In the search for a car for my wife we have just had one of these for the weekend. In a word it was brilliant! It was a sport model 1.0 petrol with 5 doors. It will be the second car and will be used for her commute and picking our daughter up from nursery. Basic requirements are cheap to run, has 5 doors but is small enough to fit on our rear patio which is at 90 degress to the drive.
Toyota are offering 48 hour test drives (the paperwork actually says 72) so we had one. My wife has had two smarts and her comment was 'this is what the smart forfour shoud have been'. It seats four with plenty of legroom in the rear and even with the passenger seat forward to accommodate a baby seat I had plenty of room in the front. The boot is small, but the car is only 3.4m long. It was well specced with aircon (extra cost), electric windows, remote central locking, CD player with 6 speakers and MP3 input.
I wondered how well it would go, but the 1.0 is very free revving and in urban traffic keeps up very well. On the motorway it did in excess of the speed limit with no sign of struggle, although it gets a bit noisy in the cabin after 65 or so, but the three pot thrum is reminiscent of the smart.
All in all a car that's been built to a price, you can see where money has been saved (a few exposed bolt heads, lots of metal inside, basic rear view mirror, no passenger window switch on drivers side etc), but it doesn't feel cheap and is well bolted together. The doors have a satisfying thud when closed.
The car had done just over 200 miles so was probably still on it's first 35 litres of fuel and the guage was showing not quite half empty - so the 50 mpg+ seems easily achievable. Tax is just £40 a year.
She is going to look at a few other options, but for the budget an ex demo one of these seems to tick all the boxes.
I'm comparing this with the Citroen and Pug alternatives, but they appear to be cheaper as the spec is different. My wife also prefers the look of the Toyota and the dealership experience was very good.
|
|
Bear in mind that you can get a brand-new base model Toyota Yaris for £6995 from Autobytel, albeit with 3 doors rather than 5. Can also get the base model Aygo for £5995 from the same place; again this is a 3 door model.
|
|
Thanks for the info, but how does getting a three door tick the box of us wanting a 5 door car? Base model Aygo is no good as it has no Isofix system, no remote locking etc - Yaris may be the same, but we aren't considering that as it's grown a bit too big so we haven't looked at it.
|
|
|
|
No. 2 daughter's boyfriend has one and is delighted with it. Elder daughter tried one but she could afford a 1.3 Yaris and there was no comparison.
Unless you need the extra room (which isn't all that much) an Aygo would seem a better bargain than a 1.0 Yaris.
|
|
I noticed an ad for the Citroen C1 the other day on a PCP for £99/mth. The final value seemed stupidly high - £4500 or so - but still a very cheap way into a new car.
|
I keep meaning to post about the Aygo that I'm amazed by the design of its rear end and its absence of anything like a rear bumper.
For a car that is likely to be exposed to a lot of car park scrapes and bumps, the whole rear end seems to be one piece of metal almost to thigh height which will cost a fortune to fix dings in. The only protection are tiny bits of plastic strip right on the corrners.
This is the definition of rubbish design in a car. The same is true of the micro Peugeot (107?)
I have a Yaris and was quoted an absurd figure for a replacement bumper valance to be supplied and sprayed following the slighest of impacts, it being made of heavy guage tin foil.
I went to a scrappy for one (£10) and got a mate to get it sprayed by anoter mate (£50) and fitted it myself.
|
|
Hsar the whole rear end of the Aygo/C1/107 is the plastic bumper, a brilliant design and why its been given the lowest insurace group possible.
|
|
The rear bumper looks the same as the smart. This consists of a plastic panel which covers the structural elements of the car - very quick and in a minor shunt cheap to fix.
|
I've got one (3dr SPORT in red) and have covered 3.5k miles in 2 months in it. Sure it is pretty basic but it does what it needs to very well. Best thing for me is that it is only £40/year road tax and averages 58-60 mpg keeping up with all the other motorway traffic.
I would highly recommend the Aygo for someone looking for a cheap, small, reliable and environmentally friendlyish car.
|
|
Is there any benefit to buying the Toyota version vs Citroen (or Peugeot)?
|
|
I prefer the appearance of the Citroen version. Some of the higher-spec variants seem over-priced. Otherwise it seems an excellent machine for the purpose and one of the few cars in its class where I do not see the diesel as being a better bet than the petrol versions.
|
Billpayer - I've been trying to compare specs across the different models. The base spec across the range is the same. The Pug comes in two specs, the Citroen in three and the Toyota in three plus a limited edition 'Black'. As you can imagine trying to do such a comparison can quickly make your head hurt. The Toyota wins on looks in our household so we probably won't consider the other two.
Alan I agree with you on the diesel, it's the 1.4 diesel as fitted to a whole range of Peugeots, Citroens, Fords etc. If they fitted the 90PS diesel as used in the Yaris it may be worth considering, but with this unit there are limited benefits.
|
|
Isn't the Citroen cheaper than the other two? That would be the decider for me, although it's probably fair to say that the Toyota badge will be better for resale value than the double-chevron. Silly I know but that's the way people's minds work for some reason.
|
|
A Toyota is generally more reliable than the other two.
|
A Toyota is generally more reliable than the other two.
