[colm_mcm]

I like that it's lower and lighter than the old model. Is it possible that it has an opening glass hatch?

[paddy147]

Looks a bit too much like a Honda to me.

[MYOB]

I wonder is it large enough for me to actually drive it?

I have no idea how Toyota managed this but driving an Auris for me is a painful lesson in contortionism. And I drive a Panda ffs!

The iQ was larger and more comfortable to drive (larger for the driver at least - my seat was touching the rear seat...) when I had one as a loaner.

[pburns]

The exterior is an improvement but not hugely radical. Like a slightly more modern Mazda 3 from some angles.

That interior though is a surprise. I know the Paddy-spec one will be plainer but still...that vertical slab is a bit retro,a bit GT86.

Snakes alive it even reminds me of an '80s Saab 900. Is it just me?

[Mully_2011]

Being Driving an Auris the last few years 1.4 d4d (not by choice but Recession+Student)

Bad Points

Bought it new in 2008 so far it has had

A new Turbo
A new gearbox
a new clutch
and a few other things

all replaced under warranty now this a car that has around 220km on the clock so its not the usual case of a diesel not being driven. As for the driving its actually quite a nice car to drive on back roads Its not a sports car by any means but it is quite neutral going into bends there is a bit of feedback from the steering. It never got stuck in the snow and ice and when the back did go it was in a real controllable way.For what they are there very wide and the back pillars are too big around town car be a nightmare.The 1.4 d4d doesn't have the grunt to pull the car along and it revs out quite high on Motorways (later models had a 6 speed)

To Summarize

Good

- Its not bad to drive
- Nice bit of space inside and its comfortable
- Seem to holding there money
- I don't think its a bad looking car

Bad

- Quite wide and a pain to park
- I dunno If those problems are common or we just got a bad one
- 1.4 models are dead the one you want is a 2.2 D4D especially post 08
- Spec is ****e

The reason we bought the Auris was quite simply we had always had Toyotas yes they are bland and as dishwater but work and to be fair to Toyota once the problems where sorted this one has being no different and to be fair Toyota had no problem sorting any of the problems even sorted the Gearbox outside of warranty.

Would I buy one myself: No If I wanted a Toyota of this Era I'd go back and buy a 2.2 D4D T180 Saloon Avensis outta England I always liked the last gen Avensis or an IS220D which the prices seem to be falling quite rapidly

[highdef]

Originally Posted by lomb

Saying that the Auris will be competing against the focus which is truely horrible looking these days(what happened to the classy 2000 model??)

Tell me more about the 2000 model Focus. I know the Focus came out in 1998, what new stuff happened in 2000?

[Tea 1000]

Originally Posted by 166man

It amazes me that you continue to keep hatin' on Toyotas. There are many many people out there who just want a car for A-B and that's it. The power of the engine, driving dynamics and quality of the interior aren't a priority for them. Reliability and reasonable economy work for them. I agree there are other cars that do this too but many will have had Toyotas for years and experienced their legendary reliability hence buying the new model.

I think because driving dynamics and bhp are important to you then you think that Toyotas are crap. They aim for a different market.

There is a Toyota hate on boards for sure. The last Auris deserved it though. Base model was about €500 more expensive than the base model Golf (when I checked around 2 years ago) and it was a terrible effort from Toyota. The 1.4 engine might have been on par with the mediocre VW plant, but the interior was shockingly poor. Poorly assembled, cheap and shoddy. The only thing positive about the whole car was that it seemed to soak up horrible roads reasonably well. Apparently the facelifted Auris improved the interior, but I was never interested enough to check.
The thing is though, that most Toyota's aren't terrible to drive. They're competent. Not exciting, but really not a lot else is. Older VW's are rather poor handling cars with no feedback, so even more boring that Toyota's.
Mazda and Ford regularly offer a dynamic ability that can be rewarding to exploit, but they're the exception rather than the rule, despite efforts from VW to close the dynamic gap, so I fail to see why Toyota get slated for being boring to drive.

[MugMugs]

She has a bit of a Mitsubishi look to her. I like it

[Poulgorm]

I like the look of this new Auris. Huge improvement on the current one, which is very ugly indeed. The front end seems to be a rip off of the old civic - but I like it. Nice clean lines.

Definitely looks better than the current Focus, Golf, i30, etc etc. I am not bothered about the absence of independent rear suspension - many cars ride quite well without it - and tend to have bigger boots, as a result.

I wonder did they stretch the wheelbase - and give extra legroom at the back. I hope they kept the flat floor at the back - very important for the 3rd child sitting in the middle, on the rear seats.

[Zubeneschamali]

Originally Posted by Tea 1000

I fail to see why Toyota get slated for being boring to drive.

Our rental Auris wasn't so much boring as total crap. The steering wheel seemed to be attached to the front wheels by a rubber band, the thing fidgeted about at speed and needed constant small steering corrections.

[RedorDead]

Hate this to be honest. Front just looks like a giant chevron and the rear looks like Citroen, also looks quite high at the rear. Actually prefer the current modle to this.

[Tea 1000]

Originally Posted by Zubeneschamali

Our rental Auris wasn't so much boring as total crap. The steering wheel seemed to be attached to the front wheels by a rubber band, the thing fidgeted about at speed and needed constant small steering corrections.

I did say that the last Auris was crap...

[Stallingrad]

This just seems to continue the Toyota tradition of convoluted, fussy design. The lower grill, upper grill, headlights and fog lights all look they were designed in different departments that never met.