Toyota Cross | A New Crossover SUV To The Pakistani Market

Introduction:

With the number of crossovers launched in the past few years in Pakistan, we can almost declare the land of the Pakistani automotive industry as the land of crossovers. Ranging from the KIA Sportage to the Hyundai Tucson, the immense amount of variety and choice now people have is mind-blowing. 

Now that we have quite a good amount of options to choose from, it is time to adopt something different. Something that has never been seen or witnessed before. Something that can change the present and help us redefine the future. Something bold, aggressive yet advanced in technology and engineering.

With sharing the same thoughts like ours, the all-time famous and renowned automotive manufacturing industry, Toyota, decides to bring something revolutionary and brings a newer, better version of a crossover, the Toyota Cross, to the Pakistani automotive market.

With a sleeker, more stylish design, the Toyota Cross exhibits every single aspect a crossover should possess, but in a better – much better way. 

The ‘Key’ Factor:

Starting with the key fob of the Toyota Cross, you will get a crystal clear Toyota Cross badging on one side of the key fob while the other side consists of four separate buttons. Two of them are dedicated to ‘lock’ and ‘unlock’ while the third one is for the trunk opening. The fourth one, the latest addition, serves its function to raise an alarm for any suspicious activity happening around. This distinctive button is also colored ‘red’ for better visibility. 

 

Under the Hood:

Talking about the performance and numeric figures of the Toyota Cross, the Toyota offers a relatively powerful 1.8 liter 1800 cc hybrid engine in Toyota Cross. It has been claimed that this latest engine has been designed on the 4th generation lineup of Toyota engines. 

As the engine offered in the Toyota Cross is based upon hybrid technology, this crossover SUV gives a decent fuel average of 20-22 kilometers per hour that is almost double what is offered by the other crossover SUV models in Pakistan.

 

 

The hybrid engine introduced in the Toyota Cross shares its power with the regular engine and combines it with the electric motor that has the effect of both types of machinery and results in driving more sustainable power onto the wheels.

A word of mouth that was related to Toyota Cross was also revolving around the automobile consumer market that this crossover SUV is relatively underpowered as compared to the other crossovers in Pakistan. However, upon testing and concluding the results, the Toyota Cross exhibited a relatively fair amount of performance but quite better than the expectations.

Although this crossover SUV does not feature the roar in the engine, it also does not let you feel that it has been underpowered and features an inactive and dull performance factor.

 

From the Front:

Talking about the front of the Toyota cross, the shape has been completely redesigned into a better and more futuristic look. Even the Emblem of the Toyota brand has also been highlighted with a blue outline from the inside. This blue touch inside the emblem indicates the Hybrid Technology Toyota cross possesses.

Talking about more futuristic looks, the first thing you will notice will be the front grille. The front grille has been given a completely new design: a good symmetric pattern of a piano black bold mesh grille with Toyota’s Signature Emblem in the center of it. The grill is further surrounded by a strip of fine black-greyish material that increases the grille’s prominence on the front.

 

 

The Toyota cross features the new technology of Bi-Xenon headlamps with a huge projector LED lamp in the center. The upper part of the headlamp is occupied by a notable DRL strip that will sell its function whenever the crossover will hit the road whether it’s day or night.

The front bumper features a contrasting color that increases the visual sportiness of the car; there are two prominent fog lamps and in between a huge air intake grille. 

Also, there is a unique scooped curve on the bonnet, for aerodynamics purposes, of course, that also enhances the looks and defines the aggressiveness of the car.

Therefore this whole combination of unique, aggressive, and futuristic manufacture gives a very distinctive look to the Toyota Cross.

 

The Side Profile:

Progressing towards the side visuals of the Toyota Cross, the Toyota Cross offers a very, very characteristic shape that contains a wide range of smooth, elegant, and attractive curves throughout the body. The curves present on the sides of the Toyota Cross defines the visual muscularity of the crossover very well.

You will also get a distinctive ‘Hybrid’ badging right on top of the front wheels that distinguishes this crossover from the rest of its competitors and helps its audience remember what exactly they are looking at.

 

 

The main sportiness factor that was carried out in the front bumper of the Toyota Cross has been featured in the side as well. The flare fenders have been given a very peculiar design with a contrasting black-greyish in a matte shade that redefines the sport factor on the sides as well. Along with the notable flared fenders, the Toyota Cross offers the imported set of Bridgestone tires without compromising the quality of run on the road. It also comes with an attractive set of 17 – inches aluminum alloy rims 

You will also be able to witness the piano-black rails on the roof of the Toyota Cross along with a shiny, chromium badge that displays ‘Toyota Cross’ near the passenger door. 

 

The Rear End:

Just like the front and the side profile, the rear end is also the slave to appearances, the unique and innovative looks are carried out on the back end as well.

The design is very classifiable and special because it’s the latest crossover hybrid from the Toyota brand. The conventional, but bluish, emblem also makes its way to the rear end where it again features a blue outline covering the insides of the Toyota signature badge.

 

 

When talking about the back, the first thing you will notice is the Lava Red Taillights that have been reworked as compared to the past Toyota models. The back is relatively less noisy as compared to the front end. A decent spoiler is present along with a notable brake lamp right beneath it. 

