Toyota Auris practical, but not exciting
29/10/08 20:42 Filed in: Road tests
The Toyota Auris was designed in France for the European market and it is built at plants in the UK and Turkey.
So with these credentials has it hit the mark for European drivers?
Toyota say the Auris was designed “inside out”. By that they mean it was created around the driver, with the aim to maximise interior space. They have another catch phrase to describe the overall package. “Short and tall” means the Auris has the typical length of other hatchbacks in this class, but Toyota have made it ‘taller’ to maximise interior space.
The result is that the Auris has something of a mini-MPV style to it. Ferrying four adults to a night out at a city-centre restaurant proved the practicality it offers. As we chose our selected place in the multi-storey, there were even appreciative comments from the rear seat about the amount of legroom and headroom on offer. Add in the goot practical boot and the Auris clearly ticks the box for accommodation.
Our road test Auris SR180 2.2D-4D was a five-door version which, of course, added to the passenger-carrying practicality. The Auris is also available as a three door.
Practical it may be, but in the style stakes the Auris lacks a little.
Inside it is a similar story with the most distinctive feature being the ‘flying’ centre console. This leaps down from the dashboard to the central floor tunnel.
It contains the gearlever, which – although a little higher up than it would otherwise be – it falls very easily to hand. I was not quite so happy about the handbrake. The convention of having the release button right on the end of the lever is so well established that manufacturers who try to do something different are on a loser. In reality, Toyota’s trigger-style button on the top of the lever, works rather better than Saab’s attempts to be different. But I’d still rather go with the conventional.
The performance on this top-of-the-range diesel Auris is certainly good. With 177bhp on tap, the 0-62 mph sprint is despatched in a rapid 8.1 seconds. The official combined mpg figure is 45.6 mpg. That seems more attainable than some official fuel consumption figures and I saw 44 mpg on a number of occasions. Carbon dioxide emissions are 160 g/km.
So the Auris SR 180 2.2D-4D is practical, goes well and is reasonably economical. At £18,695 it is also competitively priced.
Add in a five-star crash protection rating from Euro NCAP, plus the expectation of the usual Toyota levels of reliability, and the Toyota Auris has to makes a strong case for the sensible money. However, like a pair of sensible shoes, sometimes they are not the most appealing.
If Toyota really wants to make the Auris a winner, it really could do with an injection of style, excitement and driver appeal.
So with these credentials has it hit the mark for European drivers?
Toyota say the Auris was designed “inside out”. By that they mean it was created around the driver, with the aim to maximise interior space. They have another catch phrase to describe the overall package. “Short and tall” means the Auris has the typical length of other hatchbacks in this class, but Toyota have made it ‘taller’ to maximise interior space.
The result is that the Auris has something of a mini-MPV style to it. Ferrying four adults to a night out at a city-centre restaurant proved the practicality it offers. As we chose our selected place in the multi-storey, there were even appreciative comments from the rear seat about the amount of legroom and headroom on offer. Add in the goot practical boot and the Auris clearly ticks the box for accommodation.
Our road test Auris SR180 2.2D-4D was a five-door version which, of course, added to the passenger-carrying practicality. The Auris is also available as a three door.
Practical it may be, but in the style stakes the Auris lacks a little.
Inside it is a similar story with the most distinctive feature being the ‘flying’ centre console. This leaps down from the dashboard to the central floor tunnel.
It contains the gearlever, which – although a little higher up than it would otherwise be – it falls very easily to hand. I was not quite so happy about the handbrake. The convention of having the release button right on the end of the lever is so well established that manufacturers who try to do something different are on a loser. In reality, Toyota’s trigger-style button on the top of the lever, works rather better than Saab’s attempts to be different. But I’d still rather go with the conventional.
The performance on this top-of-the-range diesel Auris is certainly good. With 177bhp on tap, the 0-62 mph sprint is despatched in a rapid 8.1 seconds. The official combined mpg figure is 45.6 mpg. That seems more attainable than some official fuel consumption figures and I saw 44 mpg on a number of occasions. Carbon dioxide emissions are 160 g/km.
So the Auris SR 180 2.2D-4D is practical, goes well and is reasonably economical. At £18,695 it is also competitively priced.
Add in a five-star crash protection rating from Euro NCAP, plus the expectation of the usual Toyota levels of reliability, and the Toyota Auris has to makes a strong case for the sensible money. However, like a pair of sensible shoes, sometimes they are not the most appealing.
If Toyota really wants to make the Auris a winner, it really could do with an injection of style, excitement and driver appeal.
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