Advice on a 2009 auto Aygo

[jamski]

Hi all. First post here so hope I'm doing things right. 

Looking for a car for my wife to use. Has to be an auto, £4K max, and one of the options that has popped up is an Aygo. Seen one in budget from a dealer which I would assume given the age is unusual.

However I've read some concerning things about the autos and wondered if anyone can confirm or deny these. Are there certain ages or models better than others?

Thanks in advance. 

James. 

[FROSTYBALLS]

The Aygo uses Toyota's Multi Mode Transmission (MMT) as the 'auto' option. However, the transmission is a manual gearbox with automated clutch - so not a true automatic. The Citroen C1 and Peugeot 107, being basically the same car, share the same auto option. As with most automated manuals, they can be expensive to fix if they go wrong. With the Aygo, not all garages will do repairs on the MMT, so to get repairs carried out correctly one may be limited to Toyota dealers.

[jamski]

Thanks for the info. Are all ages and models of Aygo the same?

I've had BMW minis before, and the early ones would, at some time in their life, need a new box. Is this the same, it will go at some point, is is it just bad luck? And do they go before a certain mileage? Sorry for all the questions. 

[FROSTYBALLS]

The first generation Aygo (2005-2014) used the MMT as the auto option. Not often they need a new transmission but think a new clutch is around £600-700 including resetting. Common faults seem to be the clutch over-heating and the transmission getting stuck in neutral. 

[jamski]

Thanks very much for the info. Appreciate it. :)

[rajivrattna]

We have a 2008 Aygo with MMT that my wife uses for her daily rounds. It is a very special gear box and needs getting used to. It is an automated manual gear box and changes gears in jerks and hesitates too. It is not without problems. We had to change the initiator (the electronic-hydraulic thingy) that changes the gear for you, after 5-6 years of total use (previous owner plus we). When that thing starts playing up (and it will at some stage after few years of use) the hesitation increases and then the gear will jamm in neutral with revving engine and power loss. Something to do with the loss of lubrication in the initiator with time. My wife got stuck on the main road a couple of times and we had to finally take the car to Toyota garage and change that initiator. We had the Toyota 8 years warranty and that saved us from enormous cost. This time around we have said, give it 5 years of use and sell the car before the initiator decides to play up again. Otherwise it has been very reliable. The engine is a real gem, no problem what so ever and so easy to service. if it was not for the gear box, we would keep it forever!

[alan333]

We had a 2011 Auris with the MMT box, it was dreadful to drive.  It's always in the wrong gear, is jerky and hesitant, and especially woeful on hills at 'town' speeds.

[eygo]

we found this as well

round town going up a hill it would change to 2nd because we ihad reached 15 mph

but then you where in the wrong gear for the hill,to overcome this we used to knock

the gear selector into manual and manuallly change gear then back into auto.

multistory car parks we faced the same issue and used the above method to overcome

the toyota flaws

[rajivrattna]

There are many companies making MMT type gear box for cars and even huge trucks! I do not know if Toyota is stuck with the older type of MMT from its supplier in Japan. I can not imagine that all these MMTs worldwide are that bad because they seem to be very popular in some countries.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Not sure whether Toyota use the MMT outside of Europe.

[Wiz201]

personally I'd put some of the 4k towards the deposit of a brand new Aygo so you have the full warranty protection and then if your wife likes it at the end of a financial agreement, use the rest to pay off the finance and keep the car or trade it in for a different car.

[jamski]

Thanks for all the comments. Dodgy gearbox aside, it's going to be too small for us anyway. The front runner is a Susuki Splash now. They're pretty rare though. 

Thanks all. 

[FROSTYBALLS]

The GM version of the Splash, the Vauxhall Agila, will be more common.

[jamski]

Human, interesting! Is it exactly the same car? Engine, gearbox and so on? It looks the same inside and out! Thanks very much. :)

[FROSTYBALLS]

Both versions were built by Suzuki in Hungary. Believe the two petrol units were Suzuki, whereas the diesel is a Fiat unit.

Suzuki and GM parted company in 2014. Suzuki replaced both their Alto and Splash with the Celerio last year. GM replaced the Agila with the Vauxhall Viva/Opel Karl - both versions of the Chevrolet Spark built by Chevrolet (formerly Daewoo) in Korea.

[Ethanedwards]

On 03/04/2016 at 8:59 AM, alan333 said:

We had a 2011 Auris with the MMT box, it was dreadful to drive.  It's always in the wrong gear, is jerky and hesitant, and especially woeful on hills at 'town' speeds.

We have 65 plate one. I agree it takes a bit of getting used to but do far it's only been caught out the once. I used the flappy paddle thing to knock it down a cog and it flew up the hill. 

 

So its a marmite car. You obviously don't like it but tbh I'm warming to it. Despite the fact it's really my wife's car.

Buzzy little go kart. And yeah it's kinda fun.

[jamski]

What are people's thoughts/knowledge on the IQ, would be a manual? Have posted in that forum but no replies yet. Thanks. 

[eygo]

my thoughts on the IQ aren't good

i really dont like the squareness of the car inside or out ,it just doesnt flick the right switches

even in the form of The Aston Martin Cygnet (£32,000) i still dont like it.

its a marmite car

[jamski]

It's more its reliability/any known issues in after really. Thanks for your opinion though. 

[jamski]

Just found an automatic IQ too, is the auto box/clutch the same as the Aygo?

[Devon Aygo]

1 hour ago, jamski said:

Just found an automatic IQ too, is the auto box/clutch the same as the Aygo?

No the 1.0 & 1.33 IQ models use a CVT transmission and not the MMT.

[jamski]

1 hour ago, Devon Aygo said:

No the 1.0 & 1.33 IQ models use a CVT transmission and not the MMT.

Thanks very much. It's looking promising. The manual is cheaper to run, but the fact my wife only drives automatics means the car would be more flexible for us if it was an auto. We'll give it some thought and have a test drive or two. Thanks again.