Toyota Auris Hybrid

The Auris Hybrid marks Toyota’s first step towards introducing its petrol-electric technology across the rest of its UK model range and it’s currently the only C-segment hybrid available.

It’s powered by a 1.8-litre VVT-i petrol engine and an electric motor which generates 134bhp in total. 

Select power mode on the automatic transmission and there’s a surprising amount of poke on offer, but the Auris hybrid really excels as a smooth and quiet urban runabout.

From start-up and at speeds of less than 31 mph in ‘normal’ mode, the Auris hybrid will automatically run on its whisper-quiet electric motor.

The battery pack sits beneath the floor of the boot, so there’s still 279 litres of luggage space available.

The Auris falls down slightly on interior quality and it doesn’t match up to rivals from Ford or Volkswagen.

Test mpg wasn’t as high as the manufacturer’s quoted 74.3mpg, but it was in the high 50s, and CO2 emissions come in at 89g/km, which makes it road tax and London congestion charge exempt.