New Member

[elgassi]

Hi good morning

new member here looking for some Aygo Info for my Father In Law's lovely mint Aygo (pictures to follow when I next see him)

It's a 56 plate Aygo, 40k miles, for months & months he's been driving with little or no clutch, he said it was good enough for the few miles he did every week ! (10 miles if your lucky)

So after a wee run in the car with him and another passenger I convinced him the clutch was done, with the extra weight the clutch was slipping real bad, he agreed (halleluyah)

Ok, I'll get a new clutch he says, got a couple of quotes, main dealers £650, another major chain £550 or the local garage £400, One guess where it was going, yes that's right, it went to the local garage

I went and picked the car up once the Mechanic called to say it's all done, having never driven it with a 'good' clutch, I found the pedal had a lot of free travel before it bit, leaving a very short push and release before the clutch engages / disengages. I queried the mechanic who assured me all Aygo's are like this, as I say I've never driven another Aygo, but I've driven a whole load of other vehicles, none having the same clutch characteristics as this Aygo's, I would have expected the clutch to have a lot higher biting point than nearly on the floor after fitting a new plate ??. I've read that the earlier Aygo had a 180mm plate fitted, this changed to 190mm in 2008 

Can anyone confirm that the clutch pedals have so much free sloppy travel and such a small biting / operating point, or does this sound incorrect

thanks in advance

[Agent Orange]

Hi Simon and welcome to the board. 

The Aygo is a great little car and owners of them, like your Dad and me, love them but of all the "gripes" that come up on this forum, the clutch and it's biting point must be in the top ten. Usually, Folk tend to say that the clutch is too high, in that there is a lot of travel from the floor to the biting point and then that biting point is very limited, resulting in jerky gearchanges.

To be honest, I must have grown used to it because I don't seem to have a problem but I have to say that I wouldn't want to drive it in walking boots or shoes with a thick sole as you do need to feel the clutch, otherwise you can over-rev it, stall it or "Kangaroo" your way from the lights.  I've driven many cars in my time but the Aygo is the only one that I've had to watch what I've got on my feet!!!

Both you and your Mechanic are right, the Aygo got a bigger clutch in about 2008 and most, if not all Aygos are like this to some degree.

What I would do is try the car for a couple of weeks with the new clutch and see if you get used to it, if you don't then go back to your Mechanic.  I use a local independant Garage and they are great, they have to be these days as they have to compete on customer service as well as quality of repairs due to servicing plans from main dealers.  The days of "Dodgy, Back Street" Mechanics are (hopefully) a thing of the past and I'm sure that your Man is a friendly, honest bloke that will do all he can to help you.

The Aygo does have it's faults and foibles, like I say, the clutch is a common concern with Posters on here but usually this can be sorted with a change in driving position such as moving the drivers seat back a bit or sitting a bit more upright......Honestly, I'm not kidding, that has helped some Folk in the past!

It sounds like your Dad's Aygo is a little cracker and he should get many more years out of it, you only need to look at how reliable it's been with a worn out clutch to know that they do keep going!

So, all in all, Simon, in my view it's nothing to worry about for now but monitor it over the next few weeks and see if you still feel the same.

I hope that helps in some way and all the best. 

[elgassi]

Thanks Neil

that's a great answer and makes me feel a bit happier,  it's something I worried about that I'd badgered the old Yin into replacing the clutch and it went pear shaped

He had a wee turn last week so isn't able to drive the car for 4 weeks, I think my idea was if there was a problem I could get it addressed before he jumps back in the pilots seat lol

I have to agree with you, it is a great wee car, probably a good little starter car for kids, not too fast 

[Agent Orange]

No problem, Simon and thanks. 

I know what you mean about trying to do things for your family and feeling a bit responsible but I wouldn't worry about things going pear shaped as the repair sounds about right, to me.  Once you Father-in-law is back on his feet, he'll probably have to get used to the car again as he has lived with the fault for a while but I'm sure he will appreciate all that you've done.

All the best and I hope that the "Auld Yin" makes a quick recovery......There's plenty of Whisky to be drunk over Hogmanay, so he'd better be up for that!!!! 

[zuh]

Hi,

I totally agree with Agent Orange.

I have driven many cars including old sportscars that are known for being hard to drive. But the Aygo remains crazy, lol. The clutch bites really high, and it is the same thing on the Aygo 2. It is hard to adjust the throttle and give the right amount of gas to launch the car softly.

It takes some time to get used to it. And shoes with thin soles.

[elgassi]

this clutch bites really low, possibly 60mm of the floor, maybe an adjustment of the cable will raise the bite point, as you press the floppy pedal down it hass no resistance until it hits 60mm from the floor, pressing further allows gear changes 

I would have been happier with the clutch operating the other way round, at 60mm from the initial push

when I next see the car I'll have a play with it, it just feels soggy and not the way any clutch I've used in my 40 years of driving all types of cars, classics and newage should be for the first travel of the pedal   no feeling of having to a apply any sort of pressure, although the pedal does return to the upper position so you must be applying  something to move it down to the 60mm mark - A quirky Aygoism  

[FROSTYBALLS]

Must confess to never having an issue with the Aygo clutch.

We've had 21 new cars (we run two cars), have driven hire cars and vans, courtesy cars (incl Aygos), government pool vehicles, etc, and not found the Aygo clutch operation to be noticeably different to others, aside from the differences in pedal pressure - some cars having heavier clutches than others. For example with our current i20 1.4 and Aygo, swapping between the two is easy.

[elgassi]

Hi FB, 

This clutch operation just feels oddly different 

When I go back down to see my father in law, I'll try and see if I can adjust the clutch cable nut to firm the pedal up a bit and reduce the excessive floppy feel 

just so you don't think I'm a dullard talking k rap, I'm a petrol head through and through lol , mind you I've never had a Toyota 

Thought I'd show you my cars, just sold the Scoob which was an ultimate garage queen and bought the Rs Focus, which has become the new queen, the Mini, Camper and GT Beetle are all long time keepers

 

I'll get a picture of the Aygo honest 

 

 

 

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

Certainly don't think you are a dullard. The cars we've owned have been from five market sectors (city car, supermini, medium family car, large family car and mpv), across five manufacturers (Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Nissan and Toyotas) - so a fair cross section.

The subject of the Aygo clutch (travel and biting point) has come up before on previous topics, but the issue just isn't one that we've had.

[Cyker]

I know the original Aygos had a reputation for excessively high biting points but did they not fix that with the newer ones?

I seem to recall reading about people adjusting the pedal to make the biting point lower...

[elgassi]

the cable was adjusted a week or so before the new clutch was fitted by the same mechanic that fitted the clutch

possibly, the nut needs to be backed off to where it started, this may give the clutch a more normal feel

All will be revealed next week

Thanks for all the replies

Simon