Farewell my little friend...

[benchan]

Ok, after nearly 11 years and 100K with my Aygo I finally said good bye to it. I don't get attached to material stuff usually but I feel as though I have lost a part of my body.

If I want to buy a small, reliable, economical and easy to drive vehicle that is also fun to drive (I loved the gentle roar/purr of the engine!) in the future then I would definitely buy the Aygo again.

Here's a summary of my vehicle's history and repairs - something I feel would be useful to someone somewhere as if I were looking for a new car to buy I would like
to know what needs to be replaced / fixed when, etc:

- I had five sets of tyres over my ownership (I always rotated them and replaced all four at the same time) - 2 sets of Conti EcoContact, 2 sets of Toyo and 1 set of Avon ZT5.
My favourite were the Avons, once they were run in; they all cost between £140-£190 fitted so were dead cheap.

- the vehicle had main dealer service for the first four years and then serviced by myself; 

- oil & filter change was done yearly by myself (only £20-£25 even if I go for premium grade e.g. Shell Helix synthetic oil, so dead cheap as well ); the amazing thing
about the engine is that I never once had to top up the oil between oil changes!

- air filter was changed every other year - only cost £5-7.

- spark plugs were changed at 40K when serviced by Toyota and then replaced with Denso Iridium plugs at 65K. Contrary to common belief, these do make a noticeable difference in fuel
economy so if you plan to keep the vehicle long term like I did, then I throughly recommend them.

- I had the front brake/pads replaced at around 35K miles and then again at around 85K; the rear shoe/drum never needed replacing.

- aux fan belt was changed at around 70K which cost around £50 at the local garage.

- water pump was replaced under warranty twice(!) and the last one they fitted seem to be working fine.

- pedal assembly was replaced under warranty (there was a major recall five/six years ago)

- none of the light bulbs went out except for the main head light. The last time I replaced them was back in 2010 (used Halfords' blue "xenon" bulbs).

- air con still working and as effective as the day I purchased the vehicle (never had to re-charge!)

- the original Battery still going strong and never had a flat Battery although the longest I left the vehicle unused was for four weeks in May and three weeks in January, up in Scotland.

- First few months after purchase of the vehicle I only filled up with premium fuel (they were only 5p or so more expensive than regular and  full tank only cost £1.50 to £2 more than normal unleaded so why not?);
I only used Shell/Esso/BP etc and only used super market fuel only as a last resort (this only happened probably 10 times ) and even then only enough to get to a proper petrol station.

- Unfortunately the MMT clutch assembley failed at around 75K so I had it replaced by Toyota and it cost me just over £500 (ouch)

Things I didn't like about the Aygo are:

- MMT takes getting used to if you've only driven a car with proper automatic transmission

- it is a bit noisy on the motorway

- not sure if it is due to the small engine but in winter it took ages before the heater started to blow warm air!

- no traction control so if I stepped on the gas too harshly say when joining the roundabout from a stand still, it burn rubber 

I haven't been an active member but I did use this forum every now and then to get help with trouble shooting so big thanks to the guys here for that!

Ben

[Justhandguns]

First of all, nice name, Mr Benchan!

Pretty similar experience to me with my old 107/Aygo. I sold it earlier on this year was because of this stupid MMT gearbox. To get your clutch replaced for £500 is actually not bad, Peugeot quoted me for £1200-1500 (that included a used actuator as well), what a ripoff. 

My old car had only done little miles for a 10yr old car, that was around 50k. The engine actually ran very find except for the gear box. I probably had 2 sets of headlamps changed over the years, I suspect it was because of the humidity seeped through the bulbs' gaskets. I also had a pair of brake bulbs changed, they went out at the same time which I had no idea why. It was serviced every year and had a new bumper and a door changed due to my own stupidity..... but for a small car, it is very sturdy. I must say the body Shell is more robust than my new 2015 Yaris. 

As for the original tyres and wheels, I must say they are a bit pathetic, especially the Continental tyres, they are almost like erasers. The front tyres wear out in no time with the MMT cars as it does not down-shift for engine braking as in manual, so the car actually rely the little disc brakes in front quite heavily. I had my front tyres changed only after doing 10k miles. I then switch to a set of 15" alloys with Toyo Proxes tyres, the improvement was immediate, more grip, better control, and the car swivel a lot less on motorways when passing any big HGV. The rear Proxes tyres were still pretty good when I sold the car.

All in all the Aygo (and my 107) is really a good fun car to drive, it almost handles like a go-kart. The new Aygo (and some other cars that I test drove) are not as fun and responsive.

Anyway, what new car are you replacing your Aygo with?

[benchan]

I replaced it with another go-kart, Toyobaru GT86...

 

 

[mickburkesnr]

On 27/10/2016 at 10:58 AM, Justhandguns said:

All in all the Aygo (and my 107) is really a good fun car to drive, it almost handles like a go-kart. The new Aygo (and some other cars that I test drove) are not as fun and responsive.

Can't agree more with this. A friend bought a brand new Citroen C1 and inside the quality is different, they feel more upmarket now than my 107. But that's the only good thing about them, they're not as fun to drive.