Popped into my local dealer today to have a look at the Aygo as i haven't seen one yet.

they had a 5-door blue Sport model in with all the extras. Had a good look around it, it was pretty much as i expected i guess.

Got offered a test drive, so took Mark up and down the Cat & Fiddle (rated as the best and most dangerous road in the UK.).

Idea was to get a good idea of what the car felt like and also the handling. I had heard in various reviews that the steering had no feel. I didn't actually think this was the case, yes its light, but i felt connected enough to what the wheels were doing.

the Cat is a very twisty road that rises 2000 feet in 7miles. I noticed that the engine was smooth enough for a 3 pot though felt a bit dead under 4K rpm. I did find that i was using the gears to keep a reasonable momentum up, though it is a 1litre engine so its never going to be quick.

Initial turn-in at speed felt reasonably good. I did get some understeer accompanied by a fair amount of tyre squealing. A slight lift helped point the nose in, but the car felt well balanced enough. There wasn't the body roll i was expecting and the car felt fine once settled into a corner. I didn't get the chance to really experience any lift-off oversteer, I get the feeling it would take a fair bit of provocation.

The brakes as expected have far too much servo and this allayed with the pedals (brake and accelerator) being too far apart mean heel and toeing though possible is hard to acheive with ease. It annoys me that new cars have so much servo assistance. The brakes felt strong enough and coped easily with a middling paced drive down the Cat & Fiddle.

The gearbox is quite a short throw and had no probs with this at all. It feels very similar to a Yaris.

Something i did like was the single wiper that sits over on the passenger side. This combined with a big screen makes visibility very good indeed.

The interior has its plus and minus points. I noticed the fog light is tucked away in a peculiar position next to the passenger airbag disable switch, akin to what you'd expect on an import, like an aftermarket halfords switch. The door panels were very cheap in material and though i guess it has to be expected to a degree seeing as its a cheap car, i think some of the finish could be better. There were quite a few exposed screws and bolt heads, which could easily have been covered with a 1p piece of plastic. That said i could live with that in all honesty.

The seats were surprisingly comfortable and more so than they looked initially. I did feel i was sitting a little high. A car in this price range is not going to have height adjustment, but i guess the high driving position is a feature of all superminis these days and is similar in feel and position to a Yaris.

I notice in the adverts that much ado was made of the stereo system. Apparently in the Sport and T3 there is a 6-speaker system that if the blurb is to be believed is a bit of a selling point.

Playing a bit with the stereo i noticed that the rear speakers were in the bottom of the door bins in the rear doors. They looked a cheapish halfords fitment, ie they were black (the trim was light grey) and weren't overly good which gave the impression they had been fitted quickly by the dealer. The sound quality and depth were a bit lacking. I have to add that i was a bit dissapointed in this as i expected it to be good, but it was crap in all honesty. I think a better option would be to spend a couple of hundred quid on uprgrading the audio if needed.

The boot is tiny, but the rear seats split and fold down which would be enough for most occassions.

Overall I liked it and it did live up to my expectations apart from the stereo.

Talked prices too and looks like i'll be going for either a T3 or Sport, both with Aircon. I can't work out whether i want to pay an extra £500 for a rev counter tbh as i'm not overly bothered about alloys and a couple of 'sport' badges. It may be the case that i don't lose out if the sport is worth that £500 more than a T3 in 3 years time though.

Overall it feels very similar to a yaris and is in many ways a slightly smaller version with cheaper materials and less spec.

Fantastic write-up Lauren

One thing I need to add though - Most potential Aygo owners wouldn't know what "heel-toeing" is (or what it should be used for) let alone ever being able to do it properly

Brilliants effort giving it some on a test drive - 50million bonus points to you I hope a sales rep was in the car with you Did you manage to get it sideways, Lauren style?

[quote name='System~G' date='Jul 4 2005, 07:26 AM']Fantastic write-up Lauren

One thing I need to add though - Most potential Aygo owners wouldn't know what "heel-toeing" is (or what it should be used for) let alone ever being able to do it properly

Brilliants effort giving it some on a test drive - 50million bonus points to you   I hope a sales rep was in the car with you Did you manage to get it sideways, Lauren style?
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the guy at the dealer just gave me the keys and left me to it so I took Mark with me. Didn't really get it sideways, but wasn't far off. Got some serious understeer going in too fast into one of the bends.. had to lift slightly which did bring the back round, so a little amount of lift-off oversteer, but only enough to tuck the nose in.



heel & toeing:

[url="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mark.nias/heelandtoe.htm"]http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mark.nias/heelandtoe.htm[/url]

wow excellent write up there lauren, glad to see you really pushed it

And respect to you for being able to heel and toe, iv tried it messing about and its impossible!

now when do i have a ride?

Good write up - most people will gush about a new car theyve bought and not admit its bad points

Much respect for going down the cat and fiddle! I vowed never to go down that road again after me and rob took a detour down it at 11pm one night in the worst fog ever! it was mucho scary!

And that heel-toe thing sounds very complicated!

Sounds like you really enjoy driving

[quote name='Tegan' date='Jul 5 2005, 12:25 PM']Good write up  - most people will gush about a new car theyve bought and not admit its bad points

Much respect for going down the cat and fiddle! I vowed never to go down that road again after me and rob took a detour down it at 11pm one night in the worst fog ever! it was mucho scary! 

And that heel-toe thing sounds very complicated! 

