The Better "R4" (Vauxhall Agila 1.2i 16v)

Member Name: Lenaberg

Product:	Vauxhall Agila 1.2i 16v
Date:	10/05/04 (913 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: space, price, unique design

Disadvantages: boot could be bigger

Vauxhall Agila 1.2 "Elegance", initial registration 6 / 2002
Extra equipment: air conditioning, power windows, central locking, alloy rim, rev meter, fog lamps, CD radio.
My first car was a Renault R4. Certainly this car did not look very elegant, and was sluggish and susceptible to corrosion. But on the other hand it was extremely handy and budget-priced. Sadly, instead of modernising it thoroughly, Renault discontinued it. Since a few years the Kangoo is available, initially promoted as the R4's successor. Actually this primarily fits the R4 delivery van (F4 "Fourgonette").
After our Seat Ibiza's sudden end, we wanted a car in which we would have enough space. My boy friend is 6 ft 5 in [188 cm] tall, and I am not petite either. We initially agreed to buy "something like an R4". He first of all thought of a Vauxhall [Opel on the continent] Meriva, Ford Fusion, or similar compact MPV. I rather preferred a Renault Kangoo, Peugeot Partner, Citroen Berlingo, or any other van based passenger car.
But why not simply buy an Astra or Focus? First, these so-called medium-class cars are significantly more expensive, have futilely strong engines, and are not as handy in city traffic. Secondly I would rather have a car exactly matching my requirements. Whereby I am not talking of extra-wide tyres, funny spoilers, chromium fancy battens, curtains for the rear side windows, a vase of flowers at the dashboard, a stuffed animal on the rear luggage cover, or similar embellishments.
When we visited the first presentation of the new Vauxhall Meriva last year, we already noticed an Agila standing about in a corner. As I took a seat, I even liked it more than the Meriva. Our second encounter was with a hired car. Instead of the appointed Corsa (which really might have been a little narrow) we got an Agila.
A few weeks ago my boy friend heard that an Agila demonstration car was for sale at the Vauxhall Dealer&#
39;s. After he had meanwhile tried the new Fiat Panda, he booked a test drive with that Agila. Then he was persuaded, and I quickly agreed: Agila, that's the Better R4! Thus he bought the car.
We mostly use our car on weekends or on holidays, the two of us, or together with an acquainted couple. Although we sometimes carry quite a lot of luggage and food with us, we do not necessarily need a delivery van. Well, when you go shopping, or commute to work if it is raining, a short and tall car also has some advantages.
As a VW/Seat driver, I had to get used to a few differences. The reverse gear is located behind the fifth gear, and not left to the first gear after pressing the gear lever down. The gearshift lever is quite long and mounted low. I would rather prefer a short lever in a convenient location at the dashboard, as it is in the new Panda. (In that sense, the Panda is the better R4.) The gears are easy to find once you accustomed yourself to the long shifting travel.
Switches for light, turn signal and windscreen wiper are sensibly arranged, big and handy. There is nothing to complain about heating and ventilation. We will have to wait for the summer until I can tell whether the air conditioning is sufficient for the large passenger compartment. By the way, the switch is designed to deliberately switch air conditioning on as you need it. Pulling the headlight knob switches on the interior lighting, not the rear fog light (as with Seat). And the intermittent wiper mode is the first step up, not down.
The car has got an electric power steering without any "force feedback". Well, I quickly got accustomed to steer more with my mind than with feeling. Anyway, backing into a parking space is very comfortable that way.
Neither seats nor steering wheel are height adjustable, but we do not think it is a real shortcoming. I simply pull the seat an inch or two to the front and turn the interior mirror a little lower ? sui
ts! The external mirrors are even electrically adjustable. The seats are not extraordinary soft, and you can skid to the sides, but I like them despite of that. They are more sort of good dining-room chains than living-room armchairs. And the tall passenger compartment gives you a feeling of space and confidence, even if you are 6'5" tall.
The is plenty of storage: in the door sides, by the seats, below the steering wheel resp. the glove box, next to the gear shift. Both sun visors have mirrors at the backside. The CD radio is rather plain, but the sound is good. If you forget to turn it off (with ignition switched off), it turns itself off after one hour. With our last car, we once emptied our battery forgetting about the running radio.
The engine starts without problems, even in moist and cold weather. Clutch and brake do their duties without attracting attention. I must pedal the throttle slightly more than I used to do before, to avoid stalling the engine. Once the car is in motion, the 1.2 litre / 75hp [55 KW] engine grapples quite well with the car's 1.1 tons of dead weight. In city traffic you go with ease, on country roads the vehicle is really pleasant and not too loud. Considering its tallness, the car behaves well in curves. I had to get used to the fact it is not as quick uphill. Even on the unrestricted German motorways we go no faster than 70 mph [110 km/h], the usual speed of coaches. We never exceed 80 mph, because the car gets nastily loud then, and any hill slows us down. According to the papers, 90 mph are possible. Even if you drive at a moderate speed as we do, you probably will not manage with the stated mileage of 51 mpg [5.5 l/100 km] on motorways; I calculated 47 ? 43 mpg [6 ? 6.5 l/100 km]. For urban traffic, 36 mpg [7.8 l/100 km] are specified; I could not verify this separately.
I bought a set of black and red slip-covers for the seats, paying attention that they are suitable for side airbags.
I came across my first letdown when I tried to take off the headrests in order to slip on the covers. The mounting rods of the front and rear headrests have identical diameter and distance, but different indentations. Somebody had put the front-seat passenger's headrest to the rear seat (where the indentations are useless, but no problem otherwise). One of the rear rests had been fixed to the front seat and pushed down with force. Despite of pressing the release buttons and pulling vigorously I did not get it out alone. With another pair of helping hands we succeeded. Well, things like that may happen if you buy a used car. Nevertheless, I would also consider this faulty design. (Vauxhall meanwhile changed the headrests.)
(I leave it to reviewers with more technical experience to open the hood and look for possible constructional flaws there.)
It is very easy to turn down the rear seats (separately; there is no fifth seat). You pull a lever at the side of the back and flip it forward. With that, the lower part of the seat also shifts a little forward and down. Thus the rear side of the back gets almost flush with the boot (but only almost). Unfortunately this construction requires the removal of the headrests, and also of our slip-covers.
While you load the car in the rain, the opened back door is a nice protection. But you can also unwarily hurt your head. Anyway, I prefer this solution to the swing doors offered with Kangoo and Partner. There is a fastener for the first aid box on one side of the boot, and the breakdown triangle goes below the cover for the (full size) spare wheel.
Our Agila is "Kiwi Green". Since this colour is no longer available, I'd recommend "Spearmint Silver". There seems to be no choice of interior colours. Dark blue also looks good, but I'd rather avoid yellow and red.

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Note by the translator:
My friend Lena wrote this review 2004-03
-05 in German for www.dooyoo.de. But it is the 21st entry for that car and did not attract any interest. Since there are fewer entries here, I translated it to English, trying to adapt it as much as possible to UK conditions. Unfortunately, I do not know the road tax and insurance figures here.
I just got the price for an equivalent new car from the Vauxhall website and put it below. We paid approximately 6700 Pounds [10000 Euro] for our used one.

Summary: