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Leelanza
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Hi guys, so I’ve recently bought a Toyota auris 2011 hybrid 1.8 t spirit (older model full history and only 25000 miles on the clock), I’m loving it so far but as with any new car you wonder if it’s right, I used to have Ford Focus and the only thing that beats the Auris on is boot space, I plan on keeping up with service history, I suppose my question(s) is, what are things I should look out for? It’s reliability, is the hybrid Battery life up to 10 years or is mileage the key factor? 
 

thanks 

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Welcome, Lee.

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Welcome

If the service and recalls are upto date then all should be fine. Some Prius owners have clocked up 300,000 miles and their cars were well over 10 years old. The only downside of the first generation of Auris hybrids was the boot capacity.

 

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Toyota with Ford is a lost comparison You made the best choice Welcome to TOUOTA

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I wouldn't expect any maintenance problems with the car, it's catalytic converter theft that should be your biggest concern.

If this vulnerability hasn't already been attended to, then I would make plans to fix this.  It doesn't have to be a particularly expensive task, starting from ~£30, unfitted.  The official Toyota Catloc 'solution' (I think they do one for your model) is at the upper end of the pricing scale, at around £250, fitted.

The hybrid batteries seem to last around 15 years, but your extremely low mileage makes that a little harder to estimate. 

There is a lot of engineering idiosyncrasies in the Toyota hybrids, but you don't need to know about them - you can just drive it like any automatic. 

Having said that, if you are watching the hybrid Battery gauge on the dash, don't expect it to fill right up in normal use, they're not supposed to!  That's normal.  It'll generally top-out at 3/4 full, unless it's especially hilly where you live.

Best of luck with the new car!

 

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Hi and welcome.
You have made the right decision no doubt about it. The car look excellent., how can I say otherwise, I have exactly the same one, same spec, same colour. 👌

If it’s your first hybrid there will be a lot to learn and you may have a lots of questions but everything with the time. 
Catalytic converter protection and removing hybrid signs it’s a good idea for peace of mind. 
There are few important steps in terms of service and maintenance that even at ultra low miles like your example still needs to be completed to warrant long and trouble free ownership.
First step is to go through the service history and check when was the  car serviced last time and what was done, where was done too. If within Toyota dealers you can check that online too. If the car is due to service now very important to replace coolant in both engine and inverter (electronics ) as this procedure is done by mileage or time 10 years first change then every 5 or 50k miles.
Another area to be checked are the brakes. Toyota hybrids especially those who does not drive often or much suffer from rusty brake discs and faulty callipers. Brake fluid change and brake service is important. 

Hybrid Battery has a small grill opening next to the rear right seat. Behind that is located Battery cooling fan , this needs to be checked and cleaned and you have to keep this grill always unobscured. 
These particular model has issues with rear lights clusters seals that goes bad after time and let rain water goes into the boot. This needs to be checked and seal replaced if there are any moisture or water in the spare wheel area. To check that you need to lift or take out boot floor and inspect. Your hybrid Battery is located in the boot along with small 12v battery. Moisture and heat are the biggest enemy to the hybrid battery. 
Air conditioning- if hasn’t been serviced in the last few years best to get it done. Re gas every 3-4 years and cabin filter change every year are also recommended. Well, that’s pretty much most important things to do. Enjoy your new car. 🚙👍

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Thanks everyone, I’ve heard about the catalytic converter thefts so I’m definitely going to look into securing that, the car has been serviced consistently at a Toyota garage, and November 2021 it had a full service as well as the hybrid Battery being serviced, like I say I’m enjoying the car and how ridiculously smooth and quiet it is, always wanted a Toyota, especially a hybrid, given how Toyotas have a great reliability rep, they just weren’t in my price range until this year and when my old car (2006 Ford Focus) virtually died I thought I’d take the leap, glad I did.

 

thanks again 

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Looking gooood! :thumbsup:

On a slight tangent, has anyone here actually ever replaced their traction Battery due to age?? The only posts I've ever seen about Battery replacement were in the very early days with the Mk2 Prius, but those were due to manufacturing faults so it was done under warranty. Never seen anyone post about a Battery replacement on here in the past decade or so, which is funny when compared to EVs as I've seen loads of battery replacements for e.g. Leafs, Zoes, Teslas, Bolts/Volts, etc...!

