Auris Vs Prius

September 10, 2010

Unfortunately I had to put our Prius in already today as the PDI has left a number of points that required to be rectified. So the loan car they gave me was an Auris HSD. Just thought I put a couple of comparison points together of the Auris compared to the Prius...

The Bad Stuff

1. Can't stand the door handles, they feel really thin and cheap and make the door opening handles move akwardly forward.

2. The keyless entry is not properly integrated into the doors, why do they have black rubbery buttons on the outside door handles? Very odd and unrefined.

3. The engine seems to come on at nearly every opportunity, I had a full Battery was easy on the throttle but still way too much engine in comparison to the prius.

4. For me, I could not get a comfortable seating position. I found the seat back a little weird feeling, and when pushing the seat down the front of the seat base is up and making it level means you are quite high up. Didn't like that at all.

5. Seat back adjustment, the mechanism is rather oddly designed it was so easy to get an uneven seat where the right hinge was more backwards than the left hinge. Easily levelled again by not putting any pressure on it but still.

6. External wind noise, definitely louder around the windows quite a lot of noise.

7. No recycled materials on the dashboard but shiny new plastic instead.

8. Dashboard is too small, it has got all the information but it is all behind other displays and you have to switch off stuff in order to see the information. Don't like that.

9. The angle of the dashboard caused reflections on the controls of the climate control especially. I found it really hard to see the temperature setting unless the lights are on.

The Good Stuff

1. The weight, the car feels so much lighter and it handles very well actually. Oddly it didn't good and feel faster, but cornering you feels better balanced.

2. The stereo and Speakers, wow the standard system is so much better than the Prius. On the Prius you have to get the JBL pack in order to get decent tunes but in the Auris the standard system is fine.

3. Folding mirrors, love those! Why oh why haven't they got them available on the Prius which is a wider vehicle?

4. Rear view camera in the mirror, it makes a lot of sense and I really didn't notice it until I put the car in reverse. That is good, would be even better if it had the bendy yellow lines that get adjusted depending on your steering angle, but very good neverthe less.

5. Part leather seat covering, they look great! Don't feel as nice as the Prius cloth but look better than Prius cloth and prius leather.

6. Dashboard materials look great, although very clearly not from recycled plastics, they do look and feel very good.

There you go just my opinion, for me considering the purchase price is so close to a Prius the Prius is definitely more refined in its overall approach. But if you don't like larger vehicles and want a smaller automatic petrol hatchback it does make a lot of sense. Still think it is at least 4-5k too expensive ;-)