‘GO fun yourself’ is the rather risqué tag line for the revamped Toyota city car. So did the Aygo put a smile on my face or leave me cursing?

ON THE ROAD: THE Aygo certainly stands out. With its’ newly designed X grille, the impact is immediate, especially if you opt for one of the contrasting colour schemes. Some of those of an older persuasion might disagree, but the Aygo is not really aimed at them, being as it is inspired by Japanese youth culture.

Powered by a thrummy 1.0 litre engine, the Aygo’s small dimensions make you feel like you are going faster than you are. Progression is not as immediate as you might hope, but once off the line it keeps up with its peers. And anyway, this is ostensibly a city car so how quick it goes from nought to 60mph is not really its raison d’etre.

It cannot be denied that there is a significant amount of noise intrusion into the cabin and this might put some people off, but you can, like me, just turn the decent stereo up.

The week before I had driven the fire-breathing F-Type. I’d be fibbing if I said that on the same country roads the Aygo recreated the feeling the fast Jag had, but it did nevertheless put a smile on my face.

I’d have liked a little more grip, perhaps, but I found it immensely chuckable and a refreshing change to cars from some manufacturers who seem to regard owners as but a few months away from that great place in the sky.

ON THE INSIDE: TOYOTA has improved the quality and feel of the Aygo’s interior. There’s a good blend of materials and plenty of thought has gone into the modern layout.

Everything comes easy to hand and the touchscreen infotainment system is easy to use. Scratch a little beneath the surface and you might discover some of the items are a little less robust than you might want them to be, but they stood up to the child test during our time with the car. The doors and boot lid make a tinny sound when closing and the parcel shelf is a truly flimsy cloth affair that once I had taken out had real trouble refitting.

WHAT DO YOU GET: THE new Aygo comes in three flavours, x, x-play and x-pression, along with two special editions known as x-cite and x-clusiv. The entry level car features LED daytime running lights, power front windows, two-speaker audio unit with Aux and USB connections and 14ins wheels. Our x-clusive car also featured the likes of larger 15ins alloys, automatic air conditioning, electric front windows and door mirrors, rear view camera, x-touch multimedia system and front fog lights.

HOW PRACTICAL IS IT: I WENT on a journey of more than 200 miles with two adults and two children in the Aygo and had no complaints from anyone. Whether that would be the case had adults been sitting in the back is another question as space, while not exactly limited, is not over generous either. The boot at 168 litres is also not the biggest but is capable of handling a decent amount of shopping and with the seats down I managed to get an adult road racing bike in with minimal fuss.

RUNNING COSTS: OFFICIAL figures state that you should be able to get a return of 68.9mpg on the combined cycle. Most people will buy the Aygo for use in a built-up environment and the figure for that is 56.5mpg. CO2 emissions come in at below the magic 100g/km mark, at 95g/km, meaning owner’s do not pay any car tax.

VERDICT: NOT the finished article, but a good, fun, little car with plenty of character.

ALTERNATIVES: Kia Picanto, VW up!, Hyundai i10