Anyone drive a Toyota Aygo on Motorways?

[Catinknickers]

My elderly mum has recently given up driving and is parting with her 2018 automatic Aygo. She wants us to sell our card and buy it. We currently have a manual hatchback of a similar age and would love an automatic as we live in a big city with awful traffic. We couldn’t afford to buy one normally.

Problem is we would need to drive to hers - 6 hours on the M1 each way - once a month or so and wondered how practical it is driving an Aygo? It seems quite noisy and light for motorway driving.

I wondered if anyone with that type of Aygo drives on a motorway long distances regularly? Would you recommend or steer well clear.

Oh god I had a Kia Picanto as a hire car once, the Aygo is MUCH better

They are very small cars, I liked mine but it was definitely happier going on trips around town than long motorway journeys. It also could not cope with hills at all!

I've recently changed to a Hyundai i10 which is a size up and feels much more substantial on the motorway. I always felt very vulnerable in the Aygo especially when a massive lorry went thundering past.

I have an Aygo! Manual - it’s fab! We’ve done lots of motorway trips and never had a single issue!

It just struggles with building speed. Once you get going it’s great though and I love it!

My daughter's Peugeot 106 is very similar and that's fine on the motorway

I drive a manual 2013 1.0 L 68 bhp Aygo everywhere. I regularly do motorway driving 100 miles +. You have to have a bit of cahones when driving the thing and don't be afraid of putting your foot to the floor. If you drive it like a normal car with a bit more horses under the bonnet it'll take you until next year to get up to the speed you want which is especially important on slip roads. My advice for merging is foot to the floor and get to 60 mph + ASAP for safe entry to the motorway. It's easier for me with a manual I keep it in a low gear for as long as possible and easily get to my desired speed. The Aygo isn't good on hills and I find I'm having to put the car into 4th or even 3rd gear to maintain 70 mph on large hills. It's very capable at crusing at 70 mph + and the engine is happy with no vibrations. The only other issue on motorways is the car is light and so strong winds and even large vehicles passing can cause the car to wobble a bit.

In the snow the car is bad on summer tyres and I'd recommend having at a minimum all-season tyres on the car from autumn to late spring and even early summer. I have all-season tyres on all year because it gives me the grip and reassurance I need on tight twisty roads because the tyres are narrow. I've driven the Aygo on premium all-season tyres in driving snow (beast from the east) from York to Middlesbrough at night no issues. The tyre choice makes such a difference with that car.

Some other drivers have no respect for the Aygo and will try to squeeze their massive SUV past you when you have right of way just because the Aygo is small. Once I had a BMW knock my wing mirror off because they though they could get through the gap even though I had no where to go. You have to be very vigilant on motorways especially if you are driving fast because some drivers will cut you up and pull out on you because they don't think the Aygo is capable of driving quickly at all. I sometimes give a cursory toot on the horn as I pass some vehicles who seem like they may pull out without checking their mirrors.

I'm summary it can be driven with ease on the motorway, be aware of drivers who do no respect the car's size, get good premium tyres and the car will be so much better, and don't be afraid to rev the pants of this little car.