New Toyota Urban Cruiser SA pricing: it’s cheaper than the Suzuki, but there’s a catch

THE highly-anticipated new Toyota Urban Cruiser is set to launch in South Africa in the coming week, and we now know how much it costs.

Toyota SA has released pricing and specifications for the new model on its website, and it works out cheaper than the new Suzuki Grand Vitara with which it shares a platform.

Pricing for the new Toyota Urban Cruiser starts at R329,400 for the 1.5 Xs manual, while the more generously specced 1.5 XR is listed at R347,400 in manual guise and R369,900 as an auto.

The Suzuki starts at R339,000 in GL guise, while the GLX is priced from R397,900, but before you jump to any conclusions about this seemingly unlikely state of affairs, we must tell you that the Toyota models have a lower spec level, which we’ll get to in a bit.

This makes perfect sense if you think about it, as the locally-made Corolla Cross, which is not a great deal smaller, starts at R392 900, and TSA is cleverly avoiding any internal clashes here.

Interestingly, the newcomer was never intended as a direct replacement for the now-discontinued first-gen Urban Cruiser in its home market of India. Now badged Urban Cruiser Hyrider in that country, it’s a somewhat larger vehicle, with overall length having grown from just under four metres to 4.36 metres.

Another interesting fact is that the Toyota Urban Cruiser and Suzuki Grand Vitara are both built in Toyota’s factory in Karnataka, India, but they utilise a Suzuki platform and engines. Thankfully the carmakers have made some effort to differentiate the styling, although the basic shape and cabin architecture are shared.

Engine power comes in the form of a normally aspirated 1.5-litre unit that produces 77kW and 138Nm, which drives the front wheels through either a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission. Unlike Suzuki, Toyota isn’t offering a mild hybrid all-wheel drive version locally, once again because why would they want to start a fight with their own Corolla Cross?

Here’s what you get as standard

As mentioned, the new Toyota Urban Cruiser has less standard features than the seemingly-equivalent Suzuki models.

Let’s start with what it does have: auto climate control with rear ventilation, multi-function steering wheel, Hill Assist Control, Vehicle Stability Control and a touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity, as well as a reverse camera that’s also linked to rear parking sensors.

But there are a number of things that it loses out on versus the Suzuki GL base model, including cruise control and leather covering for the steering wheel. The airbag count drops from six to two and the Suzuki’s 17” alloys make way for covered steelies of the same size, while the headlights are halogens rather than LED.

The Toyota Urban Cruiser XR flagship model adds those side and curtain airbags back to the spec sheet along with the alloy wheels and cruise control, which effectively means it’s similarly specced to Suzuki’s base model, which costs R7 400 less.

So in order to not clash with the Corolla Cross, the Toyota loses out on many of the high-end features fitted to the Suzuki Grand Vitara GLX, including a panoramic glass sunroof, 360-degree camera, Head-Up display and wireless phone charging.

As for after-sales support, the Toyota Urban Cruiser comes with a four-service or 60,000km service plan.

And there you have it. Do you want an affordable SUV with a Toyota badge or a more luxurious one under the Suzuki banner?

Take your pick.

It’s certainly going to be interesting to see how these two fare on the local sales charts.

IOL Motoring