Toyota Avensis test drive since 2009 sedan

A review with addiction. Toyota Avensis after modernization

The main goal is Europe!?
The European road, it should be noted, is a very heterogeneous phenomenon. When traveling around Europe, one can also be on a straight, like an arrow, high -speed autobahn, you can get on a motorway, winding between the mountains or to a narrow asphalt strip, wriggling along the shore, under which the sea splashes. And so, having traveled along such roads, you suddenly begin to understand that he is not a completely independent player, he is in a sense a derivative of the roads on which he will have to move. I understand that this sounds somewhat pretentious, but I ask, nevertheless, it treats what I said seriously. Let any of you, dear readers, smile at luck, and you will find yourself on the European highway, driving a European car. Then, I am sure, any of you will feel what a car that is created under the European type of roads is driving.
It is no secret to anyone, I think that Toyota developed and launched its Avensis model with a clear sight to the European market. But here is what is characteristic: the presentation of the car to the public court preceded a long period of adaptation to European conditions. Or, in a simple way, at first there was a long run-in on European roads, and only then did the serial release began. And this is an essential advantage of the Avensis car over other Europeanized Japanese production models. I remember very well how three years ago, when the Avensis lineup was just completely updated, the then chief engineer of the project, Mr. Fukusato, who, incidentally, subsequently headed the Lexus IS technical group, enthusiastically talked about how he Imagine an ideal version of the Avensis lineup machine. If in short, then, according to the chief engineer, it should become a car that would go under the Toyota brand, but would be considered more degree by a European than any car of purely European production. In fact, why not the car of Avensis be considered its own among Europeans, if, for example, the design of the design of the D2 designer studio was engaged in the development of design, and the production itself was organized anywhere, but at the Toyota enterprise located in England? But this is also, as they say, half the age. And the second, the most important half of this business is that the outstanding running qualities of the Avensis car, which, in fact, was made a bet, was brought to mind on European roads. It was a rather painstaking work, but its result was not long in coming: the number of Avensis sold in Europe is growing steadily, the share of these machines in the total volume of European sales of Toyota brand cars increases. In particular, last year this share was neither much nor less, almost 15 percent!
And the fact that a small modernization of this car was carried out, and something changed in it did not affect its orientation at all. Still the main arena, on which an updated car will have to play and win this Europe. And in Europe itself, meanwhile, important changes are taking place due to the fact that Mercedes Benz cars are becoming increasingly popular. As a matter of fact, this is not surprising in the only exception that this popularity is due to the appearance at the disposal of the company of pure diesel engines (Clean Diesel), which these cars are equipped. By the way, this news has already made a lot of noise in Japan, although it is still difficult to meet these machines with new generation diesel engines. Meanwhile, I already managed to try it out, and this happened in June this year, when I worked in Europe. What struck me the most was that, despite the rather harmless, seemingly engine, only 4 cylinders with a working volume of 2.2 liters - it has an unusually powerful torque (41 kg/m!). It is easy to imagine that with such a twisting moment, the speed set proceeds and intensively, and most importantly, smoothly, up to the highest revolutions. Well, as for the ecology, then everything is the best here: not only does the car comply with the Euro-4 standard, it still does it with some leading ahead. So, even in terms of harmful environmental impacts, the car is a very important step forward. Not to mention the fact that it is a pleasure to manage it. In other words, continuous advantages, and not a single major drawback.
Well, oh well, that it is long to spread about this, even if in Europe everyone is only talking about it! Here there will be such a Mercedes in Japan, then let's see what and how. So I better continue to share my impressions of acquaintance with the Avensis car of a new model, okay!?
What is Avensis Wagon is similar to a European -made station wagon.
So, I did not have time to study the release and think about how I, from the editorial office of Car View agency, try to try Avensis of a new model in business and share my observations.
But what should I be? Yes, really, how!? It would be nice to wave somewhere to Europe to travel there, since the car is made under the European type of road. But I do not have such an opportunity. Then, I’ll come from another side: I’ll try to solve some practical problem with this machine, which the average European owner of the Avensis Wagon car may encounter! And here, just, I needed to buy a book shelf and a crib for my 5-year-old son. Here, - I thought, and I find out how much! At the same time, I'll do it!
 
