Aygo X 24MY review - The perfect rental car

[TonyHSD]

My Spanish holiday is over and so is the week of enjoyment of the latest Aygo X. 
Here is my two cents about the car, my likes, surprises and dislikes. 
First impressions were very good. 
I picked up the car from the airport car park. It’s a Toyota so although I never driven Aygo x before everything felt familiar and very natural. Start up the engine with a key was strange but more surprisingly was how well the engine bay is insulated, no engine noise, no vibrations, nothing, I thought the engine didn’t started at first. So far so good. The seat is comfortable but not so much as bigger cars like Corolla, seating position very good and visibility ahead is also perfect with exception of the mirror and dashboard gap,which seems smaller than other models. The clutch is very soft and easy to operate, gear changes really smooth for a small car , I love it from the first meter of driving it. Road noise, well very quiet car indeed. Suspension set up is excellent, soft over bumps and road imperfections with typical Toyota crashing knocks over sharper and deeper potholes. The tyres were 17” Michelin e premacy, absolutely wonderful ones. The car chases feels stiff and with softer suspension that provides excellent handling at any speed. Steering wheel super light but very precise and I think it gets heavier at higher speeds. Power and acceleration, well the engine is underpowered and this becomes quickly obvious but if you don’t expect super car performance I think it’s perfectly fine for daily drives. Brakes are great and it does have very useful and perfectly working hill start assist. I was using this quite often. The fuel consumption was similar to am hybrid 5.3l/100km average. The Apple car play was a pleasant surprise too. So easy to connect and use maps and music streaming from YouTube tube. 
Now what I didn’t liked:

First was the beeping noises all the time about speeds. Inaccurate speed limits warnings too.
Second was  the lane track assist or whatever’s is called, and the fact that the car offered me brakes and coffee icons , haha I thought it comes with cabin crew assist. 
Side visibility- hm rear windows are small and with huge c pillars together with shale or the front seats head rest makes side visibility almost non existent, it’s like driving a panel van. 
The manual AC is a huge minus imo, the auto hvac worth every penny and makes it must have extra . 
Rear space on the seats it’s ok but doors opening extremely narrow and complain was made straightforward after my first passenger pick up. Boot space ok. And that’s pretty much most of it. I will post some pictures tomorrow. 
All the comparison was based on my driving experience from my Auris and Corolla hybrid that I had test driven before. 
The Aygo X for me it’s a real deal small car, better than expected and even considering buying one. 👌

[Wiz201]

it must be the 2024 ones that have started with beeping warnings as my 2023 one doesn't do any audible warnings for speed. Apparently this can be adjusted in the settings menu.

[Puglet]

Thanks for the review, hope you enjoyed your holiday as well, sounds like it from the Aygo X review.

Not surprised about the rear seats/doors, that was my first worry when I saw initial Aygo X pics, but our Mk1 and Mk2 are 3 doors so less of an issue for what we use our for. Not a fan of the pop out rear windows, but put that down to the others Mk1 5 door rear window issues, which was an ignored manufacturer problem for years until they sorted it eventually and rear visability I will let slide cos other cars are also not that good, case of form over function, and manufacturers will argue well you got a rear view camera and/or parking sensors!

But good to hear that basically Toyota have got it right with Aygo X, not surprised as they improved the Mk2 over Mk1 and now the Aygo X (Mk3?) has hopefully moved the game on yet again. 

 

[TonyHSD]

Thanks for all replies and likes. 
The Aygo x  its a nice little car. 
Here some pictures of it and a short video. 
What I liked a lot is that the car has a fog lights, the headlights are also really good. They are halogen bulbs lights but has two different bulbs in separate reflectors for dipped and for the high beams which in the halogen bulbs world it’s the best combination. In comparison to Yaris icons which has halogen bulbs into projector lens with one bulb serve  both beams , the Aygo x lights are far superior. 
Another good thing in Aygo X is the 12v Battery which is huge 60Ah and support stop start technology.  I disliked this stop start as expected and I needed to turn it off few times because takes away from the smooth driving experience along with the AC compressor on and off. It’s just makes the car noticeably slower and jerky at low speeds. 
Another dislike is the dashboard instruments, the speed and the phone like display are fine but the rpm little squares are difficult to read and unnatural. Even my girlfriend she is a trainee driver asked me if that’s the fuel and if we need to stop to refill as it seemed to her we don’t have enough petrol.  😅  
The spare wheel well it’s too narrow too, perhaps if you install a slate wheel kit you may lose some boot volume. 
And final thing to moan about was the electric windows, they didn’t have one touch control, something that I needed. Although all negatives I mentioned the Aygo X is the perfect rental car and the ideal choice for young new drivers or elderly drivers and those who doesn’t drive 100 miles + a day on motorways. Wouldn’t mine one for myself. 
And finally a question to these who had auto cvt version , how the automatic compares to the manual especially on hill climbing on motorways? 
This manual no matter what gear goes down still lacks power and loose speed. Hybrids for example revs up high but manage to push the car and even accelerate uphill, poor Aygo x manual couldn’t cope , but I still liked it a lot. 

