Toyota Aygo X 1.0 Exclusive first drive

Why no electrification at all in the all-new Toyota Aygo X, you may ask. It’s a mercifully simple answer: weight.

Even something as minor as a mild hybrid would force Toyota to abandon the fundamental concept around the Toyota Aygo, leading to increases in size and cost. As for a full-on EV version, that would add “about 500kg” to the Aygo’s base 965kg kerb weight, according to Stijn Peeters, senior project manager for R&D at Toyota Motor Europe.

So it is that we’re greeted with a 1.0-litre nat asp petrol triple in a remarkably simple package. The new Aygo is heavily based, to the tune of a 50% component share, on the larger Toyota Yaris’s GA-B platform but, thanks to the lack of hybrid bits, with much shorter overhangs. Overall, it’s 3700mm long, so bang on the money for the Hyundai i10 but slightly longer than the Volkswagen Up.

The Aygo is a city car pure and simple, albeit with 2022’s must-have accessory of crossover-ish styling. As a result, you sit higher (55mm to be precise) so urban traffic is easier to navigate. The view out is helped by the raked-back A-pillar, while the dashboard is dominated by the 9.0in touchscreen. Physical buttons control the temperature.

Up front is by far the best place to be in the Aygo, because rear-seat space is tight, not helped by the chunky front seats. Leg room is okay-ish, but head room is restricted, particularly if you opt for the retractable canvas roof. And the chunky C-pillar brings on an onset of seasonal affective disorder, even in the sunshine of Barcelona.

The Aygo gets an impressive list of standard safety, covering everything from pre-collision system to intelligent adaptive cruise control and automatic high beam assist.

We tried the CVT gearbox, which gives a 0-62mph time of 14.8sec, 0.1sec up on the manual. So it’s no rocketship, but on a steady throttle and in the lower rev range, the engine is a refined little thing. You get more noise from passing traffic than anything else.

Or at least you do until you want to accelerate. At that point, all the CVT’s foibles come to bear with a 6000rpm triple for accompaniment.

You’ll be better off in the manual, which has a lovely short throw and where it’s easier to control the engine boom. The car is more than capable of motorway pace but long uphill drags test its 69lb ft of torque.