She loved it and it always drew a crowd at the youngsters car meets she goes to. I've driven it a couple of hundred miles but frankly I'm too big for it and although physically fit in it the steering wheel sat too low on my thighs. It was more than quick enough to be fun with 200bhp but the internet seems to knock it with hot hatches being 250 and up these days. It's clearly aimed at the car guy with everything from the engine noise, pedal feel, steering and gear change being robust and mechanical. Ride is firm but well controlled rather than crashy, it covers ground quickly and without fuss. I never worried about it being rwd and in the hands of my 18yr old daughter as it had so much mechanical grip and even with the stability stuff off you would have to do be doing something daft to get it moving in the dry.
Being standard and still under Toyota warranty really helped residuals and made it easy to sell privately. Costs were modest for a fun car, £2,200 in depreciation, £1,000 service and brakes, £1,000 tyres plus the clutch and few minor things under warranty when in for the service. She also managed to knock the passenger mirror off which was £200 fitted for an as new colour matched used one and spent £500 having the wheels refurbished and some scuffs tidied up to sell it. So depreciation and running costs came to about £273 per month.
