Toyota Aygo X review

Welcome to the Nineties: ovals are back! Just look at that great big ovoid dashboard, like a squashed Mini fascia. Amid it lives the usual Toyota infotainment system, looking like a great big oblong peg in a round hole. 

Like the old Ford Ka, the Aygo X makes a virtue of exposed metal on its doors. So long as you've gone for one of the cheerier colour options, it's a vibrant place to sit. 

If you’ve sat up front in a current-gen Yaris, there’s plenty of bits you’ll recognise inside the Aygo X. The steering wheel, infotainment and climate control panel (yep, it has a proper one) all migrate from the larger, hybrid-only hatch and are all sturdy, easy-to-use bits of kit.

What about tech?

The X’s driver display is very basic, with a small screen nestled inside a larger speedometer with a rev counter and fuel gauge either side. It might not be a high-tech setup but it’s clear enough.

There are three different grades of Aygo X: Pure, Edge, and Exclusive. The first two get a 9.0-inch touchscreen, while the latter gets a 10.5-inch touchscreen, which kinda looks out of place in a car this small. All get Toyota’s latest Touch 3 operating system (looks clean, works well and includes shortcut buttons down the left-hand side), plus wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto connectivity.

All too sit inside the aforementioned oval, while underneath sits the dedicated physical climate control unit. We approve.

Is it practical?

There’s plenty of space in the front, though passengers might grumble at the lack of height adjustment in their seat. There's plenty of shoulder space if you’re two-up. You wouldn’t want to be using the rear seats regularly, though: legroom isn’t great and although it’s lovely, the optional canvas roof does eat into headroom in the back.

The rear doors are also a lot bigger than their opening too: it's like heaving open a church door to find an aperture the size of an advent calendar.

The boot is a reasonable size at 231 litres. The Fiat 500 – which of course you can still buy with a combustion engine despite the presence of an all-electric version – gets a 185-litre hole while the practical Hyundai i10 offers 252 litres.

Anything else?

The fabric rollback roof (an £895 extra) doesn't do anything for refinement. There’s really two trains of thought here: one, it adds to the fun factor, but two, until cities are dominated by EVs and trees, why would you want to breathe in everyone else's fumes? Only you know where you stand.