… Toyota Aygo …
It’s hardly on the scale of William Wallace or Rob Roy, but deep within my very professional exterior there lurks a streak of outright rebelliousness. Never one to conform with convention (just ask Lady Bunnet) there is a deep desire to flout the rules whenever I can, especially in the pursuit of some new life enhancing experience. Each time I do so is another notch on the knobbly walking stick of life.
And so it was when Toyota delivered an Aygo ‘city car’ for appraisal I could barely contain my normally calm, considered and professional approach to the task ahead. For that reason, the ‘rebel’ drove out of the city and into the wilderness. Or to be more precise, up the A9 to Pitlochry. So much for revolutionary zeal!
I suppose it’s different for folk buying a city car in London. Many of them will barely get beyond the M25, so a city car makes sense. And although some of them may escape the confines of the metropolis it might only be to Dover for the ferry or the tunnel and an occasional day out in Frenchland.
But for those of us who live elsewhere in the UK, especially the far north, escape from the city is mandatory especially with such attractions as the Peak or Lake District, the Borders or the Highlands on our doorsteps. So I just wondered how the Aygo would cope.
Surprisingly well in fact. The wee thing buzzed along quite happily at 70 mph and although the sound of the engine was a constant accompaniment it wasn’t too intrusive. It was also nippy enough on the twisty bits to be entertaining and clung to the roads like a limpet. That might be surprising considering the fact that the 3 cylinder ‘power’ unit under the bonnet produces a mere 69 bhp. But in a car which weighs just 800 kgs, that’s more than enough for the target market who are likely to buy this wee car.
And ‘wee’ is the word. Even though it has five doors and four seats, I wouldn’t have liked to take four adults to Pitlochry. However, the two in the front would have been perfectly fine.
Back in the real world and in it’s natural habitat, the Aygo is perfectly formed for city duty and commuting. This being a Toyota, it has all the creature comforts that owners would expect, plus a few more.
It’s got air-con and electric front windows and door mirrors, height adjustable driver’s seat and adjustable steering wheel and a rear view camera. It also has an excellent 4 speaker audio system with Bluetooth, USB and AUX to while away the daily driving chores.
It might only be a city car but all the safety issues of the day have been addressed with front, side and curtain airbags, ABS and EBD, stability control and it’s even got Hill Start Assist. It also has a Tyre Pressure Monitor and a speed limiter – if you’re lending the car to someone!
One of the main attractions of small city cars with small engines is fuel economy and emissions and with just 95 g/km they don’t come much cleaner than this while returning excellent fuel economy figures with Toyota claiming 68.9 mpg on the Combined cycle. I didn’t quite get to that, but you can blame the back roads around Dunkeld and Aberfeldy for that!
The only real downside is the price tag. At just over eleven and a half thousand pounds (the test car had metallic paint and leather trim at £495 and £995 extra) it seems a lot for such a compact vehicle, but at least it will be cheap to run and it comes with a 5 year /100,000 mile Warranty.
It’s not for everyone, but for those who don’t travel far, and rarely go far from the city, it will be perfectly adequate – and it’s a good reason for not inviting anyone else. That allows you to drop the rear seat and enlarge the boot to accommodate your weekend luggage. Ideal for a city break in your city car, eh?