Road Handling

[Diego The Aygo]

Hi Everyone - I have today ordered my new Aygo Platinum and I collect him on September 1st!

Didn't think to ask the dealer about the cars road handling in snow and ice. Has anyone had one long enough to have experienced bad weather in the ikkle Aygo please?

Thanks :P

[Red Yaris 54]

Hi Everyone - I have today ordered my new Aygo Platinum and I collect him on September 1st!

Didn't think to ask the dealer about the cars road handling in snow and ice. Has anyone had one long enough to have experienced bad weather in the ikkle Aygo please?

Thanks :P

Hello and welcome to TOC

Like all cars, the Aygo needs to be driven with care in snow and ice.

It has ABS and Brake Assist fitted as standard and the tyres are comparatively quite thin so should cut through any snow.

If driving in snow and ice concerns you why dont you try to get some experience on a skid pan before the winter weather sets in. It may give you an idea how to react to a skid situation and build your confidence.

[Diego The Aygo]

Hi Everyone - I have today ordered my new Aygo Platinum and I collect him on September 1st!

Didn't think to ask the dealer about the cars road handling in snow and ice. Has anyone had one long enough to have experienced bad weather in the ikkle Aygo please?

Thanks :P

Hello and welcome to TOC

Like all cars, the Aygo needs to be driven with care in snow and ice.

It has ABS and Brake Assist fitted as standard and the tyres are comparatively quite thin so should cut through any snow.

If driving in snow and ice concerns you why dont you try to get some experience on a skid pan before the winter weather sets in. It may give you an idea how to react to a skid situation and build your confidence.

Thanks Red Yaris 54! I have driven in snow and ice for many years (21 to be precise) but I must admit to being a novice in a small car!! Your suggestion of a skid pan is a good one, thanks! I'll do some Google-ing to see if there is one round here anywhere!

I love a challenge so that will be my next one! Thank you :D

[Red Yaris 54]

Hi Everyone - I have today ordered my new Aygo Platinum and I collect him on September 1st!

Didn't think to ask the dealer about the cars road handling in snow and ice. Has anyone had one long enough to have experienced bad weather in the ikkle Aygo please?

Thanks :P

Hello and welcome to TOC

Like all cars, the Aygo needs to be driven with care in snow and ice.

It has ABS and Brake Assist fitted as standard and the tyres are comparatively quite thin so should cut through any snow.

If driving in snow and ice concerns you why dont you try to get some experience on a skid pan before the winter weather sets in. It may give you an idea how to react to a skid situation and build your confidence.

Thanks Red Yaris 54! I have driven in snow and ice for many years (21 to be precise) but I must admit to being a novice in a small car!! Your suggestion of a skid pan is a good one, thanks! I'll do some Google-ing to see if there is one round here anywhere!

I love a challenge so that will be my next one! Thank you :D

Could be an idea for a future TOC meet

[T V O R]

Hi Everyone - I have today ordered my new Aygo Platinum and I collect him on September 1st!

Didn't think to ask the dealer about the cars road handling in snow and ice. Has anyone had one long enough to have experienced bad weather in the ikkle Aygo please?

Vehicle Stability Control is available as a factory option on the Aygo Platinum (also comes with curtain airbags) worth every penny.

Watch the video I posted... Reply number 3

[zakelwe]

The standard tyres do work well in the wet, so in theory they should work well in snow with that compound, as mentioned above the thin aspect will help cut through the snow as well. Finally there is little weight over the front so if it does push wide it will probably correct quite nicely after a short period due to lack of momentum.

Unfortunately ABS actually makes you brake longer in snow, in a straight line snow building up under the tyre in a skid will let you brake in a shorter distance. In theory.

Don't forget the handbrake of course !

Regards

Andy

[Parts-King]

We all get in our ABS, EBD, VSC enabled cars and forget how to drive properly!

In any bad weather, take your time, use less throttle/brake and think about what is coming up ahead, then if something does go wrong, you will have the ability to control your car and bring it to a controlled stop. I read no end of threads last year saying "I ran off the road in ice, obviously my ABS failed" Rubbish! you drove too fast for the conditions and didnt slow down is the answer to that one

Kingo

[cabcurtains]

The best car i ever drove in Snow was a Fiat Cinquecento, presumably due to its narrow tyres and low weight.

