What’s in a name? Well, if your car is called the Aygo, you know that it is more than a pure vehicle descriptor. Aygo – a combination of “I” and “go” – is a promise of freedom and mobility, a declaration of independence for a first time car buyer. “The Aygo offers us the opportunity to offer first time buyers a Toyota with all the benefits of quality, unrivalled support and, very importantly, modern and funky styling that shows that you do not have to compromise even if your budget is tight,” says Calvyn Hamman, Senior Vice President for Sales and Marketing at Toyota South Africa Motors.
Starting with its cheeky front design, with signature bulge over the Toyota badge, smiling lower air intake, integrated bumper protectors and flowing front fenders the Aygo makes no mystery of its youthful appeal. Viewed in profile, the Aygo’s window frame shows a coupe-like profile despite the presence of four doors. This is supported by the rearward placement of the rear door handles with character bulge, tinted windows on the Aygo Wild and the blacked out B-pillar. The design elements are continued at the rear of the vehicle, where the large tinted rear window doubles as the rear luggage door. The luggage door is flanked by stylised rear lights that mirror the headlamp design and the extended rear wheel arches that emphasise the Aygo’s squat stance. The rear design is topped by a high-mount rear stop lamp that is standard across the range.
Inspired by the cabin design of modern speedboats, the Aygo offers figure hugging front seats, a flowing dashboard that offers a multitude of storage spaces and a bold instrument cluster that is mounted atop the height-adjustable steering wheel, allowing for good visibility regardless of the steering wheel position. Styling highlights include the use of body colour in the interior door trim and the integrated placement of all comfort controls in the cylinder-shaped central section. Ball-shaped air vents invites the occupants to touch and interact with the vehicle in a youthful way. Toyota’s designers have included no less than 16 storage compartments offering 18-litres of interior storage space.
The Aygo is a true city car thanks to its length of 3 415 mm and 4.7 m turning circle, yet its 2 340 mm wheelbase and very short overhangs shows that Toyota has squeezed every inch of interior space into this small city dweller. Front occupants benefit from a long hip point (for more hip and leg room) and smart dashboard design that creates a spacious feel inside the cabin. This is supported by front seats that offer 240 mm of fore/aft travel and the height adjustable steering wheel. The rear occupants will pick up on the front seats’ slim line design that frees up rear leg and feet space.
All versions of the Aygo offers speed sensitive electric power steering and air conditioning. The Aygo Wild adds front electric windows, an MP3-player-ready front loading CD-player and a 50:50 split rear bench seat with ISOfix tether points for a child seat. All versions of the Aygo have a full sized spare wheel.
Toyota’s engineers have equipped the Aygo with ultra-modern impact protection. At the core of their design is the combination of high strength materials and a functional safety structure to absorb and dissipate impact forces away from the point of impact and more importantly away from the passenger cell. Passive safety is further bolstered by the use of two side impact bars in the front doors and bolt on crash boxes in the bumpers. These crash boxes not only absorb energy in an impact from the front or the rear, it can be removed easily to make post accident repairs easier and cheaper. A raft of active safety features includes a driver and front passenger airbag on all models and side airbags on the Aygo Wild. The airbags are complimented by an airbag on/off switch for the front passenger and a seatbelt warning system for the driver. All Aygo models are also equipped with ABS brakes, electronic brake force distribution (EBD) and emergency brake assistance (BA).
One of the Aygo’s most attractive features can be found under the bonnet. The Aygo is fitted with Toyota’s acclaimed 3-cylinder 1.0-litre petrol engine that has won its category in the World Engine of the Year competition for four years running. At 67 kg the Aygo’s engine is the lightest internal combustion engine in a passenger vehicle while its fuel consumption figure of 4.6 L/100km and tax-beating CO2 emissions of 105 g/km will make an immediate and long term difference to overall cost of ownership. The Aygo’s engine uses variable valve timing (VVT-i), 12 valves and double overhead camshafts to deliver 50 kW at 6 000 r/min and 93 Nm at 3 600 r/min. The engine is mated to a five speed manual gearbox. Weighing just 830 kg, the Aygo has a top speed of 157 km/h and a 0 – 100 km/h acceleration time of 14.2 seconds.
| Pricing | |
| Toyota Aygo Fresh | R109 900 |
| Toyota Aygo Wild | R120 100 |
Prices include a 4-year/60 000km service plan. Service intervals are set at 15 000 km.
