Toyota’s triple awards

Bondholder Toyota has scooped three new prestigious honours at the 2020 What Car? Awards.

Announced at a ceremony in London this week, the Toyota Corolla, which is produced at Derbyshire’s Burnaston plant, has taken the title of Best Hybrid Car.

The Corolla earned five stars for reliability, equipment features, running costs and ride comfort in its full What Car? test, scoring four stars overall. The car has pioneered Toyota’s new dual hybrid strategy as the first Toyota model in Europe to offer customers the choice of two hybrid powertrains – 1.8 and 2.0-litre – offering a wider range of performance but with uncompromised fuel and emissions efficiency.

Steve Huntingford, What Car? Editor, said: “The Toyota Corolla comfortably beats the fuel economy of pure petrol-powered rivals and betters a fair few diesels in its 1.8-litre form that we recommend. Better still, it manages this while delivering more performance than most people will need. Plus, in stop-start traffic, near-silence descends when you use electric power alone.”

The Best Hybrid Car for Less Than £20,000 was won by the Toyota Yaris Hybrid helped by the strength-in-depth of Toyota’s hybrid technology, and follows on from its 100 per cent fault-free record in the What Car? 2019 Reliability Survey.

Editor Huntingford explained: “The Toyota Yaris Hybrid is one of the most efficient cars we’ve ever tested, returning 80mpg around town and doing decently on the motorway.”

The Toyota Aygo has been named the Best Value Car (priced between £10,000 to £12,000). Huntingford commented: “Aygo has plenty more going for it than just funky looks. Not only is it cheaper to buy than rivals in our recommended x-play trim, but its 1.0-litre petrol engine is gutsy yet efficient, so should be cheap to run. It’s agile around town, too, with a tight turning circle, which makes it ideal for city car parks.”