New Aygo Battery.

[Uncle Bob]

I noticed the other day that the inspection eye glass on top of the original AYGO Battery had gone black, the car was still starting OK but once the eye glass changes from green to black, the Battery will not last too much longer, especially with winter on the way.

I looked at all the choices, genuine Toyota at £60.00, on line batteries ( not much use if you need to return it under warranty ), and high street brands.

I decide to fit the best i could, so purchased a 5 year warranty Bosch Silver top. This Battery has 520A, over the Aygo's original 300A, so will have plenty of reserve power in the coldest of winters, cost was around £68.00.

Fitting the battery is very straight forward and only needs a few tools, 10mm ring spanner for connections and a 12mm socket with extension for the clamp.

Bosch battery is longer that the original but as you can see ,the battery tray can easily take the bigger battery .

[daveyjp]

A larger Battery is fitted to diesels, hence the oversized tray. I notice the original has two inspection covers. Did you remove these and check the electrolyte level before replacing?

[Uncle Bob]

Funny thing, the instructions on top of the old Battery says under no circumstances to remove the caps... so i did anyway ! , all the levels were OK .

[uli]

UncleBob you could have charged your old Battery. My eye glass turned black as well and after some charging it works fine again.

Buying a Bosch Battery wasn`t a bad thing at all.

Nice pics by the way

[Addie95]

Is the Toyota 1lt automatic suitable for me ,,l want a small car that's economical and l am thinking of having a test drive in the Aygo auto, the only draw back might be is that l travel from the West Midlands to Devon 3 or 4 times a year to visit my daughter this means driving on the M5 . Is this car suitable for this journey...?

[Jan&tone]

Is the Toyota 1lt automatic suitable for me ,,l want a small car that's economical and l am thinking of having a test drive in the Aygo auto, the only draw back might be is that l travel from the West Midlands to Devon 3 or 4 times a year to visit my daughter this means driving on the M5 . Is this car suitable for this journey...?

Probably would be ok as long as you don't expect a 90mph rocket!

Our Aygo has done the 80 miles from home via m25 and m20 to Folkestone a few times without any problems!

[ihpj]

Now yer fuel economy is going to be shot as yer carrying all that additional wieght ;)

[another_pleb]

I noticed the other day that the inspection eye glass on top of the original AYGO battery had gone black, the car was still starting OK but once the eye glass changes from green to black, the battery will not last too much longer, especially with winter on the way.

I looked at all the choices, genuine Toyota at £60.00, on line batteries ( not much use if you need to return it under warranty ), and high street brands.

I decide to fit the best i could, so purchased a 5 year warranty Bosch Silver top. This battery has 520A, over the Aygo's original 300A, so will have plenty of reserve power in the coldest of winters, cost was around £68.00.

Fitting the battery is very straight forward and only needs a few tools, 10mm ring spanner for connections and a 12mm socket with extension for the clamp.

Bosch battery is long that the original but as you can see ,the battery tray can easily take the bigger battery .

Did you have any problems with the radio code? Is there a radio code for the Aygo or does it not need one because it's a unique shape?

[Uncle Bob]

I had no problems with the radio,next time i used the car it had the same preset stations .

[S_J_P]

Some time ago a battery-installer told me that using a charger can prevent memory-loss!

The last time I swapped batteries I used a charger attached to the terminals whilst I swapped the Battery over, and didn't suffer any ill-effects

I'm not sure whether it's common or good practice though!

[Cyker]

Is the Toyota 1lt automatic suitable for me ,,l want a small car that's economical and l am thinking of having a test drive in the Aygo auto, the only draw back might be is that l travel from the West Midlands to Devon 3 or 4 times a year to visit my daughter this means driving on the M5 . Is this car suitable for this journey...?

Test drive it; The MMT-equipped automatics are at best an acquired taste...

Why not manual?

Also, how about a Yaris...? :D

Disclaimer: I have a diesel Yaris obsession :D

[Mooly]

Some time ago a battery-installer told me that using a charger can prevent memory-loss!

The last time I swapped batteries I used a charger attached to the terminals whilst I swapped the battery over, and didn't suffer any ill-effects

I'm not sure whether it's common or good practice though!

Never use a normal Battery charger to do this.

The reason is this.

Many Battery chargers are little more than a mains transformer and diode rectifier. With the charger terminals not connected to anything the voltage can be as high as 20 volts. Also this is a not a smooth DC voltage,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectifier

These type of chargers rely on the Battery to both pull the voltage down and also to "smooth" out the peaks.

With the battery out of the car and a charger connected any electronics get the full distorted output of the charger.

If you must use something to keep memory applications alive while the battery is out of the car then it must be an approximate 12 to 15 volt stable DC supply.

[Uncle Bob]

I had the Battery changed over and connected in less than a minute, all preset radio stations still fine and clock was also fine. so no need for a memory saver to be fitted.