Impressions and questions for Aygo 2014 model

[mentoras]

I am a new owner of the Aygo 2014 model. In the small period I own the car, I learned a lot about it, but exploration goes on and there comes a time when you discover that you need this so useful sharing experience like the one that is done in this forum.
I have my first impressions, but also many questions about the car.
And I am sure that the answers I can get from real everyday owners and users, no official branch or representative would ever give me.
So, lets start. Please feel free to comment in any of the following thoughts or questions of mine.

- Sound system.
I find it terrible! I took a version that maybe not available in other countries than Greece (x-city), but even for a two-speakers system, it sound very bad! And I am not a person with high expectations! I had the chance to drive and hear even the x-play version of aygo, which is the best one in terms of sound system. I did not heard significant improvement. I could never imagine that a new car of our days would ever have such dull sound. No bass, but even the treble is awful. How is it possible, a cheap 10 euros bluetooth speaker, to have better sound than the one in this car? I mean, they should have put the most useless Speakers they could found on market!
Am I the only one that is annoyed with the sound output?
Is there any suggestion/solution? I am very skeptical if it is wise to go and replace Speakers, and I mean that I do not want to make any harm to the car, with cables, or power supply etc. Where are the Speakers positions? I hear the sound from the dashboard (left-right speakers), while I can see speakers cases in the front doors too? Are these door speaker cases empty but wired and ready to connect speakers, or they are almost useless?
Does anyone dealt with the sound topic of this car?

- Plastic strip, downside the front bumper.
Underneath the front bumper, there is a black plastic strip.
How sturdy is this? Sometimes when I try to park the car using a ramp, I hear it touching the ground. Not a lot, just a little, and not every time. But will it remain there after such repeating situations?

 

- Windscreen rubber.
In the exterior of the windscreen, I see that rubber is used for finishing touches. Will this remain sturdy after some years, in several weather conditions?

 

- Car exhaust.
What about the car exhaust? I can’t understand why it should be visible, while in older aygo model it was not. It seems like being exposed without an obvious reason for me.

 

- Exposed pipes.
When I take a look under the car, I can see two pipes in left and right of the car, and in front of them some kind of protective plastic piece in front of them. What are these? I believe that whatever they are, they should not be such exposed. Don’t you believe that these pipes are so fragile to be cut or damaged in a random obstacle on the road? And then what? Why they should be put this way? And what we can do about it? Any concern or advice?

 

- Roof bars.
I asked Toyota to tell be if there are official roof bars and they were negative! So, not only limited space due to cars’ small dimensions, but no roof bars too. I believe that maybe there are third party solutions on the market, but I am very concerned about the possible damage on the doors rubbers or impermeability matters. Does anyone made any investigation on this? Any eBay suggestions?

- Alarm.
I got my car with alarm. The one that Toyota suggests. Not absolutely ‘official’, as I could not configure it from the beginning, but putting such thing in the final order, and it was placed by Toyota before I got the car. It is from ‘meta’ systems. Anyone with such alarm on his Aygo? There was a confusion with Toyota, whether the remote control could be put inside the car’s primary key or not. At last they told me that this could not be done due to some circuit incompatibility issues, while on the beginning of my order the had told me that this could be done. So, they gave me a separate remote control for the alarm, and now  have to carry both the car key and alarms remote control too. Does anyone knows about it?

- Fuel.
I am impressed with the low fuel consumption. I am very glad that the car is so economic. Does anyone used Shell’s ‘v-power’ with this Aygo to tell me if it makes any further difference? I change the shift every time the indicator flashes. Any other advice for saving?

- Soil roads.
How well does this car can go in roads with soil and dust? I know that this is a city car, but I am talking only for sporadic visits to remote villages every now and then, and for soil roads that are rather maintained. But I still wonder if there is any danger for the car, like low height, or the pipes underneath, or car exhaust etc.

- Robust or fragile.
Speaking in general, I am satisfied with this Aygo, though I have it only the latest months. But it gives me a feeling that it is not a so robust car. I hope I am wrong though. I pay attention to any of my cars’ needs and so I will do with this one too, but I wonder if this is really a hard and durable Toyota as we knew these cars in the past, or just a fragile modern car, which has many imperfections. I intend to keep it for many years, over a decade, so I hope that it is really a good choice. I would like to hear experiences from owners who have it for 2-3 years(new model) and general opinions from older Toyota owners. I need to know the real boundaries of this car.

Thank you in advance for your answers and participation!

[FROSTYBALLS]

Welcome to Toyota Owners Club.

