2013 Toyota Auris Touring Sports

Toyota Auris Touring Sports Review

The Toyota Auris Touring Sports is a small estate car with a big boot that can be had with an economical hybrid engine, but it doesn’t feel as plush inside as many newer alternatives.

What’s good

• Big boot
• Roomy cabin
• Economical hybrid system

What’s not so good

• Drab looks
• Dated infotainment
• New Corolla feels nicer

Toyota Auris Touring Sports Review

The Toyota Auris Touring Sports is a small estate car with a big boot that can be had with an economical hybrid engine, but it doesn’t feel as plush inside as many newer alternatives.

This score is awarded by our team of expert reviewers after extensive testing of the car

What’s good

• Big boot
• Roomy cabin
• Economical hybrid system

What’s not so good

• Drab looks
• Dated infotainment
• New Corolla feels nicer

• Choose your perfect car
• Dealers come to you with their best offers
• Compare offers and buy with confidence

Used Toyota Auris Touring Sports deals

Toyota Auris Touring Sports: what would you like to read next?

Toyota Auris Touring Sports: what would you like to read next?

Overall verdict

The Toyota Auris Touring Sports is a bigger, more practical version of the Auris hatchback which you can get with the same range of petrol and hybrid engines. It’s starting to feel a little old-fashioned, though, and has recently been replaced by the all-new Toyota Corolla Touring Sports.

Speaking of which, the Toyota Auris Touring Sports doesn’t have quite the same pizzazz as the funky looking Corolla. It’s more smart than sporty, and the Touring Sports’ boxy back end does little to help it stand out.

The unassuming visuals continue in the Toyota Auris Touring Sports’ cabin, where you’ll find plenty of robust plastics, but not many plush, upmarket materials. The heating and ventilation controls are sensibly laid out and easy to use, but the same can’t be said of the rather dated touchscreen infotainment system.

At least there’s plenty of room for you to stretch out if you’re tall and there’s space in the back for three adults to get reasonably comfy. Kids will have acres of space to stretch out, and the Toyota Auris Touring Sports’ raised roof and wide rear doors make it pretty easy to fit a child seat.

If you’re looking for a small estate car with a hybrid engine, the Toyota Auris Touring Sports is worth a look. But, then again, so is the newer Toyota Corolla Touring Sports…

It’s a doddle to load the Toyota Auris Touring Sports’ boot, too. And, there’s loads of space to carry a family’s suitcases or a bulky baby buggy. A set of golf clubs will also fit, and you can fold the back seats down to carry really big stuff, such as a bike with its wheel attached.

Unlike most small estate cars, you can’t get the Toyota Auris Touring Sports with a diesel engine – the sort you’d want if you do plenty of long motorway journeys. Instead, there’s a petrol version which is the cheapest to buy, and a hybrid model which is the cheapest to run, especially if you do lots of driving in town.

The latter also comes with an automatic gearbox as standard, but it causes the engine to rev loudly when you accelerate hard. Still, with a gentle touch on the accelerator, the Toyota Auris Touring Sport is quiet and fairly relaxing to drive.

Sure, you’d never call it fun, but the Toyota Auris Touring Sports doesn’t lean a great deal on twisty roads and you can get it with plenty of driver assistance systems to make parking and long journeys a doddle.

That being said, many small estate cars come with plenty of more advanced safety features, but few can be had with an economical hybrid system like the cheap-to-run Toyota. For this reason, it’s still worth a second look.

Toyota Auris Touring Sports is a handsome Prius V alternative [w/videos]

Share
• 0 Comments

More Photos

The Toyota Prius V has a lot to recommend it, but adventurous and sporty styling is not in its repertoire. That’s why this new Auris Touring Sports has our attention. Claimed to be the “first full hybrid estate car” in the compact class, this two-box Auris has genuine visual panache to go with its load-lugging capability and parsimonious fuel economy. In the metal, we think its v-shaped grille and headlamp treatment acquits itself better than it does on the new RAV4, a model that shares its new design language.

Built by Toyota UK, the Auris Touring Sports hybrid is powered by a familiar-sounding 1.8-liter gas engine paired with an electric motor, with total system output quoted at 134 horsepower. The model will also be available in a variety of gas or diesel trims if you prefer your vehicle sans electrification (a non-hybrid model is shown). It goes on sale later this year in Europe, but don’t hold your breath to see one in North America. Still interested? Scroll below to see a couple of videos and to read the official press release.

