Should we buy a new Toyota Auris Hybrid?

jessegee

Time is short due to work etc , but I would be very grateful for any thoughts on whether we should buy a new Auris hybrid, so we don't make a mistake.

Husband works in surrey, and we live in devon, he does nearly 500 miles per week.
At the moment we have a 10 year old Rav4, which we paid 5k for 6 months ago, and has been nothing but trouble, and cost money/time/hassle.
We bought it from an independent garage, with an RAC warranty and 3 month garage warranty, and its not been worth the paper its written on.
Negotiations and reminders of the sale of goods act made a slight difference but they basically told us to get lost. We still have an intermittent problem with the car and dont feel that we can sell it privately without owning up to defects that even toyota cant seem to put right permanently.
Our previous car was a second hand Freelander bought for 3k, and it lasted 8 months before conking out. (Which is why we bought the Rav4.)

So that leaves us feeling we should have a new car, with long warranty to cope with high mileage, comfort, safety, and economy, but we're afraid of breaking the bank.

We test drove a new top range Toyota Auris hybrid, a good long test and felt all round impressed with it, happy with size, looks, interior, comfort, and stated fuel economy and reliability. Husband drives cleverly, good at getting most MPG, enjoys fuelly . com but there must be times when he has to hoof it a bit.

Toyota have offered a good deal, 5k trade in for our Rav , on a 3 yr p bubble payment plan, which takes us to £60 more per month than we are paying now , based on what the rav is costing us, and thats hoping it will keep going for another 3 yrs without costing a fortune, which I dont think it will. They gave us a guaranteed 7k ish trade in value at the end of 3 yrs based on 10k per year mileage, but said they would honour 20k er year for same outcome, but I want that in writing before I believe it. They've said free first service, free scratch/chip insurance, and roadside. It seems to tick all the boxes for us, and cost to us on the road is £317pm but its still 23 thousand pounds, and I want to know, is it really as good as it seems to be? Will it last longer than 3 years or will we have to "throw it away" after that? If it lasts well into 5 years and beyond it seems worth it.

Is the auris still really good value for money?
We've done figures based on 50mpg and it just about works out worth it, theres no reason why we shouldnt keep the car for longer than 3 years, or is there?

We've checked out some other new cars, am interested in Skoda Octavia, but someone told me the government is going to hit diesel hard soon, he doesnt drive into london really, but what if cities near us start to adopt similar tactics, and would that happen in the next 3-5 years? He drives to Hampton 4 days a week, is there a chance that middlesex could become part of the london spread and hit diesel cars hard?

Is there anything else we should take into account buying a new car, someone said that nearing their quarter, garages are keen to sell cars cheap to get their bonus, is that the end of this month ( june )

My other big concern is that by taking out this payment plan, we are making it difficult to borrow money to fix up our flat, which needs chimney work etc . I'm worried that banks wont lend us what we need, at the moment we dont really have much equity, having bought it only 6 months ago. It needs improvement, and we need to work to pay for that. What if husband gets a job in devon and doesnt do as much mileage? Although he is committed to 3 years, who can tell what future might bring?

You can see I really need some help to decide !
Any thoughts would be really helpful and much appreciated .

jesse

gilbert_and_sullivan

Toyota hybrids are the pick of the bunch, have proved themselves capable of huge mileages virtually trouble free, talking of taxi mileages here circa 250 to 300k.

I certainly wouldn't be signing myself up to massive payments like that though, if you wanted hybrid you could buy a average mileage Prius third generation or even previous shape Auris Hybrid for half of the figure to buy the new one, so long as its registered in 2010 or later its got a 5 year 100k warranty anyway, and longer on the main battery pack.

The mileage your husband covers is going to see massive depreciation on any new car, so IMO you should buy a suitable used car thats already seen the heavy depreciation by time, not mileage.

Whilst hybrids are very good, those long distance journeys your husband covers are ideal for Diesel, hybrids come into their own in heavy traffic.

The govt may possibly hit Diesel taxation, in their quest to stave off the country's total bankruptcy for a bit longer, but it won't be till after the election and thats another year away and another 25k miles for you.

First thing, i would find a better mechanic than you currently use, Rav 4's are good cars, possibly not best suited to this long haul stuff its currently used for but thats another issue.

Several cars would fit the bill for you, Avensis, Kia Optima, Hyundai i40 for example.
A smaller car in such a commute would IMO be a miserable experience.

Staying under makers warranties is the thing to do, so forget cars with 3 year warranties, Kia warranty is 7 years 100k, Hyundai is 5 years unlimited mileage, Toyota is 5 years 100k (but if well serviced they are generous with goodwill long after) but to ensure warranty stays intact on any vehicle it must be serviced correctly...and you might find Toyota servicing costs to work out cheaper than the Korean brands.

You have lots of research to do on this.

jozxyqk

There are a lot of things to consider there...I can't help with them all but here goes.

1. If Toyota are basically offering your money back on the RAV4, that sounds like a good thing that I doubt anyone else will do considering its condition. But like a lot of dealerships they only like to offer the best-looking terms on brand new cars - bear in mind depreciation is highest in the first year.