As you're seeking replies from people who have owned a second generation Aygo for two/three years, and having only owned mine for fourteen months, I won't comment on most of your post.

One thing to bear in mind is that the Aygo/Peugeot 108/Citroen C1 was developed with PSA (Peugeot/Citroen), and is built by a joint venture company set up by Toyota and PSA. As such the design and manufacture of the Aygo will not be pure Toyota.

As regards the alarm, I would suggest this is part of the specification that Toyota Greece wanted. None of the Aygo models sold in the UK have alarms as standard, although the immobiliser maybe different and more secure (the UK tends to have high vehicle security standards - often higher than some other European markets).

 

[eygo]

if i am looking at the right pipes i think they are the handbrake cables 1 for left wheel & 1 for right wheel

i am saying this as i can see a metal clip on the cable going to the bodywork.

 

 

[mentoras]

1 hour ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Welcome to Toyota Owners Club.

As you're seeking replies from people who have owned a second generation Aygo for two/three years, and having only owned mine for fourteen months, I won't comment on most of your post.

One thing to bear in mind is that the Aygo/Peugeot 108/Citroen C1 was developed with PSA (Peugeot/Citroen), and is built by a joint venture company set up by Toyota and PSA. As such the design and manufacture of the Aygo will not be pure Toyota.

As regards the alarm, I would suggest this is part of the specification that Toyota Greece wanted. None of the Aygo models sold in the UK have alarms as standard, although the immobiliser maybe different and more secure (the UK tends to have high vehicle security standards - often higher than some other European markets).

Thank you for such information. Yes, I was already aware about the psa-toyota cooperation, but giving the fact that I wanted my next car to be a toyota and also in the 'mini' category, I had no other choice. I could only go to another brand.

The alarm on my aygo was not standard. I just ordered it additionally, and they said they could install one for me, approved by Toyota. I just wanted to have the remote control inside the main key, but this was not done, though I doubt if this is really impossible as they finally said to me.

 

[mentoras]

1 hour ago, eygo said:

if i am looking at the right pipes i think they are the handbrake cables 1 for left wheel & 1 for right wheel

i am saying this as i can see a metal clip on the cable going to the bodywork.

Ok, at least we know what is all about.

But I have to say that naked pipes in the air going somewhere to the bodywork, makes me feel unsafe from such implementation, which I found it dangerous and easy to damage. Any opinions?

[fordulike]

10 minutes ago, mentoras said:

Ok, at least we know what is all about.

But I have to say that naked pipes in the air going somewhere to the bodywork, makes me feel unsafe from such implementation, which I found it dangerous and easy to damage. Any opinions?

Wouldn't worry about it, handbrake cables are pretty tough!

[mentoras]

Roof bars.

I could never imagine that there would be a car, with no official option for roof bars. But unfortunately this is the case with the new Aygo. I double-checked it talking with Toyota dealerships, and this is confirmed.

:(

[zuh]

Hello,

Flap below front bumper: nothing to worry about. My Aygo sometimes scrapes the floor, too. This is normal and happens on many cars. Some cars touch more than the Aygo because they are lower and have a longer front overhang. If you stay near the entrance of an underground car park with a steep slope, you will hear that many cars scrape! Look how the ground is marked with scrapes. I try to drive very slowly but it still touches, sometimes.

Car exhaust: nothing to worry about, either. I was much visible on the previous generation, too. A few Aygo 1s had problems with rust on the exhaust, if I remember well.

I think your car should age well.

In the long-term, I am concerned about 2 aspects:
- The clutch: I guess that after receiving so many complaints about clutch problems on the Aygo/C1/107 produced between 2005 and 2009, it was at last decided to install decently sized clutch discs. But this car drives so strangely, I do my best not to damage it but still find myself failing to start or change gear properly. So I just hope the mechanics will make it.
- Water infiltrations: I still remember my Aygo 1 turning into a swimming pool when it rained. It hope this is no longer an issue on the Aygo 2.

[mentoras]

 

So useful to read your experiences.
But this 'reality check' sometimes make me feel calm, and sometimes feel stressed!

About water infiltration, I can also tell that I knew an aygo with such problems, but only after a car crash/accident....So, I am not sure how usual it was. I also know that toyota tried hard to fix this problem, but they finally did it.

Regarding the clutch, I hope we will not fave such essential problems.
From this period of 2005-9, there have been a facelift in aygo 1, and now we have aygo 2.

I my decision to choose purchasing Aygo 2 model, a heavy role played the fact that it was the second generation of the model, so I expect that all the problems of the first generation should have been fixed. I hope to be right in such estimation....