THE NEW TOYOTA AURIS TOURING SPORTS

KEY POINTS
– British-built Auris Touring Sports range includes the first full hybrid estate car in family/compact car segment
– Clever hybrid system packaging means there is no compromise in loadspace size and capacity
– Class-leading CO2 emissions of 86g/km for hybrid, plus significantly lower NOx and particulate emissions compared to diesel cars with comparable performance
– Class-leading luggage capacity, up to 1,658 litres
– Superb versatility with Easy-Flat one-touch rear seat folding system, double-level loadspace floor and new two-way tonneau cover

15/02/13 — The new, British-built Auris Touring Sports introduces a wagon/estate car body style to Toyota’s Auris range for the first time. It’s also the first model in its class to offer the choice of a full hybrid powertrain, marking further diversification of Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive technology.

Auris Touring Sports offers dynamic design, best-in-segment functionality and large, flexible loadspace. As the hybrid battery is located beneath the rear seats, there is no compromise in the size of the loadspace and its luggage capacity. The new model will broaden the appeal of Auris and is expected to help increase the model’s European segment share to more than five per cent by 2014, its first full year of sales.

Auris Touring Sports is built exclusively by Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK (TMUK) at its factory in Burnaston, Derbyshire, alongside the Auris hatchback and Avensis models.

Design and packaging
Auris Touring Sports has the same 2,600mm wheelbase and 10.4m turning circle as its sister hatchback, but is 285mm longer overall – all dedicated to the extended loadspace.

With the rear seats in place the load area is 1,115mm long and 1,452mm wide, giving a capacity of 530 litres. With the rear seats folded the length increases to 2,047mm; with loadspace height up to 890mm, the maximum capacity is a class-leading 1,658 litres.

As well as being more capacious than its rivals, Auris Touring Sports offers better functionality, too. It is unmatched in offering Toyota’s one-touch Easy-Flat folding rear seat system, a dual-level loadspace floor and a two-way tonneau cover (standard on Icon, Sport and Excel grades), a roller-type luggage net, shopping bag hooks, aluminium roof rails and a 12V power outlet in the boot.

As witnessed in the new Auris hatchback, the strong and distinctive exterior design maximises the aerodynamic benefits that come with the model’s lower overall height and the dynamic improvements offered by its lower centre of gravity.

It shares the same front-end treatment as the hatch, displaying key elements from Toyota’s new design language with focus on emphasising the car’s width and low stance in the shape and arrangement of the lower grille, front bumper and fog lights, together with a keen-edged look created by the narrower upper grille and headlamp units.

In profile it also shares the hatchback’s steeply raked windscreen, which flows into an extended roofline with aluminium roof rails and an integral rear spoiler. Some versions of Auris Touring Sports will be available with a Skyview panoramic roof; measuring 1,553 by 960mm, it is one of the largest in its class and increases the sense of light and space in the new interior.

The extended three-panel side glazing is emphasised by blacked out pillars, with a piano-black finish to the central B-pillar. The effect is underscored by a chrome trim above the powerful crease along the car’s rising beltline.

At the rear there is new a bumper and tailgate design, with the loadspace sill set 100mm lower than on the hatchback, and a ‘floating’ chrome-finished spoiler. As on the hatchback models, the design of the rear lamp units reinforces the shape of the rear wing, as well as the new D-pillar design and rear screen.

Driving performance
Auris Touring Sports reinforces Toyota’s commitment to improving the dynamic abilities of its vehicles to give customers a more engaging driving experience. To this end, it carries forward all the improvements made in the new Auris hatchback.

These include a more rigid bodyshell, a lower centre of gravity, improved suspension and steering, a better driving position and improved NVH performance.

It will be available in the UK with the same powertrain options as the hatch: 1.33-litre Dual VVT-i and 1.6-litre Valvematic petrol units; the 1.4-litre D-4D diesel; and full hybrid – a first in the family/compact estate car market.

The full hybrid’s Hybrid Synergy Drive system features a 1.8-litre VVT-i petrol engine and an electric motor, giving a maximum power output of 134bhp/100kW. This enables nought to 62mph acceleration in 10.9 seconds and a top speed of 112mph.

Conversely the hybrid’s CO2 emissions are a class-leading 86g/km; indeed emissions performance across the range is highly competitive with the 1.33 and 1.6 petrol units rated at 127 and 139g/km respectively and the 1.4 D-4D diesel at 109g/km.