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'new' Auris Hybrid... First Impressions & Queries


CurranShelter
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It's been a while - in fact the best part of half a year (where does time go?) - so what better time to post a quick update on those first impressions. I'm still enjoying the car in most conditions, and I'm relieved that (so far) it has instilled the same sense of confidence that I became used to with my last Toyota. (Yes, there is a 'but' coming.)

But... I can't help comparing it against my faithful old (2004) Corolla 1.6, and whereas that felt really sprightly, I really don't feel the same can be said of the Auris HSD. (Waiting for someone to say I'm comparing apples with pears...) There are times when the Auris does feel quite quick, and others where it feels like a very refined, relaxed cruiser, but dynamically I really notice the extra weight - especially around corners, when pulling away, accelerating and braking, even after several months of driving it. Partly a very different suspension setup, weight of the HV Battery, estate overhang, and characteristics of the brakes, which seem much less progressive and predictable than on the Corolla. I do appreciate the generally more cosseting ride though, and although it does occasionally get caught out and crashes or wallows around, it's not half as bad as some cars I've had the displeasure of driving.

Anyway, back to the performance aspect, and I do have one fairly big gripe, which just goes to show my test drives weren't really sufficient, or I may have had second thoughts. The car often (but bemusingly not always) feels slow going up hills. Not sure if I'd say 'underpowered' exactly, but it just refuses to pick up speed. I understand high revs are to be expected with this engine and transmission, which probably makes this seem worse than it is, but even the slightest incline seems to knock the performance and even a modest hill can sometimes make it feel sluggish. There's a hill near my house which the Corolla used to storm up quite eagerly, but the Auris seems to make a big deal of it. I did one journey across the Peak District, and another involving long uphill motorway stretches, and in both cases it felt quite tedious and was a real relief to reach level ground again. I think this is really the only aspect that made me question whether I made the right choice with the hybrid instead of holding out for a used 1.2T.

Incidentally, this is in 'normal' mode... I have tried using Eco mode a fair bit, and it's OK when I'm in no rush to get anywhere, but (a) it exacerbates the uphill issue, and (b) keeping it activated the whole time doesn't always seem to translate to higher MPGs... in fact I sometimes wonder if it can inadvertently worsen economy as I seem to end up losing speed and having to work the accelerator more.

So, felt the need to get that off my chest and see if anyone has similar or opposing experiences.

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I too live in Derbyshire, and what I find is that the car seems to respond to a firm throttle initially, then back off and it keeps pace. It has quite a bit of power at full pelt (not as much as I used to have in a 1.8TSI Yeti) when the Battery is available, so going up to the Cat and Fiddle it's quite relaxed. Not to mention the average speed cameras which inhibit!  Power mode is also useful I find, at lights or roundabout slotting. How many miles has the vehicle covered? I think ours freed up quite recently, or maybe it's the Shell fuel. About 8500 miles so far.

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17 minutes ago, cobh18 said:

I too live in Derbyshire, and what I find is that the car seems to respond to a firm throttle initially, then back off and it keeps pace. It has quite a bit of power at full pelt (not as much as I used to have in a 1.8TSI Yeti) when the battery is available, so going up to the Cat and Fiddle it's quite relaxed. Not to mention the average speed cameras which inhibit!  Power mode is also useful I find, at lights or roundabout slotting. How many miles has the vehicle covered? I think ours freed up quite recently, or maybe it's the Shell fuel. About 8500 miles so far.

Only around 2800 miles so far, so maybe it's early days. I'm using supermarket fuel, as it's a good bit cheaper than the nearest Shell / Esso / Total, and last I checked, opinion was frustratingly divided on whether branded fuel was worth the extra cost to fill. I actually found the Cat and Fiddle hard-going in parts, but last time I went through the Peak Forest and the sat nav decided to take us on a short-cut to the A6 from Sparrowpit, we went up this narrow steep road and I thought we'd never make it! Also felt like it must be drinking fuel, but in the end the trip MPG wasn't too bad (assuming the trip computer can be trusted...).

