Aygo

I had been planning to buy an Aygo as my 2nd ”commuter” car, when the falling petrol price and unwillingness to take out further loans in the face of the ”financial crisis” decided me to buy something old and cheap instead.

Hence the 1991 Peugeot 405, bought for less than the deposit on a typical 2 year old Aygo+.

The 405 is far better than expected, but time will tell how cheap it actually is to run compared to an Aygo. Needless to say it also needs more money spent on it (as always with a car like this). A decent radio, new brake discs, a cambelt change soon, with new shocks and new tyres coming up. Sigh…


Anyhow, all this nonsense made me miss out on trying out an Aygo, so, on leave and bored last week I decided go and see some small cars.
I took a look at a Picanto at my dad’s insistence, but it even he had to agree it seems obsolete now, as well as cramped and tinny after the new Ford Ka. Albeit less tinny than the Aygo…

The Ford Ka is very pretty, and quite comfortable inside for such a car. While it feels rubbish compared to the new Fiesta (or any car I currently use) it is leagues ahead of the Picanto or Aygo. However, like the Picanto, they didn’t want us to test drive one as the weather was lousy and a snow storm was about to start.

We skipped Hyundai as the i10 was bound to be much like the Picanto, and went to Toyota. After getting over their puzzlement that we didn’t want to see the new Avensis, they hauled out a Aygo+ 5dr, into the snow and muck and said “Why sit a showroom model, drive this one”.
(Before you ask about the Twingo2, there is no Renault dealer in my little town in Sweden.)

So it began…

Initially the Aygo was disappointing. Even tinnier than the Picanto it seemed a massive come-down after the Ka.
Then we started it. Very few new small cars sound like anything these days, unless they are pushed hard, then they sound horrid. This sounded interesting. The unpleasant Toyota/Daihatsu VVT whine so prevalent in the Sirion/Yaris 4-pot is completely overshadowed by the off-beat 3cyl thrum. The difference in sound is far more obvious than I would have believed!

Then off we went. Obviously it is not fast…but it feels quick around town. The willingness of the little engine makes up for a lot, although the gearshift is, like on the Sirion, awful. The electric power steering is lifeless, but unlike the Sirion, the car is so small and easy to “read” and place that it doesn’t seem to matter.
I then had the very interesting experience of taking it down the windy Åkersberga-Waxholm road. Full on snow now and there I was roaring along at great speed. (ok, I got to just over 70…that doesn’t sound like a lot [unless you are Swedish, they drive like sissies], but that speed on that road in my 405 would have had me in a ditch fast. I know…I have tried this road in the 405 a few times.)
The handling of Aygo is amazing. Simplicity and lightness and all that, well we knew Chapman was right, this just confirms it.
I have driven few cars more enjoyable and few cars better in the snow, which was the real surprise!

The newly fitted ESP system is also excellent. I have to say I have never driven anything in such bad weather and snow/slush like I drove that Aygo. Sliding all over the place to be sure, but controllable and damned fun. Amazing. The 405 requires great care in winter, my old 900 was equally clumsy in all conditions (in this case that’s a compliment), and snow/ice can cause some white knuckle moments in the 320i (admittedly due to it being a far faster car), but this was just crazy gratuitous abandon.

What a car, I love it!

(Remains to be seen if it is as much fun in the dry/summer. Perhaps then its lack of power would be a bigger issue…)