Toyota Avensis Review
Published: 21st April 2009
Toyota Avensis
All Toyota Avensis models but the T2 come with automatic wipers and lights, dual-zone air conditioning, electric rear windows, Bluetooth connections, electric lumber support for the driver and front fog lights. The T4 adds retractable door mirrors, keyless smart entry and start and auto-dimming rear view mirror, while the T-Spirit is fully loaded.
For petrol lovers there is a 1.8 Valvematic unit and, as mentioned, the Toyota Avensis test car housed the 2.0-litre version. Valvematic is too technical to go into here; suffice to say that it is a more efficient combustion process that provides lower emissions and better engine responses. Both come with the choice of a manual or Toyota's Multidrive S, automatic with sequential shift and steering wheel-mounted paddles.
When combined with the new 6-speed manual transmission, the test car can return 31.0mpg on the urban cycle, 50.4mpg for the extra-urban and 40.9mpg for the combined, while exhausting 163g/km CO2. This is measured on the combined cycle, which is the one used to calculated VED.
The engine produces 152PS at 6,200rpm and 196Nm at 4,00rpm powering the car to a top speed of 127mph after a 0-62mph time of 9.3 seconds and there is very little penalty for choosing the automatic version.
The Toyota Avensis diesel line-up comprises: a 2.0 130, a 2.2 150 and a 2.2 180, D-Cat engine. D-CAT, means they have a four-way catalyst system to reduce emissions that is designed to last the lifetime of the car. These are all mated to the 6-speed manual 'box.
/ 