Toyota has done a good job with the Urban Cruiser in restyling the Vitara Brezza to make the face look like that of a mini Fortuner. The interiors also gets lighter colors but there are no other changes apart from this.
After some dormancy, the sub-compact SUV segment is again back to life with the likes of the Kia Sonet, Toyota Urban Cruiser, and Renault Kiger knocking at the door. And while there’s still some time before Toyota officially unveils the Urban Cruiser, here’s your first look at what the Vitara Brezza derivative could look like. First impressions are quite good indeed and this time around, Toyota has done a much better job in restyling the Brezza than they did with the Baleno-Glanza. The Urban Cruiser will be built alongside the Vitara Brezza by Maruti Suzuki.
Although the changes are only to the ‘soft’ plastic parts, it brings about a noticeable difference in the look of the car. And despite no sheet metal changes, the Urban Cruiser does a great job in looking like a mini Fortuner. The twin-slat grille with its angular chrome frame is clearly inspired by the Fortuner and so are the fog lamp housing on the lower bumper. The fog lamp housings are rather large and lend some visual bulk to bumper with prominent cuts and creases. There’s also an in-built faux bull bar and faux silver skid plate down below which makes the Urban Cruiser look a tad bit more rugged than the Vitara Brezza.
We were expecting some changes to the headlamp, but that remains identical. In fact, all other surfaces on the car remain exactly identical to that of the Vitara Brezza, including its rear styling. On the inside however, there will be no changes in the design or the features offered. The Urban Cruiser will only use lighter-coloured materials and upholstery for a more spacious feeling as opposed to the Brezza’s all-black theme. The infotainment system will also feature Maruti Suzuki’s SmartPlay Studio system that offered in all other Maruti Suzuki cars and also the Toyota Glanza.
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Under the hood, the Urban Cruiser will be powered by the same engine as the Brezza. It will thus have the 1.5L, naturally aspirated, four-cylinder petrol engine that produces 104 PS and 138 Nm of peak torque. Gearbox options will include the same 5-speed MT and 4-speed torque converter automatic. Toyota will however offer the mild-hybrid system with both the transmission options on the Urban Cruiser. In case of Brezza, only the AT variants get the SHVS technology. The manual variants of the Urban Cruiser will thus have better fuel economy than those of the Brezza while fuel economy for the automatic variants of both cars will be identical.
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Toyota is expected to have fewer variants for the Urban Cruiser than Maruti Suzuki has for the Vitara Brezza. Just like the Glanza, the Urban Cruiser is also expected to have a lower ownership cost than the Vitara Brezza. Toyota is expected to offer a 3year/1,00,000km warranty, as opposed to the 2 year/40,000km on the Vitara Brezza. Having said that, the Vitara Brezza is not its only competitor, but it will also have competition from the Hyundai Venue, the Tata Nexon, the Mahindra XUV300, and the Ford Ecosport. Also upcoming are the Kia Sonet, the Nissan Magnite and the Renault Kiger. Perhaps no other car segment in India is as crowded as this currently. The Toyota Urban Cruiser will be officially launched in the market in September while bookings will commence towards the end of this month.
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