Toyota Avensis (2012) review
by Tom Stewart (21 December 2011)
The current Toyota Avensis was launched in late 2008, and while this latest version isn't entirely new – in industryspeak it's an example of a "mid-cycle refresh" – the 2012 car is significant because, in addition to some technical changes and improvements to the ride, handling, equipment and comfort which we'll come to shortly, it's the first model to feature elements of the Keen Look – Toyota's new design direction.
The Keen Look has been created at Toyota's ED2 design centre – aka the European Design Development facility – situated up in the hills a few kilometres inland from Antibes in the south of France. And with its pale terracotta walls, neat rockeries and typically Provençal vegetation, ED2 is a fitting and agreeable base for the new model's press launch.
At first glance you might not think there's much difference between the existing Avensis and the one you see here. The metal bodywork hasn't been touched and so the car's side profile remains pretty much as was, but the front end has been given quite a shake-up. In Toyotaspeak both the five-door tourer and four-door saloon now have "expressive styling, with narrower, more expressive headlamps that emphasise the car's sleek, elegant proportions. This is in conjunction with a dramatic change in the proportions of the upper and lower grilles, with the emphasis now placed on enlarging the latter for a more assertive, dynamic look".
The saloon also benefits from a newly designed rear bumper and revised rear light clusters, now illuminated by strips of LEDs, plus a flash of chrome above the rear number plate. So, nothing monumental, but enough to distinguish this Avensis from any older models in the company car park.
Though also looking similar, the interior has been refreshed too with a redesigned centre console, greater use of soft-touch materials and upgraded upholstery, but one of the more interesting developments is the introduction (on the top-spec T Spirit model) of Toyota Touch & Go Plus navigation and media system, which makes its world debut on the new Avensis.
The existing Touch & Go system already features a 6.1" touchscreen with pan European satnav, motorway-style signposting, a stop-over function, live traffic info, SMS texting, a rear-view camera, iPod/mp3 player audio streaming (with iPod album cover display), Bluetooth with phone book integration and, with compatible phone, Google Local Search and downloadable apps.
To this Touch & Go Plus adds advanced voice recognition, enhanced 3D mapping, a text-to-speech function, music search and play, a traffic patterns database, plus calendar and e-mail integration and more. Impressive stuff, at least on paper, but with time at a premium there wasn't time to assess any of these functions other than trusting that the satnav had some idea of where I was because I certainly didn't, at least not in any detail.
If I'd just stepped out of a current Avensis after a few years of ownership and into this new car then I expect that the changes and improvements made to body rigidity, aerodynamics, suspension, steering, noise and vibration and seat comfort may have been more apparent. But having last spent a week with an Avensis in May 2011, and before that a day or so on the press launch back in November 2008, it was hard to discern any differences in any of the above. However, these days improvements to already highly refined cars are almost always incremental and subtle.
That said, on the narrow, twisting and often bumpy roads of the region, the new Avensis's steering felt taut, responsive and direct, the driving position was spot-on, and the ride was both composed and comfortable. My six-speed manual 124bhp two-litre D-4D Tourer's engine wasn't the quietest I've heard, but I'd have had absolutely no qualms about driving it back to Blighty, had the need arisen.
By doing so I'd have also been able to measure this variant's actual fuel consumption against the combined figure of 62.8mpg – up by an impressive 17% from 53.3mpg, with a corresponding 14% reduction in CO2 emissions from 139 to 119g/km.
Other powertrains available are a 145bhp 1.8 petrol (manual or Multidrive auto), a six-speed manual 148bhp 2.2 D-4D, or a similarly powerful 2.2 D-CAT with six-speed automatic. Grade structures, or spec levels, are as before, namely: T2, TR, T3 and the top-spec T Spirit.
Built in Burnaston, the Avensis is now the only D-sector, or Mondeo-sized, car to be manufactured in the UK, and the 2012 model year version will be in showrooms by the time you read this with prices ranging from £18,450 to £28,885.
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