• Single choice of 1.0-litre petrol engine
• Manual and automatic transmission options
• Gutless performance and very noisy

Petrol engines

This won’t take long as Toyota offers the Aygo X with just a single engine choice. A 1.0-litre petrol engine with only three cylinders and no turbocharger, this produces 72hp and – more significantly – a scant 93Nm of torque.

This lack of pulling power is what we really notice when compared with any rival that uses a turbocharged or hybrid-assisted engine. We really had to rev the Aygo X hard to make progress – at anything less than 4,000rpm it can feel sluggish and slow, and it’s not much quicker beyond this. The thrashy soundtrack isn’t much fun, either.

Expect to make a lot of use of the manual gearbox, since we needed to downshift to a lower gear for overtaking, and when going uphill. Such practice allowed us the opportunity to get used to the rubbery and imprecise shift action, but you’re unlikely to ever fall in love with this. With only five speeds, the manual gearbox Aygo X is also quite noisy on the motorway.

The S-CVT automatic can be noisier still, as when left to its own devices this uses the optimum point in the engine range for the progress required – sometimes leading to extended periods at high revs. But overall it feels like a much better match to the puny engine, making better use of the limited performance available by its very nature. It makes lighter work of traffic jams, too.

What’s it like to drive?

• Great for the city, noisy on the motorway
• Responsive steering
• Some bodyroll in corners
  

The Aygo X is perfectly fine zipping around town, but as you’ve probably already gathered, it lacks refinement at higher speeds and requires a good degree of forward planning where these are involved. After extensive testing over many months, our opinions were split – some of the Parkers team found the power adequate enough while others bemoaned the car’s severe lack of pace in high-pressure moments. Pulling onto motorways via short slip roads, for example.

After many miles, our long term test reporter, Tom Wiltshire, said was able to attune his driving style to the Aygo X’s power output.

‘It’s actually not a huge problem if you simply adjust your expectations. Drive without aggression, take it a little easier and don’t expect to be able to overtake slower-moving traffic without some planning and the Aygo copes just fine,’ he said.

The steering is nicely judged, and gave us enough of an idea about what’s going on without tiring us out on longer trips, and if the ride is somewhat abrupt it’s still better than the old Aygo city car the Aygo X replaces, and the suspension has plenty of compression travel. The wheels are big, but tall and relatively skinny rather than fat and wide, so there isn’t a huge amount of grip.

‘The gearbox has a pleasingly snickety action and the Aygo X lends itself to being chucked through the corners – a product of that ‘wheel-at-each-corner’ stance that makes most tiny cars such fun to drive,’ Tom added.

But the body roll will likely put you off before you get too carried away – though found it perfectly well controlled, the degree of lean you can generate circumnavigating a roundabout is fairly substantial.

Nothing to be alarmed about, but be wary of how green the kids’ faces are getting in the back.

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