Toyota Avensis (2015 – 2019) Review

The Toyota Avensis is an archetypal car from the brand in many respects, as it makes a virtue of everything the company holds dear – comfort, dependability, space and ease of use. For some used buyers that will be more than enough, but others will prefer the charms of the Ford Mondeo, more stylish Mazda 6 or relatively rare Peugeot 508, and we wouldn’t blame them. Read on for our full Toyota Avensis review.

The Toyota Avensis is the typical sensible saloon. It prioritises value and practicality over style and driving excitement.

As a result, it is spacious, well-equipped, comfortable and refined. However, it is showing its age, with bland interior styling and an uninspiring drive.

The third-generation Toyota Avensis was launched in 2009 and received a major update in 2015 to bring it into line with the competition – namely the Ford Mondeo, Skoda Octavia and Mazda 6.

These upgrades included more efficient engines and additional safety kit as standard.

Despite the raft of updates, the interior remained dull and forgettable, with lots of dark plastics that look like they’ve been lifted from a 1980s TV set.

That said, the cabin is one of the largest in its class, with plenty of headroom and legroom in the front and back. The seats are also larger and more supportive than most, and include technology to reduce whiplash injuries in the event of an accident. 

Cabin storage is good, with a large front console box – doubling up as a front armrest – and a cavernous glovebox that will easily hold a large water bottle.

Admittedly, the 509-litre boot is not as big as is on offer in the Ford Mondeo or Skoda Octavia, but it can still hold a pair of large suitcases or a set of golf clubs. The rear seats can also be folded to offer more space. 

The engine line-up consists of three options – one petrol and two diesels – with the former being a 1.8-litre four-cylinder with 147PS. Fuel economy for the petrol is not as impressive as other family saloons offer. 

Those covering high mileages will be better off with one of the diesels, with the 1.6 and 2.0 powertrains returning good figures. The 1.6 diesel is the most economical powertrain in the range, but lags behind the competition on emissions.

While the Toyota Avensis isn’t anywhere near as much fun to drive as many of its used car rivals, it redeems itself on the motorway with low noise levels and impressive long-distance comfort. What’s more, being a Toyota, it feels well built.

Fancy a Toyota Avensis Touring Sports? Read our review here.

The Toyota Avensis has a large and spacious cabin. As a result, it will easily carry four large adults, while its flat floor at the rear will allow an additional passenger to sit in the middle with decent legroom. 

Even in base spec, the Toyota Avensis is an easy car to get comfortable in, thanks to its airy ambiance and supportive seats. The steering wheel has lots of adjustment with tilt and telescopic movements, while all-round visibility is excellent, thanks to the large front and rear screens.

The driver’s seat also boasts manual height and lateral adjustments, while the central box doubles up as an armrest to improve comfort over long trips. 

Admittedly, it’s not as large as the Ford Mondeo, but it should prove to be spacious enough for most, thanks to a 509-litre boot that will have little trouble carrying large suitcases and golf clubs.

Should you need more space, then a simple one-touch system folds the rear seats to free up maximum of 1320 litres. 

The quality of the interior is generally fine, with good build quality and lots of storage. Indeed, the glovebox and central box are huge, while the deep door pockets add to the everyday usability.

There are also some nice soft-touch materials, but the cabin is let down in some areas by bland styling and cheap grey plastics. 

Toyota Avensis Business trim comes with navigation and a colourful eight-inch central screen for the Toyota Touch 2 with Go multimedia. There’s also a hard drive to store music.

Toyota Avensis Excel versions gain the Toyota Touch 2 with Go Plus with advanced connectivity functions and voice recognition, plus a 10-speaker audio system.

About £8000 is starting money for a nine-year-old Toyota Avensis in good shape that has covered 65,000 miles. Diesels are the most widely available, but there are petrols to be found, too.

For a six-year-old model, you’ll be looking at a spend of around £11,000 for a 2.0-litre diesel with 45,000 miles on the clock.

Of the engines offered in this Toyota Avensis, the 1.6 diesel claimed the best official fuel economy at 67.3mpg. But our Real MPG data shows that it actually delivers around 45mpg in normal driving.

