All

Having spent hours reading and watching reviews we finally had a test drive in a auris hybrid. First time I've driven a hybrid (or automatic for that matter) and it was a little odd to start with. Some observations:

Living in Devon we inevitably went up and down some hills. The B mode seemed to work brilliantly. Our current manual saab would have run away with itself but the B kept the car in check nicely. Going uphill the car seemed to cope fine. I was keen to hear how noisy it was under heavy acceleration - it wasn't nearly as bad as I had been expecting. You notice it when you floor it on our current car and this didn't seem much different.

I found the lack of gears meant I found it more difficult to gauge how fast I was going. Typically I use 1st to get it rolling then 2nd up to 20 or so, sometimes skip third and use 4th to 40 or 50 etc. With the hybrid I felt I didn't really know where I was (this was partly compounded as there wasn't any traffic to follow etc).

The central display was left on the graphic that shows the energy usage. I found that a little disconcerting. I think I would choose another display when I drive!

I found the dash itself less clear than our saab. The spedo dial was quite small and the rev counter equivalent flitted around somewhat such that it caught my attention all to often. The hap from the dealership had set up the central dash with the digital spedo in the centre. I found this more useful such that I didn't other with the analogue spedo. I was a bit disappointed with this as Mum's yaris has a brilliant dash setup.

I noticed that the battery seemed to stay between 80-100% full. This is fine but I was wondering whether I should somehow use more of the range of the battery. My thinking is that surely this means I wasn't using all the battery and was therefore guilty of lugging the battery around and only using a small amount of it. Maybe this means I need to alter my driving style?

The difference between eco, normal, power was noticeable. With eco there seemed to be a lag whereas power was much more responsive. Driving around town on EV only was nice although I'd have to experiment with seeing how much acceleration is permitted before the petrol engine kicks in.

Great to have a proper "get you home" spare tyre. None of thi can of gloop stuff.. Although I was a bit disappointed that the rear seats didn't fold down flat.

Servicing costs of £180 / £330 / £390 seem a bit steep but I take our saab to specialist rather than a dealership - not that there are any anymore :(

Getting back in our (very) old saab did feel like getting home to something you knew and trusted. Having said that on the way home I was following a couple of cars up a long and steep hill and I was urging them to speed up as otherwise I would need to snatch a lower gear. I thought that in a hybrid I would even think about that....

The car we drove was the Design edition. I had been thinking that the Icon would meet our needs as I am not that bothered about bigger alloys / privacy glass or cruise control. PReumably these are the only difference with the Icon? The dash looked pretty well put together so I am just checking that the Icon wouldn't have other subtle difference.

Now to try the civic tourer....

Mark