Toyota Aygo X 1.0 VVT-i Pure 5dr Owner Review

I owned an Aygo X Pure for one year and have just sold it. I'm currently taking the bus to work and for the first time in 32 years of driving and having owned 15 cars, can honestly say that I prefer public transport to owning the Aygo X. If this is the future of small city-cars then I'd rather switch to a scooter or motorbike!
I bought it via an online broker when I moved back to the UK in Spring '22 and got a decent deal. Although I'd viewed one at a dealership previously, I hadn't taken it for a test-drive, nor was I fully aware of the annoying, intrusive & distracting 'safety' technology that the Aygo X has (I had stupidly assumed that a base model Toyota city-car wouldn't have this). I simply wanted a cheap, simple, reliable small car to get around in. On the plus side, getting a decent deal when I bought it helped soften the depreciation blow and although I still took a hit, it wasn't as bad as it could've been.
LIKES: It was cheap to buy (but still far more than city-cars pre-covid but I guess that's inflation for you) and cheap to run. I averaged 46.5mpg on my weekly commute along 12 miles of A-road and 8 miles of city traffic. On a long run I could get 53mpg.
DISLIKES: The BIGGEST dislike by far was the overly intrusive safety systems which I felt were more of a dangerous distraction, particularly the pre-collision avoidance system and the lane-centering system. When driving along perfectly sensibly and at a normal speed, I could be approaching a line of parked cars, being ready to move out as soon as the oncoming vehicles passed, and the system would go berserk with beeping and lights on the dashboard like the Blackpool illuminations as the tech thought I was about to plough into the back of the parked vehicles. In reality there was no dander of me doing this but it was a regular annoyance throughout my ownership when driving in tight, congested city traffic. On more open roads it was fine. The second main annoyance was with what many online reviewers refer to as the 'ghost steering' where the car pulls the steering wheel to get you back to the centre of the lane if it detects you drifting. Great in theory but when you move a little within your lane to avoid potholes or road debris, I found the alert and 'ghost steering' very distracting and disconcerting. It's not a natural feeling system at all. It was possible to switch some of these so-called 'safety features' off (there are six altogether) but most reset back to being on whenever the engine was restarted. Another MASSIVE annoyance was that the car spies on you!... The Aygo X has a data connection that utilizes the car's systems (including the camera behind the rear-view mirror) to gather data about your driving. You can view your driving data and whether your car thinks you are a 'good' or a 'bad' driver if you download the MyT app (which they repeatedly email you to do). Worryingly, the car can capture external images on its camera and can make this available to the police or courts if requested.... See page 7 (& others) of the Owner's Manual if you want to see for yourself (available on Toyota UK's website (they don't provide you with a paper manual now)). This data connection lasts for 10 years. I've nothing to hide but I'm not paying £13300 for any product in which a company appears to have a stake in it and gathers my data over a 10 year period. They should be giving me the car for free if they want that! Access to the rear and boot was awkward compared to other city-cars like the i10, Picanto and Up. When I got an unrepairable puncture, a replacement Goodyear was £135 from BlackCircles due to the unusual 175/65x17 size, and took 4 days to arrive (Kwik-Fit wanted £165). Just as well there's a good bus service where I live. The only other available option from BlackCircles was a Michelin at almost £155. When I sold the car after 9k miles, both front tyres were down to under 3mm of tread which seems excessive for such a small, light vehicle. Falkens are apparently available for around £88 fitted but none were available at the time I needed one. Servicing was similarly extortionate. The first 'Intermediate' service was £230 which was apparently a fixed-price across all Toyota dealers. This comprised of an oil & oil filter plus a number of 'checks'. Amazing!.... this is supposed to be a cheap-to-run city car from a volume manufacturer. They must be using liquid gold instead of oil.
It was, overall, a reliable car. It needed two visits to the dealer in the year I owned it - both related to the infotainment system going blank. Otherwise it never failed to start and other than the crazy servicing and tyre prices, was cheap to run. I wouldn't buy one again, particularly because of the unpredictable and annoying safety systems. In fact my Aygo X ownership experience has put me off Toyota altogether, and my 78 year old father who was looking at changing to a C-HR or Rav 4 later this year has also been turned off. I'm glad to be shot of this car and think that a Kia Picanto or Dacia Sandero would have been a far better bet for me, but hey, we all make mistakes.