Category: City Cars 
Price Range: £7,785 to £9,335
A real charmer inside and out, very low running costs, genuine space for four adults, good ride and handling compromise.
Tiny boot, rear seats don't slide, limited colour choice.
A charming little city car that reminds us of the original Citroen 2CV with its character and honest simplicity.
There are MacPherson struts at the front and a torsion-beam axle at the rear, which is a fairly conventional, but effective, set-up. The Aygo rides very well indeed, smoothing out broken bits of tarmac with real aplomb. It does, though, roll heavily through tight corners. That said, the compromise between ride and handling is quite good: the Aygo never feels as though it'll do anything untoward through the corners, even if you suddenly lift off the throttle. In terms of location, the simple control functions are brilliantly positioned, but taller drivers might wish for a lower seating position - the Aygo doesn't offer variable seat height adjustment. With its wheels stretched right out to the very corners of the car and power assisted steering, the Aygo is also an easy thing to pilot around town.
With a 67bhp 1.0-litre three-cylinder powerplant, you wouldn't expect the Aygo to go-go. But with a minimum kerb weight of just 790kgs - that's less than a Lotus Elise - the littlest Toyota manages to feel lively, even if the figures aren't quite in Lotus territory. That 3-cylinder engine even manages to sound quite characterful when revving out to the 6000rpm where max power resides, almost like a (very, very) junior 911. For the record, that's 0-62mph in 14.2sec and a top whack of 98mph. So your license is safe.
There's a caveat here, though, in the form of Toyota's Multi-Mode manual transmission. This is a clutch-pedal-less manual that can be used in fully automatic mode, or shifted with a nudge up or down on the shift lever. Give it a miss, as in auto mode the shift quality is so lazy that it'll drive you nuts. In manual mode, it's equally frustrating as it's too easy to end up in the wrong gear. Save your money and go for the manual five-speed, which is nicely mechanical in its feel and well matched with the engine.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Toyota Aygo
wrote on 25 02 2007
wrote on 17 09 2006