This still is a Toyota, right? What happened to the Toyota I knew of the early oughts? The boring Toyota of the past is surely gone. Toyota could have called it a day with the exterior appointments of the 2023 Toyota Raize 1.0 Turbo, but once I stepped inside, I had to do a double take of the badge on the steering wheel. The Toyota Raize is still much bigger than a kei car but knowing that the design has been maximized to be a proper small SUV and not just a watered-down version of its bigger brothers gives it real credibility and makes me love the design even more. Japanese roads especially ones in the suburbs are small and tight, in response Japanese carmakers, with the help of incentives from the government created this new class of small cars with specific engine and size configurations. Kei cars are a wonderful creation brought about by harsh realities. The Toyota Raize is a rebadged JDM Daihatsu Rocky and if you know Daihatsu, they're known for what's called kei cars. The proportionate sizes of the LED tail lamps, the black bar that runs across the rear end, connecting the headlamps, and the slight rear spoiler and mini windshield wiper all look "normal" sized from afar but coming closer reveals its true size. Most small SUVs and crossovers look like sedans or hatchbacks on stilts but the Raize looks like a mini-me Land Cruiser. I reviewed the naturally aspirated version of the Raize last year and I did say that I love the look it was trying to go for, but the top-of-the-line variant still takes the cake.Ī lot of car companies would design the hell out of the front end of vehicles without giving much thought out back, with the 2023 Toyota Raize 1.0 Turbo, that isn't the case. Being a crossover SUV, it has the prerequisite black plastic cladding that blends well with the overall boxy shape of the Raize. It borrows design cues from its larger Toyota SUV siblings such as the Toyota Fortuner and Toyota RAV4. The styling of the 2023 Toyota Raize 1.0 Turbo is unabashedly, "Toyota Macho". It's the 2023 Toyota Raize 1.0 Turbo, the car I never knew I'd appreciate as much as I did. Thankfully there are cars like those which we'll be reviewing today that still tugs on my small-car sensibilities but still offer a high ground clearance, macho, SUV styling, and practicality. Part of growing up seems to be about carrying more stuff with you, both emotionally and in real life. These days, though, it seems like I completely understand the need for crossovers, SUVs, and even pickup trucks. For me, nothing can beat a good hatchback.
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