Toyota has launched its first sub-4m SUV, the Urban Cruiser in India at a starting price of Rs 8.40 lakh (ex-showroom). It is the second model under the Toyota-Maruti partnership and is a rebadged version of the Maruti Vitara Brezza with a slightly tweaked front fascia. Deliveries of the car will begin in mid-October.
Toyota Urban Cruiser: Variant-wise pricing
The Toyota Urban Cruiser is available in three variants: Mid, High, and Premium which is based on the VXi, ZXi, and ZXi+ variants of the Vitara Brezza.
| Toyota Urban Cruiser Variants | Manual | Automatic | Difference with corresponding Vitara Brezza variant |
| Mid | Rs 8.40 lakh | Rs 9.80 lakh | +Rs 5,000 (TUC is costlier) |
| High | Rs 9.15 lakh | Rs 10.65 lakh | +Rs 5,000 for manual; +Rs 15,000 for automatic (TUC is costlier) |
| Premium | Rs 9.80 lakh | Rs 11.30 lakh | +Rs 5,000 for manual; +Rs 15,000 for automatic (TUC is costlier) |
The above table indicates that the Toyota Urban Cruiser is costlier by up to Rs 15,000 over the Vitara Brezza.
How Urban Cruiser differs from Vitara Brezza?
1. Refreshed Front Design
The Urban Cruiser SUV is a cross badge version of Maruti Vitara Brezza, but still it holds some distinct characteristics to give it a different identity. For instance, it gets Fortuner alike twin-slat grille at the front flanked by vertical chrome strips and an aggressively styled front bumper with bold fog lamp housing. Apart from these three elements, all the rest parts are identical to Vitara Brezza in terms of the design. The main exterior highlights include twin-barrel LED projector headlamps with integrated LED DRLs, LED fog lamps, LED tail lights, silver skid plates, and 16-inch diamond-cut alloy wheels.
2. New Cabin Theme
Inside, it gets a dual-tone black-brown theme instead of the all-black theme of the Vitara Brezza. Besides this, everything is similar to the Brezza even the features list that mainly includes a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, automatic climate control, cruise control, auto-dimming IRVM, keyless smart entry with push engine start/stop button, steering-mounted audio controls, rain-sensing wipers, front and rear armrest, electrically adjustable ORVM with auto-folding function, cooled glovebox, 60:40 rear split seat, dual airbags, ABS with EBD, rear parking sensors, high-speed alert system, seat belt reminder, ISOFIX anchors, reverse camera, etc.
3. Better Warranty On Offer
Toyota is offering a warranty package of 3-year/ 1 lakh km as standard while its donor SUV offers a 2 year/40,000km standard warranty. Also, the customers who had pre-booked the SUV will get an exclusive free-maintenance package (Respect Package) that will be valid either for a period of 2 years or 20,000, (whichever earlier).
4. Color Options
Toyota Urban Cruiser comes in a total of nine exterior paint choices, in which three are dual-tone color and six monotones (single tone) options.
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Monotone Paint Scheme:- Rustic Brown, Suave Silver, Groovy Orange, Iconic Grey, Spunky Blue, and Sunny White. In comparison to the Vitara Breeza, it gets the new Rustic Brown color instead of Sizzling Red. All the other paint schemes are identical but their names are different.
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Dual-Tone Paint Scheme:- Rustic Brown with Black roof, Spunky Blue with Black roof, and Groovy Orange with a white roof.
Engine
The Urban Cruiser is powered by the Maruti Suzuki’s 1.5-litre, 4-cylinder, K15B petrol engine that develops a max power output of 105PS and a peak torque of 138Nm. The transmission options are also similar to the Vitara Brezza, a 5-speed manual, and a 4-speed torque converter automatic unit.
The automatic variants also get the mild-hybrid technology which is known as SHVS in Maruti cars. It comprises progressive technologies such as torque assist, brake energy regeneration, and idle start/stop to offer marginally better efficiency.
The claimed fuel efficiency figures are as follows:-
| Toyota Urban Cruiser Mileage | |
|
Manual |
17.03kmpl |
|
Automatic |
18.76kmpl |
Rivals
Apart from its donor SUV- Maruti Vitara Brezza, the Urban Cruiser competes with Hyundai Venue, Kia Sonet, Ford Ecosport, Tata Nexon, and Mahindra XUV300 in the sub-4m SUV segment.
Author's Take
Toyota is famous for its reliable products, excellent warranty packages, and affordable maintenance cost. With these traits, the Japanese maker has established itself as a trusted carmaker in India. However, It will be pretty hard for Toyota to take on Maruti with a product which is completely inspired by one of its product and that too without any standout feature. Though the free maintenance package is the only upper hand in Toyota's case.
