Vauxhall Agila 1.3 CDTi Design

“A small car with
big ideas, that’s the
all-new, reborn
Vauxhall Agila.
On sale in the UK
from 23 April, could
it be the ‘people
carrying city car’
you’ve been
searching for?”

SHARING ONLY ITS NAME with the predominantly functional original model, the new five-door Agila 'people carrying city car' will now be sold on its style, simplicity, practicality, low running costs, modern exterior body colours and interesting combinations of colour for the interior.

Whereas the previous Agila sold to the older generation, the new one — if you believe Vauxhall's marketing-speak — is aimed expressly at younger, trendy and fashion conscious females and young couples. But it is quite likely that the not-so-young who are still young-at-heart will still have a big say in the sales success of the new range as motoring continues to become more expensive.

Vauxhall anticipates the Agila will achieve 5,000 sales in the UK market in a full year. This sector last year saw 94,264 registrations — making it one of the fastest growing segments in Europe and the UK.

Produced as a joint-venture with the Suzuki Splash in Hungary, the Agila is the latest model to enter the booming monocab sector.
It will join the larger Vauxhall Meriva and Britain's best-selling MPV,
the Zafira.

Barry Scott, Vauxhall's small car product manager, said: "We've sold 35,000 Agilas in the UK and 440,000 in Europe. The five-door car will compete against the Fiat Panda, Renault Modus, Suzuki Splash and
the Honda Jazz, as well as three-door models such as the VW Fox and Renault Twingo."

Prices start at £7,595 and rise to £11,195. The likely best-selling model is expected to be the Agila 1.2i Design, costing £9,595 with manual transmission or £1,000 more for the auto gearbox.

The five-door body will be available in three trim levels (Expression, Club and Design) depending on engine size. There is the choice of three powertrains: 1.0i and 1.2i petrol and, for the first time with an Agila badge, a 1.3-litre CDTi diesel. Automatic transmission also becomes available as an option for 1.2i Club and Design versions.

The entry-level power plant is a three-cylinder, 1.0-litre, lightweight all-alloy petrol engine based on that found in the previous generation Agila, and renowned for its free-revving, lively nature. It produces 64bhp and 66lb ft of torque and accelerates from 0-62mph in 14.7 seconds, with a top speed of 99mph. Combined cycle fuel economy is 56.5mpg and the CO2 emissions are 120g/km, resulting in a £35 Vehicle Excise Duty rating — and it should become exempt for the proposed new London Congestion Charge from October this year.

Moving up the engine range, the Agila 1.2i 16v all-alloy petrol unit develops 85bhp and 84lb ft of torque and accelerates from 0-62mph in 12.6 seconds. It has a top speed of 109mph. Average fuel economy
is 51.4mpg with CO2 levels of 131g/km giving an annual road tax bill of £120.

Both petrol units come with a five-speed manual gearbox as standard, but for the first time there is now an automatic option for Agila — available only on the 1.2i 16v model which is mated to a four-speed automatic gearbox. New Agila also welcomes diesel power. The familiar 1.3-litre CDTi 74bhp, 140lb ft unit (which debuted in the Corsa) not only offers frugal fuel consumption of up to 70.6mpg, but also emits just 120g/km of CO2, meaning it benefits from the low £35 road tax.

Vauxhall anticipates that 55 per cent of customers will opt for the
top-of-the-range Design specification; 35 per cent will choose Club; and 10 per cent the base Expression version.

With regard to engine choice, Vauxhall says 56 per cent will opt for
the 1.2i petrol engine with the manual transmission; 15 per cent will choose the same engine but with an automatic gearbox; 23 per cent of customers will go for the 1.0i petrol unit; and just 6 per cent will opt for the diesel unit. But they admit that, with the recent changes in tax ratings and higher fuel costs, these figures might change. However, what Vauxhall is certain of is that over 90 per cent of Agila customers will be retail buyers as opposed to fleet users.

The new Vauxhall Agila is all about trendy exterior looks, new paint-work colours, funky interior styling with bright colours and the practical packaging of interior space with lots of storage pods. Vauxhall has undoubtedly gone to town to impress with the design and to create a cult status as experienced by MINI and Fiat 500 owners.

Inside the new, tall five-door body with a wheel at each corner con-figuration there is over 1,000 litres of load space with the rear seats folded down — a seriously high volume for such a compact car. Even with the rear seats in place there is still 225 litres of boot space. The Agila will seat five at a squeeze and, on all but the base model, those in the front can even have height adjustable seats. The waistline is low and the windows large so visibility is pretty good to the front and side but the rear corners still need watching. The tailgate is very wide, so loading of bags is easy; though you'll need to watch your head on the low height tailgate.

