New Toyota Urban Cruiser Review - Should you buy this or the identical Suzuki Vitara Brezza

Budget insurance affordable because you can't afford not to .

Hello and welcome to another car review on cars dot Cosa .

Now , before we start , remember the cars dot Cosa has the largest selection of used cars in South Africa right now on our site , you'll find us at cars dot COZ A because the the brand is the URL .

You know , we really , we thought about that ahead of time .

Ok .

Off you go find your next car and here we go on to this the new Toyota Urban Cruiser .

Now , if you're looking at this car and thinking , hm , that's a very familiar little thing .

Well , you'd be right because this is exactly the same car that Suzuki has just put on sale .

It just has a different badge and a different name .

The Suzuki Vitara Brea and this , the Toyota Urban Cruiser are the same car .

And you might be wondering how does that even , I mean , what is , how does that even happen ?

What is , what's going on here ?

So let me explain .

So internationally Toyota and Suzuki have formed an alliance and in different markets around the world , they are selling different versions of each other's car .

Now , when , I mean , different versions , I mean , literally the same car that they just rebrand .

So , for instance , in the UK , you can buy something called a Suzuki A Cross , which is a Toyota Rav four .

You can buy a Suzuki , which must be the worst name I think I've ever heard for a , ah , I mean , did they just take swift and space and just put it together because it's like a station wagon type thing .

Anyway , so Toyota Corolla station wagon , the Suzuki Space in South Africa , you can buy a Toyota Starlet , which is a Suzuki Beli .

And now you can buy this Toyota Urban Cruiser , which is a Suzuki Vitara Brea .

And I think what we should do for you is put the two on screen side by side right now so that you can actually see the difference because there are some minor differences and they're almost entirely to the front end .

So Toyota have revised the front end of this car , different grill , different bumper , different fog lights .

And if I'm honest , I think the urban Cruiser does look a little bit better than the Vitara Reza .

Maybe it's just me , but it's got a bit less chrome and I'm not a huge fan of chrome and I just think that this car looks a bit more SUV , like bit more purposeful , but more chunky , a bit more impactful in your face , maybe if that makes sense .

So , in terms of design yeah , the Toyota has got it for me .

But other than that , you really are dealing with exactly the same car .

I mean , the interior , identical , same gearbox , same engine , same seats probably .

Anyway , what we'll do now is cut to an interior scene where I will use the power of my voice to create a voice over and take you over this interior .

I don't know about you , but I'm suffering from a serious case of Deja Vu here besides the badge on the steering wheel , the Suzuki and this Toyota are absolutely identical inside the cabin .

There are three derivatives of urban cruiser to choose from .

And this is the top spec X R model which includes nice things like a leather wrapped steering wheel , cruise control and a cooled glove box .

Even the cheapest urban cruiser features a touchscreen infotainment system with a reverse camera , Apple , Carplay and Android , auto steering wheel mounted phone call controls , automatic climate control , electric windows , all round electric mirrors and push button start .

It's the same spec as the Suzuki and we're just as impressed .

You can even change the color of the dial surrounds .

Very nice .

The rear seats have a clever folding arrangement which allows the back of the seat to fold completely flat to offer a very practical load area .

And underneath the boot floor is a full size spare rear leg room is perfect for kids , but adults over six ft might find it a little cramped back there now , I think Toyota have scored a good deal here .

I really do .

I think Suzuki makes cracking little cars .

They're small car experts .

And I think that the Vitara Breza was one of their best ones yet .

And so Toyota have got a good little car here .

Well , you know , a good little Suzuki , a good little little urban cruiser Breza thing anyway , because it is a well made little car rides really well , it's very , very comfortable on the road .

It actually has the ride quality , in my opinion of a much larger , much more expensive car .

I mean , I'm on a very good road surface right now because this is Cape Town and not Johannesburg and uh oh little joburg dig there .

Don't get angry with me .

It's just the truth anyway , there's barely any road noise to speak of .