[mentoras]

I wonder, how much interchangeable information about our aygo can be,  if we use information from 108 or C1?

For example, the absence of an official product of roof bars from toyota, may not happen in Citroen or Peugeot. If this is true, then would it be possible to use something purchased from them for use in Aygo? I believe that there should be compatibility in many topics, even if it is not fully explored. They sell a car which is almost identical to each other, so why not use such feature for our benefit?

[mentoras]

I have a feeling that the air condition system in the new Aygo, is improved over the a/c of the older model. I have used older model the previous years, and this summer was nice with the decent a/c of the new Aygo.
What are your impressions on this?

[mentoras]

I am finding the shift lever vastly improved over the previous version of Aygo. More precise in handling and using.

[mentoras]

This plastic grill beside/over the sound console, on the dashboard, what is it?

[FROSTYBALLS]

Central air vent.

[mentoras]

Thanks for the clarification.

[kamilb1998]

I have suffered “issues” with a couple of the concerns you mention. I imagine that, in my instance, they are down to the way the car is used. 

I have caught the bottom plastic strip more times than I can remember and did eventually break the underside of the bumper that it attaches to. It annoyed me considerably as it meant the strip didn’t fit very well to the point where I considered sticking a new bumper on but it would only break again. I have removed this strip and, with a hacksaw, removed the lip left behind that this strip attaches to. It looks absolutely fine and it no longer catches on anything. 

The other is the pipes on the underside. I can’t recall how it happened but my car developed a rattle which I spent a king while looking for - the dealership were also unable to trace it. One of the clips that hold the pipes to the body had become detached - presumably when it caught on something and left the pipes hitting the underside of the car. 

As I said, this is from my experience. We are out in the sticks with rather poor, potholed roads and the car frequently sees a farm track. Under normal use, as the car was intended, I don’t see the above really being an issue unless you catch the strip on a particularly high curb. 

Just editing to add: My car has been to some remote villages in Greece and the Balkans, some of which unpaved and those that were paved were clearly not maintained regularly, and it coped perfectly fine.

[mentoras]

kamilb1998, I am satisfied to know that my concerns about the topics I mentioned, are not only mine.

I do know what kind of car this is it, and I believe we all know it.
So, I also believe that we have rather realistic expectations, but of course there could be some differentiations on how each one sees things and also in the way the car is used.
I do live in Greece, so I can assure that there are very remote villages in mountains that still have unpaved roads. For good or not, I have a small house from my grandpa in such scenery, from the very old times, and I use to visit it only in summers, as in winter is very snowy and guess what, the last miles to this village are unpaved. I guess that somehow this is expected for 'lost paradises' from the modern world, but this is the challenge related to our topic, whether you can visit it with a car like aygo or better avoid it. I own the car only for a couple of months so i did not made any attempt to driving with aygo to this village. I sense that I will try to avoid it as much as I can, trying to find alternative cars to go there. But, possibly, with paying extra attention to these few unpaved miles, may there should be no problem for the aygo to go on.
It is encouraging what you said, that you have gone to greek and balkan roads unpaved and not well maintained, and still the aygo managed to cope well.

In these few couple of months I own the car, I have formed some first impressions.
I will try to focus in just a few:

- Low fuel consumption, is just incomparable to anything other! I can't believe how much economy I am making using this car.
I hope the maintaining in official service/repairing centers to be cheap too, as they publicly announce from toyota with their pricelists.

- I have mixed feelings, but rather not receipts, about how sturdy is this aygo.
So, I have a sense that it may be a little bit fragile. I am not sure if it tolerates not paying extra care for several aspects, like the plastic strip, or unpaved roads, the pipes of handbrakes and so on.
I am not telling that these and other systems are not well-built, but I have my doubts about their durability and possible a little bit more hard-than usual-use. Time will tell of course. But until this time, I will be very cautious in my aygo usage.

[Cjohnston1982]

On 23/09/2017 at 3:12 PM, mentoras said:

I am a new owner of the Aygo 2014 model. In the small period I own the car, I learned a lot about it, but exploration goes on and there comes a time when you discover that you need this so useful sharing experience like the one that is done in this forum.
I have my first impressions, but also many questions about the car.
And I am sure that the answers I can get from real everyday owners and users, no official branch or representative would ever give me.
So, lets start. Please feel free to comment in any of the following thoughts or questions of mine.

