Toyota Avensis 2000 test drive - 2003 sedan

Life costs

The belonging of people to one or another class is determined by their income. Cars are divided into classes in dimensions. Typical middle class - Toyota Avensis 2.0 SOL.
 
How quickly time flies. It seems that only yesterday I wrote about Toyota Avensis and endowed it with a typical female character. But no, two years have passed, and now I have a new car. What is new in him?
There is no particular need to describe the appearance - it has changed very little, and innovations are mainly present in the front of the car. And there is nothing more so revolutionary outside: this is an ordinary sedan, of which thousands on the streets of our cities. At the stops, no one rushed at me with a cry: what is it?!. I calmly traveled through the streets: even the traffic police inspectors were not interested. But this is good - the middle class should not be striking and cause a sense of admiration and envy at the same time.
Experts calculated that relatively inexpensive cars with shocking design quickly go out of fashion and, accordingly, lose their price. And the calm and discreet Toyota Avensis will fall in price slowly, guaranteeing its owner a profitable Trade-in.
Class prejudices. The main changes are in the cabin. It is brought in line with the ideas about the comfort of the person who is ready to pay more than $ 20 thousand per new car. I will make a reservation right away: on the autopilot test there was a car not in the cheapest configuration, but as if the middle ground. The level of comfort that this Avensis offers is very indicative - this is something without which the modern middle class of a modern car does not think. At least in England, where Avensis was developed, and in continental Europe, for which, in fact, it was produced. In my opinion, such a level of package can be taken per unit measurement of the configuration of a middle-class car. Say 1 AV
A simple combination of devices. Tachometer, speedometer, fuel sensors and coolant. The driver does not have to know more about the engine operation. You can, of course, take the arrow sensor of oil pressure to the devices, the economizer - but why? Why overload the attention of the average driver with extra information and increase the cost of the car? In the emergency case, the alarm will be filed by luminous icons on the panel.
The middle console is also concise, but much more useful devices were fitted in it than in the previous version. Firstly, this is a large information display, which displays the thrip-computer information about fuel consumption, average speed, etc. It also displays information about the working radio station and RDS information.
Below is an audio system with a cassette tape recorder and the control of the CD changer, which visually makes a single block with a display. This is in our, reference case. If the car pulls 1.5 AV through our system, then a receiver with a CD player and a remote control on the steering wheel can be installed in it. But not everyone loves this - I know many adherents of the good old audio cassettes.
A fairly simple but very effective system of heating and air conditioning is even lower. This is not a powerful climatic installation at all, but it works great. I was able to test it in full. Now it’s cold in the morning, and I want to turn on the stove. And in the afternoon in the sun is hot, and an air conditioner still needs an air traffic jam.
CONSUMER BASKET. In Toyota Avensis, which meets our standard 1 AV, a real leather interior. The color of the upholstery is in the tone of the body, black, with a barely noticeable gray tint. From the same material, the upholstery of the doors is made. In the cabin - discreet panels under a tree. In combination with chrome internal handles of the door lock, it looks modestly, but with taste. The driver's seat has all the necessary adjustments, even in height, but they need to manipulate them manually. A small glove compartment of the armor between the front seats contains the necessary road minimum.
The freedom of movement of the driver back-da-end is somewhat limited and may not like the long-legged. But this is exclusively for the benefits of the rear passengers. For them, the third headrest and an armrest with a mess and cup holders falling from the back of the seat.
Many complained that the pedal node on the Avensis of the previous generation was noticeably shifted to the right. On the new model, this trouble, alas, remained. The accelerator pedal is almost close to the wall of the front console. This is almost imperceptible for a female leg, shod in an elegant shoe. But it causes some inconvenience to men with a normal size of shoes - the boot wound constantly rubs on the upholstery and after several months of operation there, you see, a hole is also formed.
Class approach. To a two -liter motor with a capacity of 128 hp There are no complaints - it is quite enough for a car with a mass of a little more than 1 tons. It is possible to buy Avensis with a weaker engine, of course, but there is some inferiority on the road - I sometimes want to rush on a new car from a traffic light, but ... no, 2 , 0 l is what you need. No more, no less. Only you need to correctly use the capabilities of the automatic gearbox installed on Toyota Avensis 2.0 SOL. This is an automatic machine with an overhead system and two modes-PWD (from the word Power Drive-active style) and Snow for winter roads.
The instruction recommends using the Over-Drive mode for calm and measured driving around the city. Indeed, no matter how you do not crush the gas pedal, and the engine practically does not spin above the mark of 3-3.5 thousand revolutions, and the car behaves quite sluggishly. But the fuel consumption is fully consistent with the passport, and torque is quite enough to move in the general stream from a traffic light to a traffic light without sharp rebuilding from a row in a row.
The character of the car changes dramatically if two inscriptions are burning on the instrument panel: O/D OFF (disconnecting the Over-Drive mode) and PWD. The engine easily spins to the red zone of the tachometer - 6.5 thousand revolutions, and the transmission is made noticeably shorter. As a result, Avensis can be performed rather risky overtaking and restructuring, almost like a car with a mechanical checkpoint. This driving style will lead not only to increased fuel consumption, but also to a more frequent replacement of brake pads. Avensis brakes are still a little cotton and you need to press them confidently and firmly.
But the smoothness of the course of Avensis can be estimated at 2 AV. It is an order of magnitude higher than that of many competitors in this class. The car painlessly swallows serious bumps and potholes, the intended trajectory of movement is not even required to adjust the steering wheel.
I will not say that Avensis is the standard of a business class car. There is no limit to perfection, and in some ways he loses to some of his classmates. But in terms of the ratio of price-quality-dullness, this is a very good investment. And the middle class knows how to count.
Text Nikolay Kachurin, photo Alexey Ilyin

 

A source: "Autopilot"