But aren't they all built on the same production line?
|
A Toyota is generally more reliable than the other two.
:)
Are people *that* lazy though that they can't be bothered to find out that C1 = 107 = Aygo?
|
|
No you miss the point. The fact that it's got a Toyota badge on it will mean it's more reliable, even if it's the same car. As we keep hearing with monotonous regularity, Jap = good, French = bad. (we have both and it's not as clear cut as that).
|
No you miss the point. The fact that it's got a Toyota badge on it will mean it's more reliable, even if it's the same car.
I know exactly what you meant. Most people don't recognise the Japanese reliability thing anyway -- if they did, there would be more Toyotas than VW sold here as is the case everywhere else. The Pug will be worth more than the Citroen as well -- people consider Peugeots to be better made than Citroens, which is preposterous, but that's what we have to deal with.
As we keep hearing with monotonous regularity, Jap = good, French = bad. (we have both and it's not as clear cut as that).
On balance (taking all the cars sold into account), yes it pretty much is as clear cut as that. Of course you're going to get some good French cars and some bad Jap ones though.
|
|
It would be fascinating to see stats for breakdowns and warranty repairs for the 3 cars. I wonder if any differences (*if* there where any) would be due to the demographic of the owners?
|
It would be fascinating to see stats for breakdowns and warranty repairs for the 3 cars. I wonder if any differences (*if* there where any) would be due to the demographic of the owners?
Would definitely be very interesting, and I'm sure we will find out in a year or two when the JD Power et al surveys come out.
There does seem to be some evidence to suggest that demographic has a part to play -- Skodas being "more reliable" than VWs, for example.
|
|
I know that all three are built in the same factory, but do they actually trundle down the same line? If so, then I can't believe that there would be any quality / reliability differences at all. I imagine problems would arise only later when the owners encounter variability in dealer (hence servicing) quality, which would seem to favour the Toyota.
|
> I know that all three are built in the same factory, but do they actually trundle down the same line? If so, then I can't
> believe that there would be any quality / reliability differences at all.
Does anyone know how quality control is generally managed for cars? Is it all done on the production line, or are cars (or a sample of cars) road-tested after being fully completed?
|
"I can't believe that there would be any quality / reliability differences at all."
No, nor can I. Surely the best differentiator for most people will be the dealer: reputation, location and what sort of deal they're offering. I suspect that there is a better chance of finding a good Toyota dealer, but of course there are some good Peugeot and Citroen dealers if you look for them.
Tell us where you live if you're not sure, and someone will no doubt come along who lives nearby and give some info.
Back in the 1970s I was a member of one of those teams of accountants who investigated British Leyland. I remember being told by one of their directors that he'd heard someone in a pub saying he'd had several Austin Cambridges in the 60's but never rubbish like Ford Cortinas or Morris Oxfords. They came, of course, down the same production line, at least the Farina-bodied versions did.
|
Knowing that it was a shared platform I opened the bonnet to look for clues for shared components, but everything was labelled and stamped 'Toyota'. The engine is a Toyota unit, so this could explain it. A colleagues Seat has Audi stamped components all over the engine.
The prices appear to have been reviewed. When first released the Toyota was £500 more across the board, now it varies depending on the spec. Pug is cheapest in base spec, but no five door. The model with the better spec has the Toyota at 7480, the Citroen 7725, Pug 7695.
|
The prices appear to have been reviewed. When first released the Toyota was £500 more across the board, now it varies depending on the spec. Pug is cheapest in base spec, but no five door. The model with the better spec has the Toyota at 7480, the Citroen 7725, Pug 7695.
I'd just say go for whichever is the cheapest if you can't decide based on looks. Nothing to stop you getting the Peugeot serviced at a Toyota/Citroen dealership etc. And as there is little to go wrong with these cars the chances of coming across a fault that's too hard to fix is remote.
|
|
I think the Aygo/107/C1 are probably one of the most environmentally, and also the most economical cars currently on sale. The fuel consumption and emissions are very low, probably lower than any other petrol-only car. The production cost is also very small, which will probably have a very small environmental impact, especially when you compare it to hybrids etc.
I think they look great, both inside and out, but they are a small inside, especiall in the boot. Unfortunately I drove one, and was very dissapointed. I found it quite stressful to drive because the rear visibility was so poor, performance was very dull, and it was a very rolly, and bumpy ride. It felt very scarey going around corners.
|
I considered a C1 recently (prefer its looks to Aygo and 107 personally), but in the end bought a Smart four two because:
1. Wanted a small car for town use for only me, so 2 seats suffice.
2. The automated gearchange on the Smart is brilliant around town. Forget the road tests, the flappy paddles and 3-cylinder hum make it real fun.
3. I still amaze myself at the parking spaces and u-turns I can now do - I have forgotten what a 3-point turn is.
4. I prefer to buy used to avoid depreciation. Very few used C1/Aygo/107s around at the moment with AC. For the price of a C1 with AC I got a low mileage Smart Brabus with leather, alloys, AC, glass roof, etc.
But its best I don't dwell on the ride comfort of the Smart, especially over those infernal speed humps.
|
|
|
|
