Considering an Auris Hybrid - Advice Appreciated

[skirmish]

As the title says. I'm in the market for a medium size estate and the Auris has appeared on my radar.

I currently have a big thirsty Mondeo 2.3 Ghia Automatic and could really do with downsizing a little and also economising.

Cars I've currently got on my list are the Civic Tourer and also the Focus Estate. Unfortunately though the Focus gets very bad reviews relating to the Powershift gearbox and I really don't want a car that I'm concerned about going wrong.

I need an auto because my knee isn't quite as good as it could be and an estate for my hobby and also for the dog. Having had DAB radio on my Mondeo I really would like a car that has that too and of course the Auris does. Strangely I wouldn't have ever considered an Auris in the past but the spec does make me very interested.

If I do go down that route the next decision is whether to go conventional petrol or hybrid. I have tried to seek help and information on this aspect in another part of the forum but the advice was to post on here which is what I'm now doing.

One thing that i should say is that I'll be buying a used car and my budget is probably up to about £12000. The last thing I want to do is spend that sort of money and then find out that a car has problems and needs expensive servicing which then negates any potential savings from a possible Hybrid purchase.

Any help and advice will be very much appreciated.

David

[unclepoo]

We have the Auris hatch-back hybrid T-spirit, owned it for almost 2 years, and its been a great car.....very cheep to run, fuel, road tax, insurance, maintenance ....it`s the most economical car I`ve owned on any and all these points. £12000 should get you a very nice auris estate. Some you see  for sale may have higher mileage, but the engine(ice), HSD and traction Battery all last well into the hundreds of thousands of miles. Only Auris or Prius I wouldn`t buy is a ex-taxi or one not coming up clear on a hpi check.

[skirmish]

Thanks for that reply.

Looking on Autotrader at Auris HSD's they seem to be described differently.

Some are  "Toyota Auris 1.8 VVTi Hybrid Icon 5dr CVT Auto" and others are "Toyota Auris 1.8 VVT-i Excel Touring Sports e-CVT HSD"

Is this just a different way of describing the same gearbox or is there an actual difference and if so should I be trying to get one over the other?

[geo13647]

The 'touring sports' is the estate car, the 1st one is the hatchback. 'Touring', yes, 'sports', umm well not really.

The Excel is the top of the range, with all the nice twiddly bits & less likely to have been used as a taxi.

Your budget should get you a tidy 3 yr old gen 2 excel if you shop around.

Ask your local Toyota dealer, they are usually very helpful and could source a car from the network.

They really are great cars just the same. If you like efficient relaxed motoring, get a hybrid.

Even stuck in traffic, you can just sit smugly, watching all the gas guzzlers burn up fuel. G...

Sent from my iPad using Toyota OC

[Joseph D]

On 2 April 2016 at 10:24 AM, skirmish said:

CVT Auto ... [vs] e-CVT HSD

Yes, these are the same thing.

I guess the correct terminology is HSD which is Hybrid Synergy Drive, which Toyota coined to describe the transmission.  However, that doesn't mean a lot to non-hybrid people. So Toyota also coined e-CVT which means electronic continuously variable transmission, hoping that it would be more understandable in that people know what a CVT box is. However, it is not a CVT in the usual sense as there are no belts and pulleys and all the other stuff that make the conventional CVT a concern maintenance wise. The e-CVT is essentially a very simple device based on a planetary gear-set. Another abbreviation you might see is PSD or power split device (also coined by Toyota) and also refers to the planetary gear-set.

A bit long winded, but I hope that is of help and answers your question.

[skirmish]

Not long winded at all. Very informative and thank you for that.

I think I need to go along to my local dealer and try one and see whether I like it or not. An alternative is to just buy a conventional 1.6 petrol automatic and save some initial purchase cost as I can get one of those for under £10k. I presume that though will have a conventional CVT gearbox which in reviews does throw up a few negative comments.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201603292412225?transmission=automatic&model=auris&make=toyota&radius=1500&page=1&sort=default&searchcontext=default&postcode=HD9%207NW&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&body-type=estate&search-target=usedcars&logcode=p

[ToyotaAurisHybrid]

You should be able to source a 2.5 yr old auris hybrid estate towards the top end of your budget nowadays - we used to have a hatch and loved it until swmbo wrote it off 

[johalareewi]

On 03/04/2016 at 10:44 AM, skirmish said:

I think I need to go along to my local dealer and try one and see whether I like it or not. An alternative is to just buy a conventional 1.6 petrol automatic and save some initial purchase cost as I can get one of those for under £10k.

Certainly worth going to test drive a hybrid auris.

Any savings you make buying a conventional 1.6 petrol automatic will soon vanish in fuel. 

Going from a 1.6 petrol manual astra to the gen3 prius (1.8 automatic), I halved my fuel consumption.

[skirmish]

I went to have a look at a Hybrid Auris Estate yesterday at my local Toyota dealer. I didn't have a lot of spare time so didn't have a test drive. The intention was just to have a sit in the car, get an idea of space inside the boot (for the dog) and a general play with the controls.

