Road Test Toyota Auris D-4D 90 T3 Five-Door Back . . . The noise never really goes away, even on motorways. That's partly because, unlike the larger diesels in the range, this one is fitted with a five- rather than a six-speed gearbox. I suppose the theory is that a 1.4 would have difficulty pulling a really long top gear, but I'd have liked to be able to slip into sixth occasionally, if only to cut down some of the racket. Also - and not to be too anoraky about this - the extra weight of the engine makes the front end feel more ponderous than in the petrol version. The difference isn't great, and I don't imagine anyone would buy a mid-range Auris for the driving experience in any case, but I do reckon that the diesel is slightly (but perhaps importantly) more laborious to operate. The luggage volume stats for the Auris are 354 litres with the rear seats up and 761 litres with them down. In the latter format the luggage compartment length is just over 1.7 metres, which I've found to be pretty useful in the past. But thinking about putting things into the back of the car reminds me that the Auris also has what has become a very common design fault nowadays. Yes, we're back to the rear visibility issue here. There is an awful lot of metal and not nearly enough glass area, leading to the usual effect that it's ridiculously hard to see behind you in situations where that's important, such as reversing in a car park with lots of things (including children) to hit. This is par for the course with small and medium-sized hatchbacks these days, but Toyota has also added some new things to puzzle over. Every Auris comes with a range of features which, shall we say, must have seemed like a good idea at the time. There's the orange light in the centre console which relentlessly informs you that the passenger side airbag is switched on. There's the way the console itself arcs down from the dash in such a way that the oddments tray underneath it is very difficult to reach. More . . . More Toyota Auris Photos Toyota Gallery Back to Toyota Road Test index Back to main Road Test index