Has anyone yet looked over this new car? Had a good look at it on Sunday, in the showroom of course.
I thought that the interior, in some respects was an improvement over the old Corolla but wasn't too keen on the arched centre console incorporating the gear lever and handbrake - this all seemed a bit gimmicky and impractical and only served to make access to an oddments tray a trifle difficult.
In other respects the design had that chunky 'plastic' look about it but am sure that it will sell as well as its predecessor.
If I were to buy one, say, to replace my MK V Golf, then I'd go for the 1.6 petrol engine which appears to put out more PS then my current Golf.
Hopefull the recent criticisms about Toyota reliability and fall from grace, will be halted and we may see the new Auris raise Toyota's past good record in the car reliability stakes.
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I test drove Auris 1.6 T-sprit Multimode model on Sunday. The car looks big inside, though it is not that long. Handbrake was hard & awkard to operate. The dials were nice. In speed upto 30 mph, the car jerks slightly while upshifting automatically [in fully automatic mode]. However it does not happen in higher speed. I observed that it usually up shifts the gear at 2000-3000 RPM range. During comfortable cruise speed, rev needle remained between 2000+ mostly and sometimes touching 3000 RPM mark.
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Also noticed that the unholstery still was either unremittingly black or light cack colour - not very imaginative. I, personally, resolutely refuse to buy any car with black upholstery - it's a béte noir (excuse the pun) of mine.
Also noticed the very limited colour palette of the metallics offered - no reds, deep blues or greens etc. only silver (my favourite), darker silver, very pale silvery blue and black? Again, very unimaginative, although I expect very popular 'safe' colours, that will sell.
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They showed the new Auris on East Midlands news last night. They had that Gordon Brown in the back, he can't drive you know!
It's had a poor press recently, they seem to prefer the Focus and Golf, I would too, Brown has put me right off it.
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It looks like the Auris is an ideal replacement for the Corolla - reliable, competent, but dull. And Toyota should have moved the game on more methinks if they are after conquest sales. Look how Civic sales have improved since the new model came out.
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I'm not sure I agree with boxsterboys views on Toyota reliability - looking at recent recall figures both in the USA and EU. My experience is that they are no more relaible than say VW. It's just the dealers are more helpful.
I was qeueing at the service desk the other day at my local Toyota dealership listening to the 3 people muttering in front of me about their recalls. The only thing Toyota did do was put £10 of petrol in each tank and gave them a bottle of wine each which I think is standard practice for them.
I did hear that the Auris launch was delayed after Honda shocked everyone with the new Civic and I cannot help thinking the interior is just a gimmick to do something on a par with Honda and is all a bit pointless. If it's anything like the Toyota interiors I'm used to it will just rattle anyway.
As said above the Civic sales seem to be very strong at the moment and I actually think Honda have done something very clever here in that they have always had an older customer base but IMO this Civic will get people into Honda's that they would not have drove in the past. (I know 2 people that swapped Golfs for Civics for example and both have always driven VW). Once they experience how trouble free they are and how good the dealers are they will no doubt remain faithful to the brand for future purchases.
Getting back to the OP - when I looked at the Auris interior I thought it was very cheap.
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>> Getting back to the OP - when I looked at the Auris interior I thought it was very cheap.
Well, there was that aspect of it as well but most interiors look a bit cheap when compared to my Golf's interior despite what people now say about the decline in the Golf's interior trim. To me it looks, in the main, well put together and solid although the very latest ones have introduced some metallic effects here and there in order to brighten things up somwhat.
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Totally agree oldgit - I had a Mk V 1.4 Golf as a hire car the other day and I was very impressed with the interior.
Although I do hope they wear better than the MK IV - when the soft rubber starts to come away from handles etc.
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It doesn't sound as if there is much to set the 1.6 Auris apart from any other 1.6 hatch. But the 2.2 turbodiesel (coming in April I think) could be interesting, as (see the 'big car' thread) a lot of us are searching for a smallish car / biggish engine combination.
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I've got to say their advert on the box made me look twice, not because of the ad itself but because of the car. Not a car I'm in the market for but interesting nonetheless.
