Toyota Aygo X Review 2025

The Toyota Aygo X is a city car with a sprinkling of SUV flavouring, which looks great and is fun to drive. Facelifted at the end of 2025 and treated to a much more powerful hybrid-assisted engine, also meant a fairly large price rise. Is it worth it? Find out in our full Toyota Aygo X review.

The city car market looks pretty bleak these days. Great options such as the Volkswagen Up plus its SEAT Mii and Skoda Citigo corporate relatives have gone and not been replaced. The Ford Ka+ has also been binned along with any vehicle from the brand that isn't an SUV or a van and no longer are the Peugeot 108 or the Citroen C1. 

The last two, you might remember, were part of a similar joint project to the VW Up and its cohorts, also involving the Toyota Aygo. They were all essentially the same with some light styling tweaks, but after its French partners decided 'non, merci' to a third round, the Aygo was replaced by Toyota's solely developed Aygo X.

It's still the size of a city car, but is built on the same platform as the bigger Toyota Yaris, given SUV-like touches — hence the X suffix in its name to represent 'cross' — and priced at the expensive end of the scale compared with its rivals.

We've always been okay with that last point, given its decent equipment levels across all trim grades, but one element that wasn't so great was the Toyota's lack of power.

Reasonably light though the Toyota Aygo X is, 72PS is not a great deal. It meant the original version struggled out of town, but that has been rectified — and then some — by replacing the original's wheezing 1.0-litre petrol engine with the Yaris's 116PS 1.5-litre hybrid. To save you the maths, that's an increase of just over 61% but at the same time, fuel efficiency has improved.

Unfortunately, that hybrid complexity comes at a cost — while a half of pre-facelift Aygo X models snuck under the £20,000 mark, the cheapest is now £21,595. It's also possible to spend a lot more than that, particularly if you opt for the new GR Sport grade. 

This makes the Toyota Aygo X expensive to buy compared with the few remaining city cars on sale, such as the Hyundai i10 and the Kia Picanto. It's now comparable in price to some bigger hatchbacks, including the Fiat Grande Panda and the Skoda Fabia, albeit without such sophisticated hybrid technology. 

While robustly built, the Aygo X has plenty of cheaper-feeling plastics inside that are more conspicuous than ever thanks to the price rises. There's no getting away from the practicality compromises that come with a car this size either.

It does drive with the reassurance of a larger car, though, thanks to its Yaris underpinnings, plus it now has the power to match its fun and stable handling. It also has a visual identity of its own, even if it now has an 'overbite' to accommodate that larger engine. 

Factor-in Toyota's excellent reliability record and good aftersales reputation and the Aygo X looks appealing despite being expensive.

By using a shortened version of the Yaris's underpinnings, the Toyota Aygo X is a small car that drives with the composure of something bigger, inspiring confidence in its driver. It has a much wider track (the distance between the wheels on either side of the car) and a longer wheelbase (the gap between the front and rear wheel centres) than the Aygo it replaced, which brings myriad benefits. 

Although the ride can be abrupt over particularly rough surfaces and bigger speed bumps, it's generally very well resolved. You don't feel as though you are being bounced around on rutted city streets. At higher speeds the ride settles further, making for a comfortable experience for all on board. 

It's still up for some fun, though. The body stays reasonably level if you take a corner or a roundabout with a bit of enthusiasm, and there's a decent amount of grip on offer. The steering doesn't have a whole lot of feedback to it (which is pretty common these days), but it's more than fast enough, and the weight feels about right. 

The GR Sport is even more fun thanks to specially tuned springs and dampers, tweaked power steering and a thicker anti-roll bar. It's noticeably more tied down in the corners, if not drastically different, and ride comfort doesn't unduly suffer for it. We suspect the draw for most will be the livened-up styling rather than the rejigged dynamics, though.

Wind and road noise are well suppressed at cruising speeds in the Aygo X, although things are a touch rowdier if you've specced the folding canvas roof, especially if you're going through a tunnel. It should also be noted that the entry-level Icon model doesn't get as much soundproofing. 

Originally, the Toyota Aygo X was only sold with a 72PS, 1.0-litre, three-cylinder petrol engine. Although not a heavy car, this non-turbocharged motor struggled to deliver much performance, with 0-62mph taking 14.9 seconds with the manual transmission and 14.8 if the automatic option was fitted.

From the Aygo X's 2025 facelift, this was switched out for a 1.5-litre, three-cylinder engine complete with self-charging hybrid technology, as found in the Yaris. Fitting this in has been no mean feat, involving the use of a modified frontal structure and an extra 76mm of bodywork. 

Power has now shot up to 116PS, while torque has increased from 95Nm to 120Nm, with the peak figure available 800rpm lower than before at 3600rpm. This makes for much more effortless performance — if you simply want to make brisk progress, you don't have to thrash the Toyota to within an inch of its life. 

If feels adequately swift rather than outright fast at full throttle but it will offer more than enough performance for most drivers' needs.

Things can get a bit raucous because of the hybrid Aygo X's transmission, which Toyota calls e-CVT. That's somewhat misleading because it's not the same as regular continuously variable transmissions (CVT), using planetary gears rather than belts. Sounds complicated, but essentially you drive it like an automatic — the manual option has now gone.

Regardless of whether it's like a conventional CVT or not, the experience is awfully similar, with engine revs spiking and and being held high for some time when you accellerate hard. There are also times when the revs remain high even when you back off the throttle. For the most part though, the system works well and makes for smooth progress.

