https://pic.armedcats.net/h/hb/hbriz/2010/07/14/DSC_3556.JPG
Interesting. I have a similar Auris at my disposal for the the next 24 hours or so, and here's my review. The big difference from "your" Corolla, is that mine's a......
HYBRID!
Oh joy!
Apparently this should be the first hybrid that doesn't look like one,rather a regular Auris/Corolla, with the word "hybrid" on the back, and a stupid faux blue glowing Toyota badge.
TBH I didn't know it was a hybrid until I stepped up to the car, so it isn't like a Aurisized Prius, and that's good. The interior was nice, in a non-threatening way, despite having many hard plastics.
Why this car needs to have a HUGE dashboard is beyond me, I don't read many atlases while driving, but it's good to know I would have the space to put them. It also had a weird kink in the door, which I don't understand.
I also don't get why they give this car a keyfob and then no place to put it. It has keyless go, so you enter the car and just press this bit POWER button,and are left with the keyfob in hand looking for a place to put it.
I did like the fact that you don't need the keyfob to close the car, as you can do this with little buttons on the outside of the handle...
As this is a hybrid, you can only get the 1.3 VVVVVTTTTTIIIIIi engine with 90 hp. For a "normal" Auris this would be sufficient, but you have to realise you're lugging around some very heavy batteries.
This engine is also only available with a CVT gearbox, which makes it a double first for me (first hybrid ever, and first CVT ever). This also means you get a ridiculously small gearlever.
After getting the seat position about sort of okay (good seating is impossible), I drove off in total silence, which was very weird at first.
After a while I realised the dash was a bit weird, you have a charge section which shows when you're charging the battery while braking, a green section to tell you you're being eco friendly, and a "power" section if you accelerate hard. I didn't like the "being eco friendly" game so I tried the "POWER" mode. This made no difference whatsoever, other than the battery "helping" the regular engine.
That's what they say, but it was no different than anything else. I also managed to run the battery dry after about a minute of high speed driving, so I tried something else : charging the battery by being SLOW.
I did this because I wanted to try the 3rd mode "EV" which means running the car on electricity only, but it always said I couldn't. It wasn't until I broke out the manual that I learned that you need about a billion conditions to be filled before you can use this mode : it can't be too hot, nor too cold, you can't have anything lower than half a battery, you can't do uphilly stuff, etc etc. Even if all those conditions are filled, you can only do 40 kph max and only for 1 km... the point of this mode is lost on me...
After trying for what feels like forever, I did eventually manage to get the battery full enough to enable it.
It was weird. Very weird. There is NO sound. Nothing. And yes, it lasts only a minute before the car goes "help I'm dying" but still, it does feel nice.
To me, a hybrid, like this one, is flawed. It does not have all the benifits they promise, and a lot of drawbacks that aren't advertised. On top of that, the CVT gearbox is not a good combination with this engine. It just adds to the weirdness of going from complete silence to what sounds like 7,000 rpm in a second, without accelerating that much tbh.
Also, because this has a sort of KERS system, the brakes were weird and hard to operate gently. It has sort of a step in it where it switches from regenerating the battery to actually braking, which means you can't control it like a regular brake.
Even if this car had a "normal" engine, I would not recommend it. It has many problems that would deter me away from it.
- It is very hard to see out of, in any way. Because of the small side windows and high doors, parking is a hassle. The optional reversing camera this one had was cool, but it was a solution for a problem that should not have existed in the first place
- the stereo/satnav combo was incomprehensible and SLOW. My 90? portable satnav I've had for 4 years is faster
Aside from that it sounded crap.My bog standard Stereo in my 2003 Astra sounds TONS better. Toyota did include an AUX in so I could connect my MP3 player, but put it the glovebox. So everytime I want to skip to a next song I have to open it, reach in, push a button, close it, etc.
I'm fine with not having total connectivity, just put the AUX somewhere I can use it, like the armrest or something.
- inside space was good, especially the rear is miles bigger than my Astra. bootspace on the other hand was ridiculous because of the batteries, and from what i hear it isn't much cop on the "regular" car either.
- handling was strange since the steering is totally dead, and the ABS cuts in as soon as you apply more than feather light pressure to the brake pedal. You do feel the weight of those batteries in faster corners, and that spoils it a bit. The ride was also shockingly bad for a car in this class.
All in all a decent effort, but not a good hybrid, and not a particularly good car. Just "good enough", combined with a Toyota badge and the sense that it will do a million billion miles before breaking down, will be enough to sell it to the octogenarians who will buy it.
And you don't have to put the keycard into the slot at all - it just has to be in the car. I quite like that keyless system somehow...
