Worried New Aygo Owner

[kilts147]

Thanks well said a fair veiw. I agree the aygo has more style and character than C1/107 that wins the heart. Was sorry to hear your experience of your toyota dealer. Hope you really enjoy the aygo.

Some clarifications.

[acetip]

Some clarifications.

The data I have seen definitely shows a greater history of leaks to the interior on three door variants. Leaks to the boot area are equally dispersed between three and five door.

"Quality" falls into two areas where cars are concerned - quality of the product, and quality of service by the dealer.

The C1/107/Aygo are all the same quality of product. Stands to reason as they are essentially the same car made in the same factory by the same people using the same parts and procedures.

With any mainstream manufacturer there will be a variance in the quality of service received at the retail end. Sadly, unlike years ago, Toyota's general dealer satisfaction rating in the UK (and Europe for what it is worth) is no better than "average". This is on a par with Peugeot and Citroen. However, as the previous poster acknowledged, there is a wider variation with Peugeot/Citroen dealerships, such that some are "very good" and others "very poor". There seems to be a greater uniformity with Toyota dealerships, though my own experiences with my dealer were abysmal; and I will not be returning to them even though they are less than five minutes from my house. Unfortunately, because the same dealer group owns and runs the four closest Toyota franchises to me it means I will have to travel quite a long distance for my servicing and maintenance to avoid them. So be it.

As it happens, one of my other vehicles is a Citroen, also bought new. My local Citroen franchise has the second highest customer staisfaction rating of all Citroen dealerships in the UK, and they thoroughly deserve it - my experience there has been the best I have ever received from any motor dealer ever.

For anyone who cares, the manufacturer with the highest dealer satisfaction ratings in the Uk is Skoda. Some have suggested that this is because many Skoda dealers were and are small independently owned businesses rather than part of a large dealer group. Personally, I believe there is some truth in this.

What I am getting at is that, at the retail level, you can have a good or bad experience entirely due to your dealer, whatever the make of vehicle you have chosen. This does not imply anything fundamentally wrong with the quality of the product itself.

thats what i call honesty,no bull...t, but facts.not looking at toyota in rose tinted glasses.

In the case of the Aygo/C1/107, the product is a small car deisgned predominantly for urban running about (but which will happily cope with longer trips if required) that can seat four adults in reasonable comfort in a small road area, whilst being cheap to insure/fuel/service/etc. It hits all of these buttons - luggage accommodation was secondary to the designers, and if it is not big enough, don't buy one. Other manufacturers have joined the fray intorducing other vehicles (Alto, Pixo, i10, etc). I test drove all of these. For me, for what they were designed to do, they were actually all good cars and, if I am honest, quite difficult to seperate. The motoring press would tell you that the i10 is the best all-rounder in this class, and I would not disagree with that analysis. However, its the old head and heart thing again - for me the Aygo had a bit more "character", mainly due to the offbeat thrum of the 3 pot engine. I have a history of liking quite quirky cars, and this character endeared the Aygo to me. So I bought one.

In my opinion looking at its market rivals, is the Aygo a better quality product? To be honest no.

Is the dealer experience any better? in my experience definitely not, and nationally the highest dealer satisfaction rating of its rivals is Hyundai.

Do I like the car though? Of course. It has its faults (some infuriating) but overall my initial assessment that it has character has held true.

This is all of course like many things, down to personal choice. I prefer a car than is a bit more than an appliance. I like something with character. Others may not be so bothered.

thats what i call honesty,no looking at toyota with rose tinted glasses,no bull...t.

great posting.

[ormi]

both 3 door and 5 door suffer the leak problems(both are as bad as each other) their is new door seals to cure this...also their is an Additional seal added above the door seals....if you have got water in the boot itll be coming through the light units(which you get new seals which cure)also replacing the high level brake light helps as water leaks through the seal..

if you have gear problems its prob down to a broken strap on the clutch plate theirs a modded one to fix that too.

good wee cars to have fun to drive on the twistys

[geezbeez]

if you have gear problems its prob down to a broken strap on the clutch plate

It would be really nice to see a broken clutch with this problem. Just had mine fixed.

By strap do you mean one of what I would call fingers, the parts of the clutch which are pressed in to release the clutch?

Nice posting by mbellinger.

For anyone who cares, the manufacturer with the highest dealer satisfaction ratings in the Uk is Skoda. Some have suggested that this is because many Skoda dealers were and are small independently owned businesses rather than part of a large dealer group. Personally, I believe there is some truth in this.

Concidered buying Daihatsu Charade before buying the Aygo.

It's a shame that the relationship between Toyota and Daihatsu does not seem the same in the UK as that between Volkswagen and Skoda. Maybe its because Daihatsu are only majority owned by Toyota where I understand Skoda are wholely owned subsiduary of Volkswagen. Or maybe its because most Toyota dealerships are owned by large retail concerns and Daihatsu almost all small independents? BUT Daihatsu products which rival Toyota just dont get imported to the UK, or when Toyota move into a segment Daihatsu move out, or when a Toyota product is not up to scratch its rebadged as a Daihatsu. Why is this and Why dont we have the latest Daihatsu Mira or Mira Gino in the UK?

[ormi]

no their is 3 straps holding the heres a pic...

now look at the part with the fingers you will see 3 brass rivits if you look below them you will see their is wee straps approx 2 inches long and are rivited to the other part they are the bits that snap...normally 2 out of the 3 snap

[geezbeez]

Thanks for the pic, so when these snap a new clutch must be fitted because the clutch assembly is broken.

PS, Comments about Daihatsu. I read Daihatsu will not import any more cars to the UK and will be out of europe completely within 2 years. Bit of a shame for those small dealerships, no new cars to sell.

[ormi]

correct mate it lets all the wrong bits flex thats what makes it hard to go into gear...

[geezbeez]

After having this problem, problem got a lot worse and clutch was replaced under waranty a week or go.

Second gear is still less than perferct to get into though at anything other than walking pace or a stand still.

Still goes in with a blib of the throttle and a firm shove, but has never slipped in.

I would have thought all 3 parts in you picture would have been replaced? Thats what a new clutch is isn't it.

They would not have just replaced the friction plate would they, would they????

On a side point. When got the Aygo there was no free play, slack in the pedal before the clutch was moved by the pedal.

I backed off the screw on the end of the cable (where cable connects to clutch actuator) a couple of turns to give about 5mm movement on the pedal before it moved the clutch in case the car had been running on anything other than a fully locked clutch.

After warantee work, my clutch is much lower and I have about 40mm movement on the pedal before the clutch in moved. This is exactly the same as the 10 plate Aygo I borrowed for the day the work was done which also had a lot of free movement (again about 40mm) before the clutch pedel actuated the clutch. When I talk about 5mm/40mm movement, when you press the clutch it fairly easy to tell, how far does the pedal move before theres any resistance other than the spring on the pedal. Im guessing 40mm is what toyota set it to but this does seem a lot