Auris hybrid... any good as a company hack?
Discussion
Yes, I know. Boring content alert!
But...
A Toyota Auris Touring Hybrid looks, on the face of it, a good bet for my next company car. Big boot, lots of kit, auto box, and it's about £200 per month less than I currently pay for a well-specced diesel Passat.
It will be purely used for work, so all I'm interested in is comfort, refinement, and practicality.
Driver involvement really isn't a concern for traipsing along the M62 or queuing through town. And I have no interest in "image" whatsoever.
Anybody here drive one of these things? How do you find it in terms of refinement and comfort? Any problems, or is Toyota reliability as solid as ever?
But...
A Toyota Auris Touring Hybrid looks, on the face of it, a good bet for my next company car. Big boot, lots of kit, auto box, and it's about £200 per month less than I currently pay for a well-specced diesel Passat.
It will be purely used for work, so all I'm interested in is comfort, refinement, and practicality.
Driver involvement really isn't a concern for traipsing along the M62 or queuing through town. And I have no interest in "image" whatsoever.
Anybody here drive one of these things? How do you find it in terms of refinement and comfort? Any problems, or is Toyota reliability as solid as ever?
Northernchimp said:
I get not being image conscious or caring about the driving experience, but it's a Toyota Auris Hybrid estate for f
k's sake. Surely there is another way?
There is...k's sake. Surely there is another way?Other option I'm considering is a Nissan Note. Cheaper, similar spec, but smaller and manual 'box. And being a 1.2 I get 2p less per mile than the more economical 1.8 in the Auris.
The Note is supercharged, though...
Northernchimp said:
What about a V60 Plug-In Hybrid? Assuming they're on sale. The tax is only slightly higher than the Auris.
But the list price is somewhere over £40k, I recall.Auris runs the Prius drivetrain, so it makes a very sensible company hack. Didn't realise you could get an estate, though.
Is the CT200h an option? Same oily bits, but more luxury - although less boot space.
Edit: Price is £50k for the V60 Hybrid!
Edited by wasserboxer on Friday 30th May 23:14
I have the prius as a works car run about and it is good for it's intended purpose. Very cheap to run, in fuel between 8 and 10p per mile and I claim 45p sliding to 40p depending on mileage.
It has all the stuff on it and it's nice enough. It's comfortable and being an auto that can do at least 5 miles around town providing the battery started full and get 99.9mpg and 64mpg on a motorway run.
It's dull, no drive involvement, lacking in luxury but it's a good works car.
Brother had a auris hybrid estate through the company, top spec will all the stuff. Even from brand new it's doing 55mpg from my 61mpg long term (so slightly lower I think) and the interior is a step up on the prius,
I wouldn't own one personally as my only car but I think it's great as a works run about. I luckily have an xfr to drive at the evenings and weekends.
It has all the stuff on it and it's nice enough. It's comfortable and being an auto that can do at least 5 miles around town providing the battery started full and get 99.9mpg and 64mpg on a motorway run.
It's dull, no drive involvement, lacking in luxury but it's a good works car.
Brother had a auris hybrid estate through the company, top spec will all the stuff. Even from brand new it's doing 55mpg from my 61mpg long term (so slightly lower I think) and the interior is a step up on the prius,
I wouldn't own one personally as my only car but I think it's great as a works run about. I luckily have an xfr to drive at the evenings and weekends.
I use a Prius as a work's pool car, I've never worked out the MPG but it's got to be pretty good, 50mpg mainly used on lots of sub 15 mile trips. It's decently quiet inside, gets Radio 4 and is nice enough to drive, "inert" is a good word I'd use. It's not as slow as you might expect it to be either, it's not the kind of car you drive to thrash or sling about. If I was offered one I'd be more than happy with it. The battery recharge is very effective (the wheels spinning feeds the battery, so even when cruising on the motorway it's charging the battery, then add in regenerative braking, using the engine braking function etc), so you can use the electric switch to override the engine in urban areas as long as the speeds are low, boosting MPG, so you can run the battery down in town to save petrol, then let it recharge on the road between urban areas.
