thing comes only as a hybrid, although there will be a BEV version soon.

And if I have seemed a little too smart in my comments about small cars, I can assure you that’s not the case, because I love small cars and especially good ones.

And the Yaris is one of the best small cars, but it has fantastic competition, not least the Polo, the Fiesta, the Peugeot 208, the Fiat 500, the Clio, the Corsa, Fabia, Ibiza, Micra, and a host of others.

The supermini segment is so competitive that it may even be the hottest market there is, with manufacturers vying for buyers of every type, from young, novice drivers to second-car households, to boy racers and even on to executives who couldn’t give a toss about image or their status in the golf club car park.

And did I mention ‘big’ superminis? Oh yes. The Yaris Cross is visually imposing, despite being built on the same platform as the regular Yaris. 

It looks much bigger than its regular namesake and, if you wish to take the car further off road than your local multi-storey car park, it is offered with genuine all-wheel drive — something that Toyota found advantageous from a sales point of view with its RAV4 range.

So, it is a big supermini, but one with real-world driving credentials and something for the adventurous as well. 

Closely related to the Yaris it may be, thanks to its high seating position and roomy interior, the Yaris Cross seems like something much bigger.

It might be — as is traditional with Toyotas — a bit dull on the inside, all grey and black plastics, albeit with a dash of colour-coded trimming, but it certainly ticks all the modern boxes, what with an eight-inch infotainment touchscreen and, depending on spec, digital instrumentation, heads-up display, and adaptive cruise control.

It is a very functional car, with a huge boot for the class and 40:20:40 split rear seats and also — depending on spec again — you can get roof rails.

But — and as we shall see in the coming weeks, when we review a few similar cars — one would have to wonder if it is creating a predicament for buyers in that they will have to choose between this and others in the maker’s line-up.

In that case, the Yaris Cross might steal sales from its stablemate, but I’m sure that Toyota is big enough to cope with that.

On the engine front, the Cross has the same fourth-generation, petrol-hybrid, 1.5 powertrain as the regular Yaris and it comes with the CVT gearbox, which previously was much too indecisive and when you went heavy on the foot there was excessive revving.

This latest version is much better and while the three-cylinder engine is typically sonorous, it’s not the most potent. Top whack of 116bhp (system max.) is not much and the 11.2 second 0-100km/h time reflects that, as does the top speed of 170km/h.

But the trick with hybrids is that you have to teach yourself how to drive all over again. You have to be accelerator-light and use the available torque to ease you along.

What will impress you, however, is the lack of thirst on offer here; the Yaris Cross will return something of the order of 5.0 l/100 km (56.5 mpg) and that’s worth noting.

On the road it is not as top-heavy as you might expect and the chassis is balanced enough to offer satisfactory handling and while the ride might be a tad stiff, for the more press-on types out there, that won’t be an issue.

For a big supermini then, the Yaris Cross is a worthy machine and one for which I foresee a ready audience, although it will almost certainly take sales from other Toyotas.

Even if the list price is a little tasty, there is still much to entice buyers, from the (expected) bombproof reliability, to the economy and practicality, not to mention the sharp suit.