Auris makes a case for Hybrid

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Friday, January 20, 2012

So, if you want to be seriously green and are not a dieselhead, you have to go for a Toyota Prius or one of the Honda hybrids.

Or a Lexus, a premium brand which is making a serious point of the hybrid game.

Well, not really. Hybrid options are expanding. But Toyota is still leading the field, by bringing the technology mainstream. It has already done that in the US and Australia, with the Camry hybrid. And the brand has promised that in Europe it will have the technology in every model before long.

In Ireland, the latest option is the Auris HSD. And there will be a Yaris hybrid in the very near future.

The Auris HSD actually got late to the Irish market. Partly because there was too much demand elsewhere, partly because of the way recession hit the Irish situation when it was due to arrive.

And the question has to be asked, why bother?

It is a question that can be answered. Maybe not perfectly. But we're talking about the current art of motor cars, and more than a century on from the first of the breed, it still isn't perfect.

However there is a constant onward movement, if I can be permitted a small pun. And just as much as there is a place for petrol petrol powered cars, gas powered cars, diesel powered cars, electric cars, there is a place for hybrids.

Look, never mind the hype. Hybrid isn't the Holy Grail. It's a step on the journey. It is for now, and for a time towards the future. And one of these days, the fossil fuel bit will disappear and be replaced by a fuel-cell.

Meantime, we have to get around, and all the research that's going into the hybrids and the EVs will have its own place in the motive power of the cars in the 2020s and 2030s, far beyond where many of us will get to. But for that to happen, we have to develop and drive the cars of now.

The Auris HSD has essentially the same system as the Prius and the Lexus CT200h. A 1.8 petrol engine and an electric motor, a computer in the middle mixing and matching whatever is the most efficient use of the whole lot for the driving demands of the moment. The result is a fuel economy and CO2 emissions that are way down the scale.

Depending. And on that, we'll come back.

From the outside the car looks just like any other Auris. A bit more chrome on the grille and a blue background to the Toyota logo up front distinguishes it from its standard brethern. Otherwise it is the familiar hatch, noted particularly for its roominess and access for rear seat passengers.

Even the presence of a substantial battery doesn't make a difference to the rear cargo space. What looks like a higher floor there actually lids a big concealed space for hideable stuff, and underneath that again a skinny spare.

The interior is essential Auris too.

Except for the gearshift, a tidy electronic knob that gives you drive, reverse, and a separate button for park. It operates a CVT auto transmission, still the standard for hybrids even though Honda has provided a manual with its hybrid CR-Z.

The start button gives a 'ready' light, no noise. The car pulls away in EV mode until the system decides the engine should come in. It is all effortless. Not very interesting, maybe, because CVT transmissions don't offer any kind of dynamic driving feel. But it works.

Even if you don't feel energised, the car actually moves along quite smartly. There are, after all, a combined 136 horses operating there.

I know we have a 70 percent diesel penetration in Irish car sales at the moment. But sometimes people just don't like, or need, diesels. And there's not a big difference between the price of a diesel Auris and the HSD, though both are significantly more expensive than the entry 1.33 petrol version.

Here's the thing. If you drive a hybrid such as this or a Prius on long highway journeys, there's little point in bothering with the technology, because the car is virtually all the time in petrol engine mode.

But if you spend much or most of your driving time in stop-go traffic, then the Auris HSD will bring you measurable benefits.

Add to that the undoubted benefits of an automatic trans in city traffic, coming as part of the package, and this is a car well worth considering.

It is also a Toyota, and in Ireland particularly that is a factor which brings both loyalty and good residuals.

I wouldn't buy the Auris HSD for fun. And it probably wouldn't make as much sense in my mostly country driving as if I lived in a city suburb.

But there's a figure knocking around that 70 per cent of the world's population will be living in cities by sometime reasonable after 2020. Do the maths.

And check the prices against your driving lifestyle. Auris starts at €18,995. The HSD is €25,425.