TOYOTA Auris Hybrid Review

We’ve been going back and forth on urban roads for quite a while now. The Auris Hybrid has a pregnant “just get in and drive” feeling. Moving around in this thing is as easy as putting on your slippers.

This ease of use is even applied when parking, but the rear view camera does play an important part too. By the way, the Toyota Auris can park itself. The system is called Simple Intelligent Parking Assist and does... just what its name says.

After you push its designated button, you’ll have to drive slowly, allowing the aforementioned camera and parking sensors to scan for a spot.

It can handle both parallel and reverse maneuvers. Once the place is spotted, you can back up, splitting the jobs: the car steers itself pretty close to the edge, while you have to work the pedals.

Having amused passers-by with our automated parking ballet, we’re off now. They’ve tickled the hybrid powertrain here and there compared to the Prius and you can feel it.

The spec sheet reveals the same marriage. It all starts with 1.8-liter variable timing petrol unit running on the Atkinson cycle. This is actually a simulation of the actual Atkinson cycle, which is being run by partially overlapping the intake and exhaust phases, but let’s not get too geeky. Together with a 60 Kw electric motor, the unit delivers an output of 136 HP.

So far, so Prius good, but as you drive off, you feel the setup in the Auris Hybrid being a bit more responsive. The human body is a bit of a liar though, as the Auris is actually slower to a hundred (62 mph). It needs 10.9s, while the Prius handles the same job 0.5s quicker.

In case you’re looking for answers on a scale, you won’t find them there - like for like, the Auris Hybrid is lighter, but by a rather insignificant 30+ kg (66 lbs). A single passenger can upset that balance.

The secret lies in the engineer’s pleasure to play with our minds. As you probably know, Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive includes an eCVT transmission, an electric motor that simulates a continuously variable transmission. Well, for the Auris Hybrid, they’ve tweaked the throttle and transmission to be livelier at slow speeds.