Gen 1 Auris - The First 1000 Miles Review

[AurisHSD61]

This may seem a bit old hat now...a review of the old shape Auris hybrid but I gained much insight on this forum from other posters, before buying the car, so wish to return the benefit for other potential buyers and to compare notes with fellow owners.

Obviously, the car is not new. This is a 61 plate T-Spirit model with 18k on the clock. I cover approx. 17k annually so was looking for a medium sized car with proven reliability and low running costs (aren't we all!)

My work commute consists of a 60 mile round trip, roughly divided into three sections of urban driving, dual carriageway driving and twisty country B roads with many deceptive inclines and descents on route.

My previous car was a 2.2 diesel Mazda but I wanted to move away from modern diesels with their potential problems of DPF blockage, flywheel failure, blown turbos and ever stricter emissions (and yes, my Mazda was starting to suffer from some of these issues).

This left me to focus on either a small, high-powered `tsi type` petrol engine or another hybrid. I had previously owned a gen 2 prius for a short while. I traded it in (for a diesel!) as I found the 1.5 engine and 74 bhp underpowered for my journey and I guess I was a little fazed by the hybrid technology. In hindsight, I was probably a little hasty and never gave it the benefit of the doubt.

So, after analysing what felt like every car on the market, everything pointed towards an Auris hybrid. With the improved 1.8 engine, it ticked all the boxes and, having owned more Toyotas than any other make in my 35 years driving, I felt like I was heading back to familiar ground.

With free road tax, the remainder of a five year warranty and petrol prices cheaper than diesel, I immediately gained three benefits before even driving the car!

Having now covered my first thousand miles in the car, I can now give my initial impressions.

The good points...

As expected, the drive is incredibly smooth with seamless changes from the engine (though I still need to stop myself from reaching for the gear lever!)

Whilst the performance will never match the torque and 150bhp of my previous car (and the output doesn't feel like 134bhp either) the car has enough to keep up with traffic and I`ve never had to `floor` the accelerator yet so there is clearly more in reserve, a massive improvement over the old 1.5 engine.

There`s a kind of perverse sense of satisfaction to be had when stuck in traffic. Even other cars fitted with stop/start technology need to fire up the starter motor and use fuel to creep forward whereas the hybrid motor uses not a drop. This is even more satisfying when alongside a big 4x4, guzzling fuel and belching out fumes.

The bad points...........

Haven`t really encountered any bad points yet, though there are a few niggles...

The small boot and awkward shape has been well documented. This has now been rectified in the new shape model but gen1 owners just have to live with this. However, I`ve noticed the recess in the boot floor handily stops your shopping bags from sliding around so maybe Toyota stumbled onto something here!

The constant beeping in reverse can be annoying, especially as my previous car had parking sensors so you`re expecting the tone to change as you near something, but I understand Toyota can change this to a single beep so I`ll ask for this at the next service.

By far the biggest annoyance is the constantly illuminated `airbag on` light on the centre console. Surely common sense would dictate you should only be warned when the airbag is turned off. I find this a stupid design and cannot see the point of it. Unfortunately, not a lot can be done about it.

But, as you can see, none of the above are `dealbreakers`, just niggles and annoyances that never stopped me buying the car.

And the big question...the MPG!

I hardly use the EV mode, find it`s more of a gimmick to show off really, though conversely, I`ve hardly used the Power mode either, as this would obviously affect fuel consumption (it`s funny how you suddenly become obsessed with mpg once you buy one of these !)

I find the Eco mode made very little difference on my driving route though I could understand the benefits of using it if heavy traffic is anticipated. In general then, I just leave it in its default setting and let the engine do the thinking!

I`ve filled the car three times so far, each one being a `brim-to-brim check. First fill equated to 58mpg, second at 57 and the most recent at 60.

Part of me was expecting a little more than this, especially as this is the warmest part of year (so this will be as good as it gets) but, considering the different types of driving encountered on my commute, its quite impressive and easily beats the 48-50mpg of my previous car.

Like all cars, I expect this to drop over the colder months and, even if it drops as low as 50, an average of 55 over the year for a medium sized petrol hatchback is good enough in anyone`s book.

I should stress that the above has been achieved with `normal` driving and just keeping up with traffic flow / overtaking slow moving vehicles etc. I`m sure if I started to adopt proper hypermiling driving techniques these figures could be easily improved upon.

So far so good then.......

Now looking ahead to see how it`s going to perform when the bad weather comes and who knows...I may even get to press that Power button!

Amazingly, even in the short spell of ownership, people still ask `is it electric?` or `do you need to plug it in?`

Hybrids still have a long way to convince the majority but full marks to Toyota for persevering with this technology. With ever stricter emission controls (and the struggles for diesel manufacturers to reliably keep up with them) it`s interesting that even the `aspirational` marques like Audi and BMW are now starting to go down the hybrid road but....the car in front is Toyota!!

For those who have got this far, thanks for reading. I hope this review will help any potential future hybrid owners and it would be interesting to hear from other owners to compare notes.

[Sooty]

A very nice review.

Welcome back to the Hybrid fold.

[Uncle Buck]

Very informative Steve - thanks

[johalareewi]

The PWR mode just remaps the accelerator pedal so you get more oomph up front compared to normal mode. It doesn't actually use more fuel - you just move the accelerator pedal less. ECO mode also remaps the accelerator pedal so you have to move it further to get the same response as normal mode but, it also affects the engine behaviour when in slow traffic (keeps it off more) and throttles back the aircon. The trick is to keep the HSI out of the PWR zone as much as possible. Not as easy in PWR mode vs. normal mode vs ECO mode.

With regards to your mpg. Things to check are your tyres. Are they low rolling resistance tyres and are they pumped up? Also was the correct oil used at the last service? It should be 0w20 but it may have been serviced with 5w30 to 'save' money.

[PeteB]

ECO mode should help mpg slightly because it also slightly inhibits heating (by running the engine) when it's cold and the a/c compressor when it's hot.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

ECO mode should help mpg slightly because it also slightly inhibits heating (by running the engine) when it's cold and the a/c compressor when it's hot.

He's right. The engine will switch off earlier and quicker if it's running to warm up the heater. Personally I find that too slow and in winter I'll run the car in normal mode and then switch to Eco once it's warmed up, otherwise it just takes way too long.

[PeteB]

In fact, on a cold day, when the ICE is off, switching off ECO mode whilst stationary may cause it to start

[johalareewi]

There's always plenty of things to do when stuck in traffic. ;)