Sounds like you really enjoy driving 
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No worries, i used to use the Cat and Fiddle for training when i was racing last year. I race and do lots of trackdays, so i guess i've got a little experience. You can't race effectively without heel and toeing so its something i'm well practiced at. It was actually quite fun to hoon it around and the chassis though erring on the safe side is well sorted enough for sure. It doesn't quite have the tactility of adjustment of say a middle spec 206 with its lift-off oversteer, but its not bad at all.

I would be interested to hear others views on the whole stereo spec thing as i really was dissapointed with this. I notice that there is a dealer option upgrade but in the sales blurb it says the all but the base model have a six speaker system. I naturally expected this to look factory fit but it looks like a DIY job tbh, which is either crap or they've added them after it left the factory.

Also noticed you can get TTE lowering springs! GLOL!

[quote name='Lauren' date='Jul 5 2005, 12:30 PM']I would be interested to hear others views on the whole stereo spec thing as i really was dissapointed with this. I notice that there is a dealer option upgrade but in the sales blurb it says the all but the base model have a six speaker system. I naturally expected this to look factory fit but it looks like a DIY job tbh, which is either crap or they've added them after it left the factory.
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The speakers are fitted at the dealership thats why it looks like a DIY job!

lauren, can i take you for a spin over the fiddle in mine did a couple of steady runs the other day, didn't drop bellow 55 (appart from the two real sharpies by the houses just out of mac). a great road

[quote name='earpl' date='Jul 12 2005, 01:53 PM']lauren, can i take you for a spin over the fiddle in mine did a couple of steady runs the other day, didn't drop bellow 55 (appart from the two real sharpies by the houses just out of mac). a great road
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Only if you promise not to kill me.

well im not sure if i can promice that............

[quote name='earpl' date='Jul 15 2005, 08:27 AM']well im not sure if i can promice that............
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Ok, well try not to kill me then! Don't see a prob with that.

wants to take me there, get lost bad enough round sheffield and that lovely carousel style S bend,

great write up yho, i might test drive one just for the crack,

[url="http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/s/14/14656_cat_and_fiddle_road_tops_crash_league.html"]http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/s/1...ash_league.html[/url]

Think I might pay a visit to that road next time im in the area.

[quote name='Lauren' post='381536' date='Jul 4 2005, 03:13 PM']
[quote name='System~G' date='Jul 4 2005, 07:26 AM']Fantastic write-up Lauren

One thing I need to add though - Most potential Aygo owners wouldn't know what "heel-toeing" is (or what it should be used for) let alone ever being able to do it properly

Brilliants effort giving it some on a test drive - 50million bonus points to you   I hope a sales rep was in the car with you Did you manage to get it sideways, Lauren style?
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[/quote]

the guy at the dealer just gave me the keys and left me to it so I took Mark with me. Didn't really get it sideways, but wasn't far off. Got some serious understeer going in too fast into one of the bends.. had to lift slightly which did bring the back round, so a little amount of lift-off oversteer, but only enough to tuck the nose in.



heel & toeing:

[url="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mark.nias/heelandtoe.htm"]http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mark.nias/heelandtoe.htm[/url]
[/quote]

Hi Lauren,

Thanks for the write-up of your test drive. It's good to hear what the "prof" thinks about the car I'm going to have next month.
You wrote that you could help the nose into the corner by lifting, by that you mean lifting of the accelerator or the hand-brake? The latter would be more fun I guess

On other thing in your article about heel-and-toe. I thought this technique came from the old days when it was imperative to do so as gearboxes were not synchronised as they are now. I also conclude that your test to race without heel-and-toe was with a rearwheel driven car (the back went sideways).

So am I right to conclude that for a frontwheel driven car with a synchronized gearbox the only advantage is the smoother gear change?

I was surprised when I made a test drive with the Aygo MMT, that when shifting down in manual mode the engine is accelerated between the gearshift automatically, sounds great!

By the way, I wouldn't advise to heel-and-toe in Auto-mode of the MMT version.

Cheers

Djoezz

[quote name='Djoezz' post='499355' date='Feb 20 2006, 12:23 PM']

Hi Lauren,

Thanks for the write-up of your test drive. It's good to hear what the "prof" thinks about the car I'm going to have next month.
You wrote that you could help the nose into the corner by lifting, by that you mean lifting of the accelerator or the hand-brake? The latter would be more fun I guess

On other thing in your article about heel-and-toe. I thought this technique came from the old days when it was imperative to do so as gearboxes were not synchronised as they are now. I also conclude that your test to race without heel-and-toe was with a rearwheel driven car (the back went sideways).

So am I right to conclude that for a frontwheel driven car with a synchronized gearbox the only advantage is the smoother gear change?

I was surprised when I made a test drive with the Aygo MMT, that when shifting down in manual mode the engine is accelerated between the gearshift automatically, sounds great!

By the way, I wouldn't advise to heel-and-toe in Auto-mode of the MMT version.

Cheers

Djoezz
[/quote]

When i say lift, i mean lift off the accelerator as you turn in which shifts the weight toward the front hence helping turn in.

Heel and toeing has nothing to do with gearbox syncros. It is essential when racing because otherwise you get weight transfer problems if you don't heel and toe. Its about blipping the throttle whilst braking as you change down gear when approaching the corner so that when you lift the clutch up the revs are matched to the road speed which helps keep the car smooth and balanced.

The advantage of heel and toeing (in any car) is that you keep the car balanced on corner entry, which is both quicker and safer.

What you are talking about is double de-clutching ie depressing the clutch whilst you shift into neutral then lifting the clutch and depressing it again to change into the next gear, this stops the gearbox input shaft spinning at a different speed. Double de-clutching is totally unnecessary and has been for the last 40 years or so.