Toyota Auris Touring Sports

Prices and specs for the Toyota Auris Touring Sports estate have been confirmed ahead of the car’s full production debut at the Geneva Motor Show. The Touring Sports model will make its debut at the same show as its closest rivals, the new Volkswagen Golf estate and Skoda Octavia estate.

The Auris Touring Sports is the first estate model offered in the Auris range. The car is built in the UK at Toyota’s plant in Burnaston, Derbyshire and will be the first model in its class to be offered with a hybrid powertrain in addition to conventional petrol and diesel-engined models.

The Auris Touring Sports will be available in the UK with the same engine options as the Auris hatchback, with 1.33-litre and 1.6-litre petrol engines and a 1.4-litre D-4D diesel.

The full hybrid model uses a 1.8-litre petrol engine and an electric motor to give a maximum output to 134bhp. Toyota claims that this means the Touring Sports hybrid can complete the 0-62mph sprint in 10.9 seconds yet emits just 86g/km of CO2.

The 1.33 and 1.6-litre petrol units are rated at 127g/km and 139g/km respectively, and the 1.4 D-4D diesel at 109g/km.

Four spec levels will be available – Active, Icon, Sport and Excel. The Active model starts from £15,595 and can be had with the 1.33-litre petrol or 1.4-litre diesel only. Standard equipment includes 15-inch steel wheels, air conditioning and roof rails.

The Auris Touring Sports Icon is the predicted best-seller, starts from £18,245 and can be had with the full range of engine options. Extra kit over the Active includes front fog lamps, 16-inch alloys and the Toyota Touch touchscreen with DAB radio and Bluetooth.

Sport models include 17-inch alloys, a sport front grille and sports seats, and are available from £19,345 for the 1.6-litre petrol, or £20,345 for the 1.4-litre diesel.

The top of the range Auris Touring Sports Excel is also available with the full engine range. It’s priced from £20,345 and includes auto lights and wipers, climate control, park assist and cruise control.

The Auris Touring Sports has the same 2,600mm wheelbase as the Auris hatchback, but is 285mm longer, at 4,560mm.

The extra space gives 530 litres of boot space with the rear seats up, and 1,658 litres with the seats down – beating the 476 litres and 1,502-litre respective capacities of the Ford Focus Estate.

2012 Toyota Yaris

If you dig down through all the marketing bumph, past the sharper styling, beyond the claims that Toyota is getting back to its reliable small-car basics, the biggest shift happens on the dashboard. Rarely has a car been so underwhelming that its replacement can improve matters simply by moving the speedometer by 10-inches. But that’s the biggest news for potential Yaris buyers interested in the latest version.
FAST FACTS
1. The Yaris continues to use a 106 hp 1.5L 4-cylinder with a 30/38 mpg rating for the 5-speed manual or 30/35 mpg for the 4-speed automatic.
2. Yaris 3-door models start from $14,115 for the L and $15,480 for the LE. 5-door versions start at $15,140 for the L, $15,960 for the LE and $16,300 for the SE.
3. With a 5.7-inch longer and 2.1-inch wider cargo area, luggage space is up over 60 percent to 15.3 cu-ft on the 3-door and 15.6 cu-ft on the 5-door.
Previously, the Yaris was generally bought by people who had no love for driving and wanted to spend as little money doing it as possible. With an underpowered engine, cheap materials and admitted Toyota reliability, the sub-compact did have some of the lowest running costs around but delivered no thrills or joy in the process.

UNDERWHELMING FUEL ECONONMY AND POWER
The latest one doesn’t improve matters much. It still uses the old 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine with 106 horsepower and 103 lb-ft of torque, and although it does have variable valve timing, it lacks the modern direct-injection systems of its competitors. The class-leading Hyundai Accent and Kia Rio put out another 30 horses and 20 lb-ft without any loss of fuel efficiency, and best the Toyota’s estimated 30 mpg in the city and 38. And that’s with the 5-speed manual. Opt for the 4-speed automatic and the numbers drop to 30/35 mpg. With either of the carry-over transmissions, the Yaris is just as outmatched in the acceleration department, being one of the slowest-accelerating vehicles around.


