Toyota Aygo X

The car nearly always starts off on its battery, which makes the experience feel very EV-like, so your friends won't perhaps realise that you've chosen a combustion-powered compact hatch.

But combustion-powered it is.

In fact, Toyota has never made a citycar with an engine anything like this big.

Yet at the same time, this is the smallest Hybrid model the brand has ever made and the smallest full-Hybrid car on sale in the UK.

The engine is the same 114bhp 1.5-litre four cylinder petrol electric unit familiar from larger Yaris and Yaris Cross models, though has had to be slightly adapted to suit the Aygo X's tighter packaging. That total output figure is a huge 36bhp more than the old 1.0-litre three cylinder engine could muster.

And, even more significantly, pulling power (though still quite feeble) has risen substantially to 141Nm with the Hybrid.

Not surprisingly, that makes this electrified Aygo X a lot quicker off the mark, able to reach 62mph in 9.2s - a huge improvement of 5.7s on the old car.

That's if you engage the most urgent of the three provided drive modes - 'Power' (the others are 'standard' and 'Eco').

What some might find more difficult to get used to is that the old model's five-speed manual gearbox has been replaced by the company's e-CVT automatic transmission; you now have to have an auto.

This one is of the CVT sort that holds its revs when it's generating peak power and you have to get used to the way it wants you to drive if it's not to feel unnatural and droney. Not having the old three cylinder engine straining away all the time will obviously reduce your travelling din (substantial in the old car); and Toyota says it has re-worked the exhaust and added extra sound deadening around the dashboard and under the bonnet to improve refinement.

High-spec models get even more soundproofing and thicker window glass.

The result isn't quite the quietness you'd get in a Yaris but it all creates refinement that's in a different world to anything Aygo owners will ever have experienced before.

Especially if for low speed work you engage the provided EV mode, though that only works if the tiny 0.76kWh battery's sufficiently charged and won't propel the car for very long at all.

It's better to leave the powertrain to do its own thing and on urban trips if you do so, it'll run on the little battery for up to half of the time. At the top of the range, there's the 'GR Sport' variant we tried.

With this, though the powertrain is unchanged, there's been tuning of the shock absorbers and coil springs to enhance handling by reducing body roll, while the electric power steering has been adjusted for sharper responses.

If you're wondering, as we did, why Toyota didn't just equip this Aygo X with its Yaris-derived Hybrid engine from the start, the answer is that building in this larger four cylinder unit required a complete front-end redesign.

Which is what we've now got with this updated model, which consequently has had its nose stretched by 76mm.

At the same time, Toyota has taken the opportunity to redesign the headlamps, bonnet and grille, giving the car a wider, more imposing stance.

It's still a dinky little thing though, 3,776mm long and 1,740mm wide.

There are also redesigned 17 or 18-inch wheels and, as before, you can have a two-tone colour scheme and there's the option of a canvas folding roof. The changes inside aren't quite as extensive.

The original model's analogue dials make way for a small 7-inch digital instrument screen.

Plus a pair of USB-C ports have been added below the climate control panel.

An infra red sensor now sits on the steering rack (for the added attention monitoring system) and there are updated steering wheel buttons too. In the back, thanks to the diminutive 2,430mm wheelbase length, it's the same as before, which means there isn't much space and just two adults are provided for.

At least it's no worse than before, despite the fact that two stacks of battery cells for the Hybrid system are positioned alongside each other underneath the rear bench. Boot space is also the same as before, rated at 231-litres (well down on a rival Hyundai i10's 252-litre figure).

Now though, there's the downside that because of the Hybrid powertrain's auxiliary battery positioning underneath the load area floor, you no longer get the option of a space saver spare wheel.

Price is the elephant in the room here.

At the time of its deletion in mid-2025, the old 1.0-litre Aygo X was selling from around £17,000.

This Aygo X Hybrid cost from over £21,595 at launch - and for nearly £24,000 upwards if you want a variant trimmed as you'd probably like.

That's quite a lot of money, but if you're purchasing by lease or PCP deals, the increase might not seem so substantial, helped by quite strong residuals that help to soften the effect of the up-front price increase.

There are four trim levels, 'Icon', 'Design', 'Excel' and 'GR Sport'. Toyota points out that there's a bit more equipment with this Hybrid model too, including the 7-inch digital instrument screen, the cabin's extra pair of USB-C ports and the addition of a driver attention monitoring system.

You might also like the freshly styled 17 and 18-inch alloy wheels that feature across the range. At the top of the line-up, Toyota has added a flagship 'GR Sport' trim level, which it says has been developed in cooperation with its Gazoo Racing Performance division.

This doesn't mean a higher engine output, but it does mean a more dynamic look, with a unique grille, GR Sport-specific 18-inch alloy wheels, GR-branded seats and a bespoke suspension tune that tweaks the springs and dampers, plus there's sharper steering. Every model gets all the key features of 'Toyota Safety Sense' package.

This includes Adaptive Cruise Control, Road Sign Assist, Auto High Beam, Emergency Steering Assist and a Pre-Collision System with Cyclist and Pedestrian detection.

You'd want a car of this kind to be economical and sure enough, in Hybrid form the Aygo X is able to deliver a combined cycle fuel economy figure of 74.3mpg.

Which is a huge improvement over the 56.5mpg figure of the original 1.0-litre Aygo X when fitted with comparable automatic transmission.

As you'd expect, the Aygo X Hybrid is also a lot cleaner than the original, with emissions at 87g/km of CO2; compare to the 109g/km figure of the 1.0-litre auto model. On the downside, you will need to pay more to insure this Hybrid version.

But you can console yourself by remembering that in this electrified form, this Aygo X's carbon footprint has shrunk by as much as 80% over its predecessor, thanks to a mix of green and low-impact materials and a cleaner production facility, all of it contributing to a huge reduction in lifetime CO2. A key advantage of choosing a Toyota in this segment is that you get a warranty which you can extend up to as much as 10 years if you annually get your car properly serviced at a franchised Toyota dealer.

As before, Aygo X buyers get five years of pan-European roadside breakdown assistance, a three year paint warranty and twelve years of anti-perforation cover.

There's a dedicated 'My Toyota' website that allows you to book a service online and Toyota has a 'Fixed Price Servicing' plan, so you'll know in advance exactly how much any work will cost before you check into a dealer.

You could also take advantage of the optional pre-paid 'Service Plan' that that dealer will offer at point of purchase, this enabling owners to cover the cost of routine maintenance with monthly or one-off payments in advance.

The market really needs cheap back-to-basic citycar models and we're disappointed that this rejuvenated Hybrid Aygo X will no longer be priced to deliver that.

But in this form, it's clearly a much better car - more efficient, more powerful, better looking, safer and better equipped.

The difference with this revised design though, is that for much the same money, you could get yourself a budget brand EV citycar and never have to visit a fuel station ever again.

It'll be interesting to see what effect that has on sales of Toyota's entry-level model. Perhaps the impact won't be significant.

A huge proportion of customers in this segment buy on PCP finance schemes and perhaps won't much notice the retail price increase.

But we can't help wishing that the brand had retained the old un-electrified engine as a bargain starting point for the range.

But its deletion is the price of progress.

And progress is very much what is in evidence here.