Prius Vs Auris

[sjrainsford]

Obviously I'm talking hybrid Auris here!

But I'm looking at the future change in my car and just weighing up the differences between both. I like the idea of the slightly smaller Auris in some ways. But it looks a little bland inside from pictures. Plus where's the HSD info like you get in the Prius?

Am looking specifically at T Spirit models as that's what I've currently got. But the Auris doesn't even appear to have sat nav as standard. Either that or there's a screen I've not seen.

I love my Prius as it appeals to my inner gadget lover.

Also what's the presumably British built Auris like in comparison to the Gen 3 Prius in terms of interior build? I know the Prius feels quite cheap to the touch in places like the dashboard.

[Peter Sale]

You are correct, sat-nav is not standard on the Auris T-Spirit, it is an optional extra - the current price list shows this as being £1225.53 extra.

Does give you a bigger display for the camera though rather than a titchy screen in the rear view mirror !!

[ph47mf]

just by the gadgets alone, you should pick the Prius.

[Jan&tone]

Auris, Prius and the CT200h all have the same drivetrain.

The differences will be in the space inside, the CT and the Auris have non-existant boots, the Prius T-spirit has most of the useful toys AND a usable boot...

I too have been looking for a possible replacement for the Prius in 18 months when it's 3 years old, I've looked at both and think I will probably have another Prius. garage space comes into it too, the CT is slightly bigger than the Prius and probably won't fit in the garage! It really is that tight...

Yaris hybrid will be out by then, but I tried a Yaris a couple of weeks ago and couldn't get my long legs in it, so again back to the Prius...

Maybe by then a Hybrid Avensis will be available in the UK, but even then it is bigger than the Avensis I used to have so again it's garage space!

[B&J]

We tested all three cars on long, two hour test drives.

We rejected the Lexus because you have to pay £30k to get cruise control (it's not available at all on the two lower spec models!), the warranty is only three years, the Battery is guaranteed for only five years and the boot is small. It has a terrific fascia, but those points were enough to put us off. The ride was a bit harsh, but probably no harder than the Honda Civic we had at the time.

The Auris HSD was a very nice ride but the fascia was dreadful and the boot non existant. That was enough to put us off.

The Prius won because, although it's a large car and SWMBO wanted to move to a smaller car from the Civic, it has a wonderful fascia, digital speedo (like the Civic), Head Up Display, a nice ride, a large boot and great MPG figures. It's cheapskate accounting that it does not have electric folding mirrors or dusk sensing headlights (unless you buy the very expensive LED light package) and a truly awful Satnav, but these were not enough to put us off, so we bought a Prius T4. Both of us are very pleased with it at the moment, although we've only done about 250 miles so far!

The Honda Insight is awful (been for a long drive in one of them) and the Jazz has no boot space, but then neither has the Yaris Hybrid.

So much depends on what you want from the vehicle; we have, occasionally, to cope with a wheelchair when we take Mum in law out, so that was a huge consideration in our decision, but even without this need, we would have gone for the Prius.

HTH

[johalareewi]

the Jazz has no boot space, but then neither has the Yaris Hybrid.

The non-hybrid Yaris boot is pretty small too but it does have the sliding rear seats which are damn handy. Hope these make it into the hybrid version.

[Bos]

the Jazz has no boot space, but then neither has the Yaris Hybrid.

The non-hybrid Yaris boot is pretty small too but it does have the sliding rear seats which are damn handy. Hope these make it into the hybrid version.

The new Yaris no longer has a sliding rear seat.

[Seamaster73]

Auris is smaller, yet no cheaper and no more more economical.

I enjoyed the one I had on loan for a while, but I couldn't recommend one over a Prius.

[Cyker]

The Auris looks better but that's about the only advantage it has over the Prius. There's something to be said for being designed from the ground up to be a hybrid!

@J&T - How tall are you? I sat in the new Yaris and it felt huge compared to my tiny Mk1!

Ironically I've been put off because I think it's too big

But I agree... although the boot is bigger in the Mk3, it's not so big that sliding rear seats wouldn't still be useful. With the HSD Battery built in, the boot space will be virtually non-existent unless they go down the Mini route (Bye bye spare wheel, hello Holts Tyre Weld )

Be interesting to see if they have a clever way around this! (Suddenly it has a 500cc turbo charged engine to make space for the HSD and Battery )

Hopefully Kingo can get an early go in it again and give us the low-down

[pobrown]

I've got an Auris Hybrid T-Spirit with SatNav and I love it. Although the 'new' price is only about £1000 cheaper than a Prius T-Spirit, I found that prices for nearly new models including ex-demonstrators were much cheaper than Prius equivalents. Because of when they were released all Auris Hybrids have 5 year warranty.

I find the boot big enough for day-to-day use including big supermarkets shopping. I was also pleasantly surprised how many suitcases I could fit in there. I used to always buy cars with big boots, but then I realised that I never actually filled them. I've had the car 3 months and I haven't yet not been able to put anything in the boot that I wanted to. It is small compared to other cars, but big enough for me.

You don't get the fancy graphics for the HSD system like the Prius, but you do get a 'power meter' in place of a tachometer - I find this analog dial really useful in driving more economically. One of the displays on the dash (in the middle of the speedo) can be changed to show cut-down graphics showing the power flow between battery/engine/wheels.

With the SatNav being an (expensive) option, there aren't that many examples around to look at. I think over the summer when I was shopping around, there were only 12 listed across the whole of the UK on the used section of the Toyota website.