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Notice how the branding of the Aurius is very clever and upmarket?
They want to completely bury the Corolla heritage.
I saw the black one they had a Bluewater a few weeks back: they would not even tell me how much it was going to cost. And no they would not offer any discount...if I was interested then I had to leave my details 'to be selected' for a test drive.
What a load of marketing guff that was: they are soooo desperate to move the whole Aurius brand upwards into Golf terrritory they are forgetting that the car is about as exciting as a Vauxhall Astra Club.
The Koreans have arrived with some amazing cars: I have seen a cee'd in Germany last month and I can say, on appearance, it is very well put together and quite stylish.
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The 2.2 diesel might interest me - but it's around £2000 overpriced.
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>>They had that Gordon Brown in the back, he can't drive you know!
Excuse me, off topic I know - but, (if correct) a middle aged guy who might be the next prime minister & can't drive?
I don't know why, but that strikes me as wierd. What else can't he do - get drunk once in a while, tell a mucky joke or just have have a bit of irresponsible
fun? You can read & discuss all you like about people, policies this, record that, but some things (maybe just 'irrelevant' details to some) somehow
convey much more. Perhaps just my particular prejudices, but that & his nail biting habit make me feel distinctly queasy about his anticipated
premiership.
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Excuse me, off topic I know - but, (if correct) a middle aged guy who might be the next prime minister & can't drive? I don't know why, but that strikes me as wierd.
Plenty of people can't drive, often because they just never felt the need to, but also through disability. Why shouldn't they be eligible for high public office? Being able to drive is not exactly a measure of intellectual capacity or competence is it? It's not even a measure of being able to understand the problems of road users, since Gordon Brown is certainly one of them. He's blind in one eye you know.
My parents didn't learn to drive until they were in the 50s--they lived in a village with excellent public transport until it was dismantled in the 1980s. I didn't learn to drive on the road until I was 28 because up until that point (in my adult life) I lived in cities and had no need for a car.
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And actually Gordon Brown only has one eye. That doesn't make it illegal to drive, but it certainly does make distance judgement more difficult.
Not everyone wants to drive actually, and some of those who do want to drive can never really get the hang of it, poor darlings.
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Well, I didn't know he was blind in one eys - it does explain alot - I probably would think twice about driving if I was unfortunate enough to be
visually impaired in that way.
But more generally..
>>Why shouldn't they be eligible for high public office?
Who mentioned eligibility? Not me - eligibilty is an entirely different quantity.
>>Being able to drive is not exactly a measure of intellectual capacity or competence is it?
Not my point, perhaps I needed to be more explicit. Just like having kids or having done 'real' work at some point - these things
are connecting points with the voting Joe (..and Jo) - they show you also experience & empathise , perhaps, with the travails & torments of those you
seek to represent. Politicians know the value of this & it's cetainly a factor in how I perceive politicans.
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are connecting points with the voting Joe (..and Jo) - they show you also experience & empathise , perhaps, with the travails & torments of those you seek to represent. Politicians know the value of this & it's cetainly a factor in how I perceive politicans.
And yet you thought Brown's inability to drive was suspect in some way while remaining entirely ignorant of the reason. Perhaps this is because driving is the default position in this country. Far from being persecuted as many of them claim, it seems drivers are "normal" and people who don't drive are "weird."
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Toyota are undertaking what is supposed to be the biggest marketing campaign in Germany ever for the Auris, in terms of number of advertisements and available budget. I don't know whether that's true or not, it's a snippet from someone I know in the trade but what is true is that virtually every single billboard in Munich at the moment has a picture of an Auris on it. Talk about saturation marketing and especially for a product that looks pretty much identical to the last Corolla. Very unfocussed as well, in my opinion obviously, some billboards go on about driving dynamics, some show kids and some show coffin dodgers looking adoringly at the car - a sure fire way of creating an image of undesirability. There are also some billboards showing a bull looking at the car - not sure what that's about but certainly open to some misinterpretation.
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Why can't we just have proper names or numbers?
Auris sounds too much like 'auroch' to me.
Not quite another dinosaur...
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