Most people will want a vehicle with excellent fuel efficiency, so the hybrid model will usually appeal to majority of people. People who do a lot of city driving everyday to and fro to work and back home, which is likely the case. The hybrid will excel in city driving not only with low fuel consumption but also smoother acceleration and drive when compared to non-hybrid judging from people who have test-driven the vehicle.

In some cases like mine, a hybrid won't bring much benefit as it will be mainly used by my dad which rarely drives since he's retired, also to be used as a backup vehicle. The vehicle will be mainly driven to supermarket for groceries etc. I've done some calculations and in average, the mileage will be 20km in 1 week. In 1 year, the vehicle will only clock around 1,200km (and not 12,000km).

With city driving and heavy usage, the hybrid will be ideal and the natural choice especially to save on petrol costs.

It might have been the Eco mode that you were driving it on (which is the default). I found Normal mode okay. Eco mode was lethargic, especially initial pickup. Like those junctions where you need to drive into a road across oncoming traffic - Eco mode gives you zero confidence in actually making it across before the oncoming cars reach you, while Normal mode is more… normal, I guess.

This is a characteristic of all Toyota hybrids I’ve tried, from a relative’s Prius (forgot which gen, it’s the one that shares architecture with the Lexus CT200) back when they were new in Malaysia, to the Camry Hybrid I was leasing up until 1.5yrs ago. Best to just forget about Eoo mode and leave in Normal. The mileage difference on the Camry Hybrid was only around 0.5L/100km at worst anyway.

Sport Mode on the Cross Hybrid just shortens the throttle response slightly and tightens up the CVT ratios a bit. Steering weight remains the same (slightly lighter than GR), from what I could tell

I too would have preferred the Altis over the Cross. Just pay a little bit more for double wishbone setup. But UMWT doesn’t offer a hybrid Altis variant here. Other reason is that my mom (I mentioned buying the Cross for her in earlier posts) had knee replacement surgery a couple of years ago and isn’t comfortable with the knee bending required to get in/out of a sedan anymore (I think it’s more psychological than physiological, because her surgery and rehab went great), and she likes the entry*/exit height of my Harrier (XU80), so the Cross was overall a better fit for her.

* instead of putting some weight on the knees or one knee like how we do it, she prefers resting her bum on the seat first before lifting her legs in, and most urban crossovers seem have their seats at a better height (compared to sedans) for her to do that.