Toyota Avensis Tourer: driven
13 October 2009
- Smart looks and lavish kit
- Noisy and thirtsy, though
- On sale now, for £27,515
More Information
Pouring vodka on your cornflakes might liven up breakfast, but can bring unwanted side effects. Such is the case with the Toyota Avensis.
It is about as exciting as a bowl of cornflakes, but despite the new 2.2-litre engine injecting a drop of the hard stuff, the standard automatic gearbox quickly brings you back to earth with a bump.
Toyota trumpets its 'Optimal Drive' technology, promising more power for better economy and lower emissions, but the automatic gearbox dulls the effects, and emissions of 174g/km and average fuel consumption of 42.8mpg aren't dazzling. The engine is noisy, too, chugging at idle and only quietening at higher speeds.
Changing gear using the steering wheel-mounted paddles adds a racetrack thrill that feels out of place in a mid-range estate car. We'd suggest leaving the slick-shifting gearbox to its own devices.
The Avensis looks good, drives well and offers a lot of kit for the money, but unless you must have an automatic 'box and a little extra pulling power, we'd take a teetotal approach and order the more economical 2.0-litre version. AJ-F
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