Aygo v Picanto test - with wrong result as ever.

[Puglet]

Worth a read, as ever the Aygo and chums are runners up, but what do they know!

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/toyota/aygo/104686/toyota-aygo-vs-kia-picanto-used-cheap-city-car-shootout?BRAND_CODE=AEX&NEWSLETTER_ID=AEX_STD&utm_source=autoexpress_daily_newsletter&utm_campaign=autoexpress_daily_newsletter_20240923&refid=9F09D0413A0D11128D4B406907DE4462&utm_medium=email

[Eddie G]

1 hour ago, Puglet said:

Worth a read, as ever the Aygo and chums are runners up, but what do they know!

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/toyota/aygo/104686/toyota-aygo-vs-kia-picanto-used-cheap-city-car-shootout?BRAND_CODE=AEX&NEWSLETTER_ID=AEX_STD&utm_source=autoexpress_daily_newsletter&utm_campaign=autoexpress_daily_newsletter_20240923&refid=9F09D0413A0D11128D4B406907DE4462&utm_medium=email

Aygo for me, nearly got myself one again and like them better then the Aygo X 👍

[Flatcoat]

As much as I like Toyotas, have had Aygo’s both new and old as courtesy cars and they are just woefully slow. Simply made them too tiring to drive over any distance. 

[Mushu84]

I think it matter how you look at that engine

 

For myself the 1.0 is a legendary tested engine, naturally aspirated not the turbo **** that all other companies sell these days, long lasting, very easy to maintain, easy to service yourself if you want

 

I own a Yaris with the 1.0 and I love it, while is true on the motorway is slow compared to newer cars, until you are in high revs 😅, in everyday driving there a very little situations where I feel the need to have a bigger engine

69 HP are more then enough in 90% of the time, also the gearbox is important as I fell in the Yaris gear 1-3 they are brilliant for pulling away in the city, 4-5 for high speed driving (it could use a 6-th gear to be honest)

I hate this chase we are doing nowadays with MORE AND MORE HP, and by the way if a turbo engine is not in rev range is even slower then a natural aspirated one

I strongly fell like around 100 HP for a normal person should be more then enough for daily driving.

[Eddie G]

1 hour ago, Flatcoat said:

As much as I like Toyotas, have had Aygo’s both new and old as courtesy cars and they are just woefully slow. Simply made them too tiring to drive over any distance. 

2 up yes but driving by myself found it fine even on longer trips, motorway's fine at a steadily 60-65 but must admit if i wasn't mainly driving on my own it would be a no go.

[forkingabout]

While the Aygo & Aygo X could do with a bit more BHP to satisfy more people - thank your lucky stars Toyota saw sense ( or had a crystal ball ) & never offered the 82 BHP Purecrap PSA 1.2 petrol engine for the Aygo that Peugeot / Citroen offered in the 108 & C1 versions. 

[Kental]

My Aygo X was bought as a commuter car (I drive 18 miles each way on mainly 40 & 50mph single carriageway A roads with 2 miles dual carriageway) and the Aygo X is great. My daughter has a 16 plate 108 with the same basic engine, but the gearbox and clutch are far superior in the Aygo X.

The fact that the Aygo X has 72hp v 69hp for the 108 is more than outweighed by the bigger body.  As long as you are willing to use the gears on hills & don't expect to overtake anything but old tractors on single carriageways (new ones are too fast) I find it a brilliant car. 

[Kental]

2 minutes ago, forkingabout said:

While the Aygo & Aygo X could do with a bit more BHP to satisfy more people - thank your lucky stars Toyota saw sense ( or had a crystal ball ) & never offered the 82 BHP Purecrap PSA 1.2 petrol engine for the Aygo that Peugeot / Citroen offered in the 108 & C1 versions. 

Fortunately my daughter's 108 has the Toyota lump in it.

[Wiz201]

The 82 BHP would bring up the insurance price as my dad pointed out when I go in his peugoet 108 sometimes. I don't know why they thought the Aygo was in a steep insurance group tbh, I thought the kia picanto would be more.

[APS]

As always, buy the car that YOU like. 

There are points in this article that doesn't make sense:

• "the Picanto is nippier than the Aygo thanks to its shorter gearing" - which is why the Aygo is slower in their 4th gear acceleration test, and the Aygo get better mpg and lower CO2 emissions
• "although it’s not as peppy as the Aygo’s 71bhp unit" - so the Aygo is less nippy but more peppy?
• "shorter gearing means it is significantly more flexible than the Toyota" - did they try anything other than fourth gear?

Anyway, tongue in cheek of course, but this just highlights why you need to build your own opinion and test drive it yourself. They fail to mention the sheer volume of Aygo/C1/107 out there, which means parts and knowledge of the platform will be abundant. An important factor when you buy a second hand car.

 

Also here's a clean link without the marketing tracking:
https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/toyota/aygo/104686/toyota-aygo-vs-kia-picanto-used-cheap-city-car-shootout

[Puglet]

Totally agree about the gearing, you have to adjust and drive accordingly, I have often out accelerated faster cars at traffic lights and that's without even trying or being boy racery (too old for that), but they soon catch me up. Also we have a Peugeot 108 but with the toyota 1.0 engine and the infamous 'shift' light, which I always ignore and thus you can drive very nippy. As above ours are used mainly 1 or 2 up, so have no issues with keeping up with modern traffic and even motorway traffic it can cope with, but agree that on motorways overtaking the 'big boys' i've accepted is not an option, but talking overtaking generally on normal roads, I do a lot less now cos it often not worth it cos eventually you hit some traffic lights, road works or queue, but our 107 is still fun to drive after all these years, I've learnt to enjoy driving it not all about top speed and big bhp!, which I've had in the past. Factor in the easy parking, manoeuvrability, low running cost, easy to work on, etc. etc. makes them even more enjoyable to own.

