My review about the Auris Hybrid.

July 4, 2017

Hi again...

Well, first I want to apologize about my English, I'm trying to improve it, but I guess you can understand it... ;)

I wrote a review about my first 15000 kms (+-10000 miles)

Is long, I know... but it's summer, spend your holidays reading...

15000kms ( -+ 10000 miles) Auris TS Advance HSD

I buyed my car 8 months ago... and as they say with everything that is bought, if you know what are you buying, you can't be disappointed... but it is above and it has exceeded my expectations.

Background...
It came from a Mondeo Ghia Wagon with a lot of extras, xenon, window roof, parking sensors, 17" tires, climate, regulation of electric seats, thermal windshield, etc ...
From there on the same segment I looked at options, discarding SUVs. And it was not because of my wife's lack of insight, but no. I dont want a Suv because I do not need it: I'm not going to get offroad ... so I do not need it ...Since I have family, and with age, I have reassured myself in regard to driving. I already did enough mad things when I was young and I let the speed for the circuits ...
With the Karts I already gave myself to relieve myself and with the motorbikes to have sensations in the road ...
So to drive, with a car that takes me from point A to point B and let me enjoy the road, do not give me problems in some hills and some overtaking, I don't need 200hp (although I am of those who say they never exceed ..) Also I don't need to make the 0-60 in 5 seconds ...
I wait for those 5 seconds to pass the car and then I leave quietly by my way...

The candidates who had always had in mind ...
- Mondeo Wagon, although it was changing very little ...
- Passat Variant
- V60
- 508 SW
- A4 Avant
- 320 Touring
- C200 State

I was only hesitating between gasoil and gasoline .. but the 25-30 thousand kms/year (15-18 thousand miles/year), made me choose diesel engine.. and although the cost of gasoline had dropped down to 1 € liter (less than 4 pounds/galon), it was clear that it was temporaly. So gasoil ...
I just had one thing clear ... I did not want to go over 30k € (+-25000 GBP).
But when the time comes to start deciding, traffic restrictions in large cities begin because of pollution, the scandal of VAG emissions and their traps, The hatching (I went to put an "explosion", but someone will think about the batteries) of Tesla and it raises me the curiosity ...
So I thought of looking at other options above ... Hybrids ... There were only three cars who were next to my requirements... The 508 RXH for 37000, the Mondeo for 38000 and the Passat GTE for 42000 ...

Changing my mind...
But then I thought ... 5m (16ft) are complicated in some moments in my city, although nothing dramatic, my daughters have already grown, so the needs of porters fall, and the number of trips also, and soon, to the number of passengers, too ...
So I pulled towards the bottom segment ...
The final candidates chosen for pure aesthetic taste and relation quality and price:
Peugeot 308 sw, Seat Leon ST and VW Golf Variant ...
Yes, all in the variant Wagon/Sport Tourer/Variant/Avant/Touring Sport/Sport Wagon... A contradiction with the above to lower segment to reduce size?... a bit yes, but in the upper segment all I was considering were SW ... Since once you get used to opening the trunk and "throwing" things inside and it fits all ... You love it forever...
And I resumed the idea of the hybrid ... So I looked at the new Prius. When they stopped bleeding my eyes :) , I saw that there was another hybrid model, the Auris TS ... so I added it to the final list ...
The 308 I discarded it by iCopkit and being the first one I looked, the feeling of not being able to move in space for the driver was very high. Also I looked for some info and I found some glitches with the screen from where everything is handled ...
So there were the Leon, the Golf and the Auris ...
I tried all 3 ... and my wife making little eyes for the Suv of each brand ...

What made me choice the Auris was:
- Confidence in the brand
- Reduced consumption
- Hybrid system more than tested
- VW emissions escandal
- Gasoline vs Diesel in pollution issue.
- In addition this gasoline is indirect injection with Atkinson cycle, and does not suffer from particulate emissions or Nox from the current downsized turbo engines ...
- Exceptional Fineness of the Auris
- The eCVT "gearbox" so reviled by specialists and experts, for my pretensions, I find the most comfortable I have tried.
- Economic maintenance
- The first 4 revisions do not reach 400 €. Although in the Vag reviews are every 30 thousand kms, there is the change of oil from the gearbox. Then there are the belts and brake pads ...
- Reliability and mechanical simplicity
- Although I know that the things are based on every personal history, the absence of components (clutch, gearbox, mechanical pumps, FAP, etc ...), and the history of each brand give Toyota as more reliable than VAG (when you do not hear about the lambda sensor problems, you hear about the window that falls, obvious things that do not fix, emission traps, crazy tempomats, power failures, and lots of things ...)
but Toyota has also talked about the pedalgate, headlights, and head gaskets of the first and old diesel Carina ... but many less mechanical-electronic problems ...
- Brand Responses
- Although all companies are looking to squeeze the issue of guarantees, it seems that Toyota is one of the least do it...

The car...
White, because long time ago I had two black cars without AC and I said that never again (in spain, you know anout high temperatures)... and after having had a white one, it seems to me the most suffering color...
The finish chosen was the highest, the Advance.
Basically for the seats, since those of the Feel and Active finishes both my wife (who suffers from her back a lot) and I (who also start to notice about my shoulders and back) we find them very uncomfortable.
As much as those of the 2006 Yaris that we have, but in this one maximum have been made 100 kms ...
And also for the extras he wore. Full LED, Panoramic roof, security system (lane warning, pre-collision automatic braking, assisted parking, parking sensors, etc ...)
From the first day it has been a delight to drive it ...