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When I first got my 2010 auris hsd last year, I noticed the same thing when going uphill from a standing start.

Other than that I haven't had any hesitation with hills.

For me, going for a gap in traffic I just stomp on the accelerator. In a rare occasion I press the power button. Since the car always turns on in Eco, I leave it in that mode.

In the 10 months of having the car, either the car or I have got used to the other.

I am not driving any slower and my range/ mpg is increasing.

I do use cruise control most of the time as I don't do much city centre driving.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Re branded fuels and supermarket fuels, the same base fuel is used whatever the brand. The difference between fuels,  is the additive package added by the tanker driver when filling the tanker. Most opinions are subjective rather than objective.

Presumably the better additive packages keep the engines cleaner, and this may not be obvious during one person's ownership.

I tend to use branded fuels as, where I live (Birmingham), the dearest branded fuel (Shell) is only around 2.5p per litre more expensive than the cheapest supermarket fuel (Asda). Asda is the cheapest, closely followed by Tesco, BP and then Shell. I don't take any notice of better economy claims (eg Shell FuelSave).

Then there are the differing opinions on premium grade fuels .........

 

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Received this week's update on my local fuel prices today. The league table has changed slightly, with BP increasing their price:

Asda 108.7p per litre

Tesco 108.9

Shell 109.9

BP & Esso 112.9

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On 29/01/2016 at 11:04 PM, CurranShelter said:

Also, I've noticed on the car infographic screen that the HV battery has never actually shown as being full so far - the highest I've seen it charged is two bars off maximum. I suppose that's good in a way as it suggests EV/hybrid mode is operating as much as possible, but is everyone else's experience the same?

you will very rarely see a full charge on the Battery i think the system only charges to 80% and dis charges to about 20%

this is meant to extend the life of the batteries,dont forget your traction Battery will need power to start your car so if it fully discharged

your car wont start in the morning.

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I think the HSD's are set up for economy at the cost of performance so they tend to drop off after the initial kick of torque.

The Battery thing is for 2 main reasons; Life extension is one, the other is if they charged to 100% you'd lose the regen brakes so that 20% buffer is reserved for regen brakes only. (i.e. The only way to charge the Battery 100% is by regen braking!)


 

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My first car was a 2006 Toyota Corolla 1.4 petrol vvti, absolutely loved the car, but got a better job and fancied a newer car, so I got the Auris hybrid 1.8 2014, lovely car with fantastic economy, but like yourself I found that it just lacked that power feel. If the Battery is full it's quick, however if the state of charge is low it really puts a strain on the engine. So this year I've upgraded to a 2016 Auris 1.2 turbo excel. Well wow, what a brilliant engine the 1.2 is, mine is just onto 2100 miles now, if you want a good driving feel and good economy is brilliant. it also really does shift well for a 1.2 when you put your foot down. If you want more poke from it you can purchase a tuning box, however I have chosen not to as yet, I want to see how the economy is. I've been getting about 42-50mpg around town. On the motorway at around 70-80mph usual motorway speed I managed to get 54.5 on my last trip, that was with 2 passengers and luggage in the boot. Oh and also now you get a spare wheel aswell! No more silly tyre inflation fluid. Anyway I hope this helps. This is what the tuning box claims aswell .

 

Regards 

Chris 

https://www.tdi-tuning.co.uk/car_and_van_petrol_tuning_boxes/toyota_/auris/120t_114_bhp__116_ps__85_kw_/toyota_auris_120t_114_bhp_116_ps_85_kw_crtd2_multichannel_petrol_tuning_box_chip_P10299.html

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On 04/07/2016 at 5:46 PM, eygo said:

you will very rarely see a full charge on the battery i think the system only charges to 80% and dis charges to about 20%

this is meant to extend the life of the batteries,dont forget your traction battery will need power to start your car so if it fully discharged

your car wont start in the morning.

