The Suzuki e-Vitara is the supply materials for the most recent Toyota City Cruiser, and this isn’t too uncommon as most variations of previous City Cruisers offered worldwide have typically been primarily based on Suzuki Vitaras.
The issue, although, is that the e-Vitara is Suzuki’s first try at an electrical automobile (EV) and we had been lower than impressed with its dynamics and effectivity.
So the query is whether or not Toyota has finished important work in modifying the e-Vitara’s underpinnings to create the brand new City Cruiser, or whether or not it has simply plonked its personal very related crossover physique on high of the platform and despatched the automotive on its merry method.
To seek out out, we went to the worldwide launch of the Toyota City Cruiser in Florence, Italy.
How a lot does the Toyota City Cruiser price?
Whereas it has promised to launch quite a few EVs in coming years, at this stage Toyota Australia hasn’t dedicated to releasing the City Cruiser on this market, so there’s no inkling of how a lot it may cost a little right here.
Equally, Suzuki Australia hasn’t revealed e-Vitara pricing forward of its native launch within the second quarter of 2026, though in sure European markets we all know the 2 autos are identically priced at a fairly aggressive stage.
It’s a reasonably protected guess to imagine the City Cruiser would most likely slot in someplace between the Yaris Cross (from $31,790 earlier than on-roads), C-HR (from $42,990) and Corolla Cross (from $37,440) compact SUVs.
Toyota Australia additionally not too long ago slashed pricing on the bigger bZ4X, which now begins from $55,990 or over $10,000 lower than earlier than.
Allow us to show you how to discover your new automotive
Purchase your new automotive with out the stress. It is quick, easy and utterly free.
Nice service from Travis and group, second time I’ve used this enterprise wouldn’t hesitate to advocate them to anybody
Craig C.
Bought a Ford Ranger in Sunshine Coast, QLD
CarExpert helped Craig save hundreds on his Ford Ranger, now allow us to prevent in your subsequent new automotive.
What’s the Toyota City Cruiser like on the within?
Similar to the Suzuki e-Vitara, to the purpose that solely the Toyota-embossed steering wheel and a few mildly tweaked graphics within the instrument shows betray that you just’re even in a distinct automotive.
This implies the City Cruiser is put collectively solidly sufficient, and in the principle most issues function intuitively. That’s, till you begin working with the ten.1-inch central infotainment touchscreen, which sits – moderately awkwardly from a visible perspective – in a single trapezoid housing spanning the central and driver’s parts of the higher fascia.
Not solely does this center display screen sit at a distinct top to the ten.25-inch instrument cluster, which means the shows are mismatched and bordered by differing quantities of black plastic, however there’s merely an excessive amount of reliance on that infotainment panel for the automotive’s personal good.
For example, flying within the face of Toyota’s sometimes wise ergonomics, it takes 5 faucets of the display screen to regulate the heated seats. And turning off numerous superior driver help methods (ADAS) can be a prolonged and needlessly advanced chore. It’s infuriating.
And whereas the area behind the automotive is okay, it’s not as beneficiant there as you at first would possibly suppose. The City Cruiser does have the helpful perform of with the ability to slide the rear bench squabs backwards and forwards, in a 60:40 cut up, by as much as 160mm, so you’ll be able to enhance baggage or rear-passenger area in keeping with your wants.
However meaning a boot which solely measures 238-244 litres with all seats in use (relying on the fitment of a subwoofer for the top-level JBL sound system or not), rising to a modest 306-310L with the seats ahead – whereupon legroom within the again turns into virtually non-existent.
Lastly, there’s no entrance boot in any respect within the City Cruiser, so all its cables must be stashed beneath the rear cargo space’s flooring.
What’s beneath the bonnet?
There are two battery sizes and two motor layouts out there to the Toyota City Cruiser, leading to three distinct fashions.
| Specs | Toyota City Cruiser 61kWh AWD |
|---|---|
| Drivetrain | Twin-motor electrical |
| Battery | 61kWh li-ion (web) |
| Energy | 135kW |
| Torque | 309Nm |
| Pushed wheels | 4 |
| 0-100km/h – claimed | 7.4 seconds |
| Vitality consumption – claimed | 14.9kWh/100km |
| Vitality consumption – as examined | 25.6kWh/100km |
| Claimed vary – WLTP | 395km |
| Max AC cost fee | 11kW |
| Max DC cost fee | 70kW |
The primary is a single-motor, front-wheel drive variant with a 49kWh battery pack and a 106kW/193Nm electrical motor. This City Cruiser will run 0-100km/h in a claimed 9.6 seconds and is alleged to have the ability to journey as much as 344km on a single cost.
