Monday, April 29, 2013

REPOST: Memorable madness with the Toyota Aygo

By: Joe Clifford

Right from the outset the Toyota Aygo has made a name for itself as the ideal urban runabout, mixing cheeky styling and small dimensions with low running costs and engaging handling. What nobody could have anticipated, however, was that the model would also became something of a magnet for crazy antics.

Aygo football
To mark its launch, Toyota teamed up with BBC motoring show Top Gear for the first ‘car football’ match. Ten brand new Aygo models were kitted-out in team strips for a competitive five-a-side battle that clearly showcased the car’s manoeuvrability and pace, not to mention its robust qualities.
At the helm were top racing drivers, including the original Stig, Ben Collins. A few years later Collins fondly recalled his time with the Aygo in an interview for the Telegraph newspaper: “We trashed it to bits but it kept going even with the radiator hanging off and the headlights falling out of the sockets. It took a real pounding. We just went wild.”
Commenting further about his unabashed love for the model, Collins said: “We had about five or six touring car drivers on that day and we unanimously agreed we hadn’t had that much fun in a car that we could remember.” During the interview Collins went on to name the Aygo as his favourite car of all time, though it was also one of the cheapest he’d driven.
A surprise admission, perhaps, but from numerous JD Power customer satisfaction results we already knew that Aygo owners were among the most satisfied drivers on the road. The model has been a perennial winner in the City Car class despite increasingly tough competition. In its launch year the Aygo also received Top Gear’s Car of the Year title, albeit shared with the Bugatti Veyron, a car 120 times more expensive to buy.
Showing just how tough Toyota’s entry-level model is, battle-scarred players from the opening round of car football returned fighting for a Top Gear World Cup Final against a fresh team populated by the then-new Volkswagen Fox. Meanwhile, one of the Aygo substitutes was diverted to rival programme Fifth Gear for an incredible loop-the-loop challenge, which recreated the classic Hot Wheels set with a 40-foot loop that took car and driver through forces of up to 6G. The challenge was successful, setting a new loop-the-loop world record in the process.

Visit toyota.co.uk for full story.

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