Everything seems very nice and of a good quality however I walked away thinking it's a 'nice' car but not it's a 'special' car. I know Yes, I know the technology IS special but the styling of the car is all rather generic for my taste. I'm not ruling it out but there is something nice about having a car that you can look at and thing, 'that's special.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Although it is possibly in the eyes of the beholder, I do 't think there are any cars in the C market sector which are 'special'.

[skirmish]

You'd never get bored running your eyes over a Honda Civic Tourer. Styling wise, that's very interesting and also special.

The Auris has a bit of a Focus Estate look to it but it's not done as well as the Focus. It also has that over styled nose which is rather too ornate for my eyes.

It's all personal taste in the end and if we all liked the same thing the world would be quite a dull place.

[skirmish]

This is my current car. A Mondeo 2.3 petrol Auto Ghia. I only paid £5600 for it a couple of years and it had only 43k on the clock. It's a stunning car but the type of journeys I do means the MPG is around only 25 which is not too great! Having said that, if I'm looking at cars around £12k then the difference I'm putting into a purchase will pay for an awful lot of petrol. Plus the depreciation on a £12k car will probably pay for a years petrol alone!

[Dancing Badger]

If you're considering the Auris Hybrid you need to drive it to see if you like it. If you don't like it, or even if you're not sure you do like it then don't buy one, you don't want to be spending £12K on something you aren't sure you like. It's a significant expense, you need to be as sure as possilbe you're going to like what you get, and if the styling is a deal-breaker for  you then that's it. I quite like the styling but agree it's not special, however that's not a problem for me.

Here's my review, for what it's worth. I love my Auris Excel, I've only had it a couple of months but had a 2009 Prius for 3 years before that - they have the same engine and drive train and feel quite similar to drive. It never missed a beat, was cheap to maintain with Toyota fixed price servicing and it sipped petrol.

Last autumn I drove my Prius from Manchester to Dusseldorf non-stop (apart from 2 hours on the ferry and toilet breaks) for a football match and straight back the next day with three friends - all big lads, as am I. I drove at the motorway speed limit except in Germany where there isn't one and I wanted to see how it ran at a ton (much the same as doing 70). It turned in an average 54 mpg over the journey (calculated from what I actually used, not from the onboard computer) and I was relaxed and comfortable even after hours in the driving seat. I don't use any unusual driving techniques to try to achieve economy, I just drive it. I've not been quite so far in the Auris yet (will be touring the South of France in it with SWMBO later this year) but I took it from Manchester to Bournemouth and back on Saturday, and it was just as comfy and relaxed a drive as the Prius and turned in 51 mpg (the Prius is a bit more economical than the Auris).

The day job for my car is a daily commute into central Manchester - I still get 50 mpg in the rush hour traffic and if you're going to be stuck in traffic then the Auris is a nice place to be while you're stuck in it. 

I've had lots of cars, petrol and diesel, manual and automatic, and the Prius and Auris Hybrid are the best cars I've had - for what I wanted them for. As you say, it's all down to personal taste, the Auris ticks all the right boxes for me. I'd say have a good long test drive in one and see what you think - but if you don't like it, move on!

[kithmo]

Have you considered the Mondeo Diesel auto, 30mpg cold engine short trips, 55-58mpg on a run.

It depends whether you want form over function or vice versa. The hybrids have the function, the Fords are good looking.

Once you've driven the Prius or Auris hybrids you'll either hate them or love them and never want to go back to conventional autos. Try one and see.

[skirmish]

Thanks for the replies.

I wouldn't mind another Mondeo but the type of journeys I do (quite short) really rules out a diesel. The petrol engine choice is very limited with only the 2.0 litre ecoboost being an option. That gives around 200bhp though so plenty of potential for a bit of fun there but not fantastic economy!

I do intend to have a test drive of an Auris Hybrid although most of my time is currently pretty tied up at the moment though so it's a case of trying to find a time when I can arrange to visit the local dealership.

My career is product design which means I'm rather fussy when it comes to design and styling, especially on cars. While the Auris styling isn't bad I don't think it's ever going to get the hairs on the back of your neck stand up!

[skirmish]

I managed to find some time today to visit the local Toyota dealer again and this time had a test drive. They didn't have an estate available so I went for a drive in the five door hatch instead.

The sales guy was very pleasant with no hard sell at all. Funnily he asked me if I was excited about the test drive as we walked towards the car. 'Curiousity' was how I replied and described the impending drive!

The car is without doubt a clever piece of engineering design and it drives very well. It is interesting how it changes between using the engine and motor and how they also both combine for that extra oomph when needed. As a driving experience it's all very intriguing. The drive lasted around 20 minutes although I didn't get chance to drive in a spirited manner due to the type of roads we were using. The MPG was showing 55.4 as I jumped into the driving seat and by the end of the journey it had gone up to 55.6 so I'll credit myself with some nice economical driving!

