Vauxhall Agila (2008 - 2013) 1.2 VVT SE 5d Owner Review

What do you want from a car? I wanted a small modern economical five-door hatchback with folding seats. I wanted one which was low mileage and just out of warranty so that I had a fairly new car which had come down a long way in price. I wanted a cheerful well equipped car with alloys and aircon. Finally, my wife wanted a car with an elevated seating position which is easy to get in and out of. Many cars at this price were using old technology engines and were much less economical and expensive to tax. Anything truly desirable was two or three times as expensive. Our car cost 4.5K, new list price was 12.5K. I was fairly open minded about make and model and had a number of irons in the fire before this car came up. Once seen and driven I knew it was the one for us. It came from a main dealer who produced an attractive advert and a keen price. We love the red colour, the shape (so much better than the original agila), the economy, the space, the manoeuvrability, the comfort, the seating position, the flat folding seats (why don’t other cars’ fold flat?) and the car’s fun character. The 1.2 engine is very capable and is quiet and economical when tootling about town. You need to realise there is good power higher up the rev range and the car will accelerate quickly if asked. Long distance motorway trips are also fine, it never struggles. I bought a brand new space-saver spare from eBay as there is a space for one in the bottom of the boot and adjusted the handbrake cable which had stretched since new. Otherwise I have had no gripes and am very happy with my purchase. Suzuki have shown their flair when designing this car.