Toyota Aygo X review: Zippy, simple and great fun to drive

To be honest, this week’s tester was something of a Back To The Future moment for yours truly and not in a DeLorean way or even the adventures that Marty McFly and Dr. Emmett Brown might have gotten up to in the blockbusting Robert Zemeckis franchise.

No, this was more by way of revisiting the past...right now, in this time and place and in the brilliant Toyota Aygo X Limited.

You see, the Aygo is a relic of auld decency and while everyone from manufacturers to punters are currently yakking on about the best electrics and how to get the best out of them and wondering if they’ll get you to Donegal or not, the Aygo X stands out as something which will never cause such concerns.

As a petrol engined car in these times the diminutive Toyota is more than an anachronism, it is, if what we are told is true, a dying breed. As such – and as a car with no ostensible future – it is fantastic.

The Aygo, of course, was originally conceived as one part of a three-hander between Citroen, Peugeot and Toyota which produced the Citroen C1, the Peugeot 107/108 as well the diminutive Japanese contender and they were all built in a joint venture factory in Kolin in the Czech Republic.

Production of the Aygo actually ceased last year, but the ever-resourceful Toyota replaced it with this week’s tester, the Aygo X, which has been jacked up a bit and given a mild SUV character and the sort of customer personalisation that people these days seem to like so much.

Back in the day the Toyota/Citroen/Peugeot triumvirate competed against a raft of mini city cars such as the VW Group joint production trio, the VW Up!, the SEAT Mii and the Skoda Citigo, as well as stuff like the Ford Ka, the Opel Adam, the Kia Picanto, the Hyundai i10, the 500 and the Panda from Fiat and the Suzuki Ignis.

Many of those cars have now fallen by the wayside and have not been replaced, largely because the cost of making an electric on such a small platform is prohibitive and many manufacturers don’t see that as viable.

Toyota has stuck to its guns, however, and is picking up a lot of the business those other car makers have walked away from simply because it has persisted.

The Aygo (I-go, geddit?) has gestated from its original platform to the point where it is now based on the same underpinnings as the Yaris and Yaris Cross, which is a pretty good starting point for any car, you’d have to admit.

This car looks bigger than the old Aygo, but looks can be deceptive, as we know. The wheelbase is 90mm longer, but the car is still only just over 230mm longer than the old one. The car is 50mm higher and ground clearance is up by 11mm.

The result is more space for the front passengers, but as was always the case with the older car, rear space is very tight and so it the boot – to the point you will not be carrying a child’s pushcart – or your golf clubs for that matter. Indeed without the rear seats being down, you’ll hardy get a rolled-up newspaper in there.

But that’s all part of the appeal with mini city cars and they are not supposed to be load-luggers – they’re supposed to be zippy little things that get you from A to B in an urban landscape with a little panache and a load of economy.

And zippy-looking too what with its two-colour paint job (and in Limited spec. it has tangerine flashes on the alloys and front and side leading edges) and all the SUV-esque cladding that the body has been adorned with to make it appear to be a fully-functioning off-roader, which it is most certainly not as there is no 4x4 option and Toyota has done nothing in engineering this car to make it in any way an off-piste vehicle.

What the company has done, though, is to engineer the car to within an inch of its life – to the point where the body is as light as is absolutely possible without forsaking safety and it is probably safe to say there is not a nut or bolt on this thing that should not be there.

The inside too seems pared-back, but in an innovative and easy-on-the-eye fashion. There is a very simple analog instrumentation binnacle, but the main attraction is a sort of oval-shaped design which houses the 9” touchscreen and its attendant infotainment/climate controls in a manner which is very user-friendly and intuitive.

And there’s loads of tech on offer here too, what with automatic air con., wireless phone charging, an advanced safety aids package, LED headlights, rear view camera, heated seats, top drawer upholstery, a raft of steering wheel controls and a lot of other stuff you only expect to see on more expensive cars.

The tester was fitted with the five-speed manual ‘box (instead of the optional CVT choice) and while some might feel it to be a bit Neanderthal, I thought it fitted the spirit of the car better than any auto. It’s a slick unit too, smooth and without any snatchiness or other foibles.

On the engine front there’s only one choice among the three grades on offer and it is a one litre three-cylinder unit and while it is not – by any stretch – quick, it is a hoot to drive, with the characteristic thee-pot thrum acting as a wonderful soundtrack.

It is smooth revving unit which is just as well because you do have to flog it a bit to extract the 71 bhp on offer. The 14.8 second 0-100 km/h illustrates the lack of outright pace and the 155 km/h top speed confirms it, but the fact it will potentially deliver a consumption rate of 4.6 l/100 km (60.1 mpg) illustrates its real strength.

On the road, the added height of the Aygo X seems to have added to an already strong handling/ride package and it truly is a joy to drive – well-sorted and capable of handling potholes with distain. The steering is direct and responsive.

This is evidence if it was needed that Toyota all-round strengths can be applied to any of its products, large or small and while the Aygo X is not perfect – the rear passenger space is too tight and the boot almost non-existent – it is a damn fine little car and one which, in our current environmentally-driven climate, probably shouldn’t exist. But it does and the Gods of motoring deserve our thanks for that.

Back to the future? Well, back to the past, really, but as a real live thing, the Aygo X is a wonderfully enjoyable car to drive and – if you’re in the front passenger seat – be driven in. Regular readers will know of our love for smaller cars and this is among the best right now.

I enjoyed every second of it.