Wednesday 11th May 2005

Toyota Aygo offers runabout

Tiny car could be right for urban crawl

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Toyota Aygo

Need a runabout, a second or third car, or a motorised box for the teenager? Toyota reckons it's got the answer with the Aygo. Performance? There isn't any -- but the kit levels are reasonable for the price.

The Aygo, pronounced I-Go, in concert with Peugeot and Citroen is producing what it calls "a new breed of affordable small car for Europe." Each of the three carmakers will use the same core car but with its own distinctive appearance, marketing and pricing strategy.

Toyota reckons the Aygo will cost from £7,000 to £8,000, be in dealer showrooms in June, and on sale from 1 July. Citroen’s version, the C1 will be on sale in the UK in June with an expected slightly lower starting price and Peugeot’s 107 will also be on sale from 1 July with a yet to be confirmed starting price of around £7,000. Currently all three British operations of the three manufacturers are keeping the confirmed prices close to their chest such is the competition in this market sector.

Toyota is marketing the Aygo at first time, new car buyers, especially in urban areas. Only 10 per cent of Yaris owners are likely to down-size to the Aygo even after the next generation, and much bigger Yaris, is launched next year, said Toyota.

Three equipment levels, Aygo, Aygo+ and Sport, are available. The Sport refers to equipment levels not any greater engine or suspension performance. Extra Sport kit includes alloy wheels, fog lights and a rev counter. Aircon is an cost option as on the Aygo+. All models have anti-lock braking, electronic brake force distribution, radio and CD player, and electronic power steering. Toyota said that, "in keeping with its life-styling image there is a full range of extra cost options and trendy option packs. It expects most buyers go for the five-door Aygo+.

These cars aren't quick. Top speed is 98mph with a 0-62mph acceleration time of 14.2 seconds, delivered by a Toyota 1.0-litre VVT three-cylinder petrol engine with a power output of 67bhp and 69lb-ft of torque at 3,500 rpm; it'll be fitted to all models. Overall fuel consumption is 61.4mpg with a CO2 figure of 109 g/km, the lowest for any petrol engine on the market, according to Toyota, putting the car in the VED band B and the cheap insurance group rating of 1E. A five-speed manual gearbox is standard with the extra cost option, around £600, of a multi-mode clutchless manual/semi automatic transmission.

A 53bhp, 1.4-litre diesel engine from PSA will be added to the range in 2006.

The Aygo carries over some styling themes from the current Yaris but it is not a tall car. Overall length is 3405mm, width is 1615mm and height is 1465mm.

The Aygo, C1 and 107 use the same Toyota-designed floorpan and running gear and are built in £1bn investment factory funded jointly by PSA and Toyota. The facility was designed and equipped by Toyota and can produce 300,000 cars a year. It is situated at Kolin in the Czech Republic, chosen for its central European position parts supply and ample availability of cheap labour.

In the remainder of this year 25,000 Aygo cars will be built for the whole of Europe with the UK getting just 3,400 units. 100,000 Aygo models will be produced for Europe in 2006 of which the UK will receive 13,000 units.

[John Nowak]

Whoever posts these things, please stop using whatever terrible scaling algorithm you are using for the pictures. These jaggies are horrible!!

[cdp]

Shortly to be found at the head of a traffic queue near you...

[fatspud]

i've just bought a c1 for my wife and i love it it's very nippy and shares a lot of the bmw mini concepts and at £40 a year road tax and nearly 70 mpg bring on more of this budget motoring meanwile my hyundai santa fe costs me £220 road tax and 20mpg (which would you rather have)!i think i'll keep the 4x4 excellent for speed bumps

[LuS1fer]

Aygo Sport eh? Hmm, sounds like a job for the Trade Descriptions Act unless the sport in question is the sack race.

Aygo Slowly would be more accurate.....LOL

[cpas]

These are the cars that the Top Gear team played 5-aside football with last year. They gave it quite a good write-up as I remember considering it's a cheap car.

[haze]

I had one a couple of weeks back, as a courtesy car. It was aright, it did the job a good little economical town car should do!