A hot and heavy silence embraces the slowly rolling flat lands of these most Eastern Midlands like a wet shadow, clawing and gnawing at their infinite edges like an invisible spaniel of nothingness. Yet as I survey the dashboard in front of me all signs are as normal as a Home Counties bank manager eating toast on a Tuesday. The dials glow like celestial suns of precious information whilst peppy pop music prances and patters from the preening speakers that surround me. But as I sit here, the car as stationary as the back section of a branch of WH Smith, something is as wrong as getting intimate with your gran. The engine is nowhere, AWOL, a desperate disparu making its presence felt by its absence. But I’m not worried for this is no reason to call Mssrs AA and RAC. This is singular shutdown by design. This is the Toyota Auris TR 1.33 Dual VVT-I Stop & Start.
Yes, you read that right. The medium car from the big manufacturer has just gone eco, buffing its green credentials like a burgeoning hippy gone crazed in a cress shop with the simple addition of know how that simply flatlines the motor when you come to a halt.
Do you want to know the best thing about this bastion of technology and simplicity? It works. Yet, like a failed parachutist hitting the beach, the rest of the car also leaves an impression. The engine revs like a fat hamster’s heart, releasing its goodness in thick blobs all over the power band, a task made all the more accessible by a gearshift that’s as easy as a Northern whore. Best of all, this Auris is no snore-is when you get to the twisty stuff. Chuck it in hard, feel the nose bite like a starved shark, squeeze the throttle like an unloved orange and just let it dive through like an Olympic apex hunter. For the more committed helmsmith there are games aplenty too. I lifted off hard and felt the playful tail step out. I simply gave it a dab of oppo and I was away.
Toyota Auris TR 1.33 Dual VVT-I Stop & Start is a bitch, and I spanked it.