[Eddie G]

53 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Thanks for all replies and likes. 
The Aygo x  its a nice little car. 
Here some pictures of it and a short video. 
What I liked a lot is that the car has a fog lights, the headlights are also really good. They are halogen bulbs lights but has two different bulbs in separate reflectors for dipped and for the high beams which in the halogen bulbs world it’s the best combination. In comparison to Yaris icons which has halogen bulbs into projector lens with one bulb serve  both beams , the Aygo x lights are far superior. 
Another good thing in Aygo X is the 12v battery which is huge 60Ah and support stop start technology.  I disliked this stop start as expected and I needed to turn it off few times because takes away from the smooth driving experience along with the AC compressor on and off. It’s just makes the car noticeably slower and jerky at low speeds. 
Another dislike is the dashboard instruments, the speed and the phone like display are fine but the rpm little squares are difficult to read and unnatural. Even my girlfriend she is a trainee driver asked me if that’s the fuel and if we need to stop to refill as it seemed to her we don’t have enough petrol.  😅  
The spare wheel well it’s too narrow too, perhaps if you install a slate wheel kit you may lose some boot volume. 
And final thing to moan about was the electric windows, they didn’t have one touch control, something that I needed. Although all negatives I mentioned the Aygo X is the perfect rental car and the ideal choice for young new drivers or elderly drivers and those who doesn’t drive 100 miles + a day on motorways. Wouldn’t mine one for myself. 
And finally a question to these who had auto cvt version , how the automatic compares to the manual especially on hill climbing on motorways? 
This manual no matter what gear goes down still lacks power and loose speed. Hybrids for example revs up high but manage to push the car and even accelerate uphill, poor Aygo x manual couldn’t cope , but I still liked it a lot. 

FullSizeRender.MOV

Everything apart from the bonkers tyre size is 👍 i ended up going for a 2020 Yaris instead, normal tyre size and came with a space saver spare.

[Wiz201]

I've found my Aygo is fine on the motorways, keeps up with the best of the traffic apart from the obvious boy/girl racers. I've been travelling down the M1 to Doncaster recently on regular trips and the mpg has been marvellous. 50mph speed limit areas do help though lol. 

For hills in an auto, I just put my foot down and go for it. Max rpm is 4000, the CVT gearbox is very smooth but a bit revvy and loud on the hills which is to be expected. I don't think its underpowered for its size, the 1 litre engine does very well.

[Wobbly Spanner]

I have a new Aygo X Pure. I purchased the spare wheel kit and to be honest you don't lose that much boot space. Comes with different boot liner. The annoying beeps I already quickly disable all that after starting, its almost muscle memory and do it without thinking. Resets every time.

I dont like the lane centering when cruise control is on but again thats even easier with one button press and is disabled.

Love mine, albeit yes at times some more grunt would be nice. Never had a car before that asks me to change down while at 5000rpm on a hill, its very happy with you ragging it. Sips fuel no matter what you do, regularly getting over 60mpg indicated. Not sure what that is real world. 

Glad I got the 17" wheels. Little extra rubber depth helps on the bumps I think. Tyre noise can be a bit loud at speed depending on surface quality, motorways generally it fine The android car play is good, like having built in sat nav without paying for it. 

Hoping its better in winter at clearing the screen, my Fabia TSI was rubbish and biased to clear LH drive. 

[Cyker]

Does it really have a 60Ah Battery?! That's nearly double the size of the Yaris one!   

 

[Puglet]

See what you mean about the rpm, never seen a decent photo of that on Aygo X til now, with your girlfriend on that, it confusing, but as ever a cost thing as one screen, rather than clearly different gauge setups on Mk1 and Mk2 dash.

