#Xwave 2016 products update

It is, but then it should be for the price. The Up has the cabin licked for quality, Panda beats it in the charisma stakes, and the i10 feels like it comes from a class above. Pity then that a lot of plastics are harder and shinier than Lego blocks, the steering column only adjusts for rake and room in the back and boot is tighter than George Osborne on an austerity drive. It’s roomy up front, visibility is good, the controls are intelligently configured, and that seven-inch ‘x-touch’ infotainment touchscreen uses MirrorLink to display your mobile phone screen. Toyota’s designers didn’t bottle it when it came to styling the cabin, which looks like a Transformer half way through morphing from robot to combine harvester, or whatever it is they transform in to. Let’s call it distinctive, and leave it at that.

#Xwave 2016 products update

Which means Toyota’s designers may have got it spot on, but we can’t help thinking the X motif will date quickly, even if the grille, wings section and back bumper insert can be quickly changed to encourage buyers to update and customise their car. Being neither young nor Japanese meant we hated the external styling on first acquaintance, with its slashed face, lashings of glassy black plastics and mark-of-Zorro rear light clusters. Its design ethos – rather dubiously entitled J-Playful – is inspired by ‘Japanese youth culture’. Big not-so-fun money for a small car, compared to its French siblings and German and Korean rivals… Go fun yourself, indeed… about as contrived as its styling As the sun is trying to make us believe it’s summer, we tried the X-pression X-wave manual model, which comes with a vast fabric sunroof and is priced at a toppy £12,390.