Rent Toyota Raize 2023 in Dubai

The Toyota Raize 2023 is just over four metres long, nearly 300 mm shorter than a Hyundai Creta and shorter than most hatchbacks in our fleet, and that size is the real reason to rent one in Dubai. A bigger crossover needs a proper run at a tight basement ramp. The Raize slots into bays those cars have to shuffle for twice, and it turns a Marina tower or a Downtown mall car park into a non-event. We deliver it to your door in one to two hours, so you can measure your own building's entrance before committing a week to it. This page is about whether that tiny footprint is worth the smaller engine and boot it comes with, or whether you actually need the size you would give up.

The engine, and how it drives

Under the hood is a 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder making 97 hp and 140 Nm, paired to a CVT automatic that sends power to the front wheels only. There's no all-wheel-drive Raize sold here, so keep any desert plans off this car entirely. The turbo means the modest output doesn't feel as slow as the number suggests around town: torque arrives low, and pulling away from a red light on Al Wasl or Jumeirah Beach Road never feels strained. Push it harder and the three-cylinder note turns thrashy, and the CVT holds a high, droning rev range while it hunts for speed, an honest trade for a car this light and this cheap to run. On Sheikh Zayed Road it settles into a cruise easily enough at the speed limit, but asking it to overtake at 120 km/h and above needs planning a beat earlier than you would in a bigger car.

Boot, back seat and the daily load

The boot holds 369 litres with the rear seats up, a genuinely useful number for a car this short, more than you'd expect from something barely four metres long. One large suitcase and a couple of soft bags fit without a fight, and it handles an airport run for two without anyone folding a case into the back seat. Push it to a full family shop or three passengers with luggage each and the back seat runs out of room before the boot does. Two adults sit fine, three across the bench gets tight on a longer drive, and the short 2,525 mm wheelbase means rear legroom sits closer to a supermini's than a proper compact SUV's.

Parking is the payoff. At 4,030 mm long and 1,710 mm wide, the Raize is one of the smallest crossovers we rent, and its 200 mm of ground clearance takes speed bumps and steep mall ramps without the scrape a lower hatchback risks. Reversing into a tight basement bay or nosing into a compact spot outside a Jumeirah villa takes one attempt, not the three-point shuffle a mid-size SUV needs.

Running cost, heat and the cabin

Dealer-listed fuel figures put economy around 17 km/L in the city and up to 19 km/L on the highway, comfortably better than most crossovers this size, because the small turbo engine does more with less fuel. On the 36-litre tank that works out to a range somewhere between 610 and 680 km, so a week of ordinary city driving means one stop at the pump, maybe none if you're mostly parked.

The daily mileage allowance on this car is 250 km, and going past it costs AED 0.5 for every extra kilometre, a fair rate for the odd trip out to Hatta or Al Ain and back. Salik tolls and any RTA fines are the renter's responsibility, as with every car we hand over, and the minimum age to book the Raize is 25, higher than the 21 you'll find on some of our other compact cars, so check that before you plan on it for a younger driver.

The small cabin is quick to cool once you're moving, with less air for the front vents to pull down than in a bigger SUV. It heat-soaks just as fast sitting in direct July sun, though, so give it a minute with the doors open before you climb back in rather than trusting the AC to fix it instantly.

Who should rent it, and who should size up

Rent the Raize if you're one or two people who spend most of the week in Downtown, Marina or JLT, where a small footprint and easy parking matter more than boot space or a third passenger. It's also the cheaper car to run over a week if fuel economy matters to you, and the tight turning circle that comes with the short wheelbase makes U-turns and valet drop-offs painless.

Size up if you're three adults or more, need to carry more than an overnight case each, or want more reserve for overtaking on the E11 with a full car. A Kicks or a Creta gives you a proper back seat and a bigger boot for a modest jump in running cost, and either handles a family's airport run with less compromise. And if you're under 25, this one isn't available to you anyway. For a solo renter or a couple chasing the smallest, easiest car to park in Dubai, the Raize does exactly that job and nothing more.