YOU’LL LIKE THIS ONE GORDON
30 March 2007 - Toyota

After last week’s cynical tax gathering budget, again hitting the UK motorists, Chancellor Gordon Brown has even managed to squeeze a few extra quid out of the new Toyota Auris.

Even though the new Auris is pretty environmentally friendly, in petrol form it will bring in an extra £15 and in diesel £5 into the Bank of Brown in terms of money grabbing CO2 charges.

You might remember a few weeks ago Brown was on his pre-Prime Minister election publicity drive at Toyota’s UK production plant seeing the first British built Auris models of the line in time for their public on sale date. Five-door versions of Auris, around two-thirds of all production, are built at Toyota Manufacturing UK’s factory at Burnaston, Derbyshire, alongside the Avensis range. Three-door variants are built at the Toyota Manufacturing plant in Turkey, which also builds the Verso models.

In theory the Auris, (pronounced ow-ris), the replacement model for the Toyota Corolla which was the world’s best selling car, ticks all the right boxes for the politically correct. In Government speak it meets the targets for users and environmentally friendly motoring, it creates jobs for Britain, it is fuel efficient, Euro NCAP five star safe and it will not offend anyone or make anyone envious.

Put even more plainly it does the job efficiently. But in reality, whilst it is well made, drives pretty well and is a sound package overall, it is not very inspiring. It is likely that pride of ownership just isn’t there with this product for a great deal of customers. Some motorists are still independent thinkers and like to be independent rather than having a ‘buy a politically correct car’ policy thrust at them via the taxation channels.

Those who loved the Corolla will love the Auris. Being a Toyota you just know it will go on forever, totally reliable and a functional three or five-door hatchback with two petrol and three diesel engine options.

Chosen carefully there is an Auris model that will not break the bank with prices starting at £11,995 for the cheapest three-door model and £12,495 for the least expensive five-door version.

There are four model grades plus an extra value TR version with the option of 1.6 petrol and 2.0-litre diesel engines in three or five door body styles. TR prices start at £12,495.

Toyota GB executives speaking recently at the international media launch of the Auris range said they aimed to build on the retail strength of the previous Corolla models but Auris does give them an opportunity to enter the fleet and business user-chooser sectors. Fleet sales are expected to increase from around 20% with Corolla to 35% of total Auris sales. As the newcomer will remain predominately a retail car, 57% of customers will choose the new 1.6VVT-I twin variable timing petrol engine whilst 17% of customers will choose the 2.0-litre D4-D 130 diesel unit. Overall 68% of customers will buy petrol models. Around 19% of customers will choose the MultiMode semi auto transmission.

The new Auris is roomier that the outgoing Corolla so in this area their policy of ‘design from the inside out’ has worked. The safety aspects are first rate and the space between the front and rear seats is really the best in its class. The rear seats will accommodate three adults so it is ideal for down-sizers. As always the five-door body is much more useful and practical in real life conditions than three-door hatchbacks.

The shape is classic C-segment hatchback, Focus, Astra or Golf in size, but the Auris has pronounced body curves giving it a rounded shape with its prominent pedestrian friendly soft nose at the front and bulbous rounded rear end. The large rear end maximises interior passenger space as well as providing a roomy boot although the intruding wheel arches limit the overall width of the boot.

The unusual ‘flying buttress’ style centre consol is an acquired taste. It is distinctive, even unusual, but it takes up storage space and places to store items are minimal. The facia design follows the sweeping curved and rounded style used in the Yaris. The design is fine; it is just that the finish is in rigid plastic which feels cheap and unwelcoming. Some of the controls and switchgear also feel downmarket. The front seat squabs are small and offer little support but having a higher seating position with MPV type headroom makes for excellent exterior visibility. The T Spirit specification is comprehensive and includes almost everything you really need from electrically operated windows, central locking to automatic air conditioning. The big omission is vehicle stability assist and traction control which you have to pay £350 for but is a ‘must’ I think.

As for driveability, it is good but is it good enough? It does most thinks acceptably well but the Auris is not class leading. I found during the initial media first drive event in Spain the 1.6-litre VVT engine was very quiet at tickover you forgot the car was running and it revved very freely when under way. This unit gives 157Nm of torque at 5,200rpm and it is very flexible and able to run at low speed in high gears. However for acceleration in the mid range the 122bhp output leaves the Auris wanting if you try to pass slow moving traffic. For the record the 1.6-litre VVT petrol unit returned 39.8mpg. The five-speed gearbox on this model is slick and the close to hand facia mounted gear lever is nice and precise to use, if positioned a little too high and the trigger type handbrake is very poorly designed.

Back in the UK I have just finished a spell with the model that is most likely to appeal to high mileage and company car users. It was the Auris 2.0-litre D-4D turbodiesel model with T Spirit specification with an on the road price of £16,495. With emissions at just 151g/m it falls into the Band D for vehicle excise duty at £140 per annum.

Power output from this multivalve unit is 124bhp with maximum torque of 300Nm available from 2000 to 2,800rpm. This makes the engine very responsive and flexible to drive. It comes with a smooth six-speed transmission. Even allowing for the high torque out because Toyota adopt high final drive gearing for most of their models it does require constant gearchanges between fourth and sixth gear on anything but open roads or motorways. However the big advantage with this gearing is fuel economy and the 52.3mpg combined cycle consumption figure was spot on during my week of UK driving. As usual this Toyota diesel engine was smooth and quiet.

Roadholding is reasonable but it cannot match the Focus or Golf in my opinion. The new electronic power steering is well weighted and gives good feedback to the driver.

So there we have it, excellent levels of interior space, well engineered, solid, reliable, well equipped, good value for money, high levels of safety, perhaps everything real customers want. A good car for Mr and Mrs Average.

MILESTONES. Toyota Auris 2.0 D-4D 130 T Spirit. Price: £16,495. Engine/transmission: 2.0-litre, turbodiesel, 124bhp, 300Nm with 6-speed manual. Performance: 121mph, 0-62mph10.3 seconds, 52.3mpg, CO2 151 g/km. VED: Band D £140 (new fee). Insurance: Group 7E.
For: Safe, well made, it will be reliable, good specification, good value, roomy.
Against: Dull and uninspiring.

Miles Better News Agency

www.toyota.co.uk

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