Engine 9,5 / 10
2Zr-FXE 1.8ltr 99cv Petrol
Smoothness and reliability made engine. Only overtaked by the new generation of Prius and CH-R
It is not the most powerful, but if the finest and one of the most reliable ...
Taking advantage of inertia, traffic lights, total flat etc ... I have done something more than 5 kms in pure electric... Then ICE stats because low temperature or because there it is low of Battery ..
It does not look like a 100cv "single" motor, thanks to the 70cv of the electric motor (if I know, that the car in total has 140 hp and that 99 + 70 = 169, is that the ICE and the electric do not give their full Power at the same time) and above all, thanks to the instant torque.
The answer depends on the mode.
- The Eco mode boosts fuel economy, making the pedal travel greater, so the answer is more sweet since it uses the ICE or the electric in little pedal demand, but if you sink it, Kickdown, responds very well ...
You can get up to 80km/h of needle... from there, the electric only supports ICE when you need it ... (I've seen about 100, both acting ...)
- The Power mode enhances the response, making the pedal travel much smaller and the two motors constantly entering, so the response is strong enough to get out of trouble...
- The EV mode. It only works on electric, until you pass the 40 kms/h, the Battery runs out or the demand of the accelerator is high that is passed to normal mode and it starts the ICE.
He fails:
Put the 2.5 160 hp from the Rav4 .. (If they made an Avensis with the Rav4 200h engine and a correct price, that would be a best seller ...)

Inside - 8.5 / 10
It is what Toyota has been improving in every generation ... But it can not do too much, not to reach the Lexus that has another target
It has a very good soundproofing, and it is not only because the engine is silent (it is) or because you often go by good roads..., if not because in the passenger compartment, it is very well isolated (for my taste, In excess in town, but it is a biker's phobia).
The touch is excellent, without being a premium, everything is very fine, with an excellent touch and finishes. All plastics in soft leather simile (in this finish), except where is the joystic of the change of direction (not to call it change of gears)
The fabric-leather seats are very comfortable (which is why we chose this version), they hold me very well, but the lateral support subtracts a few centimeters that can make the entrance to the car a little difficult, depending on the driver's size.
The lumbar adjustment is excellent (although it is electric enough for the few times you touch it ...).
All buttons are illuminated and are very easy to distinguish and operate (except 2 of little use).
3 cigarette lighter sockets, for chargers and electronic devices, etc ... Front, rear and trunk.
The Touch 2 is very intuitive, quite fast and responds very well to the touch (do not press hard, or twice because it does not read. ) The navigator only had 2 minutes of small disorientation ... it is very configurable, it has search options by Google, the integrated Coyote (radar warning), I can plan routes and trips from the computer and they pass through OTA.
It is spacious, taking into account the segment. Of my finalists, the most spacious and by far. It has a very good trunk, with compartments and double bottom and is very usable.
He fails:
- The placement of the buttons of the activation of the automatic parking and the sensitivity of the collision detection (but the matter is not that you are playing them a lot ...), which are next to the left knee. And you have to move to see them
- He does not have Mirrorlink. (Only with Samsung S3 and with Android 4.3, but now they are reporting that with Nougat version, at least on the Samsung, it is working again)
- The layout and orientation of the Touch&Go screen. For my taste should be higher and slightly oriented to the driver

Lighting 9,9 / 10
The Full Led headlights are amazing. The best lighting I've ever had in a car. And I come from xenon ...
The diurnal LEDs very visible (I see it in other Auris, because mine from within I cant see it ...)
Failure: The only drawback, are the internal light bulbs and some exterior (reverse, flashing, and brakes), which could be LED, but nothing that for 20 € does not fix Amazon, AliXpress or eBay ...

Chassis?
For the normal circulation, it is perfect ... It is not a car to put it in curves with a knife ... but I've tried in high mountain at 8am in the morning (without others cars) I was given to put Power mode and try to spend the Battery (and the wheels too)
Although in complicated bound curves you can see the fat ***** (the batteries are not graphene's ones), nothing that surprises if you know what can happen and I have not noticed any "malice" or "betrayal" .. if you do not have it in you mind...

After Sales: 10/10
In the commercial part, regular, one good, one bad... but thanks to that, I took a couple of free extras (and not cheaps) ... But that depends a lot on vendor what you find.
In the part of workshop, 10 points. I had to go to mount some accessories that had not arrived with the car and one had to put it back because it took off. They put another new one and without any problem...
The workshop manager of the concession where I took him, a person attentive, kind, cordial ... A real professional.

Consumption
In advance, my four daily journeys (street in city to leave in cold, highway, and arrival at the my work) and my weekend getaways (Highways), were not,in first the comfort zone for an hybrid.
And this is where people sting with the consumption approved: 3.9l/100kms (60.31mpg) in TS with 17" rims. Be hybrid or not ... See that and believe that always or almost always the car has to spend that... Not counting neither its way of driving nor the orography of its routes ...
The average real consumption that I carry in 15000 is 4.7l/100KMS (50MPG) Less than a liter above the homologated ... for me is not bad at all ... I came from a consumption of 7.2L/100 (32 MPG) of diesel. And now in the summer it's going down ...
On the freeway it goes up to 5.2-5.4 (43 mpg) and some times 5.7l/100 (41mpg) is the most I have seen on the highway at 140kms/h
I have achieved partial consumption below the homologated, and quite, but in good condition some really low... 3.1l/100 (75mpg) in 40-kilometer tours ... but those are the least, because the terrain was totally favorable (descent and final stroll)

Overall rating, for me ... 9,3 / 10

Thanks for your patience...