Euro NCAP first tested the Toyota Aygo X in 2022, at which time it achieved four stars. Although the structure is much the same in the updated version, the rejigged front end has necessitated a fresh test, with the result once again being four stars. 

The Aygo X's score has dropped slightly in the individual adult occupant, child occupant and safety assistance scores, although that for vulnerable road users has improved. Those reductions are most likely down to Euro NCAP's standards becoming more stringent than the Toyota being less safe than previously.

All versions of the Aygo X come with emergency steering assistance, lane assistance, lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking and a driver attention monitor as standard.

The Toyota Aygo X is one of the largest small cars in terms of external footprint. Pre-facelift versions were a full 235mm longer than the Aygo they replaced, with 90mm of that injected into the wheelbase and the rest of it giving the car a chunky front-end look and a bigger boot. Post-facelift Aygo Xs are a further 76mm longer to accommodate the larger engine. 

Does that mean the Aygo X is the most practical tiny hatchback? No, to be frank. Space is good up front meaning those over six feet tall should have no issue getting comfortable, although the steering wheel only adjusts for reach, not angle. The Toyota's 1740mm width also means broader adults won't be rubbing shoulders.

The rear isn't so generous — six-footers will find legroom is at a real premium if they try to sit behind a similarly sized front passenger, needing to wrap their knees either side of the seat ahead.

Shoulder room is fine and headroom is decent enough — that is, unless you go for a model with the Premium Pack which includes the electric canvas roof. Do that and taller occupants won't just find their head brushing the ceiling, they won't be able to sit up straight at all.

Also note that the relatively narrow rear door windows are the pop-out variety that don't wind down, which might make the back seats feel claustrophobic for some people. 

The boot capacity is a welcome 63 litres larger than the previous Aygo at 231 litres. While that's not the biggest among cars of this size, it's ample enough for the weekly food shop. The back seats fold easily, although because the opening for the single-piece glazed tailgate — a feature of all Aygos — is small, the boot's loading lip is fairly high. 

There's a feeling of solidity inside the Toyota Aygo X, with a sense that everything inside is built to last. It doesn't exactly feel expensive though, with vast swathes of the dashboard and inner door panels moulded from hard plastics.

Granted, its rare for cars this small to be famous for being plushly trimmed but with the Aygo X's uplift in price coinciding with its facelift, those cheaper bits stand out more than they used to. 

Facelifted versions of the Toyota Aygo X come with a 9.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system on Icon and Design grade cars, with a 10.5-inch unit used on Excel and GR Sport versions. We weren't exactly blown away by the latter. It responds well to touch but the software can be laggy when performing various functions.

The integral navigation system can be difficult to follow, not helped by the icon denoting the car struggling to keep up with its actual position. Thankfully, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone connectivity are both standard across the range, so you can ditch the native system for your mapping app of choice.

It doesn't feel as though a great deal of thought has been put into the graphic design of the system, either — it's all rather white and blank. It's easy enough to work your way around the system and continuing that clarity, there's now a larger digital instrument cluster displaying key information for the driver.

The Toyota Aygo X has always been among the more expensive small cars — installing a more complex hybridised engine certainly hasn't done it any favours. While half of the range immediately before the facelift was still under the £20,000 mark, the cheapest is now £21,595. 

That gets you into an Aygo X Icon, while the Design — expected to be the best-seller — comes in at £23,695. For the Excel it's £26,045, with the GR Sport at £26,895. Equipment levels are generous and opportunities to inflate those prices further with options are scarce. 

Still, you can't help but look at the huge gap between the Aygo X and a more conventional, less sophisticated rival such as the Kia Picanto, which starts from £16,695 and tops-out at £20,245.

The Aygo X's punchy pricing also crosses over with larger hatchbacks. The Skoda Fabia, for instance, starts from £21,055 and the Toyota can't possibly compete with such models for space and practicality, however well it drives. 

The Toyota Aygo X has never been an expensive car to run, with the pre-facelift 1.0-litre versions officially offering up to 58.9mpg, yet the later hybrid versions are even more frugal. Despite all its extra performance, it offers a big reduction in emissions and a chunky uplift in economy, rated at up to 74mpg according to the WLTP Combined cycle. 

Although it's now a hybrid, it won't be any cheaper in terms of VED Car Tax, with the previous token £10 discount for Alternatively Fuelled Vehicles abolished as of April 2025. From year two, it'll be £195 annually. 

The insurance groups for the improved Aygo X range have yet to be confirmed. Given the car's substantial increase in performance we expect them to climb, but overall the Toyota should still prove a relatively inexpensive car to insure. 

The Toyota Aygo X is available in four trim levels called Icon, Design, Excel and GR Sport.

The Toyota Aygo X Icon comes with the following as standard:

• 17-inch alloy wheels
• 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster
• 9.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system
• Climate control
• Artificial leather-wrapped steering wheel 

The Toyota Aygo X Design builds on the above with: 

• 18-inch alloy wheels 
• Two-tone metallic paint
• LED headlights
• Wireless smartphone charging pad
• Electrically adjustable, heated and folding door mirrors
• Additional soundproofing

The Toyota Aygo X Excel adds: 

• 10.5-inch touchscreen infotainment system
• Parking sensors
• Keyless locking/unlocking and starting/stopping
• Heated front seats 

The range-topping Toyota Aygo X GR Sport also features:

• 18-inch GR Sport design alloy wheels
• Black bonnet
• Retuned suspension
• GR Sport-specific interior and exterior styling