Auris Hybrid Ordered

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Discussion

Super Slo Mo

5,368 posts

197 months

Saturday 6th September 2014
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To get mid 40's you've got to be very aggressive with it. I had a CT200h on demo for a day recently (getting the Auris instead as it's quieter on the motorway), and averaged a real 57 mpg. That included a blast over the Cat and Fiddle, actually, not the C & F but the much quieter and more twisty/interesting road that runs alongside it, then a blast from Buxton to Leek on the A53. Without that my average would have been in the 60's quite easily.

Around town it should be very easy to get it into the 70's per gallon.

Get him to put it in Eco mode if it isn't already, it softens the throttle response and means any ham fisted throttle control is diluted significantly.

Jonny_

4,108 posts

206 months

Saturday 6th September 2014
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I've got the Auris Touring Sport (estate to non-marketing people!) on demo for the weekend.

The hybrid gubbins works very well, I'm impressed with its smoothness. The engine noise can be intrusive under full acceleration but otherwise it's pretty quiet. Love using it in EV Mode when pootling around, can get it to run purely on battery at low speeds for a mile or so.

Downsides, well the stereo is a bit of a pain to use, the touchscreen is fiddly and unresponsive and not particularly intuitive. Interior wise it's OK but not the best, it looks and feels cheap and there's not much room in the back.

I've averaged 61mpg over about 100 miles of driving, mostly 60/70mph NSL roads with a few miles of town stuff and a bit of hilly back road driving too.

Performance isn't bad at all. About equivalent to a decent conventional 1600 petrol I reckon, but far smoother and quieter.

Thus far I'm pretty pleased with the Auris. I would certainly be happy to run one as my work car, although the final verdict will come next month when I've had a 2-day demo in a Mitsu Outlander PHEV (which works out to about the same total cost as the Auris in lease contributions and BIK over 3 years).

Super Slo Mo

5,368 posts

197 months

Saturday 6th September 2014
quotequote all
Interesting, I thought the stereo was quite easy to use and reasonably intuitive. The CT200h version, whilst similar, was more difficult to navigate due to not being touchscreen.

However, when compared to the utterly mind bogglingly awkward and difficult to use system in the Astra I also had on demo, the Auris is a paragon of simplicity.

I thought the Auris cabin was pretty good really, easily the equivalent of its contemporaries, obviously not up to lexus or Audi levels though, but felt pleasingly solid nevertheless.

Jonny_

4,108 posts

206 months

Saturday 6th September 2014
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Super Slo Mo said:
Interesting, I thought the stereo was quite easy to use and reasonably intuitive. The CT200h version, whilst similar, was more difficult to navigate due to not being touchscreen.

However, when compared to the utterly mind bogglingly awkward and difficult to use system in the Astra I also had on demo, the Auris is a paragon of simplicity.

I thought the Auris cabin was pretty good really, easily the equivalent of its contemporaries, obviously not up to lexus or Audi levels though, but felt pleasingly solid nevertheless.
I've perhaps been spoiled by the very easy-to-use system in my Passat, it's so much easier to navigate through music and it has a rotary control you can use rather than relying on using a touchscreen in a moving vehicle. The Auris isn't the worst I've used, but it's also not the best by a long way.

The cabin is, IMHO of course, perfectly OK for the price of the car, but not the most attractive or luxurious and there are a few areas that look plain odd and out of place: the digital clock, the small panel showing the seatbelts/airbags, that sort of thing. I don't doubt it's built to last,
and I certainly wouldn't have expected the most alluring interior design from a
£24k Toyota with an expensive hybrid drivetrain.

Super Slo Mo

5,368 posts

197 months

Saturday 6th September 2014
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I've got a superb, and I'd say the entertainment system is on a par with that in terms of usability, but streets ahead in terms of sound quality.
I've read reviews about the clock looking odd, it didn't bother me at all although I'd prefer it in my eyeline.
Rear space will be the big difference compared to the Skoda, but then it will be on anything this side of a LWB seven series as the Skoda is stupidly huge.
I don't need the rear seats anyway, but am getting the estate Auris which will be more useful.

mids

1,505 posts

257 months

Saturday 6th September 2014
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Super Slo Mo said:
To get mid 40's you've got to be very aggressive with it. I had a CT200h on demo for a day recently (getting the Auris instead as it's quieter on the motorway), and averaged a real 57 mpg. That included a blast over the Cat and Fiddle, actually, not the C & F but the much quieter and more twisty/interesting road that runs alongside it, then a blast from Buxton to Leek on the A53. Without that my average would have been in the 60's quite easily.