Since posting that original point about the Battery charge, I have seen it at 90% once and IIRC, full once, which I think was after a long motorway run (and possibly a good bit of braking, given what Cyker said above). But anyway, that's fine, as long as it's behaving normally (and yes, that does make sense). I've been meaning to get round to reading the Wikipedia article about HSD, as I do like to understand what it's up to. It seems a clever system on the whole, and several times I've thought i'd be great to have a 'narrated' drive with one of the Toyota engineers to find out exactly what it does, how it works and how it's programmed, what all the noises are and so on.

I've noticed when starting from cold, it always fires up the engine within a few seconds, but then later on I can leave the car for maybe half an hour or so, come back and drive off and it'll stay in EV until such time as a normal trigger occurs to call for power from the ICE. I had imagined this was to top up the Battery at the start of a journey, but it seems to occur regardless of Battery charge, so maybe it's a question of warming up the engine instead...? Not that it matters, just all part of the curiosity.

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11 hours ago, chrismorrow said:

My first car was a 2006 Toyota Corolla 1.4 petrol vvti, absolutely loved the car, but got a better job and fancied a newer car, so I got the Auris hybrid 1.8 2014, lovely car with fantastic economy, but like yourself I found that it just lacked that power feel. If the battery is full it's quick, however if the state of charge is low it really puts a strain on the engine. So this year I've upgraded to a 2016 Auris 1.2 turbo excel. Well wow, what a brilliant engine the 1.2 is, mine is just onto 2100 miles now, if you want a good driving feel and good economy is brilliant. it also really does shift well for a 1.2 when you put your foot down. If you want more poke from it you can purchase a tuning box, however I have chosen not to as yet, I want to see how the economy is. I've been getting about 42-50mpg around town. On the motorway at around 70-80mph usual motorway speed I managed to get 54.5 on my last trip, that was with 2 passengers and luggage in the boot. Oh and also now you get a spare wheel aswell! No more silly tyre inflation fluid. Anyway I hope this helps. This is what the tuning box claims aswell .

 

Regards 

Chris 

https://www.tdi-tuning.co.uk/car_and_van_petrol_tuning_boxes/toyota_/auris/120t_114_bhp__116_ps__85_kw_/toyota_auris_120t_114_bhp_116_ps_85_kw_crtd2_multichannel_petrol_tuning_box_chip_P10299.html

Thanks Chris, really interesting to know as I've often wondered how the 1.2 turbo would compare. I did actually have a short test drive in one, but it was out of my price range having only just been launched at the time (oh and minor grumbles about the 2015 facelift, like the gloss black interior - more fingerprints than a series of CSI) - and also it was a manual, and I had become quite keen on the smooth, easy drive of the e-CVT. Can't quite imagine what the 1.2T CVT must be like, so I'd be tempted to give that a try sometime.

Not that I'm ready to part with the hybrid by any means - most of the time it's a very civilised and quick-enough drive, brilliant in traffic jams, low emissions of course (not that it'll make a fat lot of difference on VED for much longer) and really a pretty good feat of engineering. I think I'll stick with it as long as it suits my daily commutes, but if I end up doing more motorway miles or up-hill-down-dale drives then I think I'll be taking a good look at the 1.2T. Those economy figures you mention are pretty decent, and not dissimilar from the hybrid on some journeys (although I did get 70-odd on the way back from work today). The return to a proper spare tyre was a surprising but good move, but not without impact on load space as I recall (less of an issue with the TS though).

Oh, and as for the Corolla, I know what you mean. Mine just grew and grew on me, loved the 1.6 VVTi and I do still miss it (in case you hadn't noticed ;), but I suppose I couldn't have run it forever (although on second thoughts, it was a Corolla... :biggrin:).

