Cars from my life, with boyricer. #1
Lets start this off with something a bit different! It's my mothers car, but before I bought my own car, this was what I had to learn in! Needless to say I bought a car within weeks, but i still get to have a drive of the beasty every now and then! The car in question is a Vauxhall Agila, and no, its as 'agile' as it sounds! To make it worse it wasn't the 1.2i model either, it was a 5 door 2004 model with a chain driven DOHC 973cc 3 cylinder, 12 valve, which sounded like an Impreza only firing on 3 cylinders.
Vauxhall's advertisement for their 00-06 Agila.
The car was as basic as a car could be, it didn't have electric windows, it only had solid front discs, single pot callipers, 14" steel wheels, an awful 5 speed gearbox, no clock, an awful radio, 2 speakers, and to make matters worse, it has got ABS and electric wing mirrors! Who the fuck thought, it'd be a great idea to put electric wing mirrors standard, and make the windows as stiff, awkward and hard to unwind while driving as possible. Anti-Lock braking systems? Why? The 1 pot callipers probably wouldn't lock up on ice, the brakes take a fair distance to slow from 70, with the non vented discs, that over heat from 70-45mph.
Someone call Postman pat, we found his car!
My dad originally bought this car for my mum so she could deliver her laundry with it having great loading capabilities, and that the car only cost £4995 brand new. Since 2004 the car is sadly still in our family, with it's shocked and uneasy face. Needless to say, my friends didn't live it down that I had L plates on a Vauxhall Agila.
What's the 1st thing you think of when you see this?
Don't get me started on the suspension, the car going around a bend at 50 leans so heavily into the corner, it almost feels like the car will flip! I don't think anyone actually thought about setting suspension up when they built the car at Vauxhall, this box of a car, bounces everywhere, as the suspension is far too soft, therefore making the ride uncomfortable. Often you'll find yourself bouncing out of your seat over pot holes. The car is known for going onto 3 wheels too just to make it worse!
They want £3995! Don't go to that garage...
Now for the engine! Being a DOHC, the 973cc engine doesn't go great speeds, the 0-60 is 17 seconds! That's right, 17! Well it produces 57 bhp and 90 nm of torque, which means the car has a top speed of 88mph, but my dad got 100, downhill on a motorway, after 2 minutes of keeping his foot down, and I've had 85mph in the beast wagon too. So you'd think the MPG's would be FANTASTIC! Wrong. 44mpg, that's awful.
Dat build quality, some say it rivals the Supra!
There isn't any previous versions of this car, however there are newer Agilas, which look slightly better, but from what I can see online, still suffer from the same engines, however now there is a 1.3TDI option! For a car which is really a re-badged Suzuki Splash there's nothing going for it, to be a hot hatch sensation for us to reflect on, in years to come, what a shame. A word of warning to prepare yourself, there is a new Agila coming in 2015!
07-14 Agila, also know as Agila B
Mods wise, the car has nothing, I've never found anything for the car, and realistically, why would you want to mod this? The car is box shaped, with a pea shotter exhaust, black bumper trims. An awful shape, makes this one of the most unwanted cars ever...
...except for maybe your gran...
...and my mum.
LOOKS 2 / 10
It's not worst looking car ever, it just has nothing going for it! With strong competition from the Fiat Multipla, this boxy babe just pulls ahead with its post van style.
HANDLING 1 / 10
With Suspension that feels like it'll snap the steering rack, and it also has a reputation to under
steer and over steer, basically not doing anything you want it to do. I can't help but feel Vauxhall wanted this to be a sensational drive like a Mini Cooper (no not the new ones).
SPEED/ACCELERATION 3/10
While the car takes 17 seconds to get to 60, and hasn't got enough power to spin the tyres, the agila can still feel punchy due to the stupidly soft suspension, which makes it feel faster than you're actually going.
BRAKING 2/10
While the brakes wouldn't stop you in a real crisis, they still work (eventually). It may also have drums on the rear, but it does have ABS and I've not read any bad reviews on brakes failing either. Sorry that's the only plus point!
MODDING 0/10
While you may find mods for this car, I haven't found ANYTHING, so this will have to be rewarded with a 0! For a car without a tachometer, what's the point of modifying it?
BHP. - 57
Torque - 90/nm's
0-60MPH - 17.4 seconds
Top MPH - 88
Overall score of 8/50 (16%) Wouldn't recommend, not even for town driving. For a car that translates into 'Agile', it's the opposite.