2014 Toyota Auris Hybrid - 10 Year Review

In this video I will review a 10 year old Toyota hybrid, to evaluate whether the battery still performs and contributes to the same MPG as when it left the factory.
This is an Auris Excel trim with the 1.8 petrol atkinson cycle engine.

[Marc-rnr]

I can guarantee this video is by far the best car review I've ever watched, including professional channels, so detailed from the driver's point of view and so technical. Congrats!!, I was between a diesel auria and Hybrid, just decided to get the Hybrid, as we're gonna drive it more in a city areas...thank you for the video.

[saddiqrahman]

Thank you for this review - very informative and well thought out. Very helpful as I’m looking to buy either the touring or hatchback models for my brother as his first car.

[TheLocusClassicus]

A really useful review. You should take car reviewing up as a profession! You cover everything one might want to know, calmly and knowledgeably and you’re not wasting time being ‘amusing’ or trying to be a character. (One Jeremy Clarkson was more than enough, and if I never hear from him again it will be too soon.)

[joyakhouppodhaya]

Nice detailed review!
Just got back driving in Germany with our 2013 Auris Estate hybrid.
This is a very well balanced car! The only issues I have is Aircon evaporator is corroded and little bits of white powdery dust comes out every time you switch on the AC, in order to replace it, you'd need to take the whole dash out!

I'm not bothered, it's a Toyota after all.

[thomasheydenreich]

Nicely presented video, thank you!
Interesting to note that the 12V battery is a known problem. Bought an Auris built in 2018 some years ago, and it only failed me once with the 12V battery - which was quite surprising for me, as the car is not used for several days quite often, restarting without a problem.

Overall, I am very satisfied with it, goal is to drive it up to 200k km. Let's see how this plan works out.

[ComplicatedStuff]

Very nice review. I own a 2015 Auris estate hybrid, the facelift version. Bought it with almost 200.000kms on it (so still under factory warranty! 😊), been faultless so far. I test drove a few, the facelift version seems a bit better insulated for noise and mine has the LED lights which I think are very good. I did get a low 12v battery warning message one time last winter, but it turned on fine regardless and haven’t seen it again. I am thinking of keeping one of those USB starter packs in the car just in case. I’m having the hybrid health check done every year by Toyota, this way I can get warranty on the battery and other hybrid components till its 15 years old and without limitation on mileage. Pretty good deal, they must have faith in their products. I did replace the rear shocks (with OEM kayaba units), they are quite cheap and easy to install.

[LBee]

Absolutely Fantastic real world review thanks for doin this! It’s helped massively with my decision.

[chanterry]

Excellent and fair review. I've got my wife and myself an Excel Auris with less than 25000 miles recently. We've been happy with it generally. It took us a while to get used to the brake. We were surprised the slip warning came up when we pressed the brake and thought something might be wrong. It turned out that we need not to press that hard, like the way we do with our Yaris.

Things are generally good with the car but sadly the touchscreen is not really working and we need to look for a replacement.

Anyhow, it's a very parctical car and very easy to drive. We like it a lot.

[TomWalsh]

Detailed and very fair review. The soundproofing is definitely a weak spot, especially on a motorway. As you say, it's not an engaging car to drive. It suits me but not a car for a keen driver.

Mine is about the same age but with 72K miles on it. Only things it's needed are tyres, brakes, suspension bushes and a new 12V battery (original lasted 10 years).

Bit surprised that the Toyota dealer didn't know what battery degradation is as that's the very thing that the hybrid health check is for! A taxi driver told me that the batteries tend to fail around 150K miles.

[brtaylor]

Great Review I bought a second hand 2015 in 2020 with 47k and in 4+ yrs have had the flat battery problem 2 times. I just bought a cheap jump pack and keep it in the glove box

[mjlevenstein]

Fantastic review. Really well done. Thank you.

[colincrooky]

Thank you, that was very enlightening.
I do have an Auris Hybrid but I fitted a 12v socket in the boot beside the battery with a 2a fuse. This enables my 1 amp battery charger to be plugged in whenever it is on my drive.
What I have never used is the automatic parallel parking system, one day I may drive it next to my neighbours’ cars and try it and hope not to regret it.

[Kamizhou]

Have a 2013 Auris in Excel for about a year and a half now, and has treated me quite well! :D 😊I've not had any issues relating to the battery though, and I have left the car unattended for 2-3 weeks sometimes. I was under the impression that as long as you leave the hybrid battery with at least 2 bars left, it will trickle charge the 12v battery by itself. Wonder if that is faulty on some hybrids then for it to happen after a few days each time it's driven?
A few tips I've learned that may help you, or anyone else:

-EV Mode's ideal use is for when you just need to move the car a little bit from the start. It'll avoid the the engine's warm-up cycle to save on petrol. However it will not allow you to use EV mode at the start if the warm-up cycle has begun, or hybrid battery is too low. After this point I find it's pretty much useless to select EV Mode because normal hybrid operation will work exactly the same.

-As you said, Eco Mode is pretty much useless, unless you're a type of person that always has a heavy foot. Though, it does seem to alter what the climate control will do; I've witnessed it turning the re-circulating air on and off by itself, and it never does that in Normal mode. Whether the extra things it does to the climate control actually saves petrol or not, I can't say since MPG values don't seem that different.

-The B-Mode on the gear select basically uses the wheels to provide extra resistance by spinning the engine and pumping air without petrol. Personally have never used this, but it's intended use is for when you're going down a very long hill, and need to have some "engine braking" to alleviate grinding your brakes down while having your foot on the pedal to maintain speed along the decline.

-The A/C is powered by the hybrid battery, so you won't burn MPG by keeping it always on. I use Auto on the climate control, and it seems to adjust how much compressor it needs to use. Not really noticed a difference with consumption, so probably no harm to let the car have permission to use it when it needs, plus will keep windows from fogging up on damp days.

[jonathanwebb]

Thanks for the review. I always carry one of those rechargable power pack jump starters - useful bit of kit and not just for jump starting cars. If I go away I always leave my cars on CTEK conditioner chargers.

[connashio]

Very comprehensive review. I do find myself strangely drawn to these cars even though the Corolla estate is clearly a big step forward and should be the car I'd buy.

[sangetube]

Subscribed. Very good in depth review. Cheers for sharing 👍

[bernieallan]

I've never had a problem of flat battery even after 2 weeks away. The parking assist is excellent.

[cardude]

I've got a 2010 auris now on 212, 000 miles, In the 7 years and 135k of ownership it's had EGR valve cleaned at 140k, 2 rear springs, tyres and bulbs. The hybrid battery is starting to sag and really could do with a new one. MPG has dropped from mid 60s to 50mpg. Still on the original brakes. They never seem to wear out.

Over all, fantastic car, will probably be skipping the mk2 though and going for the corolla.

High mile mk2 with 300k on the clock are available for as little as £2.5k now. And to be honest I'd probably pick one up as a spare car for tip runs etc.

[sheunfa]

I own one of this and I plan on keeping it for as long as it let me

[mohamdy]

This review is great....i owned one and i know alot from u