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the ved will only effect new cars from april 2017 the hybrid you have curran will still be free of road tax

as there are no changes to the current bands / pricing structure.

i haven't driven the 1.2ltr turbo but i do have reservations about a tiny engine pulling a medium size car

the poor little engine is going to be revved all its life and worked hard.

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Ah thanks eygo, good to know that about the VED (whatever I read in the paper a while back didn't make it clear the change was for new cars only). Not sure how much sense the new VED regime makes, but that's probably a whole other thread... on the plus side, at least those in charge finally seem to have realised that incentivising every man and his dog to fill the air with diesel particulates perhaps wasn't the brightest bit of transport policy ever known.

I take your point about the recent mania for small turbo-charged engines in biggish cars (e.g. 1.2 TSI in a Skoda Octavia performs surprisingly well, but still seems wrong) and I've seen a good few folk expressing misgivings about it. Interesting that Mazda have (so far) made a very conscious decision to go against the grain and stick with larger, naturally-aspirated petrol engines in the Mazda 3 (turning to weight reduction and other tricks to improve economy). But I'd be surprised if Toyota hadn't thought long and hard about it and done their homework before sticking a 1.2T in the Auris. I dunno... suppose time will tell.

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p.s. was running a bit late for an appointment today and came up behind a tractor (groan)... hit PWR mode and gave it some welly, and was round the tractor before I knew it (on a slight uphill gradient too, although I did already have a good bit of momentum). So to balance out earlier grumbles, was quite pleased with that. :smile:

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2 hours ago, CurranShelter said:

Interesting that Mazda have (so far) made a very conscious decision to go against the grain and stick with larger, naturally-aspirated petrol engines in the Mazda 3 (turning to weight reduction and other tricks to improve economy).

Only partly - Mazda do produce a Mazda 3 Hybrid, using the Sky-Activ engine coupled with a Toyota Prius drivetrain, produced under licence from Toyota. Not sold in Europe though.

As part of manufacturing agreements between Mazda and Toyota, it is thought that Toyota may have access to the range of Sky-Activ engines. They already do for the North American Toyota Yaris sedan, which is a mildly reskinned, rebadged Mazda 2 built in Mexico by Mazda

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Very interesting to know Mazda are doing hybrids elsewhere - I wonder if/when they'll start selling them over here? Anyway, the point I was making is that they seem to be (thus far) staying out of the craze for small turbo petrol engines, which is perhaps why What Car give the Mazda 3 a mere three stars and say "petrol engines need to be worked hard". I get the impression they're just getting too used to driving the likes of the latest small but "punchy" VW group TSI engines (which are surely yet to prove themselves in terms of reliability/longevity, in larger cars in particular).

Sorry, bit off-topic for a Toyota forum. But back to the Mazda + Toyota alliance... probably easier said than done, but I would have thought that has the potential to produce some brilliant results.

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On 29/01/2016 at 10:54 PM, CurranShelter said:

I have the Icon+, and the trip computer is reporting usually around 50-60 mpg after each journey at the moment (true mix of urban, motorway, A & B roads).

Yes, the Excel is officially less fuel-efficient than the Icon (the brochure says so), I suspect in large part due to the larger wheels (17") on the Excel... don't get me started - I've already had a rant about that on another post. That's why I avoided getting an Excel, despite there seeming to be more used Excel hybrids out there than any other trim level. Shame, as I liked the sound of some of the extras like voice activation, fully-automated retractable mirrors and whatever else. But the Icon+ is a very good compromise (on 16" wheels).

Voice Activation.  That reminds me.  It doesn't work in my Excel.  It just comes up as Unavailable.  Shame really because the telephone in the car is practically useless without it.  There's no way I'm going scrolling through the onscreen list when I'm driving. If I'm stopped I can use my mobile direct.

 

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your car is under warranty - get it fixed.

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1 hour ago, Heidfirst said:

your car is under warranty - get it fixed.

