2nd Toyota Aygo

It looks more stylish inside and out, but Aygo trails in too many other areas to the Picanto

THE first thing you’ll notice about the Toyota Aygo is its distinctive exterior design. It’s one of the best-looking cars in its class, and is much more visually interesting than the comparatively bland Kia. The recent facelift added LED daytime running lights and LED tail-lamps to give it an even more modern look. It’s a similar story on the inside, although some people will prefer the more grown-up and reserved design of the Picanto.

An infotainment display is the biggest advantage the Toyota has over its rival. The Kia only has a tiny monochrome display in ‘2’ trim, but the Aygo x-press features a touchscreen system with Bluetooth, DAB and a reversing camera. You can add sat-nav for £400, too; this isn’t available unless you buy a higher trim level on the Kia. Go for x-press trim and you can add Apple Carplay and Android Auto functionality as part of a £200 pack, something that’s been missing from Toyota’s products until recently (it’s also available on some Picanto models).

The Toyota is slightly more agile than its rival, with well-weighted steering, even if the damping doesn’t feel as sophisticated. You can hurl the Aygo into corners and feel it shuffle its weight on the road surface, which is at least good fun. Also, the engine has been updated with more power, so it now has 71bhp. It retains its engaging character, because it sounds characterful, even if it’s short on performance.

Hampering the Aygo’s keen engine are the tall ratios of the gearbox, and you’ll need to drop one or more gears to accelerate at all quickly. It took 10.2 seconds to go from 30-50mph in third, where the Kia only took 6.3 seconds.

That gives you an idea of its performance deficit; you’ll often be in third as you accelerate from a village out into a national speed limit zone or dual carriageway. The thrummy engine means it’s actually quite fun to accelerate in the Aygo, but there’s an extra element of frustration as you put your foot down and nothing much happens for several seconds while the revs build.

The sweet handling also has a trade-off in that the Aygo feels more brittle on the road than its rival. It’s fine once you’re up to speed, but doesn’t deal with potholes and broken surfaces quite as well as the Picanto. This means the car bounces around more on tight city streets. It’s a bit noisier on the motorway than the Kia, too, and the weak engine means you feel less confident with overtaking on fast roads.

THE Aygo range is different to the Picanto’s, because there’s only one engine available. More trims are offered, though, and you can pick from x, x-play, x-press, x-plore, x-cite and x-clusiv.

Entry-level x trim is sparsely equipped, with 14-inch steel wheels and electric front windows the highlights of the spec list.

With a £1,200 deposit on a 36-month, 10,000-mile finance deal, this model will cost £170 a month. Move up to x-play for a touchscreen infotainment system, air-con and a reversing camera, and you’ll pay £171 a month.

The x-press adds 15-inch alloys and coloured exterior accents for £186 a month. The x-plore costs £176 a month and adds sat-nav; it’s our pick. Top-spec x-clusiv gets bi-tone paint, foglights, Toyota Safety Sense and smartphone integration for £196 a month.