[TonyHSD]

I am enjoying a brand new Aygo x at the moment in Spain. What a wonderful little car.. engine is really underpowered and that becomes quickly obvious especially on the hills here and motorways. The AC is always on and when compressor switches ON at the moment I am gearing up from 1 to 2 it feels like I need to shift back to 1 again. Apart from that my girlfriend really likes it and she wants one for herself but automatic 😅👌
When I return back to uk I will share my thoughts more thoroughly. 

 

[APS]

The trick with the 1KR engine is not to be afraid to rev it out. It will pull all the way up to when the rev limiter cuts in at about 7k. 

[Cyker]

The Picanto is a nice car, and definitely has more zots put in the interior than the Aygo, but I wouldn't have enough faith in the engine to redline it like I would an Aygo's   

The funny thing is they're both supposed to be super cheap budget cars but they've gotten decidedly more premium over time and are quite far off their original design brief now!

I still remember when you could get an Aygo new for a 4-digit figure...!

But I think all the legislation changes have made that impossible; Even Dacia are apparently pulling out of that market as they can't make cheap cars and still comply with the legislation.

[FROSTYBALLS]

We've used the Aygo several times for long journeys.

E.g. when my wife was doing a scar tissue course and then an manual lymphatic drainage massage review, Birmingham to Dorset, Dorset to Belper, and Belper to Birmingham loaded with two adults, full size portable therapy couch, and luggage for 8 days. Motorway and A roads mainly. No bother cruising between 65 and 85mph.

[FROSTYBALLS]

27 minutes ago, Cyker said:

The funny thing is they're both supposed to be super cheap budget cars but they've gotten decidedly more premium over time and are quite far off their original design brief now!

Everything has increased substantially in price, and the same applies to budget city cars. 

Our first new car was a 1987 Nissan Micra - £4200 otr. Paid £10,500 for our Aygo in 2016. Aygo X from £16,100 today, and this is on a par with other cars in that, albeit dwindling, class (i10, Picanto, etc)

[Cyker]

I didn't just mean the price, but the car itself - The original ones were very barebones, didn't even have proper doorcards IIRC but straight to painted metal, and famously only had the one gas strut for the boot and the tacho was an optional extra  

Now they're almost as specced out as the previous gens of Yaris!!

 

23 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

No bother cruising between 65 and 85mph.

Ah yes I think you two may have shot past me once on the M1, damned hooligan Aygo drivers!!   

[Puglet]

Know what you mean, our Mk1 is a basic, simply built car and it shows, but it still has some clever touches and decent safety tech for the time, but we have also have a Mk2 and although more expensive it is better quality/build and also extra regulatory stuff, which justifies the extra cost and the Aygo X has even more regulatory mandated kit, which has added to its higher costs yet again. As Frosty says they had to move with the times on the Mk2 cos the competition was moving the bar upwards and back then you had the VW group triplets as well. 

Although saying that the Mk1 may have been very basic, but it still surprised me how they managed to build it for the price cos it's new cost was very close to a Ford Fiesta Mk3 we bought new back in late 80s and the 107 had airbags, abs, power steering, leccy windows, remote locking, cd player etc etc.

Being of a certain age, we had a few other very basic/underpowered cars over the years and compared to them even the Mk1 is a rocket ship and generously equipped! and it a lot more reliable.

 

[Cyker]

Yeah I always had a soft spot for the Mk1 - It is underpowered, but it's so much fun to fling around twisty roads. As long as you don't mind using all the revs and only use the first 3 gears it can feel very fast

The only thing I really didn't like was the clutch - I don't know why they went with that; They should have just nicked the clutch system out of the Mk1 Yaris, which was already pretty old by the time the Aygo came out - That always bit dead on centre of travel, right up to the point you were grinding the rivets off the clutch plate  

 

[Puglet]

Agree, and it's light, back when cars were all metal and had the smallest engine 1.1 in the range, we had a Ford Escort, that was when you really noticed underpowered, and the only weight saving feature was rust 😁. Personally I never had an issue with the clutch in our Mk1, just got used to it fairly quickly.

[FROSTYBALLS]

22 minutes ago, Puglet said:

Personally I never had an issue with the clutch in our Mk1, just got used to it fairly quickly.

Same here with our 2nd generation.

[Agent Orange]

Totally with you. Steve @Puglet , I'm 12 years in with my little fella and my Wife and I still love the bones of him!!

I really don't get the gist of modern thinking on car design.....Surely cars should be getting smaller to fit into parking spaces and in cities.....Surely cars, especially electric cars should have less tech to give more distance on charge....Surely, do we need a button to lower the tailgate or keyless ignition when you've already got a key in your hand?

I'm so sorry to be a Luddite but my first car (a Vauxhall Viva ,1970, bought in 1978 for £300) had no radio, wind up windows, stunk of petrol, was uncomfortable and was slower than a slow thing!

By comparison the Aygo is a rocket ship!  It's comfortable ( especially with the mark 2 seats that I've fitted) Leather steering wheel and a car that can take myself and my wife on holiday, the length of the country, loaded up (If you knew my wife you would understand the phrase "loaded up!!!!") and it handles like a go-kart, is great on mpg, handles motorways, A roads, B roads, hills and dales with ease.

All hail the Aygo.....Let me hear you say Yeah!.....Sorry did I go all American Gospel channel there? !

Aygo above a Picanto every day for me!!

Hear endeth the lesson and thank you for staying with me...Brownie points if you did!