| First Drive | Lisbon, Portugal | Toyota Urban Cruiser |

The coolest thing in the world right now is to be boxy. It's weird, really. Back in the day, if you looked at your mate's new Ford Orion or whatever and said, "ooh, it's quite boxy, that", you were effectively saying it looked a bit rubbish. Now, however, thanks to cars like the Daihatsu Materia, the Kia Soul and the new Citroen C3 Picasso, we're all back into our boxes. It's probably because the box is the most practical of all the shapes; just ask a removal man.

Actually, it's probably just because big 4x4s are boxy, but neither our consciences nor financial advisers will let us take the kids to school in them anymore. So, an alternative has appeared: the tall, square, small, big hatchback, aka the crossover. With true Japanese literalism, Toyota calls it a 'B-segment sub-segment', and has thrown its hat into the segment with this, the new Urban Cruiser - a car that's really similar to a Kia Soul in concept, only much more expensive. But is it much better?

In the Metal

With one gaze upon the Urban Cruiser's diminutive yet steroidal dimensions, the initial impression is of a car trying so hard to be butch that it falls grille first into Kylie Minogue fan club territory. It looks like a shrunken Verso with little man syndrome: so shamed by its fundamental teeny-weenyness that it's gone to a plastic surgeon for chest and pec implants and come out still tiny, but now uncomfortably carrying bigger features. Where the Kia Soul is effortlessly square edged, this is more an awkward SUV pastiche. Some will like how deliberately tough it tries to be, though.

Tough isn't the best adjective to describe what lies beyond the doors, though: if the exterior leaves you expecting a thick slab of high quality ruggedness inside, you'll be depressed when you open the doors. Quality wise, the Urban Cruiser is really in £8k hatch territory - about on par with the Yaris it's based on. But when Toyota's asking £14,500 at the lowest end of the market for one of these, you'd expect at least a bit of touchy-feely bounce to the dash material, not the moulded school chair plastics you're greeted with everywhere. The cabin's not even that good to look at: where's the funkiness? I want a car with the word 'urban' in the title to make like Sugababes and at least dial in the occasional dash of funk. Pah. And the driving position is quite poor too, because the seat doesn't go back far enough and the wheel's positioned too low.

But in terms of use of space - something all the kids want these days - the Urban Cruiser excels. The rear seats are ace, actually, because they fold flat easily and pivot forward if you need more boot space, which you might if you have buggies and things because the boot's not really that big. There's a feeling of airiness in the cabin though, and on that basis it will appeal to families with maybe two slightly older kids, or someone who uses their back seats a bit but doesn't fancy a big car.

What you get for your Money

We've already mentioned that things kick off at £14,500, which is frankly too expensive - £12k seems a more reasonable price to us. But Toyota is sneakily only selling one trim level, your options limited to the cheaper front-wheel drive petrol model or a four-wheel drive diesel at £16,400.

With that one trim level you get 16-inch, extra shiny R&B spec alloys, air conditioning, a push button engine starter, Bluetooth and rear tints. It's mid-spec heaven, basically - but to tell the truth you'd want leather, satnav and a heck of a lot more power if you were spending that on a Yaris-based machine. Pay for those extras in this car and you're staring at an almost nonsensical price, especially when you can get a Kia Soul for many thousands less.

Driving it

The two engines are a 100bhp 1.3-litre VVT-i lifted from the Yaris and an 89bhp 1.4-litre D4-D diesel, the former as a front-wheel drive and the latter four, with no possible crossover. Why you'd need this with four-wheel drive is beyond us, although it does make the Urban Cruiser the most CO₂ efficient 'SUV' there is (a delicious little marketing gambit). Thankfully both get the same pleasant six-speed manual gearbox as standard, which means cruising is quiet and fuel efficient, and town driving is easy-peasy. And actually, it's generally pretty good at the motorway thing, staying relatively hushed and bounce free at higher speeds.

However, it's also slower than gravity working on an upside down bottle of Heinz ketchup, because of that old 'heavy body/tiny engine' polarity. Yet, surprisingly enough, take the time to wind it up to a reasonable speed and it's a half decent little handler. Steering feel is zilch, but it stays planted and roll-free around medium speed corners. That's not really important though, is it? Fortunately its ride around town, surely the fundamental tenet of a car called 'Urban Cruiser', is comfy. Phew.

Worth Noting

The fuel economy and emissions figures between the petrol and diesel versions are really close; the former boasting 51.4mpg and 129g/km and the later 57.6mpg and 130g/gm. So, unless you're a fan of rattle, like a big baby, or you think an Urban Cruiser's going to stack up against your pals' Mk1 Land Rover Defenders in the cattle market car park, it might not make sense to buy the 4x4 diesel. They both take the same languid 12.5 seconds to reach 62mph too, and you'll be tapping your watch as every one of those passes.

Summary

The new Toyota Urban Cruiser isn't really bad in any one area, but it's instantly forgettable. Quality is nowhere near what you'd expect given its price, but it's not terrible, and the drive is competent without ever being any more than that. All in all, it seems more like Toyota has made a marketing decision to build the Urban Cruiser, rather than building it to meet some need or fill a clever new niche that simply must be filled. The superfluous diesel in particular makes very little sense at nearly £2k more than a car already too expensive to start with. If you like the idea of a car like this, buy a Kia Soul instead, or you could avoid the whole thing altogether and just take your pick of one of the many nice, traditional hatches on sale - Toyota Yaris included. The concept of a regular hatchback is all a bit old school now, but sometimes the old ones are the best.