Solo on the Basix: Testing the Toyota Aygo X

KSmall test: How often has a Toyota Aygo or one of its sisters from Peugeot and Citroën caught your eye on the street today? The little guys are amazingly popular, there’s always one on some corner, maybe on every second one. Because legal requirements are increasing and margins are shrinking, the segment is getting off the list everywhere, not at Toyota. The Japanese have broken with their French partner, continue on their own on the shortened platform of their Yaris model, give their Aygo borrowings from an SUV and add an X to their name, develop it in Brussels, design it in Nice and produce it in Kolin, Czech Republic. That doesn’t make it cheap, but it makes it look good.

A lot is promised to the eye, but of course 3.70 meters of basic mobility are delivered. The four doors slam shut tinny, only small vent windows open at the rear, the trunk, which is tightly cut and difficult to load because of the high loading sill, is covered with a scrap of fabric, and the engine, to which we will come later. The realization matures that nothing is always impossible, especially when it comes to initial mobility. That should also give the legislature food for thought.

After all, Toyota manages to bring up extensive safety equipment, the Aygo X has a comfortable chassis so far, drives prudently. Inside, it presents a tidy cockpit with almost neatly arranged hard plastic, the screen looks bold, there is air conditioning and a reversing camera, and if the seat heating offered any other positions than off or grill, there would even be a kind of luxury feeling. The front seats are fine for tall people, but the rear is pretty narrow due to the design. The approach at the front works well, the rear seats only after passing the contortionist test.

The agile Aygo X is a lot of fun in the city. For long-distance journeys it is better to take the train if it runs. Namely, the engine, a 1.0-liter three-cylinder petrol engine with 72 hp, is as growling as it is tired fellow, who needs high speed and still hardly gets out of the quark. Inside it gets very loud from 120 km/h, the hand is longingly looking for a sixth gear. We used an average of 5.6 liters, our test car costs 18,480 euros. gulpx.