Toyota Road Tests
Tuesday 16th January 2007
First, let's get one thing straight. It's "Owris", like "Audi", not "Ooris". We can't have you mispronouncing the...
Tue, 16 Jan 2007
The Toyota Auris has had some mid-life refreshment. The 124PS 1.6 is replaced by an excellent new 132PS Valvematic. The diesel is reduced to a 100PS 1.4. The mainstream model is a low emission 1.33. And now Toyota has extracted the drivetrain from its Prius to bring us a hybrid version.
Wed, 19 May 2010
Like the FIAT Bravo 1.4 T-Jet test, this is a catch-up to the Auris range test a year ago, where I never got a proper chance to drive what was...
Sat, 29 Mar 2008
Friday 16th June 2006
I ran an original 115PS Avensis D-4D for six months a couple of years ago. I wound up describing it as "an amiable thing....
Thu, 15 Jun 2006
This is the new, leaner, greener Avensis. With new, more powerful, and higher revving, yet more economical, lower emission petrol engines, while...
Fri, 05 Dec 2008
Mid life rejuvenation brings 119g/km CO2 2.0 D-4D, but the star of the range remains the 1.8i Valvematic Multidrive S
Sat, 10 Dec 2011
Fifth Instalment:
I'm up to 3,500 miles in the Avensis and all of a sudden we seem to be getting on very well together.
The engine has...
Fri, 17 Oct 2003
Fourth Instalment:
I'm up to 3,000 miles in the Avensis now. (I know I don't get out much. I spend too much time driving a keyboard.)
I've...
Tue, 30 Sep 2003
Final Instalment:
The last fill was a 4,532 miles, making a total of 3,809 actually driven in the car. Not a lot for 6 months, but, of course,...
Wed, 31 Dec 2003
Tuesday 10th May 2005
Updated Tuesday 14th February 2006
It must be a tough life being a car designer these days. There you are, refining...
Tue, 14 Feb 2006
Think Corolla and you think reliable but characterless. The new 5-door version looks like a Chinese die-cast model of a Skoda Fabia done from...
Wed, 15 May 2002
There's no doubt that mid-size MPVs have been getting better to drive. With the first generation, roll understeer on a bend could leave you with...
Fri, 03 Sep 2004
Tuesday 22nd November 2005
I don't know about you, but though the new Toyota Hilux was officially available in the UK from 1st October I have...
Tue, 22 Nov 2005
"I-Cute" doesn't quite ring true. Pretty, it isn't.
This is a little car for the head, not the heart.
A FIAT 500 is cute. A Hyundai i10...
Tue, 25 Nov 2008
By Martin Gurdon.
Toyota's Land Cruiser is one of those niche cars that pretty much sells itself.
Every few years Toyota rolls out a new...
Thu, 12 Nov 2009
Drive into the future. Tomorrow's car today. Car of the next decade now. We've all heard this kind of hype before. Except in the shape of the...
Sat, 29 Nov 2003
We'd been together for six months now and, though I've been unfaithful with scores of other cars in that time, I was still happiest with 'my'...
Sun, 03 Oct 2004
I've had my Prius II T4 for more than three months, now. Not as long as Autocar and Auto Express have had theirs, but long enough to understand...
Sun, 11 Jul 2004
By Martin Gurdon.
Anyone who thought ultra-pragmatic Toyota had lost the commercial plot when it started making the petrol/electric Prius...
Wed, 02 Dec 2009
The original Toyota RAV 4 was the first real 'sports' 4x4. It looked chunky, yet drove and handled like a Golf GTi. Not surprisingly, women loved...
Mon, 18 Nov 2002
Wednesday 12th July 2006
Stepping out of a Yaris and into a RAV-4 is bound to give the wrong impression. I always remembered the old RAV as...
Wed, 12 Jul 2006
Saturday 11th November 2006
After 4 months and only 1,850 miles my 'long term' RAV-4 D-4D 180 has now gone back to its maker.
You can see...
Sat, 11 Nov 2006
The Soluna Vios is a very pretty Yaris-based four-door saloon built in Thailand for the Thai market. Thai Car of the Year 2004, sales have taken...
Thu, 01 Apr 2004
We've had our Soluna Vios for 39 months, and 80,000 kilometres, so I thought it was about time to sum up how it's been.
When my Thai fiancé...
Wed, 13 Jun 2007
The new Toyota Urban Cruiser is an oddball car.
It's chunky, without absorbing urban ruts, potholes and speed humps as well as a Qashqai on...
Sat, 28 Mar 2009
Toyota doesn't do a Yaris Verso, a Corolla Verso and an Avensis Verso any more.
Just one Verso, built at the Adapazari factory in Turkey....
Sun, 29 Mar 2009
'Empty Nesters' looking at Nissan Notes, Citroen C3 Picassos, Honda Jazz, Hyundai ix20s and Kia Vengas might well find exactly what they want in the new Toyota Verso S.
Thu, 17 Feb 2011
This is a return test of one of my favourite small cars, in special high value trim. In my view the Yaris is up there with the Jazz and the new...
Fri, 14 Mar 2008
When I was a kid I had a teacher called Harry Hawler who boasted that his Morris Minor would do fifty miles to the gallon. But even that was...
Wed, 08 May 2002
Saturday 24th June 2006
The bigger, better "bigsmall" second-generation Yaris has been around in other parts of the world for well over a...
Sat, 24 Jun 2006
Looks are everything. In dark metallic blue, with optional alloy wheels, the Toyota Yaris Verso almost looks okay. In pale metallic gold, like...
Tue, 24 Oct 2000