- Sound system.
I find it terrible! I took a version that maybe not available in other countries than Greece (x-city), but even for a two-speakers system, it sound very bad! And I am not a person with high expectations! I had the chance to drive and hear even the x-play version of aygo, which is the best one in terms of sound system. I did not heard significant improvement. I could never imagine that a new car of our days would ever have such dull sound. No bass, but even the treble is awful. How is it possible, a cheap 10 euros bluetooth speaker, to have better sound than the one in this car? I mean, they should have put the most useless speakers they could found on market!
Am I the only one that is annoyed with the sound output?
 

- Fuel.
I am impressed with the low fuel consumption. I am very glad that the car is so economic. Does anyone used Shell’s ‘v-power’ with this Aygo to tell me if it makes any further difference? 

Stereo:

There is nothing worse than a rubbish sounding stereo system and I was worried about the stereo before I got my car but was pleasantly pleased to find the sound quality is quite good for a small cheap car. I did have to adjust the bass and treble settings for each source though which I do in most cars. The ear level tweeters create a crisp and enveloping sound and the bass from the lower Speakers isn’t bad though they sometime rattle at higher volumes. 

Fuel:

I usually get around 55mpg on standard 95 RON in my X-Shift but recently I’ve been trying BP Ultimate and after a tank or so I’m seeing around 60 mpg quite regularly. 

[eygo]

On 23/09/2017 at 3:12 PM, mentoras said:

 Sound system.
I find it terrible! I took a version that maybe not available in other countries than Greece (x-city), but even for a two-speakers system

 

i am stunned to hear a modern day car can come with only 2 Speakers i thought we left 2 Speakers back in the 80's.

even the mk3 escort and orion in the eighties had 4 Speakers with the joystick fader.

i thought absolute minimum expectations would be 4 or 6 nowadays.

[FROSTYBALLS]

In the UK, as far as I'm aware, the Aygo has two dash mounted tweeters and two door Speakers. There are other new cars which have a similar speaker arrangement.

 

[Cjohnston1982]

4 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

In the UK, as far as I'm aware, the Aygo has two dash mounted tweeters and two door speakers. There are other new cars which have a similar speaker arrangement.

 

You are correct. I’m glad they put the four Speakers (2 mid/low range and 2 tweeters) upfront rather than using just 4 standard Speakers (2 front and 2 back) like most small cars. The sound quality of the Aygo after some adjustment is quite good 😎

[mentoras]

I believe, possibly a suspicion but there are clues, that local resellers with Toyota's agreement of course, throw out some car systems related to 'comfort' (not the essential ones!), in order to put them back to the more expensive editions of the car, and push clients to pay for more....
Do you believe that the basic edition of aygo in Greece, come without electric windows?
I could believe in my ears when I heard it from the local reseller!!! Unacceptable from any optical view!
'Who may ever buy such a car nowadays?' I asked him. 'Car rentals in Greek islands' was his response....
Regarding the sound system, even the x-play version that I drove, did not had sufficient sound and I am not having big expectations in sound, but at least I want the sound not to be dull...

In any case, I would like Toyota to be more strict in such possible practices, rather than choosing this kind of ....'flexibility' that may harm their own brand name fame too...

[FROSTYBALLS]

The majority of vehicle manufacturers leave it to the sales organisation in each country to decide on the specification of vehicles they sell in that country. This has been the case for years.

Obviously Toyota Greece have decided they can sell sufficient Aygos with a basic level of trim (ie. with manual windows). For a number of years UK market vehicles have been sold with higher specification vehicles than some European countries because the UK market wouldn't accept very basic specifications.

Similarly in the UK market four door version of cars don't sell as well as the hatchback versions - so quite a few manufacturers don't export saloon versions to the UK. Examples: Toyota Corolla, Ford Focus, Vauxhall Astra, etc. Some markets have van versions of cars that have never been sold in the UK - eg. Toyota Aygo van, Toyota Yaris van, Toyota Auris van, etc.

 

[mentoras]

Frostyballs I totally understand what you say. Brochures of Aygo in UK/Ireland that I have read, shows me an aygo with some systems that in Greece don't even come in the most expensive versions! So I understand there are differentiation in editions and available equipment. Of course they have made their research for launching in each country, but some choices seem to be a little bit strange in the average user.

[FROSTYBALLS]

53 minutes ago, mentoras said:

..... but some choices seem to be a little bit strange in the average user.

True. For example in the UK the previous model Hyundai i20 had electric folding mirrors on each version above the base model. When the new i20 was introduced in 2015, electric folding mirrors were standard on only the higher two specifications, leaving the most popular mid spec without them - which was a departure from the first generation.