Ex Aygo Owner Experience

[snakeybee]

I owned an aygo a few years back now but I just wanted to share my aygo ownership experience with everyone as I found other peoples reviews helpful when I was looking to buy a car.

I owned a 06 reg aygo (VVT-i +) for 18 months before parting with it, the car was 1 and a half years old on purchase from a Toyota dealship.

I found the car fun to drive and had good fuel economy (I was getting ~200 miles from half a tank), however I experienced so many problems!

My biggest issue was the clutch arm breaking on me on two separate occasions; the first time the clutch just went as I was changing gear on the motorway, I was fortunatly able to glide to the side of the road otherwise I would have been stuck on the middle of the motorway in rush hour(car had done ~30k and had a full dealership service months before). This was replaced under warranty, but the same thing happened again 6 months later, except this time I was luckily stranded outside my friends house. The clutch flops to the carpet and when the AA man (happended to be the same guy both times!)opened the bonnet he found the broken clutch arm and can be pulled out. This was replaced under warranty again, but I decided to trade this back to the dealer as the work would have cost £300-500 if it hadn't been under warranty.

Other minor issues included;

1) "Sticky gears", changing from 3 to 2 and 2 to 1 became difficult. Toyota couldn't fix this.

2) Boot button getting jammed, sometimes unable to lock the boot as when i press the button to open it wouldn't pop back out again!

3) Everything seems to need replacing frequently or needs attention. For exmaple the brake discs and pads needed replacing at around 25K even though I drive sensibly, and back box was blowing.

I got a Yaris afterwards which had none of these problems and the build quality is on another level...for not much more money. The insurance and fuel economy difference is actually minimal when comparing an Aygo and Yaris, and the Yaris doesn't need parts replacing at every service interval! Aygo is better fun to drive however so is a real shame it was so unreliable!

[MartyB]

What engine and mpg are u getting from the Yaris? I did look at the Yaris but it cost a few thousand more and I hated the speedo not being in front of the driver.

[snakeybee]

My Yaris was a 1.0 litre 06 reg which is the same engine as the Aygo, was still getting at least 40 mpg. I took the Yaris from Cambridge to Inverness last year for a weekend (~1000 mile round trip), and starting on a full tank I was only at the petrol station 3 times in that round trip, there was still two bars everytime I filled up. So I didn't see much difference in fuel cost when I changed from Aygo to Yaris.

However the newer Yaris are mostly 1.3 so I'm not sure how much diffence that is, but I believe the road tax is quite cheap now.

Yes Yaris are a few thousand pounds more expensive when comparing to the Aygo of the same age and mileage, but a slightly older Yaris with more mileage will be cheaper but still more reliable than a newer Aygo. If you buy from a toyota dealer you will still get one year warranty even if the car is over 3 years old, link below is the toyota site where you can search all the used cars they have in stock;

http://www.toyota.co.uk/cgi-bin/toyota/bv/frame_start.jsp?id=used_cars

Aygo are a short term saving I believe, the parts are cheaper but need replacing more frequently.

I have no issues with the Yaris in two years, services at the main dealer at 30K and 40K had no repairs needed, just the cost of the service.

[snakeybee]

Also you will get use to the speedo, I found it difficult too at first but you'll quickly get use to it.

[MartyB]

Not sure I would be happy with 40mpg as there are other cars out there that are better. My other car is a diesel Astra and I still get over 50mpg and yet its a lot faster and bigger than a Yaris. Maybe a diesel Yaris would have been a better option.....

[snakeybee]

Suzuki Alto (09 on) or Nissan Pixo (sister cars) claim to return 64mpg on petrol models if fuel economy is your main criteria. It's similar to the Aygo price.

[nesida]

I will soon be an ex Aygo owner as well and my car was also taken away by the AA last week. I have had the same problem as you had with the clutch, but unfortunately out of warranty so it cost me 400 pounds. The brake discs and pads seem to need changing every two years, and the same applies to the tyres. Two weeeks after its yearly service, my car refused to start and the garage couldn't find the fault so they asked me to pay 150 pounds just to do a more advanced test. Apparently the alternator needs replacing. I intend to get rid of the car before having time to find out what else can go wrong with a Aygo. This is the most unreliable car I have ever owned. It may be cheap to buy but it is extremely expensive to maintain.