Toyota Aygo X JBL

FIRST DRIVE Prefer your small cars to have big sound? Toyota has teamed up with JBL to give its city car a 300-watt stereo

- Alastair Crooks

IF you wanted a big, shiny sound system in your car (from the factory, at least), you used to have to stump up the money for an out-and-out premium brand such as Mercedes or BMW, which have long partnered with the likes of Sennheiser and Harmon Kardon. Toyota is looking to prove these preconceptions wrong, however, because it's launched the new Aygo X JBL special edition.

According to Toyota, this version of its entry-level car focuses on giving its owners a “concert-style sound”. That’s quite a bold claim when many of us know that even top-rung sound systems often struggle to replicate a live performance.

It's worth remembering that an affordable city car/audio firm tie-up has been done before. Volkswagen offered the ‘Beats edition’ of the up!, and more recently, in other markets, there was a ‘La Prima by Bocelli’ special edition of the all-electric Fiat 500e. This also had a JBL sound system, but the Fiat’s was developed in partnership with iconic Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.