Review: Toyota's British-built Auris hybrid challenges Prius for green crown

Toyota's Auris HSD is the first mass-produced hybrid car to be built in Europe, being assembled at the Burnaston plant in Derbyshire. It is both smaller and cheaper than Toyota's better-known hybrid, the Prius, which is built in Japan and imported into the UK.

The Auris hybrid matches the Prius's impressive economy when equipped with 15-inch wheels and economy-biased tyres, setting an official score of 74.3mpg and 89g/km. Optional 17-inch wheels provide more grip but worse fuel economy, at 70.6mpg and 93g/km.

Both Prius and Auris hybrids use the same powerplant: a 1.8 litre, 98bhp petrol engine coupled to an 80bhp electric motor, each capable of independently driving the front wheels through a variable-ratio gearbox, or combining to give a maximum of 138bhp. The electric motor doubles up as a generator, either drawing power from a bank of NiMH batteries to speed the car up or feeding power back to the batteries as the car slows down.

While the Toyota Prius was built to accommodate this complex drivetrain from the outset, the Auris HSD is a conventional car that has been adapted to carry hybrid components. It is, unsurprisingly, more compromised when compared to either a conventional Auris or its Prius sibling.

However, these compromises are relatively minor. The most noticeable is that the Auris HSD has sacrificed a third of its boot space to the battery and its ancillary components, with its seats-up capacity shrinking from 354 litres down to just 233 litres.

At least there is still room for a spare tyre, rather than a can of that get-you-home gunk.

The next most obvious oddity is that the car sits on lowered, sports-oriented suspension, which helps to improve fuel consumption through lower drag. As a consequence, the car has a very firm ride that is at odds with the rest of its character. This is a trait shared by many other green-label cars, it must be said.

The Auris is roughly the same size as a Ford Focus or Volkswagen Golf and is designed to compete at the upper end of prices in this part of the car market. The reasonably well-equipped T4 model costs from £18,950 on the road, while the more luxurious TSpirit costs from £20,700 and includes Bluetooth, keyless entry, rain-sensing wipers, dusk-sensing lamps, leather and alcantara seats, a reversing camera and the aforementioned 17-inch alloy wheels. A built-in satellite navigation system at £1,200 and pearlescent paint at £610 are both optional.

The Auris hybrid is significantly more expensive than Honda's similarly sized Insight hybrid, but the Toyota is a superior product in at least two very important areas. The interior is more attractive and is made of higher quality materials, and the hybrid system is more powerful and much more effective at reducing fuel consumption.

Both T4 and TSpirit versions of the Auris HSD emit significantly less than 100g/km according to official figures, and so qualify for a cost-free tax disc.

As a hybrid the Auris is currently exempt from the London Congestion Charge, once registered with Transport for London, and would remain exempt under proposed reforms to the charge that are currently under consideration.

The Auris hybrid currently enjoys a 10 per cent BIK tax rating for company car drivers – the lowest rating for any liquid-fuelled vehicle. The existing five per cent discount for hybrid vehicles will cease from April 2011, however, bringing the Auris into line with other petrol vehicles emitting less than 130g/km, at a BIK rate of 15 per cent.

On the road the firm suspension transmits a little too much information about the lumps and bumps under the wheels, but otherwise the cabin is reasonably refined and very quiet. Some of the dashboard materials feel a little low-rent for the price, but the layout of switches and minor controls is clear and logical.

The electrically assisted steering needs very little effort and the brakes require only the lightest of prods to produce quite sharp braking. Some will thus find these controls over assisted, particularly as neither gives much feedback to the driver.

The seats feel quite high-set but there is plenty of leg- and headroom both front and rear.

Visibility from the driver's seat is good. The upright rear hatch provides a much better view aft than you get in a Prius, while the less steeply raked windscreen benefits from pillars that are less intrusive at junctions.

The unusual instruments pack a lot of information into just two dials. On the left is a digital fuel and temperature gauge, surrounded by a circular power meter. This dial has three segments, a blue area indicating battery regeneration, a green segment indicating the most economical levels of demand, and a final white area into which the needle will stray if you put your foot down.

To the right is the speedometer, within which is set a multi-mode display that can indicate current fuel consumption, average consumption, trip information, or an animation of power flows between battery, wheels and the petrol engine.

There's no tachometer and in any case the car's variable-ratio transmission means the engine note is related more to throttle position than road speed. Put you foot down hard and the engine will rapidly spin up to its power peak at 5,000rpm and stay there as the speed rises. From rest to 62mph takes 11.4 seconds.

The transmission is automatic, accessed using a stubby electronic gear selector that will be familiar only to drivers of the Prius. It offers forward, reverse, neutral and an enhanced regeneration mode for hill descents. A park mode that locks the transmission is controlled via a separate button. Our test model was equipped with keyless entry and starting the car required just a push of a button providing we had the key in a jacket pocket.

Toyota has given the Auris hybrid four driving modes, accessed via buttons sited near the gear selector: normal, EV, eco and power.