Hi John,
I thought you might be interested in hearing from an actual owner of the new Auris Excel Hybrid. I have now done almost 1000 miles since purchase at Christmas. The car was built at Derby in late December. It has a 1.8 Valvematic engine , no clutch, two electric motors, two batteries, one for the engine and the other stowed under the back seat for the supplementary drive. The so-called gear lever isn’t. It’s just a forward and backwards switch! There is only one word for this car. Brilliant! I sold a superb 2.5T V70 and a New Polo SE 1.4 since we were only driving one of them, after my wife suffered two broken legs in an earthquake. (Here in the UK by the way, not abroad). I worried that I might miss at least one of these two, but it didn’t happen, The Toyota is simply superb. Handling is exactly as one would wish, totally responsive, with first class braking and absolutely positive steering. Mileage per gallon is excellent, averaging around 60 mpg most of the time. Although I once achieved 77.6 on a longish journey. I cannot stress too much how helpful and attentive Toyota have been with this car.. Since it was one of the first examples sold here they wanted to know exactly how I felt about it and could I find any fault with it whatsoever. I told them I thought having a speedometer which read 20, 40, 60, 80 etc was unsuitable for our roads. I live between two 50 mph average speed cameras and there are numerous 30 mph areas around here. These limits are not marked on the speedometer. The other item I brought to their attention was the lack of adequate audible warning outside the car when reversing. It’s completely silent. So it’s dangerous for people behind me, say in a supermarket car park for instance. My own answer to this is to switch on the hazard warning lights temporarily when reversing, so at least I can be seen to be moving. Incidentally, to achieve high mpg’s in a hybrid, it is better not to drive the way Toyota says. Start the car in Power mode, and then immediately one is up to required speed drop back to Eco mode. Thus the car is not struggling up to speed and losing efficiency doing so. Makes about 10 mpg difference. The local Toyota service department guys agree with me on this one. That’s what they do too.
I have owned over 40 cars in m y life and without doubt, this is the best yet. When the mental barrier people have for giving up ordinary, straight petrol or diesel cars gets broken, then I can see this type of vehicle becoming extremely popular. Incidentally, when it comes to getting a move on and you want to overtake something, just drop the car into Power mode and enjoy the thrill. A 1.8 engine and an immediate huge surge from the battery just leaves most cars standing. Unusual to say the least. Talk about a wolf in sheep’s clothing! GTI’s just ain’t got it any more!
Kindest regards,

P.S. Toyota also saved me a bomb on insurance, just for good measure.

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