Cygnet

[good grief]

I'm thinking of buying swmbo one of these after she spotted one at Excel at the weekend having drifted out the boat show to the Classic car show. I am fully aware of the Marmite nature of this car, but if any one on here has one,I would be delighted to receive some feedback, in particular is manual or auto the way to go.

One thing I was surprised at was the fact it took 150 hours to build/ butcher a Cygnet and only another 50 extra to build a DB9 !

Please be gentle with your abuse

Edited by good grief on Monday 12th January 16:59

[jonby]

good grief said:

I'm thinking of buying swmbo one of these after she spotted one at Excel at the weekend having drifted out the boat show to the Cassic car show. I am fully aware of the Marmite nature of this car, but if any one on here has one,I would be delighted to receive some feedback, in particular is manual or auto the way to go.

One thing I was surprised at was the fact it took 150 hours to build/ butcher a Cygnet and only another 50 extra to build a DB9 !

Please be gentle with your abuse

transmission choice is personal - I prefer the manual (I've driven both briefly) but I've seen many suggesting that especially in a city, auto makes more sense

But in terms of the abuse, I'd just point out that most of it needs to be taken in context - the heavy criticism of Cygnet has primarily been about it's price/VFM, where it fits in Aston's range and the impact on marque image/perception, the lack of clarity (or downright lies) over whether it was/wasn't about bringing overall group CO2 levels down, is it a 'real' Aston, the fact you can buy a DB7 for similar money, the fact it was a 'stupid' exercise on Aston's part, what it says about Dr Bez, etc, etc, etc.....

Very few people have actually commented on whether or not, in it's own right, it's any good as a car. And now we are where we are (it's been made, discontinued and is available in the used market), all those other points are all, quite literally, irrelevant to whether you or anyone else should buy one

The answer is patently obvious - it's a decent little city car, with an infinitely plusher interior than the donor car, for a financial premium that can't be justified by most but it's an entirely personal decision whether you can justify that premium or not. For the very reasons some think it's cool, other's think it's not - it's completely subjective. Ironically, given the incredibly small build numbers, it's currently looking like it's got bullet proof depreciation

If you like it and can afford it, buy it. This is not a car that you can decide whether to buy based on what those on this forum tell you !!!

[good grief]

Thanks for your helpful measured reply. Your comments echo what I was thinking,,if she likes it , and ( hopefully ) it should not fall right out of bed value wise it's probably worth a punt. Just may have to teach her how to use a stick and peddle again.

[tonyhall38]

I had the honour of a cygnet for a long weekend , loved it , if the boot had been bigger to get the fog in I would have bought my better half one.
It got a lot of looks and interesting comments , not all good....but I found it quite comfortable , nippy , and a conversation point.....
I only had it for 4 days so long term would not know who it would have worked out....
But if I could buy one now...I would....

[IanV12VR]

I know two people who have them and, for reasons I do not fully understand, cannot speak highly enough about them. They are also pretty happy that they paid less than they are currently being sold for - not that there are any available on the official pre-owned site. They both believe they have bought a future classic

[Impasse]

For a city car, that looks like a nice place to park your bum while being overtaken by mad courier cyclists.

[Aston Registrar]

IanV12VR said:

I know two people who have them and, for reasons I do not fully understand, cannot speak highly enough about them. They are also pretty happy that they paid less than they are currently being sold for - not that there are any available on the official pre-owned site. They both believe they have bought a future classic

Well, must own up as to being one of the two people that Ian is referring too.

I totally love my Cygnet. It's quite nippy but not quite as quick as my previous Smart for2 Brabus. Handles much better than the Smart and has lowered suspension plus a Quick Silver exhaust - but you didn't know that they made a sport exhaust........am I right?. Now, I have my winter wheels and tyres fitted - cost peanuts FYI as the steel wheels taken off the IQ's were 'recycled'. The boot is very decent so long as you lower the back seats which I do all the time now.

Costs less than £30 to fill up, £30 road tax, and turns heads everywhere. And after more than two years of ownership, I recon it's still worth what I paid for it.

Not only that, it is the almost same colour as my X-pack Vantage



http://astonmartins.com/car/cygnet-2/

[Neil1300r]

good grief said:

I'm thinking of buying swmbo one of these after she spotted one at Excel at the weekend having drifted out the boat show to the Classic car show. I am fully aware of the Marmite nature of this car, but if any one on here has one,I would be delighted to receive some feedback, in particular is manual or auto the way to go.

One thing I was surprised at was the fact it took 150 hours to build/ butcher a Cygnet and only another 50 extra to build a DB9 !