No sooner said than done! I sit behind the wheel of an Avensis Wagon car (station wagon) with a 2.4 -liter engine and with a QI category, and I'm going, you know where? In the IKEA furniture store, opened in the spring of this year, by the Swedes, in which I could not be. However, I had a chance to hear that there you could buy decent furniture of the North European model at a fairly low price. And what is the secret of such cheapness, I also know. The fact is that the buyer buys, pays money, and then takes the purchase with him. That is, neither for delivery, nor for assembling furniture at home the store is not taken. Well, of course, does not take money for it. Hence the relative cheapness. No, if you really want to, then you can solve everything with the appropriate service. But the store is Swedish, so everything should be in it as it happens in Northern Europe. And there people, apparently, are used to doing themselves, each on their own car. The main thing is not to pay excess. Yes, and the assembly, is this not real male work!
So I decided to become a European for a while. True, he did it on his weekend. So, Sunday, the second half of the day, the high -speed highway connecting the area where I live, with the city center, including the site along the Tokyo Gulf, relatively empty. So at the same time you can try the Avensis car, what it is for overtaking. Moreover, to try on the same, drivers of amateurs to ride on the half -empty roads (they are also called Sunday Drivers). Well, why not Europe! No, how the old -style car behaved, I remember. But then it was a station wagon, although the most expensive configuration, but still with a 2-liter engine. And after a low modernization, the model range turned out to be a supplemented with a new modification, on which the engine is installed with a 2.4 -liter working volume. Between them, ”I thought,“ there is probably a difference. ” It remains only to understand which one and it seems to me, I realized what. I must say right away: the new car seems much more powerful. This is especially impressive when you need to sharply add speed in order to make another overtaking. However, if you look at the tactical and technical data of the old and new machines, in particular the maximum developed power on the line, then there will be no significant difference. What is the matter? Yes, the fact that with approximately equal power the engines are characterized by different spinning moments. In fact, a 20 percent increase in torque, can this go unnoticed? But that's not all. The dependence of the torque and the speed of rotation of the crankshaft in the machine of the new sample is chosen in such a way that it allows you to get a sharp jerk even when the engine speed is very small. Most likely, it is this circumstance that determines that the new car seems much more powerful than the old one.
There were very few cars on the auto, so I walked all the time at high speed. And the high speed of movement is the most reliable way to find out how stable the car is. It turned out that it was stable, even very. Due to the fact that a 5-speed automatic gearbox is used as a transmission, high speed, as a rule, does not lead to an increase in engine speed. So, the engine works without unnecessary noise, in addition to the fact that the car is smoothly accelerating. Sitting behind the wheel, I did not stop admiring the running qualities of the new Avensis car. Meanwhile, the car went to the bridge over the river Edo and began to overcome one joint of the road surface after another. And how he did it, I liked even more. You know, so imperceptibly, the wheels did not even have time to react. The suspension cannot be called too hard, it has a rather large dynamic move, so all the time it seems that the wheels are quite actively moving in the vertical plane. However, in the fight against irregularities, the shock absorber lengthens exactly so much as to extinguish the push. In a word, only one move, and a push as it happened. I watched something similar in the most expensive European -made station wagons, and this type of suspension really makes the Avensis honor to the car. And this, in turn, means that the Avensis Wagon car is sufficiently complies with the European Standard of Machines such as a station wagon.
The station wagon, in which it was possible to load the book shelf, and the crib, and 3 chairs in addition.
However, while I was evaluating the suspension of the new Avensis car, the car brought me to a large green sign, on which the huge yellow letters of IKEA flaunted. I almost slipped! I thought and sharply turned the steering wheel to move out of the high -speed highway. I had to go further along the usual road, mixing with numerous cars heading to the building of the shopping center, reminiscent of a ship's bridge from afar. This section did not give me anything particularly interesting, except that I noted the enlarged vibration of the motor at idle. That is, as soon as I stopped before the next traffic light, a vibration began to feel somewhere below, which was gradually transferred to the steering wheel. Not that it was too noticeable, but the only one that I paid attention to it speaks for itself.
 
