It's a little difficult to know what to expect here. Almost everyone who has ever test driven a Toyota Auris reckons that it is a boring car, and having driven a 1.6 petrol version for six months and a 1.4 diesel for a week I can confirm that this is indeed the case. And nothing wrong with that. The world needs boring cars. They are the backbone of the industry, and Toyota's ability to produce very fine boring cars is the key to its success.But if you look at the specification of the Auris SR180 tested here, you might be led to assume that it would at the very least be taking cautious steps around the fringe of interestingness. It has a 2.2-litre turbo diesel engine which produces an entirely interesting 177bhp. It has sports suspension and alloy wheels and tinted rear glass. It even has a rear spoiler. Compared with regular Auris models, which tend to fade into the background even when you're looking straight at them, it looks rather good.As the power figure would suggest, it's quite quick. It will do 130mph flat out and it can accelerate from rest to 62mph in 8.1 seconds. If you don't push it too hard you should get over 40 miles to a gallon (the official combined figure is 45.6mpg) and its Vehicle Excise Duty is calculated on the basis of 164g/km CO2 emissions, which means you'll be paying well under £200 in annual VED for the foreseeable future.While this is all undeniably good news, it doesn't alter the fact that the SR180 is hardly more fascinating than any other Auris. It moves along pretty rapidly when you ask it to, but you'll rarely be inspired to make the request because it never feels particularly sporty (there's enough front-end body movement to make hard cornering a bit of a chore, though there's no doubt that it grips the tarmac well enough).Why should this be, when Toyota has fitted sports suspension? Well, the main effect of the chassis tweaking is to counteract the extra weight of the diesel engine. The match is so accurate that I can't help thinking Toyota deliberately arranged things so that the SR180 would handle in exactly the same way as the 1.6 petrol. Which would be odd.The ride is slightly bumpier than that of any other Auris I've driven, but that's not a suspension issue - it's down to the low-profile tyres which don't appear to contribute much to the handling experience. In conjunction with the SR180's larger alloy wheels, though, they do make a big, and positive, difference to the car's appearance.I must admit that before the test car arrived I had persuaded myself that this would be an Auris to excite the passions and make the blood flow more eagerly through the veins. I was deeply wrong about that. All the five-door SR180 does, for an £18,545 list price which puts it right at the top of the range (you can have a three-door version of the same car for £500 less), is offer the standard Auris experience plus a bit of extra overtaking capability. I'm not convinced that it's worth it.I've written enough about the things that irritate me about the Auris to want to go over the same ground again here, so here's a brief summary: the gearshift light on the dashboard isn't a bad idea but tends to give you inappropriate advice (such as changing up when you're just starting to climb a steep hill); the handbrake release is a badly-placed slider on top of the lever rather than a sensible button at the end of it; the central oddments tray is hard to reach underneath the stylish but not very practical console which holds the gearlever; and the stupidly large rear pillars block visibility to an extent which could become dangerous if you were, say, reversing in a supermarket car park.On the other hand, the Auris has scored very well in independent crash testing: Euro NCAP awarded it five, four and three stars respectively for adult occupant, child occupant and pedestrian protection. No other car in the class has beaten this record, and only the Citroen C4, Peugeot 308 and Volkswagen Golf have matched it (the C4 had a much better points score for child occupant protection, but not enough to warrant a fifth star).So the Auris does well for passive safety, or the ability not to injure people in a crash. In terms of active safety (the tendency not to have a crash in the first place) the SR180 should do well too. Not only is it fitted with the usual array of electronic guardian angels, you're also probably not going to be inspired to drive it quickly enough to get into trouble, 177bhp or no 177bhp. Engine 2231cc, 4 cylinders Power 177bhp Transmission 6-speed manual Fuel/CO2 45.6mpg / 164g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 8.1 seconds Top speed 130mph Price £18,545 Details correct at publication date
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