Iirc, they are ridiculously light on their brake pads too, as the majority of time when you're braking the regenerative system scrubs speed and the pads aren't even used.
Iirc, they are ridiculously light on their brake pads too, as the majority of time when you're braking the regenerative system scrubs speed and the pads aren't even used.
Mastodon2 said:
I use a Prius as a work's pool car, I've never worked out the MPG but it's got to be pretty good, 50mpg mainly used on lots of sub 15 mile trips. It's decently quiet inside, gets Radio 4 and is nice enough to drive, "inert" is a good word I'd use. It's not as slow as you might expect it to be either, it's not the kind of car you drive to thrash or sling about. If I was offered one I'd be more than happy with it. The battery recharge is very effective (the wheels spinning feeds the battery, so even when cruising on the motorway it's charging the battery, then add in regenerative braking, using the engine braking function etc), so you can use the electric switch to override the engine in urban areas as long as the speeds are low, boosting MPG, so you can run the battery down in town to save petrol, then let it recharge on the road between urban areas.
Iirc, they are ridiculously light on their brake pads too, as the majority of time when you're braking the regenerative system scrubs speed and the pads aren't even used.
Yes for short journeys people need to realise they rarely go over 50 mpg. I get about 50-55mpg on cold starts that are under 5 miles. Iirc, they are ridiculously light on their brake pads too, as the majority of time when you're braking the regenerative system scrubs speed and the pads aren't even used.
Once warm it's a different story and can be 100+mpg, recently averaged 80mpg from a warm start. But short stuff and cold it's certainly less! Pretty impressive what it does.
Press pwr button and it has reasonable shove, more pleasant than an Eco diesel.
I think this thread is a prime candidate for "my diesel 3 series does 55mpg on the motorway". Indeed modern eco diesels are pretty good. I got 51mpg to work out of my wife's compared to 64mpg in the prius. However on the way back there was traffic and this town crawling killed it to 37mpg as I averaged 8mpg at the start.
So on a clear run eco diesels are pretty close but in stop start commuter traffic things become very different.
Edited by bp1000 on Saturday 31st May 01:31
That V60 looks like a very nice car, but at £40k both the lease price and BiK will be enormous!
I did consider the CT, but on our list I'd have to pay over £100 a month for the Advance, as cruise control isn't even an option on the cheaper S and SE grades. Pretty poor for a supposedly "luxury" brand; whereas you can't actually buy a Note without cruise!
It would be the Excel trim with nav that I'd go for, lower spec Icon is barely any less.
Sounds promising, then - I don't mind it being dull to drive as long as I'm comfortable and relaxed. Factoring in the better economy and higher mileage rate, the Auris would be about £40 more per month than a Note, which I reckon is justified by the bigger boot and the automatic transmission.
It's not going to be my only car, have a Capri for fun, and the money saved over the Passat will go toward running a nice Audi A8 (hopefully in W12 flavour, if I ever find a tidy one!) as a posh family bus. Oh, and there's the mrs' Note for local family pottering too. Perhaps we have too many cars... Really the Auris would only ever be used for work and for mucky jobs such as tip runs and shifting muddy mountain bikes!
I did consider the CT, but on our list I'd have to pay over £100 a month for the Advance, as cruise control isn't even an option on the cheaper S and SE grades. Pretty poor for a supposedly "luxury" brand; whereas you can't actually buy a Note without cruise!
It would be the Excel trim with nav that I'd go for, lower spec Icon is barely any less.
Sounds promising, then - I don't mind it being dull to drive as long as I'm comfortable and relaxed. Factoring in the better economy and higher mileage rate, the Auris would be about £40 more per month than a Note, which I reckon is justified by the bigger boot and the automatic transmission.
It's not going to be my only car, have a Capri for fun, and the money saved over the Passat will go toward running a nice Audi A8 (hopefully in W12 flavour, if I ever find a tidy one!) as a posh family bus. Oh, and there's the mrs' Note for local family pottering too. Perhaps we have too many cars... Really the Auris would only ever be used for work and for mucky jobs such as tip runs and shifting muddy mountain bikes!
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