New Toyota is a class act by any measure JUSTIN CONNOLLY
took a week’s worth of clothes and the ocean extras in its massive 435-litre boot – from the outside, you wouldn’t have known they were there. On a day trip to Fistral Beach in Newquay, with the back seats down I even managed to get a seven-foot surfboard in there, too.
We had the Icon edition of the Auris, which has an on-the-road price of £20,395, but lacks a few of the refinements you might find on other vehicles of that price. Apart from the aforementioned lack of cruise control, that doesn’t get you satnav, either – it was fitted to our test car as an optional £750 extra, which, along with a £495 metallic paint finish (a lovely subtle deep grey) took the OTR price of our car to £21,640. Good value for a vehicle as versatile and competent as this.
The fuel economy is pretty good too – Toyota claim 58.9mpg combined, and while I didn’t quite manage that, our trip cost us just a couple of £40 fill-ups there and back.
Some test cars I’ve driven I’ve loved, some I’ve hated. Many fail to stir much of a feeling either way.
The Auris, though – it proved one of the few I wish I could have driven off and never brought it back.