2. Toyota Hybrids have a very good track record for reliability and if you're buying any Toyota new it will have 5 years warranty I think. Some early Prius hybrids have done >400k miles apparently. VED is v low (zero?), they're expensive to buy but hold their value well.

3. If you're doing mainly long motorway journeys you may get better mpg out of a diesel. I drive a Verso diesel which averages about 56 mpg for me - I do about 450 miles a week, mainly on trunk roads. I bet I could get it over 60 mpg on motorway runs.

jessegee

Thank you so much everyone, very helpful comments, am thinking hard on all of them, pro and con.

Perhaps a second hand young is the way to go, we'll have to play with sums, and see if it works out better. I'm encouraged by what you say of the hybrid reliability and interested to check out other makes / diesel. If we can get an equal or better deal on a second hand one through a garage we can trust it might be ok. We thought we were doing that last time! This time we will stick to main agents, toyota do seem very good at customer care.

Its no tax and not mot for 3 years so that appeals. Service costs are same as the rav, even at a cheap garage.
We've been to a few garages, local cheap good guys, toyota main agent, and rav specialist.
If they cant solve our problem, ( we've even sent off the ecu ) then I think its basically an unusually duff one.

Interesting the point you make about motorway mileage v trunk town , husband does A303, which as you know can be a beggar around stone henge, M25 and A3 which is an !!!! when stuck, and town streets of hampton/esher/guildford/weybridge, hideous, so ther eis some urban too. We did find that the car quietly going to electric in queues was lovely. We also liked the auto braking mode when going down hills, apparently brakes last longer, useful for around us in devon.

I wonder what the percentage is : urban v motorway, we will have to work out the ratio for us on a typical week, not sure how but sure he will. Perhaps a handheld electronic counter he can press when in queues.

Thanks again, everyone, I know how best to pursue this now.

jessegee

we test drove a Skoda Octavia 1.6 diesel auto, and a Hyundai 130 diesel too. They both faired well, but the auris came out a clear leader in monthly outgoings when we took many other things into account like insurance, road tax, warranty, mpg.
We looked up actual mileage figures on honest john and what car, so we feel as sure as we can be.

Note: We looked into other deal, including Renault megane,in exeter Marsh Barton area, they had loads of them reduced by 4 or 5 k, bring a 20k car down to 16, because they had a glut of manuals, so well worth it if thats what you like, its great.

JonathanA

Please do shop around a bit. I've heard good things about the Toyota Hybrid, though the quoted economy figures are difficult to achieve, so please don't use them in your overall calculations! At 500 miles or week, it isn't going to take you long to hit the 10k mileage limit, and whilst they say it won't be a problem, that may only be true if you return to buy another car from them. It certainly won't be the case if you look beyond Toyota to another manufacturer.

Also, push them for a better deal. They may be offering you £5k for your trade in, but I can get £5k off the new list price of a Toyota Auris Hybrid with no part exchange, so the deal may not be as good as you think.

Have a look at some of the online car brokers (carfile and drivethedeal seem to have a good reputation) and see what your car is valued at by someone like webuyanycar, then you'll have an idea of how good the overall deal is. Don't be afraid to go back and haggle harder with them, show them the figures you got from elsewhere if needed!

The mileage you are talking about shouldn't pose a problem for a diesel car, especially if buying new or nearly new. The comments about the Prius Hybrid are equally valid, you could pick up a 3 year old Prius for much less, giving you a lower overall monthly outlay.

colino

As you have bought an old Toyota and consider it a lemon, want to buy a battery fed similar droid, why bother asking advice? Steam in, have a terrible, poor riding, inadequate family car that at least, you can claim to be saving the planet with?
Alternatively, buy a middle aged Vectra or Mondeo , run it and really make a ppositive contribution by upcycling.

worried_jim

Buy a second hand Skoda Octavia diesel and save many £k's.

kfw_2

You should consider new/nearly new Hyundai's, I have the small i10 but regulary drive 330miles each way to see relatives, it does it with ease and I get great MPG. 5 year warranty, 5 year full rac cover (best one you can have, except european cover, so home start, onward travel etc etc is included). Have had to use the warranty with a few issues, but there has never been any push back from the dealer getting items fixed.

Doing that sort of mileage have you factored in the extra service costs (or at least the extra oil changes required) and wear and tear part prices, tyres, brakes etc.

Strider590

You can sleep in a car, but you can't race a house......

Oh wait, you can't race an ecobox either.

Just buy something cheap like a 3 year old Mondeo (probably about 4k), spend a bit extra on fuel and put the rest into your home.

nobbysn*ts

You have to get past the spin Toyota put out. Their batteries have had horrific problems. Toyota's answer was to advise it should last the life of the car, but then warrant it for 5 years. So they expect a 5 year life from the car? The batteries lose capacity with time. This is a feature of rechargeable batteries, and not a manufacturing defect. So after few years, (information isn't published by Toyota, but it's accounted for in their warranty) the battery capacity will be down, typically to around 60% for that technology is considered still good. But they are getting better with time having said that, as the figure was a lot lower earlier.