The standard Expression specification includes four airbags, anti-lock braking, electronic immobiliser, stereo radio and CD player, speed-sen-sitive power-steering, tinted glass and 14-inch steel wheels. Additional items on Club models include electrically-operated front windows and door mirrors, 15-inch steel wheels, a 60:40 split folding rear seat and a Dual/Floor luggage compartment. Design models come with AirCon, alloy road wheels and a leather-bound steering wheel.

A completely new MacPherson strut and A-frame front suspension is matched with a torsion beam sprung rear axle so the Agila offers a fair degree of ride comfort and it handles safely, if not sharply. An elec-tronic stability programme is available only as a £400 option on all models. Sorry Vauxhall, but this should definitely be a standard-fit item. Their argument is that Agila is primarily a city car used in slow moving town traffic. My view is that a responsible manufacturer cannot make that assumption, and young users, some with children, will be using this car to travel from the country into towns and cities in all weather conditions. The Agila is expensive enough, so it really should include this safety function.

The streets of Cheltenham Spa lined with fashionable shops and restaurants proved no obstacle for the compact Agila, and our brightly-coloured test car turned a few heads of 'ladies-who-lunch' as we sat in traffic. On the open through the hilly Forest of Dean, the 1.0i and 1.2i litre petrol units were willing enough but needed to be pushed hard to keep the car moving at a reasonable pace. You cannot afford to let the revs die otherwise going up hills could at times become a struggle.

The steering is light, brakes good but most surprising was the ride comfort — this car has a welcome ability to absorb all but the most severe of bumps and potholes.

Without doubt the star engine in the line-up is the 1.3-litre CDTi turbo-diesel. I know it costs £1,600 more than the 1.2-litre petrol unit but the annual road tax from 1 April is only £35 compared to the £120 for the 1.2-litre petrol unit. And from October, the diesel motor will also be free from the London Congestion Charge so it will be financially user-friendly for commuters or residents.

The official average fuel economy is also better — at 62.8mpg — over the 51.4mpg of the 1.2-litre petrol unit. More impressive is the diesel's vastly better driveability and performance.

Sure, if you only want the Agila just to run a few miles to and from town each day by all means go for the 1.0-litre petrol engine, but don't expect to get anywhere in a hurry and steer clear of steep hills. The 1.2-litre petrol engine is marginally better and some longer journeys — but not too long — can be undertaken. However, the best option of all is the diesel power unit.

Whilst it has marginally less power at 74bhp (than the 85bhp 1.2-litre petrol engine), it has far more torque — 140lb ft from just 1,750rpm. The extra weight of this engine also improves the handling of the car. It is more stable at higher speeds, and it is better during cornering
with more front wheel grip. It makes using the Agila for long motorway journeys a very real possibility.

The noise levels are low, the driving responses are much sharper and it is really nice to drive in town, in the country or on open roads. Just having that better handling, driving refinement and more power for hills and motorways made the diesel-powered car so much more enjoyable.

While Vauxhall forecast that just 6 per cent of the 5,000 annual Agila sales in the UK will be diesel variants, I feel sure they have under-called this number. For a nicer driving and living-with experience the diesel Agila is the one to go for despite the fact that 1) it costs more to buy the car and 2) the price of diesel fuel over petrol is now higher.

For the record, during the pre-launch test drives in all 'real-life' motor-ing conditions (busy towns, country lanes and motorways), the 1.0-litre petrol engine returned 35.6mpg, the 1.2-litre petrol unit returned 46.2mpg and the 1.3-litre turbodiesel unit recorded 55.3mpg. No doubt that size does matter!

The relatively-high prices of the new Agila mean this car overlaps with the roomier five-door Vauxhall Corsa models, which start at £10,150. The Meriva compact MPV range starts at £10,495 and the 1.3-litre CDTi diesel version prices start from £11,275. So even within Vauxhall's own range the Agila faces stiff competition for sales.

A good reason to buy the diesel-powered model is that the petrol engines are slow and weak. Also, diesel is much better for real-life
use. Reasons to look elsewhere include the fact that the Agila is expensive to buy over the Fiat Panda and Hyundai i10 — the diesel model is even more expensive to buy. All models are prone to side
wind gusting although the diesel version handles the elements and British roads much better. Strong reasons to buy are the Agila's good looks both inside and out, modern packaging of user-friendly space along with the fact that it's comfortable and compact and running costs are low. — David Miles