Please be gentle with your abuse

Edited by good grief on Monday 12th January 16:59

Someone has to say it -



The Toyota is a brilliantly packaged, low cost car. Driving it through Hellfrauds bolt on department doesn't improve it one bit. In my eyes it just made it look ugly and cheap

Buy an IQ of the same year and save yourself money. If you want a well designed leather interior, thats great as a City car - buy a MINI with the auto box. Want it with performance buy a Cooper S with the auto box.

If you don't want a MINI or an IQ look at a Fiat 500

[good grief]

Neil1300r said:

Someone has to say it -



The Toyota is a brilliantly packaged, low cost car. Driving it through Hellfrauds bolt on department doesn't improve it one bit. In my eyes it just made it look ugly and cheap

Buy an IQ of the same year and save yourself money. If you want a well designed leather interior, thats great as a City car - buy a MINI with the auto box. Want it with performance buy a Cooper S with the auto box.

If you don't want a MINI or an IQ look at a Fiat 500

Blimey, I'm not sure it's that bad.

Friend of mine bought a CooperS works, parted with over £30 grand for it, sold it a few years later for about £6000 with average miles on it, mind you cannot argue about which would be the better drive.

[good grief]

Neil1300r said:

Someone has to say it -



The Toyota is a brilliantly packaged, low cost car. Driving it through Hellfrauds bolt on department doesn't improve it one bit. In my eyes it just made it look ugly and cheap

Buy an IQ of the same year and save yourself money. If you want a well designed leather interior, thats great as a City car - buy a MINI with the auto box. Want it with performance buy a Cooper S with the auto box.

If you don't want a MINI or an IQ look at a Fiat 500

Blimey, I'm not sure it's that bad.

Friend of mine bought a CooperS works, parted with over £30 grand for it, sold it a few years later for about £6000 with average miles on it, mind you cannot argue about which would be the better drive.

[jonby]

Neil1300r said:

good grief said:

I'm thinking of buying swmbo one of these after she spotted one at Excel at the weekend having drifted out the boat show to the Classic car show. I am fully aware of the Marmite nature of this car, but if any one on here has one,I would be delighted to receive some feedback, in particular is manual or auto the way to go.

One thing I was surprised at was the fact it took 150 hours to build/ butcher a Cygnet and only another 50 extra to build a DB9 !

Please be gentle with your abuse

Edited by good grief on Monday 12th January 16:59

Someone has to say it -



The Toyota is a brilliantly packaged, low cost car. Driving it through Hellfrauds bolt on department doesn't improve it one bit. In my eyes it just made it look ugly and cheap

Buy an IQ of the same year and save yourself money. If you want a well designed leather interior, thats great as a City car - buy a MINI with the auto box. Want it with performance buy a Cooper S with the auto box.

If you don't want a MINI or an IQ look at a Fiat 500

I don't think anyone disagrees that the IQ is a good car ?

So what we are talking about is a very limited edition of a good car produced in regular form in huge numbers,with a £10-20k (depending upon the basis of financial comparison) custom interior & bodykit. Nobody on here criticises anyone for doing that to a £75k vantage or DB9. Sometimes just to get performance equivalent to a car made by another brand that they could have just bought in the first place. What;s the difference ?

[IanV12VR]

Aston Registrar said:

Well, must own up as to being one of the two people that Ian is referring too.

I totally love my Cygnet. It's quite nippy but not quite as quick as my previous Smart for2 Brabus. Handles much better than the Smart and has lowered suspension plus a Quick Silver exhaust - but you didn't know that they made a sport exhaust........am I right?. Now, I have my winter wheels and tyres fitted - cost peanuts FYI as the steel wheels taken off the IQ's were 'recycled'. The boot is very decent so long as you lower the back seats which I do all the time now.

Costs less than £30 to fill up, £30 road tax, and turns heads everywhere. And after more than two years of ownership, I recon it's still worth what I paid for it.

Not only that, it is the almost same colour as my X-pack Vantage



http://astonmartins.com/car/cygnet-2/

That's a lovely car - the one on the right

[Neil1300r]

jonby said:

I don't think anyone disagrees that the IQ is a good car ?

So what we are talking about is a very limited edition of a good car produced in regular form in huge numbers,with a £10-20k (depending upon the basis of financial comparison) custom interior & bodykit. Nobody on here criticises anyone for doing that to a £75k vantage or DB9. Sometimes just to get performance equivalent to a car made by another brand that they could have just bought in the first place. What;s the difference ?

