My first car, a Ford Sapphire, was an absolute disaster. I owned it for six months before trading it in for a Toyota Corolla 1,3-litre. But my third car, a Corolla 160i, was, in my book, my first real car.
I loved it. Its acceleration was smooth, it handled twisty bits with confidence and it never let me down. Given my attachment to my car, I was obviously devastated when a friend who was pretty clued-up about cars told me that it had no soul and that all Toyotas have no soul.
Of course, I didn’t believe her and thought it was a rather harsh criticism, but I did wonder if there was any merit to what she had said. I realised later on that her statement was primarily motivated by the fact that Toyotas are reliable vehicles and while they didn’t evoke much emotion, they never failed to get the job done. In other words, Toyotas came very close to being perfect cars – and this somehow robbed them of character. However, given the brand’s overwhelming international success, it was pretty obvious that consumers didn’t care much about character and were more than happy with cars that “kept going right”.
If there’s one thing the Japanese can never be accused of, it’s complacency, and during the international pre-launch of the hatchback Auris in London, South African media were exposed to the development process of new Toyota models, in particular the Auris, which is to replace the Run-X.
According to Toyota, the JD Powers Customer Satisfaction Index survey in Europe recently revealed that unidentified interior noise (UIN) was a major concern for people buying new cars and so Toyota developed a UIN tunnel in which to test vehicles coming off the production line. The tunnel is known as a Belgian pavé tunnel and consists of a rough surface situated in a sound-proof environment. New vehicles are driven through this tunnel several times in what was described as an attempt to build flawless new vehicles.
It normally takes Toyota up to six months to achieve a ramp-up to produce a new vehicle in its manufacturing plant in England. A ramp-up, as I understand it, involves the recalibration of machines, training of staff, installing technology such as the newly-introduced lasers to check that the panels are perfectly in place, and much more. Once the Auris was developed, Toyota wanted to produce the car as quickly as possible and so it gave itself a ramp-up target of 40 days to establish stable production and it achieved this in 38 days.
Now, given that we’re sceptical South Africans, you might wonder — as I did — if quality was sacrificed in this hasty process to produce the Auris, but according to Toyota, quality control is not something it is ever willing to sacrifice and, given its reputation, I’m inclined to believe the company.
If there’s one thing you can rely on England for, it’s rain, so during our test-drive, we had the opportunity to drive in wet and dry conditions on highways and on rough country roads — and the Auris displayed impeccable manners in all situations.
All the work that went into reducing noise, vibration and harshness paid off as the Auris exhibited the kind of silence normally associated with more expensive sedans.
Two all-new petrol engines were developed for the Auris, a 1,6-litre and a 1,8-litre that both feature dual variable valve timing which forms the basis of a system that ensures high fuel efficiency and lower emissions.
We drove the 1,6-litre, which pushes out 91kW of power and 157Nm of torque, and the 2-litre turbo-charged diesel which pushes out 93kW of power and 300Nm of torque.
Both vehicles accelerated with enthusiasm, with the diesel obviously showing more of an eagerness to break the very strict speed limits in and around London. Keeping it legal in the diesel was a tough task.
Both vehicles were equipped with six-speed manual gearboxes which featured a short gear lever that was situated higher up in the bridged centre console.
Given the high standard of interior fit and finishings, it was strange to have discovered that the plastic in some sections were unusually hard.
Safety is taken care off with a mini- mum of four airbags and a maximum of seven, depending on the model. ABS, EBD and a host of other safety features are also standard, and the Auris has achieved a five-star Euro NCAP rating.
Overall, the Auris proved to be a more than worthy successor to the Run-X and one that will no doubt attract the youthful market at which it is aimed.
One thing that did stand out though was that the Auris range lacks a sporty hot hatch and I can only hope that Toyota is considering developing one because that might just give this impressive new range a much-needed injection of edginess.
The engines, specifications and pricing of the South African models will be finalised early next month during the vehicle’s local launch.