Aiming to stay the fleet favourite

Toyota Avensis: With cars, it's all about creating the right image. So it was for Toyota when it went to commission the advertising campaign that would set its leading fleet entrant onto the high seas of sales reps and small families.

Obviously, nobody wants to face reality when it comes to cars: 20 per cent transportation, 80 per cent image. So it was that Toyota chose the squash club.

To recap on the TV advertisement. Three sweaty men boast of their soaring careers in the dressing room. They then leave the club and get into a new Avensis parked at the front door and driven by the as-yet silent member of the group.

Looking very impressed with his mode of transport they quiz him on his career. He fobs them off.

So to the message. Is it that the Avensis is driven by people who hang out with arrogant twits? Is it that Avensis owners are career climbers who will put up with anything to be seen and hang out with the right crowd?

And the most obvious question that comes to mind - if these three high-flyers are so successful, why are they taking a lift in an Avensis, unless of course it's a taxi? Not a complete stretch of the imagination given their popularity among the taxi driving fraternity.

But, aside from attracting licence carrying hackneys, the aim of the Avensis is to soak up some of the lucrative fleet trade. And, when one considers that in its various guises this model has topped the family and fleet car sector for 16 of the past 17 years, any improvement or activity automatically brings the competition to attention.

One thing is clear, the focus is strongly European and these are true EU "tycoons". The focus for Toyota of late has been to play the global market by catering for local tastes. So it was with the Corolla and so it is with the Avensis, which incidentally will not be sold in its own Japanese market.

Which is good news for motorists and for the marque. Previous Avensis we have driven were reliable but non-descript.

Its earliest incarnation, as the Carina, was a family favourite in its time but lacked any passion or suggestion that much thought went into its styling. This latest model is head and shoulders ahead of its predecessors in terms of presence.

Essentially Toyota has blended the popular traits of the Mondeo and Passat into the new car under the watchful eye of designer Suguya Fukusato, a bohemian Asian with an interest in poetry.

For some, it will come down to whether it will make Japanese cars more memorable or European cars more indistinguishable? For us the jury is out.

Certainly the lack of innovation by the designers of the upcoming Passat has saved the Avensis from looking dated too soon.

The new Avensis has a greater physical presence on the road and its high rump gives it a feeling of greater bulk. For sheer evolution alone it deserves credit.

Toyota claims the car stands out for its superior quality, driving characteristics and good running costs, and we would have to agree on at least two counts.

There has never been a question on the reliability front from a firm which frequently soars in the JD Power ratings. Perhaps not yet a class leader in comparison with the likes of the Passat or Mondeo, but it never lets you down.

Inside and the new Avensis is up 100mm in length, 70mm in wheelbase and 55mm in height, among the most spacious in its class. Even to the rear, the boot manages 520 litres, enough to carry more than enough sample rolls of paper and those all important golf clubs.

But there's more to the Avensis than its new look and extra legroom. The car we tested, with its 1.8-litre engine, offered us a surprising return on fuel that impressed even our most hard-nosed sales rep colleagues.

While official consumption is in the realm of 39.1 mpg, the on-board computer continually offered us average consumption figures well within the mid-40s. Though it included significant time spent on the North's motorway network, it also had to cope with heavy city traffic. For the high mileage sales rep, this news will play a big part in the final analysis.

As for performance, while third and fourth gear were sluggish, the Avensis offered admirable power for its size when it worked its way up the revs. The engine line-up includes the 1.8 litre existing VVT-I with 129bhp we tested which will be the big seller on the Irish market. Other versions are a 110bhp 1.6-litre, a 147bhp 2.0 litre and a 116bhp 2.0 litre common-rail turbodiesel.

Our greatest disappointment with the car was the significant road noise. While the engine was quiet, the rumble from the road meant we were regularly adjusting the stereo.

The handling was similar to most front-wheel drives and, while it managed to keep us on the straight and narrow, it never enthused us with great heights of driving excellence.

Inside the layout is functional rather than stylish, the central console reflecting Vectra-like vertical layout. While all the controls are intuitive and the dials clearly visible, there were a few niggling issues with the likes of the warning signal for the seatbelt.

If, for some unknown reason, the front-seat passenger were to undo the seatbelt, the reckless move sets off a deafening siren that wouldn't be out of place on the deck of the QE2. It's likely to provoke some inadvisable driving and colourful vocabulary from the person behind the wheel.

The flashing signal for the passenger seatbelt is located prominently at the top of the console, suggesting either an over-eagerness to ensure the safety of front seat passengers, or a decision that yet another cupholder would be thought garish.

In fairness, safety seems to be a strong feature in the new car, with all angles covered by airbags as standard.

Our other main problem was with a lack of storage boxes and places for pens and suchlike. For a car that doubles as a mobile office and restaurant for many on the company sales fleet, there are few places to rest a Big Mac and fries while taking orders over the phone and trying to demist the windows. However, the smoking motorist is well catered for by the prominent ashtray. We can only guess at the marketing profile Toyota worked off in laying out this Avensis.

Overall, it offers a spacious economical option in the sales rep fleet, catering for more European tastes while not exactly evoking cat calls from the public.

Considering the past success of the Avensis, Toyota will undoubtedly be confident of winning a significant share on the Irish market. On the whole, if we were in the fleet market and were offered the new Avensis, it would have to be among our final few from which to chose in terms of economy and performance.

In terms of design however, we wouldn't consider it to be the most eye-catching in its category. Newly reinvigorated contenders such as the Mazda6 may well steal some of its thunder this time out.