2023 (23) Toyota Aygo X 1.0 VVT-i Pure 5dr Auto

By Jonathan Crouch

Introduction

In 2021, Toyota thumbed its nose at volume brands who'd abandoned the citycar segment and brought us a fresh one, the Aygo X. It's a city car with a bit more pavement presence than those you might be used to; in terms of the statement it'll make at the gym, it's a world away from the old more conventional Aygo. Plus it's economical, promises to be fun to drive and can even be had in semi-convertible form. Trendsetters should form an orderly queue.

History

In the motor industry, everyone's got their own perspective. Take city cars. Back in 2021, two of the industry's biggest players, the Volkswagen Group and Stellantis, reckoned that segment was effectively dead. But Toyota, the world's biggest car maker disagreed, which is what brought us this car, the Aygo X. It's pronounced 'Aygo Cross' by the way, like the Yaris Cross, Toyota's smallest SUV, the 'X' designating the fact that in this form the Aygo had gone all 'crossover' on us. This was the Japanese maker's strategy for justifying this model's continued existence. In the Aygo's previous two incarnations, launched respectively in 2005 and 2014, it was produced as part of a joint venture with Stellantis brands Peugeot and Citroen, whose 108 and C1 models were built alongside the Aygo at a jointly owned factory at Kolin in the Czech Republic. Following the dis-continuation of 108 and C1 production in 2021, Toyota decided to take full control of the plant, then redesigned the Aygo to take a shrunken version of the Yaris supermini's TGNA GA-B platform, before starting production of this resulting Aygo X model at the factory alongside the Yaris and Yaris Cross, in readiness for this car's launch here for the 2022 model year. For the 2026 model year, a new Aygo X was introduced with the 1.5-litre Hybrid engine from the Yaris. Here though, we're focusing on the original 1.0-litre 2021-2025-era Aygo X models.

What You Get

You can't profitably sell a car of this size without substantial economies of scale, which in this case were provided by a switch to the TGNA GA-B chassis used by the fourth generation Yaris and Yaris Cross models. Inserting a platform originally developed for a supermini meant a step up in size of course, but the dimensional upgrade is modest, the Aygo X measuring in 3.7m long and 1.74m wide, which makes it 235mm longer and 125mm wider than its more conventional predecessor. It's 50mm taller too, which is important to emphasise a crossover vibe underlined by thick plastic wheel arch cladding, an 11mm raise in ride height, a prominent front skid plate and colour-contrasted flared wheel arch surrounds shrouding larger 17 or 18-inch alloy rims. Original buyers could specify a fabric roll-top roof too. What about the inside? The previous Aygo's cabin claimed to be funky - but wasn't. This is much better. Hard plastics still abound of course across the bold, playful dash design, but that's OK in this class of car, as is the exposed metalwork on the door tops. It helps that you sit higher than you'd usually expect to in a citycar (55mm higher than in the old model) and your view out is further aided by a raked-back A-pillar. It feels more spacious too, thanks to the way the front seats have been set 20mm further apart, increasing shoulder space by 45mm as part of the 'shared interaction' cabin design. And, assuming you've splashed out a bit on trim choice, there's be more than a touch of colour, interior highlights matching the spicey exterior shades to give the dashboard and the centre console a distinctive look. Embellished of course with screen tech, though you won't get the biggest centre screen unless you end up spending an awful lot more than you'd originally intended to on your Aygo X. The display in question is Toyota's freshly-developed 9-inch HD 'Smart Connect' set-up, with cloud-based navigation, over-the-air updates, wireless smartphone connectivity and the option of a JBL Premium Sound System. The Aygo X enjoys a wheelbase length increase of 90mm on its predecessor, but it's pretty clear even before you get in that this hasn't done much for rear seat space. The door aperture is restricted - to the point where it won't be that easy for parents to lean in and strap up offspring. And once you get inside, things aren't much better. Yes of course cars of this kind are always going to be small at the back, but models like Kia's Picanto have shown that it's possible to do better than this. An averagely-sized adult will almost certainly need co-operation from those ahead to be able to sit in any way comfortably; and the headrests are of the sort that dig uncomfortably into your neck until you raise them. Worse, there are only two seats in the back (rival Kia Picanto and Fiat Panda Cross models find space for three). And the windows don't open conventionally - you can only angle them out using catches. At least things are a little better in the boot - well, assuming you don't mind the super-high loading lip anyway, caused because Toyota has persisted with the previous model's cost-saving trick of not providing a tailgate, fitting a lifting glass panel instead. Raise it and there's a deep cargo area that's 231-litres in size, 60-litres more than you got in the previous generation model.

