Toyota Aygo X-Wave Pops its Top

9 years, 11 months ago - 21 January 2015, Autoblog
Toyota Aygo X-Wave
Toyota Aygo X-Wave
Chop the top off a car and you'll let the sunshine and warm air in, but you'll also get a car that's heavier, less rigid and costlier. That's why European hatchbacks in particular have been increasingly favoring retractable fabric roof panels that keep the structural integrity in tact while letting the sunshine in.

The Fiat 500C, Citroën DS3 Cabrio and Renault Twingo all offer this type of setup – as do the Peugeot 108 and Citroën C1, and now their Toyota platform-mate is following them down the same path.

Recently announced in the UK is this Toyota Aygo with X-Wave roof option. It's a black canvas panel that opens up the space above both rows of seats at the push of a button. Unlike the roofs on some of the other aforementioned European city cars, it doesn't extend all the way down to the base of the back window, but that just means it doesn't stack up and impede cargo space and rearward visibility.

Toyota is bundling the X-Wave roof option with additional equipment like upgraded lighting, infotainment system and alloys for £895, taxes included (equivalent to $1,355 at today's exchange rates). That's a lot less than Fiat, for example, gets for upgrading from a 500 to a 500C on either side of the Atlantic. It's also even less than Peugeot and Citroën charge for similar options on their versions of the same vehicle in the UK, and that strikes us as a pretty cost-effective way to go motoring with the top down.