Toyota Urban Cruiser review

While the Urban Cruiser is front-wheel drive only, it does at least get the same two battery options as the e Vitara – a 49kWh unit rated to do 214 miles between charges and a 61kWh unit with up to 265 miles of range. We’ve so far tried the Urban Cruiser in pre-production form during a drive in Spain, and in post-production 61kWh Excel form back in the UK.

Toyota Urban Cruiser prices and latest deals 

Pricing for the Urban Cruiser has been made more attractive thanks to an ‘Electrified Saving’ of £1,500 from Toyota, so this car now starts at £28,500 in Icon trim with the small battery. The larger capacity battery arrives on the mid-range Design trim at £33,000, and finally, there’s the £35,000 Excel. 

However, the e Vitara gets Suzuki’s more generous ‘Suzuki Granted’ discount of £3,750, which reduces prices to just over £26,000 for the entry-level Motion, and rises to £34,000 for the four-wheel drive Ultra. Neither the Suzuki nor the Toyota qualify for the government’s Electric Car Grant.

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The Urban Cruiser drives identically to the e Vitara, so it isn’t particularly exciting behind the wheel. We’ve driven the e Vitara in its all-wheel drive dual-motor form, which we think gives the Suzuki a slight edge over the more one-dimensional Toyota.

Performance, 0-60mph acceleration and top speed

Those expecting the super quick 0-62mph sprint times of a Volvo EX30 are going to be disappointed with the Urban Cruiser. The entry-level 142bhp hits 62mph from rest in 9.6 seconds, while the 172bhp model with the higher capacity battery does the same sprint in 8.7 seconds.