Our data also shows the 2.0-litre diesel is the more efficient motor in the real world, delivering 46.6mpg compared with its official claim of up to 62.8mpg.

The 1.8 petrol will give 42.4mpg in daily life, while it claimed up to 58.9mpg.

The 1.6 diesel is best for carbon dioxide emissions, with as little as 108g/km to offer annual road tax payments of just £20 for cars registered up to 1 April 2017.

The 2.0-litre diesel will cost £160, while the petrol comes in at £210. Cars from 1 April 2017 onwards all pay the same flat rate of £190.

The Toyota Avensis sits as low as group 13 (out of 50) for insurance, although most are in groups 19 or 20, with group 22 the highest rating for this model.

In terms of maintenance, Toyota dealers are among the more affordable, and if you use them you can extend the warranty cover to 10 years and 100,000 miles.

The Toyota Avensis’ handling is not very impressive. While it’s a fine motorway companion with little noise and a soft ride, things quickly become unsettled on a series of bends, with lots of body lean and a distinct lack of precision in the steering.

It’s decent around town, too, but this is very much a car to travel long distances in rather than expect any sort of engagement from.

Engine choices are limited to one petrol and two diesels. The four-cylinder petrol is essentially the quickest in the range, with the 1.8-litre unit producing 147PS and covering 0-62mph in 9.4 seconds. 

The petrol is also the only engine to get an automatic option – a Multidrive S CVT – but we’d stick with the six-speed manual, due to the fact the CVT is somewhat sluggish, with lacklustre changes that make the car feel considerably slower.  

Few Toyota Avensis drivers will care about the outright performance figures, though, and we found the 1.8 petrol to be refined and quiet enough for daily driving.

Should your mileage warrant it, we’d recommend the 1.6-litre diesel. The 112PS diesel isn’t as quick as the petrol – 0-62mph takes 11.4 seconds, which is almost two seconds slower – but the improvements in economy more than make up for the shortcomings.

Those wanting more power can opt for the 2.0-litre diesel, with 143PS and 0-62mph in 9.8 seconds.

General refinement is better, too, with good levels of mid-gear acceleration and a hushed operation at motorway speeds. 

The Toyota Avensis won a five-star rating from Euro NCAP, helped along by features such as automatic emergency braking and a pre-collision warning system in all models.

Every model of this era also comes with an array of airbags. Move up to the Toyota Avensis Business Edition and you gain lane departure warning, high beam assist and automatic wipers and headlights.

The Toyota Avensis Excel has an adaptive front lighting system included, too.

There is no figure quoted for towing an unbraked trailer with this generation of Toyota Avensis, but it can pull a braked trailer of up to 1500kg, depending on the exact model you choose.

The Toyota Avensis Active includes a pre-crash safety system, autonomous emergency braking, air-conditioning, cruise control, hill-start assist control and LED daytime running lights and rear lamp clusters.

It also has an auto-dimming rear-view mirror, TFT multi-information display (monochrome), six-speaker CD/radio audio system, Bluetooth and power front windows.

The Toyota Avensis Business Edition models gain automatic high beam, lane departure warning, road sign assist, Toyota Touch 2 with Go multimedia and navigation system with eight-inch touchscreen control, a six-speaker audio system with DAB radio, reversing camera and a colour TFT multi-information display.

You also get automatic air-conditioning, rain-sensing windscreen wipers, dusk-sensing headlights, power windows, combination cloth and Alcantara seat upholstery, driver’s seat lumbar support, power retractable door mirrors, front fog lights and 17-inch alloy wheels.

The Toyota Avensis Business Edition Plus further benefits from combination leather and Alcantara seat upholstery, smart entry and push-button start, LED headlamps, LED daytime running lights with light guides, auto-headlamp levelling, front fog lamps with cornering function, rear privacy glass and different 17-inch alloy wheels.

Toyota Avensis Excel versions gain the Toyota Touch 2 with Go Plus with advanced connectivity functions and voice recognition, 10-speaker audio system, 18-inch alloy wheels, leather seat upholstery, power-adjustable front seats with memory, heated front seats and adaptive front-lighting system.