Toyota Avensis
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The Toyota Avensis is an automobile built in Burnaston in Derbyshire in the United Kingdom, and succeeded the Carina E in 1997. It is available as a four- and five-door saloon and station wagon. A minivan called the Toyota Avensis Verso (Toyota Ipsum in Japan and Toyota Picnic in other markets) is built in Japan on a separate platform. The car is meant to be a competitor to the Volkswagen Passat in Europe and is the basis for the youth-oriented, US market Scion tC.
1997
Toyota introduced the Avensis nameplate on its all-new car which was launched at the end of 1997. Like its predecessor, the Avensis was built at the Burnaston factory in Derby. At the same time, production of the five-door Toyota Corolla also started at this British plant.
The original Avensis had the option of four engines (1.6 L, 1.8 L and 2.0 L petrol and a 2.0 L turbo-diesel) and three bodystyles (saloon, hatchback and estate). The station wagon was essentially the Japanese-market second-generation Toyota Caldina. All of the range gave solid build quality, excellent reliability, a spacious comfortable interior, generous equipment, smooth ride quality and good refinement, but very little in the way of excitement. A facelift in the summer of 2000 (which saw the engines fitted with variable valve timing) made little difference to this, although a sporty Avensis 2.0 L SR with bodykit and tuned suspension did become available.
In 2002, the Avensis Verso won Australia's Best People Mover.
2003
The second generation Toyota Avensis was launched in early 2003 in an all-new format. This time it offered more in the way of driver involvement and even the exterior styling was reasonably attractive. The 1.8 L and 2.0 L petrol and 2.0 L turbo-diesel engines were carried over from the previous Avensis, but the 2.4 L petrol engine was completely new. This is the first Avensis that is exported to Japan.
In the 2004 European Car of the Year contest, the Avensis was just edged out of the top three by the Fiat Panda, Volkswagen Golf and Mazda Mazda3.
In New Zealand, the Avensis Verso (up to 2003) and the station wagon have been offered after the demise of the Toyota Camry station wagon, but the other variants are not offered.