Love the Battery, not chance of getting a bigger one in there, unlike our Mk1 where you could go 2 or 3 sizes bigger. Count your blessings with the leccy window switches you could have the noddy seperate ones like our Mk1, which they sensibly sorted with the grown up setup of the Mk2.

Thanks for the pics and review, a spot on Top Gear beckons, think there are a few vacancies!

[Silpure]

34 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Does it really have a 60Ah battery?! That's nearly double the size of the Yaris one!   

 

It does 😂

[DJ123]

The way to manage steep hills in the manual is to be in the right gear and mash the throttle. You've got to be above 4K ideally, as the max torque figure hits about 4.5K rpm. It's happy to rev all the way to 6K to get up to speed! 

The gearing is good for it; 2nd tops out at 55mph, 3rd will see you hit motorway speeds 70mph+

What would make the Aygo X better on longer journeys is reduction of cabin noise. Using extra door seals to keep the wind out, and lining the wheel arches with carpet/fabric to reduce road noise further. 

[TonyHSD]

17 minutes ago, DJ123 said:

The way to manage steep hills in the manual is to be in the right gear and mash the throttle. You've got to be above 4K ideally, as the max torque figure hits about 4.5K rpm. It's happy to rev all the way to 6K to get up to speed! 

The gearing is good for it; 2nd tops out at 55mph, 3rd will see you hit motorway speeds 70mph+

What would make the Aygo X better on longer journeys is reduction of cabin noise. Using extra door seals to keep the wind out, and lining the wheel arches with carpet/fabric to reduce road noise further. 

I think the asphalt makes a huge difference in road noise. In Spain most of the roads are super smooth and the Aygo is literally silent at any speed up to around 50-60 mph then a wind whistle started to come in exactly from the seat belt opening in the b pillars. Doors, windows, Windscreen seals  as good as on a top German car. The tyre noise is better than Corolla excel that I tested in Watford which felt like rear doors were left open. Only on the rear , the Aygo is equally quiet . Engine and exhaust really well done. 
Body is also very stiff and deals with bumps nicely. In comparison to my Auris from 2010 that has hard suspension and soft body I can feel how the car flexes while driving over bad roads and speed bumps. Totally different generations cars. 👌

[Cyker]

The Yaris is that way; On some of this magic tarmac they've been resurfacing roads with it's super quiet, but on the normal rough stuff it's deafness city!

[Wobbly Spanner]

Not sure if they changed anything on the 2024 model but I get no B pillar noise at all. The 2023 demo car did have B pillar noise so I was expecting it, but its silent...

 

 

 

[davidif]

Excellent review Tony, thank you!

I am hoping to retire in 2/3 years time and at that stage I will only want/need/be able to afford 1 car and at the moment I am planning on that car being an Aygo X Auto.

 

[TonyHSD]

23 hours ago, davidif said:

Excellent review Tony, thank you!

I am hoping to retire in 2/3 years time and at that stage I will only want/need/be able to afford 1 car and at the moment I am planning on that car being an Aygo X Auto.

 

You are welcome. 
Me think the same. I liked the manual a lot.
Next is to try the auto cvt. Even with all the negatives these little cars are really good to drive and with efficiency similar to a hybrids they are absolutely great choice if they suit your car needs 👌

[Hicardo]

I love the CVT in the AYGO X. It makes the car feel, to me, so much more refined.  Mine has paddles which give 7 nicely spaced artificial ratios.  Good fun on hills or a back road.  No point revving more than 4500.  Nothing additional in terms of forward motion happens.  Very nice fun car to drive.  My only gripe is drivers seat.  But I've remedied that somewhat.  

[Kental]

On 10/12/2024 at 9:37 PM, Hicardo said:

I love the CVT in the AYGO X. It makes the car feel, to me, so much more refined.  Mine has paddles which give 7 nicely spaced artificial ratios.  Good fun on hills or a back road.  No point revving more than 4500.  Nothing additional in terms of forward motion happens.  Very nice fun car to drive.  My only gripe is drivers seat.  But I've remedied that somewhat.  

When I test drove both, I found the CVT was insistent on revving on the slightest throttle press even at 70 mph, yes you could restrict that by manually overriding the CVT with the paddles, but I found that more of a PITA than using the very nice gearbox and clutch. Far, far better than the mk 2 clutch