Toyota Auris 1.33 VVT-i Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Toyota Auris 1.33 Dual VVT-i
Prices: £14,463-£15,640 – on the road
Insurance Group: 4
Emissions: 136g/km
Performance: 0-60mph 13.1s / Max Speed 109mph
Fuel Consumption: (urban) 39.8mpg/ (extra urban) 56.5mpg / (combined) 48.7mpg
Safety: Seven airbags / ABS /EBD
Dimensions: [5dr] length/width/heightmm 4220/1760/1515

EFFICIENCY DRIVE

Our Rating: 7.0 / 10

Toyota is looking to showcase its engine efficiency prowess with the Auris 1.33 Dual VVT-i. Steve Walker reports.

Excitement can be overrated. After all, new car sales figures suggest that most family buyers take the safe option – a car that prioritises sensible virtues and concentrates on getting the basics right. A car, in fact, like Toyota’s Auris. With a 1.33-litre VVT-i petrol engine and Stop&Start technology, it’s more sensible still.

Toyota has been positioning itself at the forefront of the drive to lower fuel consumption and emissions in our cars. It pioneered petrol/electric hybrid technology with its Prius but in recent times, its efforts have been overshadowed somewhat by other marques leaping aboard the green bandwagon in their droves with environmentally-focused models of their own. Toyota’s response is what it calls Optimal Drive Technology, a programme to be implemented across its model range (rather than being restricted to specific derivatives) which uses various measures to improve efficiency. The Auris 1.33 VVT-i uses Optimal Drive Technology and Toyota’s Stop&Start system to boost its green credentials.

For reasons that may not be immediately apparent, Toyota would like us to refer to its 1.3-litre Dual VVT-i engine as a 1.33-litre. This reluctance to round down is rooted in a desire to underline the fact that this is a modern powerplant developed specifically to work in tandem with Toyota’s Stop&Start system and not merely Toyota’s old faithful 1.3 with Stop&Start bolted on. In the Auris range, it actually replaced a 1.4-litre VVT-i unit but engineers have concentrated on reducing its size and weight to the extent that it’s similar in size to the three-cylinder 1.0-litre engine fitted to the Aygo and iQ citycars. That this 1.33-litre unit is also available in the iQ illustrates just how little it is. The engine develops 100bhp and a maximum torque output of 132Nm at 3,800rpm, which equates to an impressive 100Nm per litre. The 0-60mph performance of 13.1s isn’t stellar but neither is it the point of this Auris.

We’ve seen elsewhere in the automotive world how much can be achieved in terms of efficiency gains when a number of apparently small modifications work together. The 1.33-litre Auris certainly has a big collection of small improvements in its locker. Its cylinders have been specially designed and weigh just 180g each compared to 280g in the old 1.4-VVT-i engine. The air intake channel has been streamlined to optimise air flow, the intake manifold is made of lightweight resin and the camshaft profile was tweaked to cut weight and friction. On top of all that, there’s Toyota’s Dual VVT-i intelligent variable valve timing technology and, of course, Stop&Start.

When it comes to styling and design with this Auris, practicality is everything. The gentle curves are cleaner on the latest cars which have a deeper bumper that can house integrated fog lights, a more shapely bonnet and headlamps swept back into the wings. It’s not one of the more memorable styling efforts on the family hatch market but the Auris does will in other areas. The car’s platform has an overall length of 4,220mm incorporating a 2,600mm wheelbase. This means that the wheelbase represents 61.6 per cent of the car’s total length. Generally speaking, the higher the percentage, the more space is afforded to people rather than oily bits. With an overall height of 1,515 and a width of 1,760mm, the Auris is one of the biggest family hatches around, although the shape does much to disguise this bulk.

The cabin design is more striking, mainly thanks to the unusual dashboard design which raises the controls for the stereo and ventilation system up and within easier reach of the driver. The gearstick also falls more easily to hand thanks to the elevated centre console but you can forget about sliding across the cabin to exit via the passenger door when you’ve crammed the Auris into a parking space that’s a bit too tight. Build quality is as good as anything in the sector and these facelifted models highlight th