It's Here!

May 17, 2006

Picked up the Aygo this afternoon. Initial impressions below...

Handover: The dealer (Octagon Bracknell) was brilliant. They have been very helpful and always return my calls and kept me up-to-date with the order, which only took a week incidentally. They showed me round the car and gave me a litre of oil and huge bunch of flowers (for the missus). The salesman also let me try fitting a gear knob from a new Yaris, which fits and is much better than the Aygo one. He's gonna let me know a price ASAP.

Vehicle: I think the Aygo is the best looking small car on sale. It is so much prettier than the C1 and 107. Sitting in the car it is hard initially to get a good driving position, but I have found one now (I need to keep the chairback almost vertical). The controls are very easy to use and the instuments clear. I love the rev counter protruding from the side of the instrument pod. The stereo goes loud enough to drown out the engine, but there is very little bass, but good enough for the radio on the daily commute. I did a quick inspection of the vehicle and I could not find any marks, but it was raining, so hard to check for paint blemishes.

Driving: The car keeps up well with the traffic and the engine sounds really meaty (I wish it actually was!). It's very easy to rev the car to 4000 rpm, so I'll have to be careful when running it in not to go above 4000 to often! The visibility through the rear window is rubbish (I've just been and removed the dealer sticker to give a bit more view) but the side mirrors are huge and all round visibility is good. The ride is smooth, but it does bounce around a bit. Have only driven about 3 miles all in traffic, so haven't had a chance to test the handling yet, although The steering feels quite well waited. I find it hard to find the actual biting point of the clutch, but the car never seems to want to stall when pulling away. It's always smooth and I'm sure I'll get used to it.

I have noticed that the seats do not go back to their original position when you move them to get in the back. A little annoying, but I won't use the back much.

Overall I'm really liking it so far. I could spend the evening standing outside admiring it and I can't wait to go drive it again!

I've got some pictures. Just need to figure out how to get them onto the site!

May 17, 2006

Hey Jase,

Tracey got her Aygo Sport (5 dr) today too and I've been out playing in it tonight as I was away talking to someone about a couple of mods. The steering is well weighted but lacks feel although the car turns in well and grips well even in the wet. Will play with it more over the next week or so and also sort out one or two mods -drove straight from the dealer and got the windows tinted and it now looks ace. With the car ebing so small no-one realises that there are 4 doors - when you open one of the rears they are really surprised ! Also means no probs with the seats too ;)

One question though: Did you find that the clutch pedal is very high when not being pressed ?

Normally the height of the clutch and brake pedal should be similar and the throttle should sit a bit lower. I think I'll have to see if this can be adjusted as it does make the frequent gears changes a bit of a pain and is the only blemish on an otherwise fun little car.

cheers

Kev

May 17, 2006

Didn't notice that the clutch pedal was too high, and I've had too much wine to go check now. I'll have a look in the morning though.

May 17, 2006

yeah - i notice the clutch pedal is high too! just felt really odd to begin with until i realised why.

May 18, 2006

I've had a look at the pedal this morning. The clutch is about 15 to 20 mm higher than the brake pedal and that is higher than the accelerator.

The clutch, when fully depressed, mashes into the carpet on my car. Do they all do this? Surely the carpet is gonna wear thin pretty quickly?

Had a proper drive this morning, but before setting off I checked the tyre pressures... The manual says 32psi (2.2 bar) all round, well the rears were OK, but the fronts were both up at around 38psi. So a warning for anyone picking up their new car to check the pressures are correct.

In traffic the car is brilliant. First gear is very low, so you can coast along in first or second with ease. And it's so nice to think that you're using 1/2 the petrol of everyone else! A temperature guage would be nice though, as I always start to worry if I'm stationary for a while.

Country lanes are a blast. The car soaks up all the bumps with ease and you can keep a decent speed through the bends. Pulling out of a junction onto a busy national speed limit is a bit risky at the moment. You need to give it a lot of revs and throttle to accelerate even briskly and I can't do that whilst I'm running it in, so I'll refrain from giving my opinions on performance for now.

The car sits efortlessly at 70 to 80 on the motorway. Fifth is quite tall so the engine isn't revving too high at these speeds. But for some overtaking acceleration I would probably change down to fourth. The car does get buffeted a little by trucks and the wind, but that's not a problem.

