• Wide, short cabin works best for upright seating
• Adequate legroom front and back
• Good boot space, less so in AWD model

How much space is there?

Despite being closely related to the Toyota Yaris supermini, the Yaris Cross feels like a much more grown-up car thanks to its high seating position and roomy cabin. Indeed, it feels like a car from the market sector above.

It’s 240mm longer than the Yaris hatchback, which opens up more room inside. There’s certainly no shortage of space up front, with generous leg and headroom. The car’s relative narrowness means there’s not a vast amount of shoulder room, but the low centre console at least means larger people shouldn’t feel hemmed in.

It’s a similar story in the back. It’s not as roomy as the Skoda Kamiq but we found there’s sufficient head and legroom for a pair of six-foot tall passengers to sit behind someone of similar height. Getting three adults into the back would be a bit too much of a squeeze, three children would fit more easily.

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Speaking of children, the Yaris Cross’s back doors open notably wide – a big help when getting children in and out of the car. Similarly, if you have mobility issues, ingress and egress is easier in the Yaris Cross than the Yaris hatchback.

Boot space and storage

The Yaris Cross has 390 litres of boot capacity in two-wheel-drive models, which is about average for the small SUV class. For comparison, the Honda HR-V has just 335 litres of space, while the Ford Puma musters 456 litres. All-wheel-drive Yaris Cross models lose a fairly hefty 77 litres of space to their extra electric motor. The space is usefully square, and the opening is quite wide, so we had no trouble cramming the boot full on several occasions.

Fold the back seats down and there’s 1,097 litres of space. The back seat in entry-level Icon models just splits 60:40, while the rest of range has a more flexible 40:20:40 arrangement. Front-wheel-drive models have a variable height boot floor that either creates an extra underfloor storage area or allows bigger loads to be carried. It can also be positioned vertically to divide the boot in two. There’s a clever flex belt system to keep items securely in place when driving.

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There’s a decent amount of storage dotted around the interior, including space and charging facilities for two smartphones. There’s a large cubby under the front centre armrest and spacious door bins, as well.

Is it easy to park?

Reasonably, because the Yaris Cross is a relatively short, tall car. We found visibility is pretty good all-round (which can’t be said of every small SUV) and it’s easy to judge where the car’s extremities are. You don’t necessarily need any help when parking, then, but all Yaris Cross models provide it with a reversing camera and parking sensors.

Check out the car’s dimensions on our Toyota Yaris Cross specs page.

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Safety

• Five-star Euro NCAP rating
• All models have lots of safety kit
• Semi-autonomous driving tech works well

The Toyota Yaris Cross was awarded a full five-star safety rating by car safety experts Euro NCAP when it was assessed in 2021. It protected both adult and child occupants very well, but of particular note was the performance of its driver assistance features.

And it has of lot of them – which Toyota markets under the heading Safety Sense. Every trim level gets a comprehensive suite of features including:

• Autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection
• Lane keeping assist
• Traffic sign recognition
• Driver attention monitor
• SOS call button
• High-beam assist
• Adaptive cruise control

High-spec models have extra features LED headlights, blind-spot monitors and rear cross traffic alert. Two sets of Isofix child seat mounts are found on the outer rear seats.