Within the center is a longer-range, front-wheel drive Cruiser with a 61kWh battery pack. Whereas it features no extra torque, peak energy climbs to 128kW, trimming the claimed 0-100km/h time to eight.7 seconds. That is additionally the longest-legged of the latest Toyota EV household, with as much as 426km of vary.
Topping the lineup off is the only real dual-motor City Cruiser, the all-wheel drive automotive choosing up a secondary electrical motor on its again axle and utilising the 61kWh battery. Energy is up once more, albeit solely marginally to 135kW, however torque output leaps considerably on account of the second motor, to a peak of 307Nm.
That once more cuts the claimed 0-100km/h dash, to a good 7.4 seconds, however the payoff is diminished vary – to 395km.
The issue with the Toyota City Cruiser is that it’s topic to the identical limitations because the Suzuki, with respect to its electrical system. A most DC fast-charging fee of 70kW nowadays is substandard, even when 11kW AC charging is acceptably aggressive.
Subsequently, at finest, a 10-80 per cent top-up of the battery on the quickest public connection will nonetheless want 45 minutes of hook-up. With an 11kW AC three-phase energy provide, 15-100 per cent charging within the City Cruiser ought to take six hours. On a extra typical 7kW wallbox, that enhance to 9.5 hours.
How does the Toyota City Cruiser drive?
There’s no well mannered method of claiming it, however the City Cruiser’s main experience is shockingly poor.
Italy is perhaps a stunning and scenic place to launch a automotive, however the woeful state of a few of its roads solely reveals up how dangerous the Toyota is at coping with something larger than a medium-sized compression of its springs.
The Cruiser amplifies solely reasonably sunken manhole covers and dimples within the highway into massive, uncomfortable moments, and it’s stunning how noisy and ill-mannered it’s within the wake of actually massive hits to its underpinnings.
Neither the lighter single-motor nor heavier AWD variants are higher at coping with these things, so don’t go anticipating added weight to settle the Toyota down on its springs.
Certain, if you find yourself on actually clean tarmac, then the City Cruiser rolls alongside acceptably – albeit there’s a bit extra highway noise than we’d like.
However, as everyone knows, actually clean tarmac is the exception moderately than the rule, and it’s commensurately vastly irritating {that a} automotive known as the City Cruiser doesn’t truly work brilliantly in an city setting in any respect.
Then there’s the poor electrical effectivity. We wouldn’t say we drove the City Cruiser notably laborious, both because the AWD or in single-motor, 61kWh format, and but neither automotive managed to raised a dreadful 25kWh/100km. The climate in Italy was gentle, too, so it wasn’t just like the chilly was sapping energy from the battery needlessly.
At that form of consumption, you’d be getting a most of circa-240km from the City Cruiser, not 395km. And it’s most likely finest we don’t level out that the front-wheel drive Toyota, supposedly simpler on its battery, turned in a worse determine when pushed afterward the identical day.
Now, whereas searing pace isn’t important in a small, compact crossover, it’s a disgrace the single-motor City Cruiser is so weedy. Fairly how Suzuki has managed to get lower than 200Nm from an electrical motor of 128kW is unfathomable, so the single-motor Cruiser does really feel completely undernourished. The twin-motor AWD is, no less than, higher on this regard.
As for the dealing with, it’s all moderately so-so.
There’s quite a lot of physique motion from the City Cruiser, as a result of regardless of the actual fact it has a lumpen really feel when coping with bumps within the highway, the suspension is kind of gentle so the shell of the automotive can checklist about beneath duress.
Couple in mild, feel-free steering and brakes that are nothing greater than acceptable, and also you gained’t actually wish to throw the Toyota round. Enjoyable to drive, this factor isn’t.
Certain, in case you drive the City Cruiser in an extremely light and sedate trend, and also you keep on with better-made roads, then it’s fantastic.
