Car: Toyota Auris 1.4 VVT-i range
Prices: £12,355-£13,355 – on the road
Insurance Group: 4E
Emissions: 163g/km
Performance: 0-60mph 12.7s / Max Speed 106mph
Fuel Consumption: (urban) 32.5 (extra urban) 47.9 (combined) 40.9mpg
Safety: Nine airbags / ABS /EBD
Dimensions: [5dr] length/width/height mm 4220/1760/1515
CAUSE AND COROLLARY
Our Rating: 6.6 / 10
Toyota hopes that the Auris can kickstart its assault on the family hatch market. Andy Enright takes a look at the entry-level 1.4-litre VVTi petrol model
If you buy cars on a criteria purely based around sensible virtues, here’s one that should feature high up on your list. Toyota’s Auris in entry-level 1.4-litre petrol form forsakes excitement for screwed down design excellence.
Toyota has cleverly catered to their biggest audiences and gamely keeps plugging away with small cars. The Yaris range has found some favour and the Aygo is making respectable numbers but the replacement for the Corolla, the Auris, is up against some tough contenders. The 1.4-litre petrol model is the entry-level model and offers a big car feel for not a lot of money.
The first impression you get when dropping into the Auris 1.4 VVTi is that this is a lot of car for not a lot of engine to send up the Queen’s highway. And so it proves. With 96bhp on tap, performance isn’t what you’d describe as vivd, but the engine is certainly game and doesn’t leave you with bleeding eardrums when you rev it hard. In fact the powerplant is rather tuneful which is just as well as you’ll need a heavy right boot to make respectable progress. Leather the Auris off the line and it’ll get to 60mph in 12.7 seconds on the way to a maximum of 106mph.
The Auris’ 1.4-litre engine features VVT-i, a system that utilises computerised timing control of the inlet valves. In theory, this promotes torque at low revs and power at high engine speeds. Ride, handling and road-holding are all marginally above class average, but the steering, while accurate, doesn’t impart much in the way of feedback, robbing you of confidence when you’re really pushing on. The plus side is that it makes the Auris incredibly easy to park, helped by good all round visibility.
Rather than anything extreme, the Auris’ exterior shape is ‘evolutionary.’ A less charitable verdict would be unadventurous. If Toyota really wanted to position the Auris as a different and higher quality car than the Corolla, step one should be to ensure it doesn’t look broadly similar in dimension to that car. Yet despite the neater touches, well, it does. While Toyota senior suits talk about J-factor, vibrant clarity and emotional identity, most of us think it represents a missed opportunity.
The cabin has been smartened up with a clearer dash design and OPTITRON instruments but materials quality is slightly hit and miss. There’s also a significant lack of oddments stowage space. For a car that namechecks the Volkswagen Golf amongst its key rivals, the Auris is more than a little behind the curve here. On the plus side, longer overhangs offer significantly better luggage capacity (354 litres) than the old Corolla and despite the wheelbase being the same, some clever packaging sees rear legroom increase. Compared to the Corolla, the Auris is 40mm longer and 50mm wider. One particularly neat design detail is the low door profiles which help to reduce the visual effect of tallness.
The 1.4-litre VVT-i engine is available with either the three or five-door body style and T2, TR or T3 trim levels. As you’d expect from Toyota, standard equipment levels are excellent. The T2 trim in three-door guise opens at £12,355 which is more than an equivalent Ford Focus but less than a similarly-engined Honda Civic. Equipment at this level includes air conditioning, front electric windows, an MP3 compatible CD stereo, anti lock brakes and 15-inch steel wheels. Trade up to the T3, which starts at £13,355 and you’ll also get rear electric windows, colour keyed mirrors and door handles, more speakers for your stereo, leather trim for the gearshift and steering wheel, audio controls on said wheel and 16-inch alloy rims. Toyota also offers three option packs for the Auris; Style, Protection and Tech.
Buying the Auris is made simple by an innovative internet-based approach. Prospective customers can visit www.toyota.co.uk and use a vehicle configurator to build a new Auris to their own specification. A finance calculator then allows customers to create bespoke finance quotations based on their preferred deposit or monthly payment amount, and customers can apply for finance with Toyota Financial Services at the same time. At the same time the chosen Toyota Centre is automati
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