The worst a BMW 530i, Oh My God, i knew it would be bad but...it wouldn't move without 3 people sitting in the boot

[Ecoboy]

yup, BM's are pretty rubbish in the snow and ice, I had a 740i which wouldn't go anywhere in the snow whereas my current discovery just goes anywhere

Its important to remember (as audi say) that 4 wheel drive and every traction control in the book still cannot overcome the laws of physics and that is where lightness helps....reduced inertia tend to make sliding small cars easier to rescue than sliding big cars

That said....if its on offer....get it....way better value than bling wheels etc!

[gordonh]

Keep an eye out over the winter for when your local Asda/B&Q/Tesco etc car park gets it's first snow/ice.

Then late at night take your car up there and get a feel for how the car reacts when it starts to loose grip and what happens when you break to hard. You don't need to be going fast, just enough to get the car to loose grip. If you aren't racing around fast the local police will probably not mind if they bother to ask you.

Watch out for car parks that have raised kerbs that might be hidden under the snow and abandoned shopping trolleys. But these places work as a free skid pan quite nicely.

[Ecoboy]

Agree with Gordonh totally, a skid the second time is much easier to control if you've been there and done it......Excellent Advice Gordon

[Guest]

The best car i ever drove in Snow was a Fiat Cinquecento, presumably due to its narrow tyres and low weight.

The worst a BMW 530i, Oh My God, i knew it would be bad but...it wouldn't move without 3 people sitting in the boot

Cabcurtains, Fully agree with you, I used to run a cinq and it was great in the snow and ice as the handling was very neutral. Not had the Aygo long enough to have driven in really bad weather, but it behaves comparably with the fiat in the dry and the wet.

I have had mine on the limit of adhesion on the back roads of northamptonshire a few times chasing friends in RX8's, BMW's and the like and it falls into a nice 4 wheel drift when it breaks away, very similar to the way the fiat used to.

To add to the worst cars, I used to run a '90's BMW E30 325i sport that was an absolute pig in anything other thant the dry and would constantly try and spin you the wrong way. Great fun though!

[Red Yaris 54]

Good explaination of ESP here

[Paul Gi]

Vehicle Stability Control is available as a factory option on the Aygo Platinum (also comes with curtain airbags) worth every penny.

Watch the video I posted... Reply number 3

Just had a look of that video - can VSC be fitted at a dealer as opposed to at the factory? Starting to consider this more than the mods i would like at the moment...

[zakelwe]

Keep an eye out over the winter for when your local Asda/B&Q/Tesco etc car park gets it's first snow/ice.

Then late at night take your car up there and get a feel for how the car reacts when it starts to loose grip and what happens when you break to hard. You don't need to be going fast, just enough to get the car to loose grip. If you aren't racing around fast the local police will probably not mind if they bother to ask you.

Watch out for car parks that have raised kerbs that might be hidden under the snow and abandoned shopping trolleys. But these places work as a free skid pan quite nicely.

My mate James used to do this too, his trick in the summer months was climbing out of the rear left window of my Morris Ital (showing my age here) over the roof and in through the right hand window as I tried to throw him off by swerving at 30mph in the car park. 18 years old seems rather a long time ago, nowadays I'd give those sort of people a severe talking too on safety now I am 40.

In winter James once wrecked his front suspension in a car park when the snow covered up a row of kerbing stones between some sets of parking spaces, so you do have to be a bit careful of what you cannot see if the snow is rather deep.

Regards

Andy

[T V O R]

Vehicle Stability Control is available as a factory option on the Aygo Platinum (also comes with curtain airbags) worth every penny.

Watch the video I posted... Reply number 3

Just had a look of that video - can VSC be fitted at a dealer as opposed to at the factory? Starting to consider this more than the mods i would like at the moment...

It has to be ordered at the time of purchase I believe, I’ve never heard of a retro fit ESP system as it also incorporates Traction Control which would be great in the winter!

[Parts-King]

Vehicle Stability Control is available as a factory option on the Aygo Platinum (also comes with curtain airbags) worth every penny.

Watch the video I posted... Reply number 3

Just had a look of that video - can VSC be fitted at a dealer as opposed to at the factory? Starting to consider this more than the mods i would like at the moment...

No cannot be retro fitted, must be ordered at time of ordering the car. The cost of the parts to do it would be massive

Kingo