 

 

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1 hour ago, Cyker said:

On a slight tangent, has anyone here actually ever replaced their traction battery due to age??

I certainly haven't.

But I've seen a few Prius gen 2 on eBay and Autotrader a few years back (when I last looked) that were sold as 'spares or repairs' with dead traction batteries in their description, these were usually around 15 years old, and sometimes a little more.

On the Lexus Owners Club website, some owners of GS450h have had Battery problems, sometimes at a little less than 15 years (13?), if I remember correctly, anyway.

On the HybridLife website (mainly Continental western Europe) I think I have now seen an early Prius gen 3 or two with problems.  And just a few French gen 2 owners have travelled to UK Toyota dealers for a traction Battery replacement, and made a short break of it, as there are some reasonable savings to be made from that!

In every case where I've seen a Battery failure diagnosis, it is almost invariably the cells in the middle of the pack (that get the least cooling) that cause this.

The worst location for short battery life seems to be the French island of Reunion, near Madagascar (that is the same island that caused our UK government to close our borders with mainland France about 18 months back, because of the poor Reunion Covid-19 statistics; the government did not realise that it is actually in the Indian Ocean).

Anyway, it's very, very hilly, hot and humid there.  The batteries are sometimes failing after around five or six years, again if I remember correctly.  Their owners pop up on HybridLife forum with battery problems, but when they report where they are from, there is no longer any surprise from the other posters.

Don't buy a secondhand Toyota hybrid from Reunion Island - today's Top Tip.

Slightly off-topic here - Wednesday's Fun Fact: Plague (both types) still regularly occur in Madagascar. As does Ebola, I think. 

This wasn't accurately reflected in those Dreamworks cartoons.  Shame.

Excuse the long post.

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1 hour ago, Cyker said:

Looking gooood! :thumbsup:

On a slight tangent, has anyone here actually ever replaced their traction battery due to age?? The only posts I've ever seen about battery replacement were in the very early days with the Mk2 Prius, but those were due to manufacturing faults so it was done under warranty. Never seen anyone post about a battery replacement on here in the past decade or so, which is funny when compared to EVs as I've seen loads of battery replacements for e.g. Leafs, Zoes, Teslas, Bolts/Volts, etc...!

 

 

I tested mine once using an android app but not sure if was me or the app but the first test was Battery health at 198% 😂🔋. Then second test was 41% 🪫and message that I need a new Battery. The second test sounded more realistic taking into account age and mileage although I was hoping for around 70% +.  Few weeks before that test was the moment when I had hybrid system malfunction warning and I was a bit scared. I thought that was what is the life of a Toyota hybrid, but thankfully I was wrong.
I may get it tested again soon and see what will show. On other checks about voltage and cell deviation all cells show very similar numbers and temperature also very similar in between all 3 sensors. I did clean once the cooling fan at 140k miles and in general Battery works very well, efficiency is better than ever tbh. 👌

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Whilst it's not going to affect your car's reliability, when I considered buying the same car some years back, I noticed that plenty of those I visited had damaged or missing parcel shelves - it would seem they won't suffer rough handling, and they're surprisingly expensive!  If I remember correctly, the plastic reinforced pivot point gets broken away from the rest of the shelf.

Also, the T-Spirit alloys are very prone to kerbing damage.  Every car I looked at had some degree of this, and a few were horrendous.

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15 hours ago, Cyker said:

Looking gooood! :thumbsup:

On a slight tangent, has anyone here actually ever replaced their traction battery due to age?? The only posts I've ever seen about battery replacement were in the very early days with the Mk2 Prius, but those were due to manufacturing faults so it was done under warranty. Never seen anyone post about a battery replacement on here in the past decade or so, which is funny when compared to EVs as I've seen loads of battery replacements for e.g. Leafs, Zoes, Teslas, Bolts/Volts, etc...!