The Auris T-Spirit has cruise control, bluetooth, folding mirrors, LED Daytime Running Lights, Auto lights, Auto wipers, Auto-dimming rear-view mirror, Rear-view camera, Keyless entry & start. It has plenty of gadgets, but doesn't have the HUD that the Gen 3 has.

[Jan&tone]

The Auris looks better but that's about the only advantage it has over the Prius. There's something to be said for being designed from the ground up to be a hybrid!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder - my opinion is the other way round, I prefer the looks of the Prius to the Auris... but then there are few cars that I really like the look of these days, they are all pretty much 'samey'

@J&T - How tall are you? I sat in the new Yaris and it felt huge compared to my tiny Mk1!

Ironically I've been put off because I think it's too big

6'6" but with long legs too - even adjusting the steering wheel I still have trouble sliding my knees under it...

[trapdoor]

SWMBO so wanted to replace our Gen 2 Prius with an Auris Hybrid, but one look at the boot space and 15 minutes behind the wheel and she'd decided that it would be the Gen3 Prius

Things she liked: Overall size

Things she hated: Boot space, leg room, headroom (for me), "that damned awful dash with a mix of dials and digitals", no HUD, the overall ride quality.

I'd already made up my mind that it was going to be a Prius, but we ordered with the Safety pack which gave us the heated leather seats too, the LED headlights which are excellent, and I'd convinced her that with her driving ( ), the safety pack would be a good idea as it had the pre-crash protection!

Done less than 1000 miles so far, but we are really pleased with it. There are a few niggles, like the stupid place the heated seat switches have been located which makes switching them on/off whilst driving a real pain, and the dash plastics are a bit cheap, and the screen is much lower resolution than the Gen 2, esp. noticeable when the rear cam is in use - but overall, a big improvement on the gen 2.

[johalareewi]

The Auris has better cup holders than the gen3 prius.

[Parts-King]

Hopefully Kingo can get an early go in it again and give us the low-down

HTH Will give it a go as soon as available

Kingo

[Cyker]

Is there a tentative release date for the Yaris HSD?

@J&T - Blimey, you are more than a foot taller than me so I can see why the Yaris would feel cramped!

I think when your going-one-car thing comes up, that car will have to be the Prius ;)

[sjrainsford]

So what about those that own an Auris HSD? What do you prefer about it over the Prius? Its all a bit Prius sided at the moment.

[Jan&tone]

Is there a tentative release date for the Yaris HSD?

@J&T - Blimey, you are more than a foot taller than me so I can see why the Yaris would feel cramped!

I think when your going-one-car thing comes up, that car will have to be the Prius ;)

I've also come to that conclusion. We will possibly go down to one car towards the end of next year, I have one year, one month and a few days to go. I've not started counting the days yet but.....

[monya]

I would have had a Prius had the mrs.not hated large cars. Best to have a hybrid built from scratch rather than shoehorned into an existing chassis. Still, the Auris is fine, plenty of space and I'm 5' 17" tall.

[Nicolai]

[Reply posted in wrong thread, hence, deleted again]

[ph47mf]

honestly, if people have the extra ££, they would and should opt for the Prius. It's just a better proposition in every way. If the price is the same, Auris wouldn't sell at all.

[Chris Dance]

Auris is a good car but could never have coped with the stuff I carried from town in my Prius today. We certainly need the Prius an Auris as good as it is has not got the carrying capacity. If you do not need a load carrying car the Auris is fine.

[Hybrid Harbour]

So what about those that own an Auris HSD? What do you prefer about it over the Prius? Its all a bit Prius sided at the moment.

I think that part of the reason is that us Auris owners don't feel the need to shout about our eco warrior credentials like the "look at me" Prius owners.

For me and Mrs Hybrid the Auris is perfectly large enough for our needs and the money saved over the Prius will pay for many years worth of petrol, and remember that size isn't everything.

In-fact I will be looking at the Yaris Hybrid next as I could probably down size some more in the future.

[Seamaster73]

When I was shopping around for a hybrid in 2010, there's was little in it on price, which favoured the Prius. I assume the differential now is because the Prius has gone up, rather than the Auris coming down?

Had the Auris been significantly cheaper when I ordered my Prius, I would have probably gone for one instead.

[Parts-King]

Is there a tentative release date for the Yaris HSD?

Launched in July, priced from £15000, some of the features

 Unique hybrid exterior and interior styling

 A newly engineered compact and lightweight Hybrid system

 1.5 litre Hybrid engine

 Industry leading CO2 levels at just 79g/km with no compromise in power at 100 DIN HP

 Up to 81 MPG

 BIK levels of just 10%

 Ingenious hybrid packaging resulting in no compromise in interior cabin and luggage space

Kingo

[kithmo]

1.5 Litre............mmm, I wondered what they did with all the old leftover Gen2 Prius engines.

I didn't buy the Prius because I wanted to be an eco warrior, I bought it because I like the technology and it's cheap to run. If the Auris Hybrid had been out in May 2010, when I bought my Prius, I may well have bought one of those instead.

I'm still looking at the Auris as a future classic, the first British built hybrid and I really do fancy one to go alongside my Prius.

I'm trying to persuade SWMBO to get one but she loves her Gen 2 Prius too much and says the Auris boot is too small for the shopping (you would not believe how much shopping she and her mother buy on Saturdays).