I’ve never been a particular fan of the Toyota Auris, but I got to drive one recently which rather made me re-think about the car.

IT might be fashionable in some quarters to poke fun at the Toyota Corolla; endlessly dull, designed by someone with a white stick, zero fun and nada on the street cred front. All of these barbs have been thrown at the Corolla down the years, but they merely bounce off the legendary Toyota — as its sales figures show.

THE TOYOTA RAV4 has been one of those cars which flies under the radar a little bit. While it has not achieved fairly stellar worldwide sales by stealth, it has become so ubiquitous, it is for many people a bit like birdsong: you know it’s there and you know it’s nice, but you kind of take it for granted.

REGULAR readers will know of my general distaste for hybrid cars. It is a personal thing and not something I expect everyone to agree with, but the bottom line is that I don’t like them.

REGULAR readers will know of my general distaste for hybrid cars.