After nearly 4 months ownership I thought I?d give an update for anyone who may be considering one of these or its French badged siblings.
We chose it because we needed a second car which was small, had four doors and aircon and was cheap to buy, insure and tax. We considered Fiestas, Corsas, Yaris etc but they have all put on weight and are now just a bit too large.
The car was bought through drivethedeal and the whole transaction went very smoothly, downside was the car was from Ipswich Toyota, which is 200 miles from us, so hardly local!
The only fault we found with the car was that the boot didn?t lock.
A quick visit to the local dealer and the receptionist diagnosed the problem in 5 minutes, parts were ordered and it was fixed two days later.
For the first 7 or 8 weeks the car was used predominantly by my wife for her local trips with the very occasional run out. 7 weeks ago I sold my car so we have been relying on the Aygo and I have been driving it a lot more.
When I first started driving it had done about 1500 miles, but it seemed very sluggish ? changing to second gear needed lots of revs in first or it would die. Being used to driving diesels I thought it was me not being used to petrol cars and changing gear too early, I started giving it a few more revs and we took it on some motorway runs and it is now much better.
Apart from the lock the car has been faultless and has coped well with the demands we put on it. Plenty of room for two and the baby seat in the back. The boot is small, but most of the time it?s only used for a buggy, but even with this in the boot there is room for 5 or 6 bags of shopping, so no complaints. The car also has a full sized spare under the boot floor ? well done Toyota.
When we need more luggage space we simply utilise the other back seat. On a trip to the Dales over Easter the boot took a full sized pram chassis, two deck chairs, rucksack, food bag, nappy changing bag and coats. The pram wheels went under the driver?s seat and the pram seat went on the back seat.
The car is frugal, I tend to wait for the warning then fill up with a set amount of fuel. 20 litres lasts 200 miles in urban traffic ? 45 mpg. I put 30 litres in last week and I have already done over 300 miles of mixed driving ? some high speed work and plenty of NSL roads. Insurance was £200 for my wife and myself and car tax has just been reduced to £35 a year. First service should be less than £100.
Third gear is very flexible and will take you from 20 to 80 mph, second is good for 50mph. It takes motorway journeys in its stride, but long distance high speed touring isn?t its natural environment. I prefer to cruise at 60-65mph which is quick enough to pass trucks, but leaves enough in reserve when required. It?s also quieter at this speed. Dropping to 4th on the motorway is very rarely required.
After these first few weeks we?ve noticed a few minor day to day living annoyances, but all must be put in to context that the car was just £7,200 brand new. This was for a four door ?+? model with optional aircon in flat red.
Interior light goes out as soon as you close the door and it only works off the driver?s door ? it?s a pain to find the ignition keyhole during winter.
No electric window switch for the passenger window from the drivers seat.
Rear wiper sweeps the wrong way for RHD vehicles so it?s pretty useless, but it?s needed as the short rear overhang means dirt is thrown up to the rear window. A larger wiper may help, but a sweep through 180 degrees would solve the problem.
The luggage area cover gets in the way of the boot area when it?s flipped up to load the boot. Removing it makes loading easier. 10 minutes with a Stanley knife could solve this!
To sum up I see it as a modern day equivalent of the original Mini or 2cv. No real thrills in driving it, but it does everything we wanted it to do for very little outlay.
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Good to hear daveyjp. My daughter's recently passed her test and is picking one of these up as her first car on Saturday ( 3-door Sport). Sounds as though we've made a good choice.
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We've had one since November and I'd agree with much of the above. We've been very pleased overall and having your car tax reduced in the budget isn't something you'd normally expect. I'm not sure if it's my imagination but drivers of faster cars ( BMWs, Audis and the like) seem to be far more desperate to get past than they do if I'm in our Saab, and the bodywork seems to be picking up more parking dings than we might have expected( is the metal thin?), otherwise great and frugal little car.
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the bodywork seems to be picking up more parking dings than we might have expected( is the metal thin?) otherwise great and frugal little car.
How many parking dings do you expect? I don't think my car has had any parking dings. Are other people somehow managing to knock it more frequently, or do you (or SWMBO) drive without looking?
I looked at these cars a while ago, and was very supprised by the cheapness, especially for the price. Everything seemed to be very cheap, the tailgate was the worst one, which was just a sheet of glass with a few bits glued on, and a big metal catch sticking up that would get knocked. When I looked at a few other things it looked cheap too, even compared to my FIAT, which was a lot cheaper than these. I didn't like the performance either.
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I looked at the Peugeot version last year. I thought it would make a great city car but for longer journeys probably not very good. Felt very vulnerable in it as well - I am sure the NCAP ratings are good but I still like to have more metal around me.
Would make a good cheap disposable car. Will be worth very little at 5 years but who cares when it costs so little to start with?
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Good to hear daveyjp. My daughter's recently passed her test and is picking one of these up as her first car on Saturday ( 3-door Sport). Sounds as though we've made a good choice.
Was it the daughter or the car you had the choice of?
New cars and new young drivers are not a well matched pair.- I hope all goes well
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yeah, tell me about it! She's already managed to put a nice little dent in the rear bumper of the family Corsa. Hoping that she'll be a bit more careful with something she's buying with her own cash!
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"I'm not sure if it's my imagination but drivers of faster cars ( BMWs, Audis and the like) seem to be far more desperate to get past than they do if I'm in our Saab,"
After driving smarts for a few years and now the Aygo you do get this feeling, proving it is difficult, but I'm also sure people see the car and automatically think its going to impede their progress. I was being followed by a Misubishi Pinin at the weekend on NSL country roads, I was making progress. We caught someone in a Jazz doing 40ish. On the next straight the Pinin was right up my backside, ahead was clear. To allow the Pinin to get past I deliberately didn't begin an overtake. Pinin didn't move, Jazz still doing 40 I decided to overtake, Pinin still up my backside, signal and pull out only for the fool behind to follow me. He is then behind me again, but as the road was clear I could get on with making progress and when it got twisty he had to slow to stop tipping the car. He eventually overtook me whilst I was doing 60. He used a right turn refuge bounded by double white lines and you could see the 30 limit sign on the outskirts of a village in the distance. Only he knows why he did this, but I'm sure if I'd been in my A3 he wouldn't have.
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