But what this car and the urban , the Vitara Breza suffer from is quite bad wind noise at about 80/80 ks an hour around here at the top of the A pillars , there is a fair amount of wind noise which could get a little bit frustrating , especially on long journeys at highway speeds .

Other than that , I have very little complaints about how this car feels on the road .

I haven't taken one of these on gravel yet , but I suspect that it will be pretty damn good on gravel too .

And of course , that extra ride height will help as well .

So it's , it's that kind of car .

It's good in the city and it's good out of the city .

Just remember that it is a little front wheel drive car .

Don't try to do any dramatic four by four work .

You will get stuck .

This is not a four by four at the end of the day .

It's just a little small crossover in terms of the engine , same little 1.5 liter four cylinder that you find in the Suzuki , same power and torque .

It's not too bad , maybe a little bit low on torque .

In my opinion .

Nothing to worry about though .

If you prefer changing your own gears , of course , you can get a manual and save yourself a bit of money .

I'm driving the auto today , which I'm finding is perfect .

I prefer autos for city driving , that's for sure .

You don't have to worry about clutch control .

What Toyota is also benefiting from here is the fact that Suzuki has some sort of voodoo magic when it comes to fuel consumption and their engines of all the cars I ever test drive .

Suzuki's almost always have consistently the best fuel consumption .

So they claim 6.2 liters to the 100 for their little Suzuki car , the little Suzuki Breza .

And in here , I'm achieving much the same and 6.2 to the 100 for a car of this size .

And with this sort of power and torque is a really impressive figure and I reckon if you drive really carefully and especially on long roads , you will probably get under six and that's pretty damn cool .

That's like five liters to go 100 Ks .

That's rad .

I'll take that .

So let's get to the consumer advice bit of this review .

Now , Toyota is quite well known for making pretty good cars but offering pretty terrible warranties and service plans .

And that is the case with this car .

Both the warranty and the service plan are shorter than the equivalent Suzuki service plan in here .

Three year 45,000 in the Suzuki , it's four year 60,000 and warranty .

300,000 in the Suzuki , it's five year 200,000 .

The thing is , however , that Toyota will allow you to extend the warranty at point of purchase .

So we phoned the dealership and asked them how much that is and for the measly sum of 3750 rand , which is like the price of a good night out really or like not even a like a not a great night out , you know , like a decent night out 3750 rand including vat which you can add to your finance .

You can extend your warranty in your urban cruiser to six year unlimited kilometers .

That is phenomenal and it just shows you how much confidence Toyota has in Suzuki's products .

So let me answer the 247,000 rand question for you .

Should you buy a little Toyota or a little Suzuki version of the exact same car ?

Well , it might just come down to looks because they're mechanically identical .

You really can't go wrong either way .

So , looks are subjective .

I'll leave it up to you .

As I said , I think I do prefer the looks of this little Toyota , but that could just be me .

Then I suppose another thing to consider perhaps is dealer network and that is where Toyota trumps the Suzuki .

So Toyota has about 200 dealerships in South Africa .

Suzuki has about 60 .

Now , if you live in a big metro , a big urban area , that's probably not a big deal .

I'm sure you'll find a Suzuki or a Toyota dealership close to where you live or where you work .

But if you live in a rural area , you're almost certainly going to find it easier to find a Toyota dealer rather than a Suzuki dealer .

So maybe that's something to consider .

But overall , whether you go Suzuki or Toyota , in my opinion , this is a very good little car at a very good price .

And at the moment when it feels like us , South Africans are just being squeezed economically from all directions .

I think that's a very welcome thing .

Thanks very much for watching if you've just watched this video , but you haven't yet subscribed to our channel .

You absolutely should do that immediately right now .

Click the subscribe button .

It's a good idea for a bunch of reasons which I actually don't have really a lot of time to go into .

But uh it's good .

It's a good idea .

Excellent .

Thanks for watching .

I said that already budget insurance affordable because you can't afford not to .