Toyota Aqua Hybrid Hatchback | Melbourne

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Toyota Aqua Hybrid from Japan The Toyota Aqua Hybrid is the small hybrid that made hybrids ordinary. Australians know the first generation as the Prius C, but the Japanese-market car comes in far greater variety and, usually, in far better condition. Every one we bring in is selected at auction by our own branch in Osaka, imported under our own licence, and complied in-house at our Dandenong workshop. The Second Generation Is the One to Buy The current Toyota Aqua Hybrid — MXPK11 in front-wheel drive, MXPK15 with E-Four electric all-wheel drive, from late 2021 — is an entirely new car rather than a facelift. It sits on the TNGA-B platform and uses the 1.5-litre three-cylinder M15A-FXE with Toyota's fourth-generation hybrid system and a bipolar nickel-metal hydride battery. The difference is obvious the moment you drive one: more power, a much quieter cabin, better seats, a digital instrument display, and Toyota Safety Sense across the range. Grades run B, X, G and Z. X sits in the sensible middle and is the one we tend to buy, because it carries the safety and camera equipment most people actually want without the price of the top grades. The First Generation Still Makes Sense The NHP10 (2011 to 2021) pairs the 1.5-litre 1NZ-FXE with an e-CVT, front-wheel drive only, in L, S and G grades plus the raised-ride-height X-URBAN and Crossover versions. Later cars picked up Toyota Safety Sense. It is noisier and plainer than the car that replaced it, but it is also considerably cheaper, and mechanically it is one of the most proven hybrid drivetrains Toyota has built. If budget is the deciding factor, it remains a sound buy. If you are cross-shopping a late first-generation car against an early second-generation one, drive both — they share a name and very little else. Running Costs Either way, this is a genuinely small car with a genuinely frugal drivetrain, and that combination is rarer than it sounds. Expect figures in the low fours in ordinary Australian driving for th