LYSTEX AMATISTA 1.0The Lystex Amatista is a supermini designed to rival the more premium models in this category such as the Audi A1 and Mini Cooper.
- Amatista 1.0-1.png (727.07 KiB) Viewed 13205 times
- Amatista 1.0-2.png (684.08 KiB) Viewed 13205 times
Performance The Lystex Amatista in this review pack a new 1.0-litre 4-cylinder engine producing 86.1 bhp @7400 rpm and 74.7 lb-ft @5100 rpm. This doesn't mean, however that you have to rev the engine in order to get good performance out of because of the engine's reasonably flat torque curve, giving nice smooth performance. The figures also mean that the car absolutely loves to rev, going all the way up to 7800 rpm, and it is pretty responsive to, with very little delay between putting your foot to the floor and accelerating. At low revs it can feel a bit gutless and overtaking maneuvers will require a downshift, but it is more than happy to cruise along at 70 mph along the motorways in top gear. The 0-62 mph sprint happens in a reasonably quick 11.4 seconds and the top speed is a shocking 124 mph, mainly down to the fact it has a very low drag coefficient.
Ride Comfort The Lystex Amatista is pretty good a being a comfortable cruiser. At high speeds the bumps and scars in the road are ironed almost completely by the suspension, giving this small car a much bigger feel to it on motorways, however the car can feel a little bit too soft at times when there is a big bump at high speed as it can begin to bounce a bit The 16" tyres aren't too big for a car of this size to cause major issues in ride comfort down to the profile of the tyres, however it can get to feel a little bit firm on poorly surfaced country roads and at low speeds in town, but never does it get uncomfortable or annoying. Taking that into consideration, it is quite pleasing that the ride isn't ruined by body roll around corners, because it also manages to remain reasonably flat around bends. It still leans a bit, but it isn't going to make your passengers feel queasy.
Handling Considering the good ride comfort, it also handles very well. The car grips well around corners, the steering is weighted correctly, the feedback that is given through the steering wheel is reasonable and it is quick to respond, however never does it feel as if it is sporty, partly down to the fact that the driver assists prevent you from taking it too far. Some can be deactivated at the touch of a button and the car can feel livelier, but still fails to completely accomplish the sporty feel. As we know, body roll is kept under control pretty well.
Refinement The Amatista is a very quiet small car, something that most struggle to achieve. You can only just about hear the engine ticking away at idle and at cruising speeds. The engine only really makes noise when you want it to and under hard acceleration. The wind and road noise are kept to very low levels on all surfaces at all speeds up to the national speed limit. At higher speeds you can hear a very slight amount of tyre rumble and the wind whistling around the car, but it never means you have to turn the radio up or raise your voice when having a conversation.
Equipment For a premium small car, it isn't very well equipped and could only be considered reasonable if it was a more affordable one. The amount of gadgets you get as standard is sufficient to get you from A to B in complete comfort and it isn't really missing anything important, but it is a premium small car and when it is classed like that you expect to get some extra goodies thrown in on top. Thankfully, there is a lot of safety tech.
Quality The interior quality of the Amatista is also a bit of a let down. The materials used in the interior aren't that special. In the higher up and more visible areas of the interior the plastics and other materials used look and feel rather nice, but never quite what you expect from a premium small car. When you get into the other areas though, they all become hard, scratchy, cheap and flimsy feeling plastics that would look more at home in the more affordable cars in this category. It does, however, all feel very well screwed together and looks as if it could support lots of abusive treatment.
Reliability Lystex have assured us that the 1.0-litre engine in the Amatista has been through vigorous testing over very long periods of time equivalent to many tens of thousands of miles on the road without any parts being replaced. The rest of the car, as mentioned previously, feels as if it was well put together and the few gadgets and other equipment there is to go wrong look as if they are also going to last well.
Running Costs Thanks to the low drag coefficient and small 1.0-litre engine, this car is capable of achieving 61 mpg and emit just 107 g/km of carbon dioxide, meaning a great fuel bill and low taxes. Expect to the insurance bill to be slightly higher than expected for a small 1.0-litre car due to the aluminium construction as well as any other repair bills you may face, but it shouldn't come to too much. Servicing the car does cost quite a fair amount though.
Safety The Lystex Amatista comes very well equipped with driver assists. As standard it comes with anti-lock brakes, traction control and electronic stability management, which helps to prevent you from coming to a sticky end in the event of sudden braking or needing to swerve. The car also comes with plenty of airbags to keep the occupants safe in the event of a crash, and the aluminium bodywork should do a good job at preventing there being too much damage. It does miss out on some of the more advanced safety equipment as standard, but it is more than enough.
OVERALL For: Cheap fuel bills, good ride comfort, good refinement.
Against: Poor interior quality, stingy equipment.
This car is a great all-rounder. It performs very well in many areas and does everything a supermini should do, yet it doesn't really live up entirely to the premium supermini name Lystex are giving it. It all depends now on how much it is going to cost before we can make a full verdict on whether it is worth it or not, but until then it is a highly recommendable small car.