My father was bought a 2009 model Aygo from a Toyota main dealer in Woodford, Essex. Awaiting delivery of his order he was loaned a 2009 model Aygo courtesy car. This car leaked leaving puddles in the rear footwells. The dealer was asked (in writing) to guarantee that the actual Aygo purchased did not suffer from the same fault.

A few days after delivery of the new car it rained and you guessed it....the rear footwells became damp. Regretfully the dealer refused to accept the car back and then shamefully denied that there ever was a leak effectively calling my father a liar. The sales manager and the service manager basically said that unless they could claim from Toyota they were not interested in helping even though the car was only a few days old. This is clearly against the sales of goods act, but they seemed unconcerned about our threat of taking this further.

My father (a pensioner) did not want the hassle of legal action and was forced to accept a trade-in allowance for another more expensive model. It is apparent that Toyota are aware of endemic problems but will not make costly design changes to their products unless they get found out with a safety issue (sticky brakes) and adverse publicity. Meanwhile, their franchise dealers are happy to pocket the income from in-guarantee labour claim back schemes.

Conclusion - the Aygo is not fit for purpose and needs a complete re-design as there is no real fix for this water leak issue. Buy another Toyota? I don’t think so!