What to Look For

Common problems for this model include high manual clutch biting points, while for variants with the CVT auto gearbox, there have also been reports of shuddering (you'll need to ensure the CVT fluid is checked during services to prevent this). Toyota has issued recalls for front suspension and battery fastener issues, as well as for the curtain airbags and brake pedal/valve problems. Infotainment glitches have been reported, so check there's no sluggishness or freezing on the central screen and that there are no Apple CarPlay/Android Auto connectivity issues. We've heard of potential water leaks in the footwells and boot. Check the alloy wheels carefully for condition and the rear part of the interior for child damage. Insist on a proper service history.

Replacement Parts

(approx - based on a 2022 Aygo X 1.0 ex VAT - autodoc.co.uk) An air filter is priced in the £6 to £19 bracket. An oil filter costs in the £4 to £12 bracket. On to brakes. A set of front pads tend to retail in the £21 to £72 bracket. Front brake discs tend to be in the £33-£52 bracket. You'll need in the £4-£21 bracket for a wiper blade. An alternator is in the £140-£257 bracket.

On the Road

From the Aygo's original launch back in 2005, one thing remained common about it; the little 1.0-litre three cylinder petrol engine beneath the bonnet. The technicalities of modern powertrain development largely passed this unit by over the next decade and a half, but nevertheless it reappeared again with the original Aygo X, thrummy and relatively feeble as ever but still quite sufficient for the needs of a citycar weighing less than a tonne. Given the need to keep pricing down, you can understand why Toyota chose to first equip this car with an engine two decades old, finessed for emissions over the earliest model's Daihatsu-derived '1KR' unit, but otherwise hardly much different. It's certainly not much faster, available only with 71bhp and a puny 93Nm of pulling power that makes you thankful for the lightweight underpinnings. The high biting point of the five-speed manual version most will choose means that lots of revs are needed to avoid stalling when setting off - and for the same reason, reversing uphill can be a little clutch-cremating if you're not careful. But the shifter has a nice short throw and if you're quick with it, the car feels nippy in its urban jungle habitat. Which is actually illusory because it's not really very fast at all. 62mph from rest is quoted at 14.9 seconds for the manual version, but on the open road, it manages to feel slower even than that figure suggests. Straining its way up to the kind of double-digit top speed (98mph) that you might have thought was reserved for either your dad's Sixties saloon or a modern EV. For the alternative CVT automatic model (which somehow feels more leisurely still), the figures are 14.8s and 94mph. Not that any of this really matters much. As we've suggested, the Aygo X is fun to jink about in town. And fun too if you take the twisty way back from the school run, thanks to well-weighted steering, tremendous traction and excellent body control. It doesn't even fall apart as an ownership proposition where you'd expect it to, on the odd highway-based longer trip, thanks to the decent ride - and refinement that settles down quite a lot once you get on a major road and moderate your right foot. The move to a crossover theme didn't deliver any rough road prowess of course, but the 11mm increase in ride height might make the odd urban speed hump little less daunting.

Overall

Toyota described this car as 'the first true urban crossover', a claim which will be controversial to owners of cars like Suzuki's Ignis and Fiat's Panda Cross. But these are older designs and this one offers a bit more visual pizzazz than the only other crossover option from its era in the citycar segment, Kia's Picanto X-Line. Yes, in this original form, the Aygo X was quite feebly-powered, but on a car of this kind, that matters less than pricing, which from new made upper-spec variants of this car a little difficult to justify. On the plus side though, you get a high standard of safety tech for a car of this kind from this era - one that back in 2022 embarrassed most superminis from the next class up. And this car's fashionable vibe is as trendy as a car like this needs to be. As a result, the Aygo X sold quite well in this original guise, embarrassing other brands who'd prematurely abandoned the citycar sector. Not everyone who wants a really small car can afford a small EV and if you fit into that category, this funky little Toyota represents quite an appealing option. It proved that the citycar segment wasn't dead after all. It just needed a different approach.