What's the difference between the Cygnet and a Jag with a DB7 replica bodywork on it? What's the difference between a MR2 with a Ferrari imitation bodykit on it? Everyone hates those, but they are good cars underneath.

Do people hate them for trying to be something they are not?

[AMDBSNick]

Neil1300r said:

What's the difference between the Cygnet and a Jag with a DB7 replica bodywork on it? What's the difference between a MR2 with a Ferrari imitation bodykit on it? Everyone hates those, but they are good cars underneath.

Do people hate them for trying to be something they are not?

Neil please calm down and have a beer

[Neil1300r]

AMDBSNick said:

Neil please calm down and have a beer

There you go reminding me yet again about my dearly departed friend

[Murph7355]

Neil1300r said:

There you go reminding me yet again about my dearly departed friend

He's not lost. I can show you where to find him again as I spend lots of time with him (though not as much as I used to).

[jonby]

Neil1300r said:

jonby said:

I don't think anyone disagrees that the IQ is a good car ?

So what we are talking about is a very limited edition of a good car produced in regular form in huge numbers,with a £10-20k (depending upon the basis of financial comparison) custom interior & bodykit. Nobody on here criticises anyone for doing that to a £75k vantage or DB9. Sometimes just to get performance equivalent to a car made by another brand that they could have just bought in the first place. What;s the difference ?

What's the difference between the Cygnet and a Jag with a DB7 replica bodywork on it? What's the difference between a MR2 with a Ferrari imitation bodykit on it? Everyone hates those, but they are good cars underneath.

Do people hate them for trying to be something they are not?

To be fair, that's a very good point

As you say, where does one draw the line of acceptability ? Is it when it's trying to be something it's not and if so, does a Cygnet fall into that category because to some, it's not a 'real' Aston ? There is a valid argument that this car might have been better perceived if it went more along the lines of the 'mini by Rolls Royce' which was not actually branded as a Rolls. And does a V8 Vantage with V12V bits on or a DB9 dressed as a DBS fall into the same category ?

Of course there is an element of personal interpretation and subjectiveness that means there is no one answer that will suit all people. But to me, most people with replica cars want to kid people they have the real thing and/or love the shape of the real thing, can't afford it so by the next best thing.

Cygnet doesn't fall into that category - it does't kid anyone. IMO. Or do we get into the Gaydon cars aren't real because they weren't built at NP. Will the new gen cars be described as real/not real Astons based onto %age of components they buy from Mercedes. Is there an acceptable %age ? 10% ? 50% ? Our Gaydon cars have some Volvo parts. But are they OK because the %age is acceptable ? I'm ducking for cover now.......

[AMDBSNick]

jonby said:

To be fair, that's a very good point

As you say, where does one draw the line of acceptability ? Is it when it's trying to be something it's not and if so, does a Cygnet fall into that category because to some, it's not a 'real' Aston ? There is a valid argument that this car might have been better perceived if it went more along the lines of the 'mini by Rolls Royce' which was not actually branded as a Rolls. And does a V8 Vantage with V12V bits on or a DB9 dressed as a DBS fall into the same category ?

Of course there is an element of personal interpretation and subjectiveness that means there is no one answer that will suit all people. But to me, most people with replica cars want to kid people they have the real thing and/or love the shape of the real thing, can't afford it so by the next best thing.

Cygnet doesn't fall into that category - it does't kid anyone. IMO. Or do we get into the Gaydon cars aren't real because they weren't built at NP. Will the new gen cars be described as real/not real Astons based onto %age of components they buy from Mercedes. Is there an acceptable %age ? 10% ? 50% ? Our Gaydon cars have some Volvo parts. But are they OK because the %age is acceptable ? I'm ducking for cover now.......

I would definitely buy one and might still. One of the reasons I/we love our cars is that they are a lovely place to be. I doubt the IQ falls into this category but I'm sure the Cygnet would.

[michael gould]

If it helps.......I have recently purchased an IQ3 which is the same car, with the same engine and manual gearbox.....i paid 6k for a two year old car with 11k miles......It's not a bad car to bomb to work in but it is very underpowered and i only get around 35mpg (makes the DB9 seem seriously quick after a few days in the IQ).....on the plus side, interior space is excellent and have often had 3 adults in it......turning circle is amazing and would put a black cab to shame. The ride is a bit hard as you would expect with such a short wheelbase but as a town car it does the job very well.

[Neil1300r]

Murph7355 said:

Neil1300r said:

There you go reminding me yet again about my dearly departed friend

He's not lost. I can show you where to find him again as I spend lots of time with him (though not as much as I used to).