Ongoing Testing: Toyota Aygo Blue (2010)

It’s tine for another ongoing test report, this time featuring my car – the self-styled Toyota Aygo of Doom(tm pending), as I take it for a 300 mile drive or so.

A little background – I changed jobs earlier this year, that required me to be more mobile than not. As a lover of public transport, this was a disappointment to me (as I preferred to pay £79 a month to let train, bus or tram take the strain).

Alas, when going out to sites, not everywhere is public transit accessible, or I’ve got a server/printer/other computer part in my car which is difficult to carry (you try carrying a 20kg server and say its easy. Go on.. There’s a HP Proliant G7  ML350, light as a feather at 20kg+…)

So a car was in need.

Now, I hate car shopping – for me I had simple requirements:

• It had four wheels
• Good MPG
• Low Running costs
• Low Maintenance costs
• Cheap to Insure

After spending a few weekends frustratingly going through lots of car dealerships  – as well as trying a few cars along the way (including some Nissan’s that were dire in the gearbox, some Ford’s that were overpriced). In the end, I tried a local Toyota dealership, where I saw this car…

Ooh. Red. Auspicious.

So I had a test drive in it – and found the Aygo to be a very forgiving car. Add someone who had not been driving intensively for years, this wasn’t a bad thing in the least – that and it had 20k on the clock for a 59 (2009 plate).

And I was 5 minutes from putting pen to paper on this car… when it was sold under my nose.

There were various swear words said at that point – both myself and under the sellers breath. Thankfully, there was another Aygo – a Blue Aygo that was slightly newer – 60 plate (2010), which had 42k on the clock.  Not ideal, but it was specified a lot better – with climate control and Bluetooth put into the car.

A test drive later, and payment agreements were reached. Within a week or so, I took position of my Aygo, and started to drive again.

US Readers at this point will probably turning up their noses quite a lot a this point – a supermini car is hardly… well a car is it?

For want of a better term, this thing has a 998cc 3 cylinder engine, weighing in at 890 kg (1,962 lb) – and as such is a nimble little thing and light on its feet, good manoeuvrability and reasonable comfort – as Top Gear demonstrated.

(I should add at this point my Aygo of Doom has not been used for Car Football in any shape or form).

The Toyota Aygo is sold by different manufacturers, with slightly different fronts and backs:

• The Toyota Aygo (previous and current models
• The Peugoet 107 (old model)/108 (new model)
• Citroën C1 (previous and current models)

In the numbers:

• £5000 for the car
• UK Vehicle Excise Duty: £20 a year due to the low CO2.
• 60mp/g urban, 54mpg extra urban
• Insurance – even though this is a band 1 car (bottom of the bottom), since I have minimal driving history, I was stung for £560 for Fully Comprehensive Car insurance.

I will add at this point – I have passed my driving test, and hold a full UK Licence. The fact that I had been behind the wheel on and off really didn’t help my confidence. Thankfully, I had a few ways home – to avoid the expressways mainly.

The Aygo of doom at Chez Economy Class and Beyond

Some interior shots. Whilst no means the plushest of environments, it’s functional and comfortable.

From the boot.

Yes, It’s a five door car, and can hold four adults comfortably.

Drivers side. The correct side of the road before any of you whine.

As time has gone on, I’ve been getting used to it – filling up the tank at about £35 a time (getting me around 200-230 miles or so), and been commuting back and forth to the office, along with futile runs around the region.

However, as its coming to Christmas – I decided to take the Aygo for its biggest adventure yet – a trip to Essex to see my parents. A 150 mile each way. Can the Aygo cut this sort of trip without breaking me?

Let’s find out…

Before I started, I topped off the tank the night before (and at petrol at £1.11.9 a litre, this isn’t a bad thing for a long drive). And then, the extra-urban adventure begun.

Motorway traffic thankfully was flowing with a lot of travellers departed already – with some congestion and idiots on the road (and tail-gaiters in the controlled traffic zones to cause annoyances).

Driving it wasn’t too bad, with the driver needing the odd break – once to get some coffee, and once to argue with TomTom and Google Maps (which were both arguing about different directions to the same route… and TomTom is probably the worst app I’ve ever brought for my phone).

Mid-journey coffee. Yes, I’m parked up. Yes, it went in the cupholder afterwards.

Perhaps the worst part of driving such a small car is that side-gusts can be a a pain as the car is a bit high sided. with small wheels – so, it just needs extra care in those conditions. Acceleration was responsive and gutsy. Fuel economy was good on the way out, with poorer results on the way back

So, this weekend I racked up just under 300 miles, with the journey back that didn’t make sense (lets just say there was a lot of traffic for no good apparent reason – and the weather was chilling down), driving from Birmingham to Essex.

Half a tank down, taken at the fuel station before I refilled the car.

The cost of the run in terms of petrol: £26.44 or about 11p a mile. Slightly cheaper than the train on a walk-up ticket, but with the ability to come and go as I needed.

Sometimes, trains are the way to go if I’m tired or if I’m not in the mood to drive – which is more often than not. Let me put it another way – I drive because I have to in my job. There’s not much pleasure driving I do, it’s for a purpose.

For me, a supermini like the Toyota Aygo is a great selection as I’m not a long distance daily driver – I’m lucky to clock up 12 miles a day normally. So a car that gets me from A to B, that can get me to a site, or get me home is ideal.

If you wind up with an Aygo as a hire car – It’s a pretty good super-mini. Whilst not as distinctive as the BMW Mini or the Fiat 500, it’s a fun little car that has go when it needs it.

Just be aware the boot is tiny…

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