Not all Auris have Voice activation, whilst the button is present on all models with Touch screen the voice activation is only available when Go + Navigation is installed. 

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On 31/12/2016 at 4:34 PM, Devon Aygo said:

Not all Auris have Voice activation, whilst the button is present on all models with Touch screen the voice activation is only available when Go + Navigation is installed. 

But pretty sure a 2015 Excel (Hoof Hearted's car) should have that feature..? It was one of the few things that tempted me towards an Excel over an Icon+ (although I went for the latter in the end), so I would have been very miffed had I stumped up for an Excel and the voice feature didn't work.

I do still find the phone function useful though - agreed, you can't be scrolling through stuff (safely) whilst moving, but it's useful for answering a (brief, important) call, seeing an SMS or using a message template to notify when stuck in a traffic jam, for example.

That said, does anyone else find there's sometimes a lengthy delay between an SMS turning up on their phone, and the Toyota Touch system recognising it and displaying it? :confused1:I've had it sit there for a good 5 mins or so (possibly more) before showing the text, despite the phone definitely being paired and connected when the message arrived.

The sytem can be a bit laggy generally, though. And another gripe... it should be easier to cycle backwards through the media types. Let's say I'm on DAB or CD mode and want to get back to FM. I have to press the Mode button on the steering wheel a daft number of times to get back to FM mode because you can only scroll through the modes 'forwards'. And yet the left/right arrows seem to do nothing in radio mode (not sure about other modes, but I'm pretty sure it's up/down for previous/next track). And then on the main controls it's a bit of a palaver too... go back to Media screen (e.g. if on Nav or Car mode), tap small media icon at left, shuffle between pages as required and tap required mode). Again, couldn't the arrow keys or the rotary knob be given over to changing mode, instead of them both doing having the same function (cycling through presets/tracks)? Some lack of thought/user testing here!

And the best of it is, very often when I have to cycle through bluetooth mode, my phone starts playing something random the moment it disconnects from the car (which can be a long while later), and always in the background as there's nothing to suggest anything is playing on the phone. The only way of stopping it is to open an app to play (and stop) something else). Weird. :wacko:

 

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1 hour ago, CurranShelter said:

But pretty sure a 2015 Excel (Hoof Hearted's car) should have that feature..? It was one of the few things that tempted me towards an Excel over an Icon+ (although I went for the latter in the end), so I would have been very miffed had I stumped up for an Excel and the voice feature didn't work.

I do still find the phone function useful though - agreed, you can't be scrolling through stuff (safely) whilst moving, but it's useful for answering a (brief, important) call, seeing an SMS or using a message template to notify when stuck in a traffic jam, for example.

That said, does anyone else find there's sometimes a lengthy delay between an SMS turning up on their phone, and the Toyota Touch system recognising it and displaying it? :confused1:I've had it sit there for a good 5 mins or so (possibly more) before showing the text, despite the phone definitely being paired and connected when the message arrived.

The sytem can be a bit laggy generally, though. And another gripe... it should be easier to cycle backwards through the media types. Let's say I'm on DAB or CD mode and want to get back to FM. I have to press the Mode button on the steering wheel a daft number of times to get back to FM mode because you can only scroll through the modes 'forwards'. And yet the left/right arrows seem to do nothing in radio mode (not sure about other modes, but I'm pretty sure it's up/down for previous/next track). And then on the main controls it's a bit of a palaver too... go back to Media screen (e.g. if on Nav or Car mode), tap small media icon at left, shuffle between pages as required and tap required mode). Again, couldn't the arrow keys or the rotary knob be given over to changing mode, instead of them both doing having the same function (cycling through presets/tracks)? Some lack of thought/user testing here!