 

 

The only ones that I had heard about, were due to driver driving and ran out of fuel. In the 2nd gen Prius, you could run out of fuel and discharge the Battery, to the point where the system would not be able to start the ice once you had refueled. By the time the toyota dealer had managed to borrow the charger, the Battery was damaged. 

Later hybrids the system left enough power for you to get fuel and be able to start driving again.

 

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My non-hybrid Auris has been the most reliable car I have had and also the most boring. Welcome to the boring car club.

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I've had my hybrid auto for over 5 years now. Just keep a check on the 12 volt Battery in the boot mine failed and had to get the RAC, out the Battery had to be replaced and the RAC,  quoted me £150 ouch but because they don't sell the Battery for my car (something to do with engine switching off at traffic lights n stuff )

He had to get one from a Toyota dealer and they were cheaper than what RAC, sold them  about £120 

But touch wood no other troubles since 

Enjoy your car happy driving 

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Your car no longer comes under the Toyota Relax warranty unfortunately. That went up to 10years. The good news is the hybrid Battery does have a warranty up to 15 years so long as you get it checked out annually at a Toyota dealer. If you continue having the car serviced at a Toyota dealer the Hybrid Battery health check is free, otherwise it costs about £45…. Worth it. The hybrid Battery consists of cells that are individual and can be swapped out individually, meaning if you get a hybrid battery problem it can be resolved at fairly low cost. But get the annual check, at least to 15 years.      
The 12v battery is in the boot (no space under the bonnet), and for safety reasons (splitting in an accident and acid “flying” about the cabin area) replacement needs to be an AGM battery (Absorbent Glass Mat). Cost about £30 from Toyota dealer (Yuasa is a good make), and Toyota dealers price is VERY competitive (usually).       
Go on You Tube and search for Toyota Prius driving techniques. The hybrid engineering in the Toyota Prius is the same in the Auris you have. Lots of videos, mostly from USA, showing how to hyper mile Toyota hybrids. Simple techniques that will get you up to 65mpg in the summer and 55mpg in the winter….. it’s all in the driving techniques.            
Maybe you will do the same as I did. My first Toyota hybrid was a 2010 Auris. Loved it, six months later I passed it onto the wife and got a gen3 Prius (all Prius are hybrids), 2010. Loved it, six months later traded it in for 66 plate gen4 Prius…..that was brilliant…… best car I ever had and probably best car I ever will have had. Hyper mailing I got 96.x mpg over a single 50 mile journey, and 92.x mpg over a single 100 mile journey. Many times in 80+ mpg, always disappointed if I couldn’t reach 70+ mpg. Those were in summer months, 10mpg less in winter.         
Keep tyre pressures to at least manufacturers stated, or maybe up to 3 psi more. You got 17” wheels which I found uncomfortable ie potholes, speed bumps etc, on the Prius I had 15” optional fit tyres/wheels and they were much more comfortable, and tyres cheaper. 15” is an option for your Auris.

Keep it serviced, look after hybrid battery as others have explained, especially cooling, and ENJOY. 👍

 

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I don't think you need have any worries about the Battery, just keep the vent and filter clean. If you should get unlucky and have to pay for a new Battery after say 12 years or something, the cost may be less than 2k. so you could regard it the same as replacing any major component like a gearbox etc so doesn't write off the car if the rest is good. Best to concentrate on good maintenance of the entire vehicle, that means pro active, not just what's in the Toyota schedule. I'm probably OTT but change fluids at half the interval recommended, particularly oil change at 5k not 10k. Transmission fluid at 50-60k. Look at car care nut channel on YouTube, he's a master Toyota tech and preaches this stuff. (I know there's plenty will disagree with all this but oil is cheap and you will be less inclined to replace Battery in a car that's already burning oil at 150k)

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8 minutes ago, Saxmaniac said:

. Best to concentrate on good maintenance of the entire vehicle, that means pro active, not just what's in the Toyota schedule. I'm probably OTT but change fluids at half the interval recommended, particularly oil change at 5k not 10k. Transmission fluid at 50-60k. Look at car care nut channel on YouTube, he's a master Toyota tech and preaches this stuff. (I know there's plenty will disagree with all this but oil is cheap and you will be less inclined to replace battery in a car that's already burning oil at 150k)

