Toyota Aygo

The Aygo was the first of the French-Japanese city trio to be launched - and not only because much of the engineering and petrol powerplants are courtesy of Toyota. No, Toyota is planning the most ambitious marketing plan of the three, and needs time for the zany T-shirts, comedy beer mats and headline sponsorship of music festivals to bear fruit. No prizes for guessing why it's taken such a distinct though. As all cars are the same, the Japanese company feels creating a unique image for the Aygo will be the best way to differentiate it from the others. Whether you can 'make' a car funky remains to be seen, as will the reaction of Toyota's traditional customers when they see a car being pushed solely to people half their age. Other marketing tricks include the launch every six months of a new colour, which is why the base Aygo was only offered in a single hue at launch. And how to push people into the more expensive Aygo+ variant? Preclude the optioning of air con on the standard car. Sorcery aside, the Aygo is just as good as the other two. The three-cylinder engine is punchy, very economical and characterful, if noisy when revved, while the manual gearbox is slick. Crisp handling through the corners (with some roll and sadly-artificial steering) is paid for with a taught ride in town, but it is overall a fun drive. The boot is absolutely tiny though, a real flaw in a city car, while those in the rear will call upon front occupants to compromise if they're to be comfortable. An interesting car, and the visual differences over the Citroen and Peugeot do set it apart, but it remains to be seen whether the marketing tack will work. + Fun handling, differentiated looks, economy - Minuscule boot, more expensive than C1/107

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