Talking about the rear bumper, the design carries a unique contrast again, there are two reflectors present on each side of the bumper along with the hidden parking sensors. A huge piece of body-colored trim is also present in the center of the matte-black rear bumper to enhance the visuality from the back as well.

 

 

The overall chassis has been given a look way ahead of its time with a completely modern design and shape. As far as the claims regarding the manufacturing of the chassis of the Toyota Cross goes, the Chassis of this crossover has been redesigned on the latest Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA). Hence, this design compliments the latest 12th generation Toyota models as well. 

 

The Interior Aspect:

Just like the exterior stance, the interior vibes also match the chimes ahead of their time. The looks are very modern and well-designed. The cockpit is very spacious and the tech included is the very latest and up-to-date. It has been known that the interior possesses the relevancy to one of the other Toyota’s hybrid crossover models, the Toyota CH-R.

Getting started with the steering wheel, the steering wheel has a new shape and design with most of the control within the reach of the driver’s fingertips. The controls, varying from cruise control to multimedia controls, have been given access and convenience to the driver so that it never gets distracted while operating such a mechanism on the drive. Furthermore the steering wheel is quite better, almost near to perfect. Although the steering is electronically adjustable, it sets its rigidness and handling according to the speed of the crossover. In other words, the more speed you increase while driving the Toyota Cross, the better handling it gets. 

 

 

There is a 7 – inch gauge / digital cluster that has been featured behind the steering wheel. The cluster has been completely configured to the latest trends and shows an immense amount of information along with its stylish design. The digital cluster shows every minute of information to the driver, even the percentage of charging remaining for its electric motor.

Talking about the next main thing in the front cockpit, the Toyota Cross features a huge floating infotainment touch display of around 8 – inches for a variety of multimedia functions. The multimedia unit contains a decent amount of classical touch that respects the old infotainment units. You will get a set of physically touchable buttons on each side of the screen while the center screen is full-on touch operative. 

Just right below the infotainment screen, you will witness the latest dual-zone climate control system for both driver and the passenger. This technology was not widely available even in the past few days. However, with the advancement of technology and requirements from the customer’s panel. The dual climate control system is offered that gives both of the people the control to access their temperature requirements accordingly. 

Talking about the rear panel of the Toyota Cross, it features an automatic transmission system along with an additional ‘B’ accessibility on it. Upon confirmation, the B indication refers to the gear lock technology. It locks the gearing configuration when going downhill. 

Talking about the various driving modes of the Toyota Cross, this crossover SUV features four distinctive drive modes, mentioned as Eco, Normal, Power, EV Mode.

Eco mode, as the name suggests, gives you an economical mileage that will save your fuel for covering longer distances. The normal mode disables any custom mode you enable to suit your driving needs. The power mode focuses more on the performance rather than calculating how much fuel can be saved. Last but not the least, the EV mode shifts everything to the electric motors and makes your Toyota Cross run without the operation of the conventional engine and without consuming any amount of fuel. The crossover will run only on an electric motor along with its charging capacity. However, this mode is restricted to a limited amount of speed and duration.  

 

Safety features of the Toyota Cross:

 

 

Although this crossover is jam-packed with an enormous amount of features throughout its existence, the safety features have not been compromised, even to their tiniest bit. The car comes with fully-loaded, conventional, and operational 7 airbags that are the highest number of airbags in a brand new car that has made its way to Pakistan. Safety has been guaranteed to quite a promising extent. Along with the airbags, the braking system has been paired with the ABS, ABD, and Smart Braking technology. This braking aspect gives you full control over the steering and braking of the car and lets you respond quickly to avoid any type of accidental situation.

More on the Interior:

The Toyota cross features quite a moderate theme of black and brown combination that does not look quite bland. The dark brown (or the chocolaty brown) interior combination along with the black touch looks quite reasonable and modest. 

The cockpit also featured a large relatively large glove box to store the essentials and lock them in one place. 

The soundproofing has been done to a very appreciable extent. You will not be able to hear any type of external noise once you roll your windows up. 

 

 

A clear sunroof has been featured on the roof as well. One thing that rather points towards the disappointing fact that the sunroof is ‘just’ a sunroof and not a paranormal one. The visibility might get compromised and the experience will not be the same as the ones offered in the other crossovers. 

The seats are electronically adjustable for both the driver and the passengers. This means that you may not have to grind yourself much to adjust your accessibility to all the controls and features. 

 

Coming towards the rear passenger area, the space in the back has not been compromised as well and 2 adults with a relatively good height can easily make themselves comfortable in the back despite adjusting the front rows completely towards the back. 

There are separate air conditioning vents for the rear passengers so that they can enjoy the chilled air as much as the front passenger can do. It also indicates that the airflow throughout the interior of the Toyota Crossover is way better than its competitors. The central armrest is also hidden in the center of the rear passenger seat along with a pair of cup holders for more convenience. 

Conclusion:

So this is how things wrap up for the new hybrid breed of the Toyota i.e. Toyota Cross. Talking about the pricing of this vehicle, as now we are reading this segment, the price of this 5-seater crossover hybrid rests around 7.5 million PKR to 8.5 million PKR, depending on what type of variant you choose for yourself.

Although this crossover looks promising, there might be a hard time finding potential buyers as there are a lot of other options available for the Pakistani automobile enthusiasts at a much – much lesser price. However, fuel consumption and hybrid technology might make its pricing even in the future.