An Avensis for the ups and downs of life

There’s a length of road over my part of the country between Rathangan and Kinnegad which is where I first began to realise the worth of the latest Toyota Avensis in turbodiesel form.

I don’t use it much because its Bog of Allen underpinnings have left it with switchbacks and crazy surface curves worthy of a roller-coaster gone wrong, and though it is arrow-straight for long sections, any pushing a car is likely to have it attempting many times to head for the peat and its water-filled holes.

But this month there were storms and floods and exeunting Dublin commuters on my normal route, so I decided to ‘head them off at the bog’, so to speak, to avoid getting soused or stuck.

It worked. So, marvellously, did the Avensis, proving itself to be a bog-traveller par excellence. No ‘yumps’ happened, with the wheels sticking dutifully to the road surface whatever divergent angles it might have been at to each of the tyre-tread surfaces at any given moment.

First marks must go to the suspension. The setup with its dual-link rear system has always worked fairly well, giving a decent compromise between ride and hard-driving handling. But it seems they’ve improved it much in the upgraded model, with European engineers sorting out the car for European needs (we drive faster here than in America and Japan, and in more ‘push-on’ ways that are harder on brakes and shocks). For the technical, the anti-roll bars have been modified, spring and damper rates have been retuned, and the damper top mounts have been strengthened.

Steering feel has also been improved, although with the heavier diesel engine in the review car, I did feel it slightly harder to move it from the centre line at low speeds. Listen, though, this is not even a real criticism, just an observation.

But much of the success story of this drive (and the rest of it to Ballina and back) also lies with the engine, a new common-rail 2-litre four with proprietary Toyota-developed ‘intelligent’ technology that provides more power and torque, reduced emissions and a lot less noise and diesel vibration.

The figures show an accelerating 0-62mph in 11.4 seconds, which is respectable in any diesel company. But they don’t give any indication of just how well this car will surge forward in an overtaking situation and leave one feeling very secure that the power is there to move safely and swiftly onwards. Again technically, peak pulling power comes in at 2400rpm, but much of it is available before that and right through the 4000rpm point where the absolute power curve peaks. The engine has 22 per cent more power than the one it replaces, 23 per cent more maximum torque, and consumes 11 per cent less fuel.

This engine was also a good reason why we made decent time across the bog undulations, because judicious tiny squirts of acceleration at just the right moments are an important part of fast driving in such circumstances, and that acceleration has to be instant. With the D4-D, it is.

We kept a close eye on fuel consumption in the various different conditions we encountered during the review period. The claimed combined official figure is 48.5mpg. In a mixture of city/greater Dublin area driving we were getting 47mpg, and on the long trips we achieved well into the mid-50s. I certainly believe that a Continental-type motorway long trip could see up to 800 miles between a full and empty tank.

That’s simply phenomenal in the class.

As for the package you’re driving in, well, the Avensis is roomy and comfortable, and the recent cosmetic treatment has brightened both the outside and the interior, with neat touches of chroming doing particularly successful things on the inside.

You won’t be let down by the seats on any of the long trips which the car is capable of, and you won’t be tired out by the well-placed controls either, with the gearchange particularly being a benchmark for the industry. Personally I would like a rather thicker steering wheel rim, and maybe a clutch that began its bite marginally later in the pedal travel. But these are little things and very subjective.

I have no difficulty in being subjective by recommending this car to anyone who needs diesel economy with easy and smart, even sporty, driving.