Toyota introduces eco-friendly Auris

Nov 19 2008 Steve Hughes

Toyota introduces eco-friendly Auris

TOYOTA has become the latest company to introduce an eco-friendly option for its cars, starting with the Auris Stop&Start.

This new model incorporates a range of technologies designed to reduce fuel consumption and emissions, which is collectively known as Toyota Optimal Drive and will become available on all Toyotas in due course.

In the case of the Auris, the 1.4-litre petrol engine is changed for a new British-built 1.33-litre unit and is mated to a new six-speed manual transmission.

The lightweight engine is the same size as Toyota's three-cylinder one-litre unit despite being a conventional four-cylinder and boasts a 19 per cent improvement in economy and CO2 emissions with figures of 48mpg and 135g/km.

The 110mph compact model becomes the first Toyota to use the sort of Stop&Start technology that has been a feature of Citroens and other models for some time.

This means that the engine automatically cuts out when the vehicle is stationary and restarts instantly when the clutch is pressed.

This reduces emissions and fuel consumption by about 15 per cent in urban use and at higher speeds the six-speed transmission is responsible for achieving the further savings.

It means that the new model has lower car tax liability and is in VED band C rather than D, which reduces the annual road fund licence from £180 to £120 this year and from £175 to £110 next year with a £5 increase the following year.

The Auris 1.33 Dual VVT-i with Stop&Start starts at £12,705 for the T2 three-door, which is £200 more than the previous 1.4 VVT-i model.

The new 100bhp engine is made at Deeside in North Wales, which also produces the 1.4-litre unit plus 1.6 and 1.8-litre petrol engines at the rate of 185,000 a year.