Coming to hybrid technology long before its rivals, Toyota was slow to associate it with an urban SUV. The new Yaris Cross is now catching up on the Hyundai Kona Hybrid and Renault Captur E-Tech and stands out thanks to an optional all-wheel drive. Advantage or coquetry?
Test car: Toyota Yaris Cross 116h AWD-i
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From€ 29,500
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No need to be a diviner to anticipate the French success of the Yaris Cross, which ticks all the boxes of the ideal son-in-law in automotive matters: an SUV silhouette combining adventurous features and compact size; a hybrid gasoline engine combining attractive sobriety in the city and total transparency in use (no recharging required on the mains); a manufacture in France, finally, since the Toyota Yaris Cross is assembled in Onnaing (North) on the chains of the Yaris, of which it takes again the dashboard, the platform and the three-cylinder full hybrid of 116 cumulative hp.
The Yaris Cross wraps this promising synthesis with an optional 4 x 4 transmission, precisely facilitated by hybrid technology. Here, there is no multi-plate clutch or a transmission shaft crossing the floor. The rear wheels are directly driven by an electric motor extra… which cuts off part of the trunk, as we will see below. Restricted by the small lithium-ion battery, the cumulative power does not change, but it would have been little upset by that of the rear electric motor, which offers only 5.3 hp and 52 Nm of torque against 80 hp and 141 Nm for the front machine.
Toyota Yaris Cross 4 x 4 price
Compared to the Yaris Cross 4 x 2, this AWD-i version claims to consume 0.1 l / 100 km and emit 2 g / km of CO2 more only. Thanks to the rear induction electric motor rather than permanent magnets, less subject to friction losses when not powered, but also cheaper to produce (it does not use any rare earth). However, the additional cost of all-wheel drive reaches € 2,000 with an equivalent livery, or even € 4,000 in the call price because the Active finish is not offered here. The price of the Yaris Cross 4 x 4 starts at € 29,500 !
If the first level, Design, already comes standard with the 9-inch touchscreen, Android Auto / Apple CarPlay connections, the reversing camera and adaptive cruise control, you have to climb the ranks to enjoy a final endowment. shout. Head-up display and 7-inch digital instrumentation come at € 32,500 in Collection level (with biton paint) or Trail (with specific shields), while 360 ° cameras, induction charger and GPS navigation arrive in La Première launch edition. , culminating at € 34,500. Dared.
Driving
Our trial begins in the… urban jungle. It confirms the unbeatable sobriety of the Yaris Cross 4 x 4 in a forest of red lights, with a consumption of only 4.6 l / 100 km according to the on-board computer. Changes in 100% electric mode are however rarer there than with a Renault Captur E-Tech 145, the three-cylinder generally waking up from 15-20 km / h, or even a bit earlier when the energy gauge drops. around the first third.
Driving pleasure does not suffer in any way, served by the great fluidity of operation in the city and the almost imperceptible transitions between the electric and thermal propulsion phases. A last highly remarkable quality because obtained with a three-cylinder engine by nature more subject to vibrations than a four-cylinder. The soft controls and the fairly easy to control braking finish to seduce. Moreover, it is better to stop the car far from the one in front if you want to avoid waking up the parking radars, which then break the inner peace.
Today, however, we test a Yaris Cross AWD, whose four-wheel drive is justified far from the ramparts of the city. On secondary roads, in rainy weather, we therefore adopt a sustained rhythm which reveals the curious operation of the transmission. Thanks to the small rear electric motor, the car never stays “in place” during a vigorous start at the end of a hairpin. But this propulsion does not prevent the front wheels, which receive a much greater cumulative torque, to skate and trigger the anti-skid! If it allows you to get out of a bad situation in the mountains or on sunken roads, the AWD-i system does not exactly offer the approval of a classic all-wheel drive and does not operate beyond 70 km / h.
Not a defect: the modest ground clearance (17 cm) and the firm suspension do not encourage more trips on uneven paths, because the car bounces over bumps more than it absorbs them at low speed. This orientation serves the efficiency and agility in turns but, to be honest, the engine / gearbox combination of the Yaris Cross still does not make you want to increase the pace on the road. Measured on the classic Yaris, the feeling of runaway engine at high speed is indeed more noticeable here because the mass is 200 kg greater and the aerodynamics less favorable.
Even in wise driving, the phenomenon becomes frequent on hilly motorways, which also reveals the average soundproofing of mechanical noise, air and rolling. At 130 km / h, where the electric motor hardly acts any more, consumption becomes more arbitrary: 7.5 l / 100 km observed on motorway routes. Nothing extraordinary compared to that of an urban gasoline SUV of equivalent power.
On board
Competition
Among the multitude of urban SUVs available, only three adopt simple non-plug-in hybrid technology: the Hyundai Kona Hybrid with 141 hp (from € 27,000), the Renault Captur E-Tech hybrid 145 (from € 28,200) and the new Honda HR-V e: 131 hp HEV (from € 31,520). But these three models do not offer a 4 x 4 version and are rather aimed at the classic Yaris Cross, marketed from € 25,500. Clear, this AWD-i version is a unique proposition on the market since even its big brother C-HR hybrid, available in 122 and 180 hp versions, is limited to a transmission to the front wheels.
Find the test report, the technical sheet and all the equipment prices of the Yaris Cross 4×4 on the following page …
