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By: Calvin Fisher

DOES AYGO REDEFINE compact living? Well it does and it doesn’t, because the glory is shared with the Peugeot 107 and Citroën C1 which share the platform and dinky three-cylinder engine. And it didn’t take these cars five years after their international release to get here either. So, as attractive as the Aygo is after its 2009 facelift, there’s no denying the fact that it arrives to its own party terribly late. Relevance? How about the fact that since the demise of Tazz, the A- and entry-level B-segments have been wholly uncontended by a Toyota, and overrun by decontented old B-seg cars, Chevy Sparks, Hyundai i10s and a slew of Chinese clones. Now Toyota is playing fast catch-up, and still gamely banks on moving 300 of these fully imported units a month. For at least two years before a budget Etios starts making its mark…

Exterior
The little Toyota’s design is contentious. Some feel it doesn’t look enough like the rest of the Toyota range but, especially from the front, family links to the larger Yaris are undeniable. Testers likened it to everything from an alien robot to a mutant from the insect world. It certainly provides more of an aesthetic talking point than any other Toyota from the last decade, proof that Toyota is making good on its promise to bring out some interesting cars in 2011.

Cellphone-camera toting Toyota fans mobbed the car, and strangely enough the rear got the most nods of approval despite being painfully similar to the French efforts. Overhangs are almost non-existent because there is quite literally a wheel in each corner, which makes for very easy parking but does raise concerns about passenger safety in the case of a collision. However, extensive use of high-tensile materials, collapsible crash boxes and a reinforced centre tunnel help ease those worries, and there’s always the additional safety net of airbags, or crash avoidance enhancers like ABS and EBD.

Tags: Toyota Aygo Wild

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Toyota Aygo Wild was originally published by world top cars. Read the full story by clicking here.