Around town it should be very easy to get it into the 70's per gallon.

Get him to put it in Eco mode if it isn't already, it softens the throttle response and means any ham fisted throttle control is diluted significantly.
Cheers. I'd be surprised if he's driving very aggressively and I know he's tried to drive economically and even been to the dealer for advice about it as he can't get close to the manufacturer quoted 69mpg. Just checked, the average mpg on Fuelly shows low 50's, AutoExpress got 44.9mpg for the Auris hybrid in their review and Fuelly is showing mid-50's so maybe he's not a million miles off. I'll point him at this thread.

Super Slo Mo

5,368 posts

197 months

Saturday 6th September 2014
quotequote all
Maybe the latest models are more efficient, I don't know.
With the two cars I've tested, just driving normally around town and not trying to beat people off the lights too much, I could get very close to the quoted numbers.
That drops on the motorway, but still, driving in my usual manner at either 70 on cruise or keeping up with traffic if it was very busy, I still managed the figures quoted above.
It'll be interesting to see what I get long term.

Roo

11,503 posts

206 months

Saturday 6th September 2014
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CT200h should easily do high 50's.

The lack of gears in them requires a different driving style. You need to lift off the throttle at the earliest opportunity to get the engine revs down. It's easy to get poor economy out of a Toyota/Lexus hybrid if you're not driving it correctly.

AmitG

3,272 posts

159 months

Saturday 6th September 2014
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mids said:
A friend of mine bought the posh Prius (the Lexus CT200h) new in 2011 and he's struggling with his consumption, averaging mid 40's mpg ( link). He's in his 60's and retired so most of his driving is pottering about which I thought would have suited the way the hybrid works but seems not.

He's a bit disillusioned with it. There is no 'knack' to driving these hybrids efficiently is there?
He should definitely be doing better than that.

One thought - if he's doing a lot of very short journeys, then the fuel economy will definitely be poor. Unlike other cars, the Toyota hybrids run the engine quite fast when the car is powered on from cold. I presume this is to get it up to temperature as quickly as possible.


AmitG

3,272 posts

159 months

Saturday 6th September 2014
quotequote all
Jonny_ said:
I've perhaps been spoiled by the very easy-to-use system in my Passat, it's so much easier to navigate through music and it has a rotary control you can use rather than relying on using a touchscreen in a moving vehicle. The Auris isn't the worst I've used, but it's also not the best by a long way.

The cabin is, IMHO of course, perfectly OK for the price of the car, but not the most attractive or luxurious and there are a few areas that look plain odd and out of place: the digital clock, the small panel showing the seatbelts/airbags, that sort of thing. I don't doubt it's built to last,
and I certainly wouldn't have expected the most alluring interior design from a
£24k Toyota with an expensive hybrid drivetrain.
I agree.

The cabin in these cars is very practical, it feels like it will last forever and is easy to clean etc. But all that grey plastic does look a bit grim. I reckon it's partly because they need to keep a bit of distance between Toyota and Lexus (the Lexus cabins are cloud9) and partly because a lot of the money goes on the drivetrain.

The audio system is a bit of a pain in that you have to navigate through the touchscreen for almost anything. For example if I want to change from radio to CD:
  • Press Media physical button
  • Press Source on touchscreen
  • Press All on touchscreen
  • Press CD on touchscreen
Similarly, if I want to browse available radio stations I have to find the screen and then press left and right buttons on the touchscreen to page through them. I would much prefer a rotary knob or a few more physical buttons, I don't like fiddling with a touchscreen when I'm travelling fast.

The digital clock thing is amusing. The one in the 7-seat Prius looks exactly like it came off a Casio digital watch 20 years ago. It's charmingly retro smile

And there are dedicated physical buttons, conveniently placed and marked, for adjusting the hours and minutes of the clock. But nothing to adjust the audio banghead

Jonny_

4,108 posts

206 months

Sunday 7th September 2014
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My thoughts exactly AmitG.

The DAB radio is a nightmare, rather than simply displaying all the available stations in alphabetical order (which just about every DAB radio in the known universe does), it insists that you scroll through all the channels (10A, 10B, etc etc) to choose from the selection of stations on each channel. Which is a bit of a faff, especially when trying to drive a car!

Also, the media player will not allow me to browse the music on a USB stick by its folder structure. Instead I have to go by album or artist or whatever. The trouble there is that amongst the music on my USB drive are a few folders containing hundreds of random songs, so I end up scrolling through hundreds of album titles most of which only apply to one song! Can be worked around by moving all the random stuff to a separate stick, mind.