And again, I thought about myself, whether vibration is in idle by European machines, while continuing, meanwhile, to move forward. And then, finally, I drove through a wide gate to the territory of the complex. Before that, however, I had to make a rather sharp U-shaped hook to move out of the main road and go to the lateral branch. I fit quite easily into the turn, which was not surprising, given that the minimum radius of the rotation of the Avensis car is 5.6 meters. Well, we can say that such maneuverability is quite satisfactory even when moving along the inter -quarter driveways of suburban areas, not to mention the central streets of Tokyo.
The selected furniture turned out to be a collapsible book shelf, which had approximately 2 meters in Dean, that is, it was quite large. Then, as planned, I also purchased a crib. Yes, yet, I almost forgot about three chairs. I put all one beside the other and began to compare with the external dimensions of the luggage compartment Avensis Wagon, which stood in the parking lot. At first it seemed to me that nothing would work out for me, and some of my purchases would remain on the street. But when I took up the back seat and folded it in half (Double Folding), the appearance of the luggage compartment formed after this luggage compartment reassured me somewhat. This method of transformation of the rear seat, as a rule, requires the driver and strength and skills. But the designers of Avensis did everything so that even a woman can do all this. Yes, and returning the seat to the previous one, the working position will also be any difficulty. I counted a little irregularities and convexities inside the luggage compartment, and in the end all my anxiety turned out to be in vain: all the furniture I bought came in, and it was easy enough, even a little free space remained.
Toyota's potential is difficult to overestimate.
The next day, I again turned to the rental bureau to take an Avensis car with a sedan car for a sample. It also turned out to be Qi categories, so everything in its salon was arranged in the same way as in the universal salon: seats and steering wheel were trimmed with genuine leather, the front seats had automatic 8-position adjustment, etc. True, with regard to the coloring of the interior, there were differences: the universal salon was painted in dark gray, while the sedan shone with bright gray-bearing tones. As soon as my hands squeezed the steering wheel, which turned out to be soft to the touch and worked with sufficient resistance, and I set off, it became clear to me: there are no significant differences in terms of controllability and comfort between the sedan and the station wagon. However, while I was driving along the not very flat inter -quarter road of my sleeping area, which, as I said, is located in the suburbs, the suspension began to seem too long, stronger than that of the station wagon. On the panel of the 5-speed automatic gearbox control panel, I found the S-Mode designation, which meant the sequential switching mode. And if we take into account that at 3,000 rpming per minute a sufficiently powerful torque is developing, the rigid suspension design I marked is even profitable, since it allows the car in the sports manner.
But here's what is interesting: against the background of the station wagon, which, thanks to the design of its rear, is associated with a European -style machine, the Avensis sedan looks, I would say a little faded. In other words, it cannot be said that its appearance immediately attracts attention. Its design, of course, is generally made with taste, but maybe something else should have been added so that the sedan became more noticeable. But this is my personal impression, nothing more.
I am talking about my impression of a formal acquaintance with the machine, but if you disassemble its internal content, it will refuse that it can be parked with similar European -made models. True, the chief engineer of Mr. Furusato, already mentioned by me, promised that the machine would be more European than Europe itself. So, personally, I doubt it somewhat that such superiority was really able to achieve. In this class, many of the most famous models compete, so it is hardly possible to become above everyone. The pricing policy of the company regarding these Europeanized models is also interesting. See: the cheapest Avensis sedan will cost the buyer 2 million 311 thousand yen, and the Qi universal car tested by me costs 3 million 475.5 thousand. Agree that this is a pretty big difference. For that matter, for that kind of money in Japan you can buy a station wagon/sedan of some European brand, and not spend money on Japanese stylization a la Europe.
But one thing I can say for sure: Toyota has tried to fame. I don’t know how events will develop further, but so far she succeeds, if necessary, even make a pragmatic European car. And if he is not even the most, then, then certainly, one of the most. And for this one can judge how powerful potential has Toyota.
Technical characteristics of the Toyota Avensis Wagon Qi car:
Length 4715 mm x width 1760 mm x height 1525 mm.
Wheel base: 2700 mm.
Machine weight: 1430 kg
Drive: on the front wheels
Engine: 2.4 -4 -cylinder with a vertically in order of cylinders, DOHC gas distribution mechanism, developed power of 163 hp. at 5800 vol./min., The largest torque is -23.5 kg/m at 3800 rpm.
Transmission: 5-speed automatic gearbox
Machine price: 3 million 475.5 thousand yen
 
 

Source: CarView.co.jp