This thought process I have difficulty with, especially with a Toyota hybrid car. The engine is being used approx 60% of the time (hybrid Battery 40%). So change oil at 10k car miles equates to 6k engine miles. Change oil at 5k equates to 3k miles. Much too soon.            
The service interval for a non hybrid petrol Toyota car is 10k miles…..and that is an engine running 100% of the time.            
 A waste of money, and more important, a waste of this earths resources. And oil is not cheap, and it will only get dearer in this crazy economic world situation we are in, then add to that the cost that wars are adding to the price.

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1 hour ago, Catlover said:

This thought process I have difficulty with, especially with a Toyota hybrid car. The engine is being used approx 60% of the time (hybrid battery 40%). So change oil at 10k car miles equates to 6k engine miles. Change oil at 5k equates to 3k miles. Much too soon.            
The service interval for a non hybrid petrol Toyota car is 10k miles…..and that is an engine running 100% of the time.

I’ve often thought car servicing should be done by running hours like it is with plant and tractors etc, or at the very least there should be heavy/light use schedules like some other vehicles have.

Consider someone driving from, say, Scotland to London and back regularly.  Call it 1000 miles and 16 hours running per round trip.  Do that journey 10 times over a month and the car needs a service but it’s only ran 160 hrs?

Now consider a daily commute 0.75 hours each way where the car only covers, say, 30 miles round trip.  So it can run for the year and be under the 10k miles limit, but the engine ran for 7.5 hrs per week  so has ran for about 390 hours, ie more than double the long distance example.  Even if it’s a hybrid and the engine only runs half the time, it’s still more than the long distance example, and all that stop/start has gotta be worse for wear than sitting at a reasonable rev range for some hours.

Obviously my figures are really glib, but I’m sure you get my point 🙂

 

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My thought is that an engine running long periods at full temperature has the easiest life, that's why motorway driven cars can run up larger mileage without wear and oil can last longer. An engine in intermittent use has all the variations in load and temperature so harder on the oil. Manufacturers tend to specify longer oil change intervals to make running costs look cheap, and car will last to a certain time on that regime. That's not necessarily the best maintenance for maximising life. I'm quite happy to spend just under £40 for genuine filter and oil in between the main dealer services. And the car care nut advises this so strongly, yeah I know it's a different continent and blah blah, but it's my choice right or wrong, and everyone can make their own minds up. I don't claim to be any sort of expert btw, just gather info from whoever seems to be talking sense!

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2 hours ago, Catlover said:

     
The 12v battery is in the boot (no space under the bonnet), and for safety reasons (splitting in an accident and acid “flying” about the cabin area) replacement needs to be an AGM battery (Absorbent Glass Mat). Cost about £30 from Toyota dealer (Yuasa is a good make), and Toyota dealers price is VERY competitive (usually).       
 

Typo error……. Should read £130, still a good deal.

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Yeah I'm fine with it tbh as IMHO 10k/1 year is just a convenient round number they picked - As my cars got older I was leaning more to US-style 6k/6mo changes just to hopefully give the engine more longevity, esp as my cars are workhorses and get used a lot more than the average potterrerr-abouter (tho' nowhere near TonyHSD's fairly extreme mileage :laugh: )

That the engine is effectively getting shorter interval services can only help its longevity, and is probably another reason why the Toyota hybrids have such good reliability figures!

I'd never understood the long-service intervals some other manufacturers had - 20,000 miles/2 years just seems like a bad idea, and seems borne out given those engines tended to fail early!

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20 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Yeah I'm fine with it tbh as IMHO 10k/1 year is just a convenient round number they picked - As my cars got older I was leaning more to US-style 6k/6mo changes just to hopefully give the engine more longevity, esp as my cars are workhorses and get used a lot more than the average potterrerr-abouter (tho' nowhere near TonyHSD's fairly extreme mileage :laugh: )

That the engine is effectively getting shorter interval services can only help its longevity, and is probably another reason why the Toyota hybrids have such good reliability figures!

