A balanced Auris review

[Cjohnston1982]

I’ve been looking for reviews on the Auris and they all say how uninteresting the car is and how certain cars (no need to mention) are more sporty and dynamic to drive.

I finally found a sensible review which appears to be quite fair and honest.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/toyota/auris-touring-sports

[Jonmartin]

I agree. I’ve had mine about a month and am throughly enjoying it. It’s so easy to drive and parking is simple even with its extra length, sensors and camera work well. The auto parallel parking is great, if a bit unnerving the first couple of times.

[Heidfirst]

The Avensis similarly has been damned with faint praise over the years - usually marked down for it's looks (subjective I would say) & also not being the most sporty driving/handling car.

& then almost as an aside they will say something like "This is not a car that’s devoid of merit; it’s effortless to drive, safe, immensely practical and it should soldier on indefinitely with simple, low-cost routine servicing." (Autocar, June 2015)

or

"If your search begins and ends with a car that will transport you and yours quietly, safely and reliably,  the Avensis will prove wholly satisfactory. There’s plenty of space inside, a decent level of equipment and residual values are surprisingly good for a mainstream D-segment car." (Autocar)

It's all a matter of how you value & prioritise things & I don't think that motoring journalists tend to do that the same as those who pay for their motoring out of their own pockets ....

[DarrenM]

I agree with most of what it says. I had my Auris TS hybrid for almost 3 years, swapped it for a top of the range SEAT Ateca and now wish I hadn't. The Auris was a much better car where it counts.

[Jonmartin]

I find that most motoring journalists seem only interested in how fast and how quick a car is. One even complained that he couldn’t ‘red line’ the Auris Hybrid, because it didn’t have one. In normal driving who ‘red lines’. 

[catnash]

My understanding is that my 1.2t TS business edition has the independent rear suspension.

[16_Auris_HSD]

I'm yet to see an honest review that would trash Toyota and their Touch & Go system. Words can't describe how much I hate it, especially the touch only controls that we get in Auris. What's worse Toyota believe that it's a great thing and don't even consider introducing Car Play/Android Auto which could potentially make it a bit better. But still, being unable to turn the volume down instantaneously without looking whether you're touching the right thing or waiting for the steering wheel controls to stop lagging (why no MUTE button Toyota? I believe prefacelift has one!) is something I thought I'd never have to encounter in a modern car.

Someone from Toyota should fly over to Korea and ask Kia/Hyundai to allow them to licence their system for use in all their cars. See below vid starting from 8:07.

 

[Cyker]

Yeah, this is the one big minus I have with the Tesla; Once I got over the novelty of such a giant fancy touch-screen I realised how much of a PITA it is to use when you're actually driving!

I didn't even have to take my eyes off the road to turn on the AC or change radio stations or temperature or fan speed or change from fresh to recirc or toggle the dash's brightness on my old Yaris because everything was nice and tactile. Even with this new one I'm already half-way there and I've not had it that long!

The only things on touchscreens should be things you shouldn't operate while moving, unless you're expected to have a passenger to mess about with it while you're concentrating on driving!
 

[Heidfirst]

On 29/01/2018 at 10:16 PM, 16_Auris_HSD said:

I'm yet to see an honest review that would trash Toyota and their Touch & Go system. Words can't describe how much I hate it, especially the touch only controls that we get in Auris. What's worse Toyota believe that it's a great thing and don't even consider introducing Car Play/Android Auto which could potentially make it a bit better. But still, being unable to turn the volume down instantaneously without looking whether you're touching the right thing or waiting for the steering wheel controls to stop lagging (why no MUTE button Toyota? I believe prefacelift has one!) is something I thought I'd never have to encounter in a modern car.

Someone from Toyota should fly over to Korea and ask Kia/Hyundai to allow them to licence their system for use in all their cars.

Tbh most if not all reviews that I read usually say that the Toyota infotainment systems are not the best - but also not the worst.

In a 2016 Auris I imagine that you have a Touch 2 unit of some kind? In an Avensis you have an on-screen mute button for nav instructions & 3 different physical ways of muting audio (mute button, on/off switch & press & holding the "Mode" button on the steering wheel).

Touch 2 is supplied by Harman, now a subsidiary of Samsung. I don't know who supplies Hyundai/Kia (Hyundai Mobis perhaps?) but I wouldn't be at all surprised if Samsung were involved. I note that Hyundai are not immune from reviews saying that their satnavs have issues e.g. https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/our-cars/hyundai-tucson-long-term-test-review-sat-nav-niggles

Touch 2 is probably due for replacement as it's at least 6 years old - I wouldn't be at all surprised if the next generation Auris has a different system, possibly one with Android Auto/CarPlay.

[FROSTYBALLS]

In the US Toyota have announced that the 2019 Avalon and future models will have Car Play - so Europe may follow suit later this year/early next year.

[Heidfirst]

US & UK/EU Toyota in-car systems , currently at least, are quite different (spent 5 weeks with a 2017 Camry in the US in the last year). Hopefully they will but I don't think that you can infer  upgrades for one from the other.

The Avalon is the most expensive saloon car in the Toyota US line up, above the Camry - I wonder if existing cars with Entune 3.0 are capable of a firmware upgrade to include it or does it require new hardware?