Toyota Auris (07 on) - Review

Review by Dan Harrison on
Last Updated: 20 March 2012
Toyota decided it was finally time to retire the ‘Corolla’ name in 2007 by renaming the world’s favourite hatch the Auris. Rumour has it despite selling more than 30 million cars Toyota wanted a new name for Britain to spearhead its fresh assault on the small hatch market. The Auris was indeed all-new, but aside from the odd interior quirk, it remains a car you buy with your head rather than your heart. Picking up where the Corolla left off the Auris remained a well built, comfortable, easy-to-drive car with a good level of equipment. Early on there was a wide choice of engines and even a sporty SR180 diesel for those in the market for a quick, but efficient, hot hatch. In 2010 Toyota gave the Auris a subtle facelift. Build quality was improved and the suspension was tweaked for a better drive. The engine range was also simplified to just two petrols and one diesel. The Auris Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD) was introduced in May 2010 and it features a 1.8-litre engine combined with an electric motor and continuous transmission. It's a low CO2, low fuel consumption model aimed at buyers who are interested in eco-friendly cars but do not want to make such a bold statement as Prius owners. The Auris HSD comes in two trims - T4 and T Spirit - with prices starting at £18,950. It is the first mainstream Toyota to get the HSD powertrain and the Japanese firm says it plans to introduce it to the rest of its model line-up.
4 out of 5

Other Toyota reviews

4.5 out of 5

Running costs

The Auris isn’t bargain basement cheap to buy, but does represent good value in terms of the build quality, comfort and the equipment you get for the money. Plus it holds its value better than almost any other car on the market today. After three years you should get roughly 40% back of the list price. Low insurance groups – starting at group 4 for the 1.4-litre and 1.33-litre models – should bring the cost of cover down while service intervals are very well spaced at every 20,000 miles. There’s decent fuel economy from all engines and even an indicator on the dashboard that tells you when to change up (or down) to get the best economy.

* based on most recent data

Estimated fuel cost for 10,000 miles per year

Unleaded

£1,279 - £1,615 *

Diesel

£1,068 - £1,424 *

The estimated fuel cost figure is a guide to how much this model will cost to fuel each year, so you can compare between cars. It's calculated by using the model's average mpg (calculated from both town centre and motorway driving) and the average fuel price. It's based on the following cost-per-litre: petrol 135p and diesel 141p. Prices are updated daily.

Summary Running Costs

Servicing period

Minor: every 10,000 miles. Major: every 20,000 miles.

Warranty

Three years/60,000 miles.

Road tax (12 months)

£0.00 - £195.00

Vehicle excise duty (VED) varies according to the CO2 emissions and the fuel type of the vehicle. For cars registered after March 1st 2001 VED or road tax is based on the car's CO2 emissions. For cars registered before March 1st 2001 it is based on engine size.

Full running costs data

4.5 out of 5

Green credentials

  • A
    89
  • B
  • C
  • D
  • E
  • F
  • G
  • H
    166
  • I
  • J
  • K
  • L
  • M

CO2 emission figure (g/km)

Fuel economy rating

The arrows indicate the best and worst CO2 bands for this model.

Emissions summary

The conventionally powered Auris models, however, score very well on the eco front and all of the engines in the range emit respectably low levels of CO2 while returning good economy. In 2009 the Auris's conventional engines were tweaked to be even more efficient while the 1.33-litre comes with a stop/start system to reduce emissions (and boost economy) further. This was part of the introduction of Toyota's Optimal Drive technology which had a considerable impact. For example fuel economy on the already frugal 1.4 D-4D improved from 56mpg to 60mpg. If green is your priority then the 2010 HSD makes the most sense with road-tax-free CO2 emissions of 89g/km and average fuel economy of 74.3mpg.

Find the exact engine and CO2