I'd never understood the long-service intervals some other manufacturers had - 20,000 miles/2 years just seems like a bad idea, and seems borne out given those engines tended to fail early!

One example is my previous/spare Vauxhall Astra mk5 1.7 diesel, great reliability pre dpfs ruined everything. They recommended 20k oil change on those, plus lifetime gearbox oil. This makes them look cheap to fleet buyers, keep them 3 years, move them on, and who cares how long the engine or box lasts? 

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1 hour ago, Saxmaniac said:

This makes them look cheap to fleet buyers, keep them 3 years, move them on, and who cares how long the engine or box lasts? 

Except, is this just for fleet buyers any more?  With the huge rise in PCP deal take-up, a great chunk of new car owners don't have to care, too.  Are they not in a similar position to the fleet managers when it comes to arranging a new car: they are only concerned with how much the monthly payments are?

If I am understanding the popularity of PCPs correctly, we have a vast number of people who don't own the cars they drive, so good maintenance and longevity may not have to figure highly in the choosing of many of them (I would expect members of this forum to be excluded from this broad generalisation!). 

And, as a side issue, the thoroughness of main agent servicing is less likely to be scrutinised when the car you drive is only in your 'possession' for a few years - as long as there's a stamp in the book to show the service took place, who's bothered if something gets missed off?

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On 5/25/2022 at 12:46 AM, Leelanza said:

Hi guys, so I’ve recently bought a Toyota auris 2011 hybrid 1.8 t spirit (older model full history and only 25000 miles on the clock), I’m loving it so far but as with any new car you wonder if it’s right, I used to have Ford Focus and the only thing that beats the Auris on is boot space, I plan on keeping up with service history, I suppose my question(s) is, what are things I should look out for? It’s reliability, is the hybrid battery life up to 10 years or is mileage the key factor? 

First of all - you have made the right choice. Congratulations! 

  1.  Compared to Ford this car should give you many trouble free miles. Particularly with that low mileage.
  2. Boot space - Yes there is a compromise on space as the Battery takes up some of the space. That generation of Auris was not originally designed with Hybrid in mind
  3. What should you look out for...? Beyond what others have said already, this is tough but from my own experience (we bought one identical to yours, also in pearlescent white, from new and ran it for 135k miles)
    1. Engine, drivetrain, Battery - no problems, what so ever
    2. Exhaust - no problems with the exhaust system but the heat shields that are mounted above will corrode, rattle, and fall off. This is pretty much the same across all Toyota/Lexus models. No big deal. If you're picky (and a bit handy ... and with spare time on your hands) you can prevent it by removing the shields and paint all mounting points. Or just deal with it when it happens.
    3. The horn died on ours - random! but it did
    4. Front wheel bearings started to rumble at around 130k miles

Otherwise, that is a cracking car. The design is a little different from normal powered Aurises with added chrome accents. The suspension was stiffened slightly and the steering rack a little quicker - making it almost fun to drive.

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I will agree with both sides about the oil and in some cases an earlier change will be beneficial although for uk climate and if the car been use as normal 10k miles or 12 months intervals are perfectly fine. For the time engine been ON also makes sense, I personally in winter keep car in ready mode for hours 2-6 hrs per night. During this period within the same mileage intervals 10k (happens usually in 2-3 months) I do get more oil consumption and the oil gets darker. The most obviously signs of oil deteriorating are yellow-brown colour coding on bare metal parts inside the engine, can also be seen on dipstick when checking oil level. Engine flush and oil change on time are crucial for the longevity of the engine. Here I can show my vvt solenoid just taken out of the engine before cleaning. This is internal part with constant oil circulation through it, can give is a glimpse of other internal parts condition and accumulation of sludge and carbon buildup. Also if you can notice the rubber seal condition, it’s round and in perfect shape., this will show overall condition of gaskets and seals on the whole engine., and this is an old car with many miles and 10k oil intervals since 2018 previously 12 months with average use of 4k miles per year for the first 8 years 👍

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