What I didn't really like was the lightness of the steering and also the lack of feedback. I'm not sure if that firms up at speed?

The interior, while all very well put together and functional, is, in my eyes, not particularly nice to look at. It's comfortable, yes, but inspiring? Not really.

And in the end, that's the way I feel after having had the test drive. It all works very well and does exactly what it says on the tin but it leaves me feeling that, despite its very clever technology it's just another car.

Having said all that I'm not taking it off the possible purchase list. I now need to think long and hard about what I want/need a car to do during my ownership of it.

[Heidfirst]

2 hours ago, skirmish said:

What I didn't really like was the lightness of the steering and also the lack of feedback. I'm not sure if that firms up at speed?

electric these days rather than hydraulic & that is a common complaint across brands. Of course you will become used to it over time & your old car would then seem heavy.

The interior, while all very well put together and functional, is, in my eyes, not particularly nice to look at. It's comfortable, yes, but inspiring? Not really.

And in the end, that's the way I feel after having had the test drive. It all works very well and does exactly what it says on the tin but it leaves me feeling that, despite its very clever technology it's just another car.

Well, that's Toyota for you - some would say that they are the car equivalent of white goods. They do the job & are cheap to run but lack emotion/excitement.

Only you can decide if you want a car that does the job reliably & cheaply or prefer something a bit fancier but maybe not so reliable & cheap to run ...

Maybe just running the Mondeo into the ground would be the sensible thing to do. Perhaps not what your heart is hankering for though?

[unclepoo]

About the feel from the steering, I think most electric power steering cars feel similar....a bit over assisted. One interesting thing I found recently was when I changed the tyres....I went up a size to 225 45 17, (from 215 45 17) and the steering has more feel and feed-back. Fuel consumption has not dropped and the speedo is more accurate.  If the auris is not quite special enough, how about a lexus CT200. They`re a hatch though, I wonder if lexus would mind if you took your dog along to the test drive.?

I would steer clear of diesels...modern stuff will cost a small fortune when it goes wrong, dual mass fly-wheel, clutch, particulate filter, turbo etc etc....all waiting to cause problems to the used car buyer

[skirmish]

Unfortunately running the Mondeo into the ground could take at least another decade! I'm tempting fate here but it's a very solid and well built car and I've had no problems with it during my 18 months of ownership.

Afraid I really do need an estate as my Pointer dog is 11 and he's not quite as athletic as he used to be. A low boot lip is therefore high on the requirements with any car I get.

[Sooty]

11 hours ago, unclepoo said:

About the feel from the steering, I think most electric power steering cars feel similar....a bit over assisted. One interesting thing I found recently was when I changed the tyres....I went up a size to 225 45 17, (from 215 45 17) and the steering has more feel and feed-back. Fuel consumption has not dropped and the speedo is more accurate.  If the auris is not quite special enough, how about a lexus CT200. They`re a hatch though, I wonder if lexus would mind if you took your dog along to the test drive.?

I would steer clear of diesels...modern stuff will cost a small fortune when it goes wrong, dual mass fly-wheel, clutch, particulate filter, turbo etc etc....all waiting to cause problems to the used car buyer

Unclepoo,

I think that your speedo being more accurate could be a placebo effect.

If you follow this link: http://www.blackcircles.com/general/tyre-size-calculator , you will find that your tyre diameter from tread to tread is exactly the same as before. The only change is the width of the tyre.

I am not that surprised, though, that your MPG has not changed as the width difference is minimal.

Sooty

[alan333]

Speedo accuracy will vary according to tread depth

[Wayne2015]

Hi David

Hybrids are very reliable as many on this forum has testified (as well as many Prius owners with 100s thousands of miles on their clocks - even those as Taxi s)

 

If looks is also important would a Lexus Hybrid interest u (but pricier)?

 

 

 

[kithmo]

10 hours ago, Sooty said:

Unclepoo,

I think that your speedo being more accurate could be a placebo effect.

If you follow this link: http://www.blackcircles.com/general/tyre-size-calculator , you will find that your tyre diameter from tread to tread is exactly the same as before. The only change is the width of the tyre.

I am not that surprised, though, that your MPG has not changed as the width difference is minimal.

Sooty

The height of his sidewall is around 13mm more with the 245 45 tyres, i.e. about 1" extra outside diameter on the tyre, 3" extra circumference which is about 4.5% extra distance per revolution of the wheel. So if the speedo was say 10% out before its now only approx 5.5% out, i.e. more accurate.

[FROSTYBALLS]

43 minutes ago, kithmo said:

The height of his sidewall is around 13mm more with the 245 45 tyres, i.e. about 1" extra outside diameter on the tyre, 3" extra circumference which is about 4.5% extra distance per revolution of the wheel. So if the speedo was say 10% out before its now only approx 5.5% out, i.e. more accurate.

He went from a 215/45/17 to a 225/45/17.

[unclepoo]

Tyre calc says a 1.4% increase .....0.9 mph at 60 mph.