DRIVING DYNAMICS? NEVER HEARD OF THEM
At just over 2,300 lbs, our five-door Yaris LE tester did little to impress us on the road. Whether because of its more upright styling, its over-sharp steering response, the choice of winter tires fitted or any other reason, the Yaris was a difficult car to drive. It was so willing to follow ruts and grooves in the road that you’d think it was some low-slung sports coupe and not a city-focused hatchback. Not a promising start. But it also leans and wobbles and wiggles too.


Being so far off the mark dynamically makes us wonder if there was an issue with the vehicle Toyota provided...

INTERIOR A HIGH-POINT


Setting aside those questions for now, the new Yaris does improve substantially inside. Gone is the center-mounted instrument pod that blighted the first two generations, replaced by a dash that’s perfectly ordinary by comparison. That change alone makes the car instantly more usable. The dash uses the same highly-textured hard black plastic found in other recent Toyotas, but there are softer bits in contrasting shades sprinkled on throughout.

The seats aren’t bad and reasonably comfortable, and there’s enough room for tall drivers not to scrape their hair on the roof-liner. But the steering wheel only tilts – no telescoping – and even then only what feels like a half-inch leaving long-legged owners in a lurch.



Rear-seat space is adequate, although the three-person bench isn’t overly luxurious and the only cup-holders are molded into the rear of the center console. Cargo space is reasonable at 13 cu-ft and in LE models, can be expanded with 60/40 split-folding seats.

The best part of the car is its new set of clothes. It’s taughter and more chiseled, and gives the impression that it’s more expensive than it really is. The narrow and tall 175/65-series tires wrap around 15-inch steelies with plastic wheel covers.

ATTRACTIVELY PRICED
The $16,100 LE really is the top-dog in the range. There is a sportier SE with alloy wheels and more aggressive styling, but there's only one option to be had and that's cruise control. Otherwise, our Yaris tester came with standard air conditioning, a decent six-speaker stereo with Bluetooth hands-free and iPod interface, power windows, locks and mirrors and remote keyless entry.


Not only does the Yaris find itself under threat by the vastly improved and ever-growing batch of rivals from Chevrolet, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Kia and Mazda, but it also is having its lunch eaten by another Toyota product, the Prius c. While the c starts at almost $4,000 more than our Yaris tester, it’s infinitely more comfortable, better equipped and gets nearly double the gas mileage in town.

THE VERDICT


The Yaris won’t be a complete disaster, despite our general indifference to the car. It will sell to current Yaris owners who will appreciate the improvement in style and cabin refinement compared with their old ones.

Despite all the trouble Toyota has had in recent years regarding its quality issues, it was never the small cars that were called into question. Thus, the Yaris will appeal to those who have been burned by American and Korean car makers before and who simply want a vehicle that will be near-guaranteed to start every morning.

To some, reliability is sexy.

2013 Toyota RAV4

 

2013 Toyota RAV4

Toyota's RAV4 might not be the most exciting debut at the 2012 LA Auto Show, but with annual sales around 175,000 units, this SUV is a big deal for the Japanese automaker. Wrapped in all-new sheetmetal, the 2013 RAV4 is close to the outgoing model's exterior and interior dimensions, being slightly longer and wider but with an identical wheelbase. Inside, the RAV4's dashboard follow the horizontal design theme of the latest Camry and Yaris, with a standard rear backup camera included in the large display. Both the three-row version and the V-6 disappear when the RAV4 hits dealers in January; the 2.5-liter inline-four cylinder engine's output drops 3 hp to 176.