But virtually another comparable electrical crossover like this may do the identical job to the identical form of commonplace, solely it is going to layer on high superior low-speed and motorway experience consolation, or it’ll deal with with much more sparkle than this, or it’ll provide you with much better real-world electrical consumption and due to this fact vary, or it’ll do all three of these items to a better commonplace than the Toyota does.
We’re unsure what the City Cruiser does, from a dynamic perspective, which makes it essential purchase on this sector. To us, it feels method off the tempo of the prevailing class requirements, and it’s nothing like nearly as good as Toyota’s different in-house EVs or electrified merchandise both.
What do you get?
We don’t know what any Australian specification of the Toyota City Cruiser would appear like, ought to or not it’s confirmed for our market.
Going by its European construction, gear is broadly linked to every of the three drivetrain specs – so there’s a sure stage of package on the essential 106kW mannequin, which is then added to for the 61kWh, 128kW front-drive Cruiser, earlier than the AWD will get much more toys.
In consequence, we’d anticipate the next gear to be commonplace on even a primary automotive.
2026 Toyota City Cruiser gear highlights:
- 18-inch alloys
- Built-in show system
- 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster
- 10.1-inch infotainment touchscreen
- Adaptive cruise management
- Blind spot monitor
- Pre-collision system
- Rear-view digital camera
- Lane-trace help
- Sliding rear-seat system
- Warmth pump
Stepping as much as the mid-grade mannequin ought to carry:
- Heated steering wheel
- Heated entrance seats
- Heated door mirrors
- Wiper de-icer
The highest specification ought to then add:
- 19-inch alloy wheels
- Premium JBL sound system
- Wi-fi smartphone charger
- 360-degree digital camera system
- LED adaptive excessive beam system
- Partial artificial leather-based trim
- Panoramic roof with guide shade
- Two-tone paint scheme (non-compulsory)
Is the Toyota City Cruiser protected?
The Toyota City Cruiser hasn’t been examined by ANCAP as but, though its sister physique Euro NCAP has a report for it.
If you happen to take a look at it rigorously, although, you’ll see it was garnered from testing the Suzuki e-Vitara itself: so the 77, 85, 79 and 72 per cent subsection scores, plus the four-star general score, are shared between the Toyota and its donor automobile.
As you’ll be able to see from the spec checklist above, although, Toyota does no less than mitigate this considerably by becoming some fascinating superior driver help methods (ADAS) to each mannequin of the City Cruiser.
How a lot does the Toyota City Cruiser price to run?
It’s possible that the City Cruiser would include a five-year, unlimited-distance guarantee as commonplace, which might be prolonged on a service-activated foundation to seven years if required – as is Toyota Australia’s present protection.
Past that, there’s eight years of protection for the battery pack’s efficacy, guaranteeing it for 70 per cent of its preliminary capability after that interval.
A separate guarantee of 5 years on the battery might be prolonged to 10 years, offering it has an annual well being test with Toyota – and there’s a 1,000,000km stage of canopy right here.
The same old service schedule for a Toyota EV is each 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes sooner.
CarExpert’s Tackle the Toyota City Cruiser
If it looks like we’re being overly harsh on the Toyota City Cruiser, then maybe we will no less than defend ourselves by saying we had been hoping for some clear differentiation between this automotive and the Suzuki e-Vitara.
Trusted Critiques, Smarter Decisions, Higher Costs
The place knowledgeable automotive critiques meet knowledgeable automotive shopping for – CarExpert offers you trusted recommendation, personalised service and actual financial savings in your subsequent new automotive.
We wrestle to imagine that an organization of the dimensions and profitability of Toyota couldn’t have tried the e-Vitara out first, then quietly mentioned to some of its finest chassis engineers “take a look at that and type the bloody experience consolation out first, would you?”.
Sadly, apart from the ‘Hammerhead’ front-end design and the badging, it’s in each respect exactly the identical automobile because the Suzuki, which implies it doesn’t experience very nicely, it isn’t notably spectacular for efficiency, the inside design is drab, and it feels prefer it stands out a mile from the remainder of Toyota’s SUV vary – for all of the improper causes.
If you happen to’ve at all times actually needed an electrical Toyota crossover of about this dimension and potential value stage, then the City Cruiser would possibly simply be for you. For everybody else, there are much better choices out there on the market, which means you’ll be able to safely keep away from this significantly underwhelming Japanese EV.
Click on the pictures for the total gallery