However... on a considerably more positive note...

We took the Auris for a run to the coast today. 110-mile round trip consisting mostly of NSL single and dual carriageways, much of which is up and downhill. Plus a few miles of town driving and a bit of chewing through slow traffic on the main road as well.

The car averaged a thoroughly impressive 64mpg, and that was with no particular effort made to drive economically. It also managed several overtakes along the way - although it makes a bit of a racket under full throttle (the petrol engine revs its nuts off constantly) it certainly doesn't feel in any way underpowered.

Incidentally, at current petrol prices that figure (assuming it's accurate - I gather the Toyota MPG readouts are fairly close to reality, though) equates to just over 9p a mile in fuel. About the same as it used to cost me to run a Focus 1.6 in 2006, back when petrol was a mere 85p per litre!

It'll be interesting to see how the Mitsubishi PHEV compares when I get one on demo next month, but I could quite happily live with the Toyota as my daily driver.

Edited by Jonny_ on Sunday 7th September 17:51

Super Slo Mo

5,368 posts

197 months

Sunday 7th September 2014
quotequote all
Well, ok, let me give you my experience, as I didn't think the Auris system was that bad. Alright, it's a little fiddly, but I found it pretty intuitive, within ten minutes of picking the car up from the dealer, I'd got the vast majority of the entertainment/audio system figured out, and that was whilst driving (I know wink)
Took me a little longer to figure out the intricacies of the Sat Nav, but I did that sitting outside the office in a few minutes.

Contrast it to the Astra I had on demo later in the week, and if you think the Auris is bad, I implore you to go take an Astra out. In fact, scratch that, please don't, it's a terrible car that I wouldn't wish on anyone.

Anyway, I had a day off with the Astra, so took the wife out for the day in it. After an hour and a half we still hadn't got all the details of the system figured out, and that was both of us trying, albeit with me driving.
Bear in mind that working my way through software driven menus in the 'heat of battle' so to speak is part of my day job, so I'm quite used to figuring new kit out.

It's so badly designed, covered in little buttons with text that's difficult to read whilst driving, has a navigation controller that's illogical as you have to also press other buttons as well as the 'mouse' thingy, and then you can't just jog back, you have to press yet another button.

Oh, and you can't use the Sat Nav unless the radio is switched on, so for instance, sometimes I like to travel without the audio system running, and listen to my own crazy thoughts instead of R4 or music, well, in the Astra you can't. Well, ok you can turn the volume down, but that's just stupid.

There's also something else you can't operate without having the audio system running, but I can't recall what it is. I do know I wanted to punch the centre console, and I've never felt like that before in a car. smile

The only thing I found a little frustrating with the Auris is that the audio system always turned itself on when I started the car, and I couldn't figure out how to get it to default to off. I guess it must be possible, I will find out in due course no doubt.

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 8th September 2014
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Took a test drive today in a model I'm considering . Icon plus estate with the glass roof. Very impressed with the ride quality & build quality (no rattles to upset my OCD !). Test drive mpg was 63 which was pretty good , just drove normally . Sat nav seemed intuitive enough, didn't get time to play with the stereo... .
Offered a good discount and considering pcp. Poor GFV bumps up the monthly 0% cost in the short term though. GFV 8500 after 3 years on a nominal 22k car is pretty poor in my opinion. I would have thought would be say 11k if the desirability etc is that good...
So I like the car, not keen on the finance, so will ponder a few days!

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 9th September 2014
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Decided against it as the rubbish GFV compared to other brands makes PCP expensive. Rubbish GFV seems to equate to poor residual value .
I'm in no rush, may look again in a year or so..

Jonny_

4,108 posts

206 months

Tuesday 9th September 2014
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I handed the Auris demo car back today. Quite disappointing going back to my diesel Passat; although much more powerful, it seems very noisy and crude compared to the hybrid. And the "sports" seats and suspension now seem even more bloody uncomfortable!

Overall I rather liked the Auris. It's no less fun or exciting than the Passat, both are pretty dull workhorse sort of cars, but the Auris offers a much more quiet, refined drive and also uses a lot less fuel. I managed 68mpg today on a 40 mile run. The figures for each journey have crept up as I got used to the hybrid system and the way it likes to be driven, and the quoted 70.6mpg figure doesn't seem unrealistic given careful driving. On the same journey at the same speeds, the Passat would return mid-to-high 50s. Of course all these figures are from trip computers, but whilst I know from experience that the Volkswagen Lie-O-Meter overestimates by around 8%, the Toyota ones are reputedly quite accurate.