Review Toyota Corolla Levin ZR

The price has gone down, the feature - and safety - list is so good it's in prestige-car territory, and the Australian average weekly wage has jumped 32 per cent. Oh, and interest rates - as defined by the Reserve Bank's official cash rate, are now 3.25 per cent compared with 5.0 per cent a decade ago. 
With so much cheap money, cheap cars and bigger wages, it's no wonder car sales are so strong. What are you waiting for?
VALUE
Cheap as chips. The Corolla has always been affordable but it's getting even more desirable. The latest hatch - a sedan may come late next year - is a pearler. The top-line Levin ZR tested here has an automatic transmission ($2000), a panoramic sunroof ($1500) and metallic paint ($425) as options to its $28,490 tag.
It has a heap of goodies including LED daytime running lamps, 17-inch alloys, dual-zone auto climate-control aircon, electric lumbar support for the driver, heated front seats, leather upholstery, button start, sat-nav and a reverse camera. Capped-price service and guaranteed resale value are big bonuses.
That's very good value but it has very good rivals - even the outgoing Volkswagen Golf is $31,990 for an auto with similar specs - and wins because of its bulletproof durability and concrete resale value. But you don't have to reach to the top shelf for Corolla value. Look also at the Levin SX auto for $25,990.

One decade ago, you'd sweat to make $21,840 to buy a five-door Corolla without airconditioning and just one airbag. Today, the equivalent Corolla is $19,990 with airconditoning, seven airbags, electronic stability control, a six-speaker audio, cruise control and  Bluetooth.

VALUE

Cheap as chips. The Corolla has always been affordable but it's getting even more desirable. The latest hatch - a sedan may come late next year - is a pearler. The top-line Levin ZR tested here has an automatic transmission ($2000), a panoramic sunroof ($1500) and metallic paint ($425) as options to its $28,490 tag.

It has a heap of goodies including LED daytime running lamps, 17-inch alloys, dual-zone auto climate-control aircon, electric lumbar support for the driver, heated front seats, leather upholstery, button start, sat-nav and a reverse camera. Capped-price service and guaranteed resale value are big bonuses.

That's very good value but it has very good rivals - even the outgoing Volkswagen Golf is $31,990 for an auto with similar specs - and wins because of its bulletproof durability and concrete resale value. But you don't have to reach to the top shelf for Corolla value. Look also at the Levin SX auto for $25,990.

DESIGN

This is an evolution of Toyota's cautious styling strides but it has broad buyer appeal. There's some Yaris in there and a bit of Prius. Overall, the hatch looks contemporary and certainly ages rivals such as the Nissan Pulsar which hasn't even been launched yet.

Good room inside for four adults (though the rear seat is hard and unsupportive), an upmarket dash with stitched leather and soft plastics, good switchgear and simple placement and a biggish boot win friends. But a narrow rear window makes for poor rear visibility (thankfully there's a rear camera in the Levin), the A-pillars are wide and the bonnet droops into the unknown. But it's still a nice bit of gear.

Toyota GT 86 Review

Toyota and Subaru have always said they were going to unveil their collaborative vehicles at the same time, so after finally seeing the production version Toyota GT 86, the production version of the highly anticipated BRZ sports car was given its time to shine. Next to the GT 86, the new BRZ will be making its world debut this week at the Tokyo Auto Show and will go on sale early next year.

While developing the two sports cars, Subaru and Toyota promised they would deliver totally different design languages, but upon close inspection, the two vehicles are almost identical. Both vehicles have a strong front fascia, but the BRZ will be distinguished by a Subaru-signed hexagon lower grille, front bumper design, and headlight detailing. Other details setting it apart are the custom fender vents, integrated exhaust tips, and revised tail-lamps.

As previously confirmed, the Subaru BRZ will be powered by the same 2.0-liter horizontally-opposed boxer engine found in the GT 86. The engine even delivers the same 200 HP and 151 lb-ft torque, meaning the promised 300 HP will be reserved for the STI version.