Bye Bye Aygo

[baza103]

Well after a little over 3 years of Aygo ownership I decided the time had come to say goodbye to my trusty 09 plate, 5 door Aygo Black A/C (affectionately known as Betsy) and I replaced her with a Kia Soul a couple of weeks ago. For anyone thinking of buying an Aygo here are my thoughts based on our 38,000 miles together.

Running costs were minimal, apart from servicing I only needed to buy a new set of front tyres at 28,000 and one set of windscreen wipers. I did however buy a rev counter and glovebox lid when Betsy was new as I thought both were essential in a modern car.

Likes... Fuel economy although nowhere near the advertised figure, it remained pretty well around 53mpg throughout. I drive approx 60% on motorways and 40% on urban roads and don't hang about. After a little experimentation I kept the tyres at 34PSI and found this added a couple of MPG without sacrificing any comfort. The optional air conditioning was a godsend in a black car and worked faultlessly. The half leather, half alcantara interior wore well and always looked good. The lights worked well although the headlights occasionally misted up. It was nippy around town and was fine on motorways as long as you adapted your driving style accordingly. I took it to the Alps a couple of years ago and it was no problem on the fast French autoroutes, it also climbed steep snow covered roads with ease. Cheap insurance and road tax also sweetened the Aygo experience, Perhaps most importantly it was totally reliable and always started first time.

Dislikes... The brakes were never great, the discs would rust and grate after only a day unused, the ABS could activate for apparently no reason and the brake pedal would at times suddenly drop further than expected on initial use. The stereo was poor and the external input jack was hopeless. The rear parcel shelf was annoying as it is needed to reduce the very intrusive road noise but had to be removed whenever I tried to put a small case in the boot. A much better design in my opinion would be a retractable roll type that could remain in the car at all times. The interior light not activating when any door other than the drivers was opened, no light in the boot and not being able to operate the passenger's electric window from the driver's seat was, again in my opinion, penny pinching taken too far. These would have cost no more than a couple of pounds at the factory to fit but would have made the whole experience so much better.

To sum up, would I recommend an Aygo to a friend. Yes! As long as you don't have to carry too much and don't mind a bit of road noise it's hard to think of a more reliable, cheaper form of transport.

[lancs28]

I agree that the cheap car route is great, but some things on the Aygo is just taking it too far. Like you noted, I'd like an interior light that comes on when the passenger door opens, and maybe 2 strings on the parcel shelf?! My car has bluetooth that I rarely, if ever use, and for the cost of that I could have a light in my boot, a glovebox lid and possibly a better stereo?!

I find your thoughts really interesting - happy motoring with your Kia!

[baza103]

I agree that the cheap car route is great, but some things on the Aygo is just taking it too far. Like you noted, I'd like an interior light that comes on when the passenger door opens, and maybe 2 strings on the parcel shelf?! My car has bluetooth that I rarely, if ever use, and for the cost of that I could have a light in my boot, a glovebox lid and possibly a better stereo?!

I find your thoughts really interesting - happy motoring with your Kia!

I at least had two bits of string on my parcel shelf Sarah! I'm pretty sure you could retro fit a second one yourself? I got around the boot light problem by buying a motion activated, Battery powered light from ikea for a couple of quid. It's self adhesive and when there's movement in front of it the light comes on for about 20 seconds

[ColinB59]

Interested in your comments about the brakes - I've noticed this occasional "hesitation" when you press the pedal, and for a merest fraction of a second you get this feeling that they might not work but then they do grip normally and all's well. Reported it to my garage, and their response was "probably the ABS" (as if I don't know what ABS feels like when it kicks in). it's only very occasional, so I was wondering whether I was actually imagining it, and to see someone else reporting it too is interesting.

[Duce D]

Interested in your comments about the brakes - I've noticed this occasional "hesitation" when you press the pedal, and for a merest fraction of a second you get this feeling that they might not work but then they do grip normally and all's well. Reported it to my garage, and their response was "probably the ABS" (as if I don't know what ABS feels like when it kicks in). it's only very occasional, so I was wondering whether I was actually imagining it, and to see someone else reporting it too is interesting.

Interestingly sometimes i get something which is similar, the brake pedal is pressed and it feels very soft, like their is no pressure, but only for half a second and then it firms up again and everything feels fine. im going to mention it at the third service and see what they say. It felt different to when the ABS kicks in though (and thats only happen when it was snowing and icy!)

[baza103]

Interested in your comments about the brakes - I've noticed this occasional "hesitation" when you press the pedal, and for a merest fraction of a second you get this feeling that they might not work but then they do grip normally and all's well. Reported it to my garage, and their response was "probably the ABS" (as if I don't know what ABS feels like when it kicks in). it's only very occasional, so I was wondering whether I was actually imagining it, and to see someone else reporting it too is interesting.

Interestingly sometimes i get something which is similar, the brake pedal is pressed and it feels very soft, like their is no pressure, but only for half a second and then it firms up again and everything feels fine. im going to mention it at the third service and see what they say. It felt different to when the ABS kicks in though (and thats only happen when it was snowing and icy!)

Duce this is exactly what I experienced, a half second soft pedal then normal braking. I always managed to stop but it gave me a fright more than once. I agree it's different from the feel of the ABS activating?

[Duce D]

Duce this is exactly what I experienced, a half second soft pedal then normal braking. I always managed to stop but it gave me a fright more than once. I agree it's different from the feel of the ABS activating?

mine hasn't done it for a while now though, when ever it has done it it seems to have been on a certain road when applying the brakes over a small-ish pothole, so i thought it was some sort of side affect of the ABS. It's all a bit odd. The one thing i am not sure about is whether the brakes were actually slowing the car down for that brief half second or so!

Hope you enjoy the Kia btw!

[baza103]

Snap, mine has done it over a smallish pothole a couple of times as well, which makes me think that if both of them are doing it, it's perfectly normal and nothing to worry about. Loving the Kia so far thanks.

[MikeSh]

I agree it's different from the feel of the ABS activating?

The ABS can release the brakes. In a 'normal' slip situation it releases, grip returns, brakes on, slip, release, ..... several times a second. This gives the 'ABS feel'.

But if the system activates in another situation, or is faulty, then AFAIK there is no reason in theory why it cannot release the brakes for as long as it wants.

I've heard reports of (temporary) loss of brakes ever since ABS became more common, and because of that I've never been entirely comfortable with it. But then I'm a bit old fashioned :)