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV to try next, in its favour compared to the Auris will be the much greater range and performance in EV mode along with 4wd and more interior and boot space. However, from what I gather the consumption in "hybrid" mode once the battery has been depleted is pretty poor. Whereas the Auris seemed consistently unable to return less than 60mpg over a journey.

bozzy101

506 posts

138 months

Tuesday 9th September 2014
quotequote all
Jimboka said:
Decided against it as the rubbish GFV compared to other brands makes PCP expensive. Rubbish GFV seems to equate to poor residual value .
I'm in no rush, may look again in a year or so..
Toyota set their GFV's low so you have equity at the end of your agreement, as well as safeguarding themselves in case the arse drops out of the market and you chuck your car back at them end of term. Glasses Guide would offer a more accurate indication of residual value.

If you have any more questions, PM me. I work at a Toyota franchise in sales so will do the best I can to help.

bozzy101

506 posts

138 months

Tuesday 9th September 2014
quotequote all
mids said:
Super Slo Mo said:
To get mid 40's you've got to be very aggressive with it. I had a CT200h on demo for a day recently (getting the Auris instead as it's quieter on the motorway), and averaged a real 57 mpg. That included a blast over the Cat and Fiddle, actually, not the C & F but the much quieter and more twisty/interesting road that runs alongside it, then a blast from Buxton to Leek on the A53. Without that my average would have been in the 60's quite easily.

Around town it should be very easy to get it into the 70's per gallon.

Get him to put it in Eco mode if it isn't already, it softens the throttle response and means any ham fisted throttle control is diluted significantly.
Cheers. I'd be surprised if he's driving very aggressively and I know he's tried to drive economically and even been to the dealer for advice about it as he can't get close to the manufacturer quoted 69mpg. Just checked, the average mpg on Fuelly shows low 50's, AutoExpress got 44.9mpg for the Auris hybrid in their review and Fuelly is showing mid-50's so maybe he's not a million miles off. I'll point him at this thread.
Sounds like he is using the car for very short journeys. They perform better once the engine/hybrid system have warmed up sufficiently.

Super Slo Mo

5,368 posts

197 months

Tuesday 9th September 2014
quotequote all
Jonny_ said:
I handed the Auris demo car back today. Quite disappointing going back to my diesel Passat; although much more powerful, it seems very noisy and crude compared to the hybrid. And the "sports" seats and suspension now seem even more bloody uncomfortable!

Overall I rather liked the Auris. It's no less fun or exciting than the Passat, both are pretty dull workhorse sort of cars, but the Auris offers a much more quiet, refined drive and also uses a lot less fuel. I managed 68mpg today on a 40 mile run. The figures for each journey have crept up as I got used to the hybrid system and the way it likes to be driven, and the quoted 70.6mpg figure doesn't seem unrealistic given careful driving. On the same journey at the same speeds, the Passat would return mid-to-high 50s. Of course all these figures are from trip computers, but whilst I know from experience that the Volkswagen Lie-O-Meter overestimates by around 8%, the Toyota ones are reputedly quite accurate.

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV to try next, in its favour compared to the Auris will be the much greater range and performance in EV mode along with 4wd and more interior and boot space. However, from what I gather the consumption in "hybrid" mode once the battery has been depleted is pretty poor. Whereas the Auris seemed consistently unable to return less than 60mpg over a journey.
I do think it depends on how you drive, but I found the Auris encouraged a gentler, more relaxed approach, which I think is no bad thing. My calculations using both the CT200h and the Auris suggest it's over reading by less than 5%, which is quite good. My Skoda's more like 10% plus. Other VW brands I've had have been 6-8% inaccurate.

bp1000

873 posts

178 months

Wednesday 10th September 2014
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My prius overreads by less than 5% too. I think it's quite common between owners, it's accurate enough.

During summer I've had a few tanks that average over 70mpg on the trip but only when my short trips are minimised.

Mid to high 60s is probably the usual.

I've stopped checking, it's just very good on fuel compared to my other cars.

BMWE34FAN

96 posts

124 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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Went in one of these quite recently as a taxi (was a tourer). Seem quite nice inside, definately not as bad as the motoring press make out. It was brand new but the taxi driver claimed he was only getting late 40's mpg which didn't seem that impressive. I would expect mid 50's without even trying then 60+ when trying. Nice motor though and getting quite common now.