And the best of it is, very often when I have to cycle through Bluetooth mode, my phone starts playing something random the moment it disconnects from the car (which can be a long while later), and always in the background as there's nothing to suggest anything is playing on the phone. The only way of stopping it is to open an app to play (and stop) something else). Weird. :wacko:

 

As you mention an Icon + then we are talking about a pre face lift model in which case your car came with standard fit Go navigation none of the other models had standard fit navigation but could be retro fitted with either Go or Go+ navigation .

After the face-lift Excel models gained Go + and Business edition had Go as standard again none of the other models have navigation as standard but can be retro fitted with either Go or Go +

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12 hours ago, Devon Aygo said:

As you mention an Icon + then we are talking about a pre face lift model in which case your car came with standard fit Go navigation none of the other models had standard fit navigation but could be retro fitted with either Go or Go+ navigation .

After the face-lift Excel models gained Go + and Business edition had Go as standard again none of the other models have navigation as standard but can be retro fitted with either Go or Go +

Thanks for the extra info - I don't think that was clear when I was shopping around for a pre-facelift model. It didn't help that there were no pre-facelift brochures to be found anywhere - thought the dealerships or head office might have a few old ones knocking around (bearing in mind the new model had only been out a few months when I was looking) but was told they had none (eventually got the electronic copy though - from a link on here I think).

Anyway, back to the point... interesting that Go or Go+ could be retro-fitted... presumably only if neither is already installed, as I think I was told that I couldn't upgrade my Go to Go+ retrospectively. Not a major issue in general, but what I do find very frustrating is the the extortionate price of map updates for Go... £109 for not even a bit of software but an update to a bit of software!? I suspect many 'Go' owners will just put up with old maps or buy a whole dang new standalone sat nav with free lifetime updates (e.g. TomTom Go 510 is only about 20 quid more, and of course cheaper models are available!). I'll certainly be considering that anyway (in any case the Go navigation has its flaws, not least that it often only confirms that I should take a particular exit when I'm already on it, so would miss it if I hadn't already realised). Grumble over... happy New Year everyone. :biggrin:

 

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49 minutes ago, CurranShelter said:

Not a major issue in general, but what I do find very frustrating is the the extortionate price of map updates for Go... £109 for not even a bit of software but an update to a bit of software!? I suspect many 'Go' owners will just put up with old maps or buy a whole dang new standalone sat nav with free lifetime updates (e.g. TomTom Go 510 is only about 20 quid more, and of course cheaper models are available!). I'll certainly be considering that anyway (in any case the Go navigation has its flaws, not least that it often only confirms that I should take a particular exit when I'm already on it, so would miss it if I hadn't already realised). Grumble over... happy New Year everyone. :biggrin:

I presume that your 2015 has Touch 2 with Go? If so, my understanding is that the offer is now £99 for 3 years of updates - that is a remarkable price compared to other manufacturers updates for fully integrated systems.

Plus the map updates may also include system firmware changes too.

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2 hours ago, Heidfirst said:

I presume that your 2015 has Touch 2 with Go? If so, my understanding is that the offer is now £99 for 3 years of updates - that is a remarkable price compared to other manufacturers updates for fully integrated systems.

Plus the map updates may also include system firmware changes too.

Yes, mine is Touch 2 with Go. Thanks for the tip-off... £99 is still enough but certainly worthy of consideration if it covers 3 years. No doubt there's a bit of 'captive audience' economics going on in the market in general when it comes to car system updates, but good to know Toyota aren't taking advantage quite as much. :smile:

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Well that's interesting. Just been browsing the Toyota 'eStore' and it looks like the cost of a one-off map update for 'TT2 with Go' is still £109, however a "3 Yr MapCare and Services" bundle can be had for the same price, which covers a whole bunch of extra stuff including the 3 years' worth of updates mentioned by Heidfirst, but also features I don't currently have like fuel prices, Google Street View and weather, among others. So that's much more interesting if it adds that lot (i.e. if it's not only for systems that already have those features... and it does say it's specifically for Go - as opposed to Go Plus or whatever).

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