The only other thing I noticed this morning was the lack of speed-sensing radio volume. You really need to crank the volume up when going above 60, but when you slow down it's far too loud and you need to turn it down again. That wouldn't be an issue at all if it was speed sensitive, but it would also be far easier if the volume was a rotating knob, instead of having to tap a button half a dozen times.

The car does attract some attention. I did notice a lot of people looking at it tis morning. Now I don't know why, but I hope it's because it looks cool and they are still quite rare around here.

May 18, 2006

When its run-in you will start to have a lot more fun. It's run in at around 600 miles, so get driving.

May 18, 2006

Pleased to hear MORE positive comments.

The carpet wearing thing on clutch depressed is very true - I have 9k on and my carpet is nearly through :ffs:

Mines in for first service soon so I'll see what Mr T says.

To both the new owners - it's worth changing the rear wiper ASAP as the stock one is rubbish - also have a practice of taking off the fuel cap before you actually go for your first fill up - you will realise why when you try it !

May 20, 2006

Finally some pictures: B)

Aygo Gallery

May 20, 2006

Looking good :thumbsup:

Are you going to change anything ?

BTW - I would out the dealer sticker if I was you and also check your tyre pressures.

May 21, 2006

Looking good
Are you going to change anything ?
BTW - I would out the dealer sticker if I was you and also check your tyre pressures.

Thanks SMW. I don't really plan on doing a lot to it. Maybe changing the gear knob, possibly adding a sub. If I have enough money I will consider the TTE Springs and wheels.

The morning after those pics were taken I removed the dealer sticker and checked the pressures - 38 psi at the front! :huh:

May 21, 2006

Traceys were 32psi rear and 35 fronts. I've put them to 32 all round but I always play with the pressures to see how it changes the balance and grip of the car. It's a free mod and you'd be surprised how much different it may make, especially if you have larger alloys.

As a very rough rule - less understeer will need slightly higher rear pressures and less oversteer needs slightly lower rear pressure. With the Aygo being so short it really shouldn't suffer from either under or oversteer too much but worth a tinker as it's all free. This can also help with steering feel but maybe less so with the Aygos electric assistance - I've not noticed much of a change when taking the fronts down to 32 from 35 psi.

HTH :thumbsup:

May 21, 2006

gear knob is certainly worth a change and pretty cheap. Changing the indicator bulbs for silver coated ones also makes quite a visual difference.

http://www.powerbulbs.co.uk/default.asp?pr...PageHistory=cat

May 21, 2006

Is that a Sport Badge you got on the glass boot? :huh:

I got no such Badge on my Aygo Sport! Have they forgotten to put this Badge on my car, or is this something they just put on the UK Aygos?

May 21, 2006

Yep thats a 'sport' logo and all UK cars have them. I would have thought that all sports would have them. I chose to remove mine though along with all the other pikey Badge tat on the rear.

If you want my sport logo let me know ;)

May 21, 2006

Yep thats a 'sport' logo and all UK cars have them. I would have thought that all sports would have them. I chose to remove mine though along with all the other pikey badge tat on the rear.
If you want my sport logo let me know ;)

OK! Thanks for the offer, but I think it looks better without the Badge! Just wanted to know if this was something they put on the sport model :thumbsup:

June 3, 2006

nice :thumbsup:

needs some nice 16's and 40mm drop and a nice 3.5" oval B) , 1 either side if thats possible ;) .

did i read correctly, you got 1 years free insurance? is that a deal thingy going around the toyota dealerships? :unsure:

i drive a 1.25 mk6 fiesta so fuel isnt much of a problem even if i rag it and running costs seem cheap even tho only paid for service(non ford) as it was still under warrenty and insurance is cheap(tho not greatly :( ), but free insurance would be nice :yes: and i do like the look of the aygo's and could have the first modded one round here :P , but is the price tag really worth it? :huh: ,

just looking at affordablitly atm, tho am tempted with a Paseo :yes: . i just need to get rid of my fez, its peeing me off with the engine not running smoothly when coldish and judders at idle everytime :censor: , had it checked twice, but seems to do it still :rolleyes: . probly how i drive it and when accidently dropping into 3rd at 90mph :lol: , but still, need a car than can take some beating :P