More Than Good Enough
by David Finlay (10 Feb 05)

The battle to see who can build the most popular midi-MPV has developed to such intensity that this sector - more, I think, than any other - has become a bonanza for buyers. So many manufacturers are building cars of such high quality that you can buy easily something which, though perhaps not the best available, will still do the job very well.

The Toyota Avensis Verso is a fine example. Compare it directly with other junior people-carriers, especially the more recently launched ones, and it seems quite anonymous. But I've spent a week in a Verso - ignored what else is available, liked it on its own terms, was sorry when it went away.

There have been, and will be, many arguments, discussions and view-exchanges about how many seats a car like this ought to have. (A manufacturer who provided only five rather than seven might be seen as cheapskate, but does anyone actually need seven? And so on.) Toyota dismisses all this by offering seven seats across the range, set in two-three-two formation.

Passenger space up front is not an issue - there's plenty of it there, but then again that's the easy bit. Far more to the designers' credit is the amount of legroom available to the three centre passengers. This is especially the case if the seats are in their normal position, but it also applies if they are moved forward, which they really have to be if anyone with legs wants to sit in row three. In that configuration, even a six-footer can travel in the Verso's hindquarters, though headroom is a lot more restricted than it is further forward.

In seven-passenger form, the Verso's luggage capacity is a feeble 212 litres, and you might as well have bought a MINI instead. But the second- and third-row seats can be removed or folded (individually or all together), gradually releasing a potential 2422 litres of fresh air if you load the thing up to roof height. And there's an extra 70 litres of underfloor storage on top of that . . . or, I should say, below that.

There are six versions in the range, with choices of trim level, petrol or diesel engines and manual or - but only with the petrol engine - automatic transmissions. The test car was the T3 entry-level model, but it makes a good case for itself. It's the cheapest version, and the equal quickest. Standard equipment does not include roof rails or alloy wheels (so you'll note that our pictures are above the higher-spec T Sprit) or air-conditioning for the rear passengers, but you get a decent amount of kit even without delving into the options list, where over £5000 worth of items await you.

In just a couple of ways I felt the Verso was letting the side down. First, and despite all those TV ads claiming unearthly levels of refinement for the Avensis on which this car is based, all five doors shut with a slight clang, as if some noise deadening had been applied but not enough. Second, the steering wheel does not adjust for reach, which seems penny-pinching these days and makes the Verso less comfortable behind the wheel than it easily could be.

Apart from that, this is not a bad car to drive. It's got a decent amount of straight-line performance, it handles at least as well as most buyers will ever ask it to, and the ride quality is very impressive - not class-leading (most midi-MPVs seem to ride exceptionally well for some reason) but nonetheless one of the Verso's best features. If someone asked me to recommend a mini-MPV, I probably wouldn't think of this first. If, on the other hand, they told me they'd already bought one, I'd say, "yes, why not? Good choice."

Price: £18,595
Capacity: 1998cc
Power: 149bhp
0-62mph: 11.4 seconds
Maximum speed: 119mph
Economy: 41.5mpg extra urban, 33.2mpg combined
CO2 emissions: 202g/km
Towing capacity: 1500kg braked, 500kg unbraked
Toyota figures.

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