Used Toyota Avensis Touring Sports 2015-2018 review

The Toyota Avensis Touring Sports is the Japanese brand’s entrant in the big family estate class. Its core rivals are the Ford Mondeo, VW Passat and Skoda Superb Estates, against which the Avensis struggles to make a case. Sure, this estate variant of the Toyota Avensis is reasonably well priced, and has the benefit of a five-year/100,000-mile warranty from new, but there'll be precious little of that left now, when you come to buy one used.

However, in the family estate class, interior space and practicality rank high and the Toyota is not as roomy or as functional as the Mondeo, and is even further behind the excellent Superb Estate that leads this class.

It’s also not as refined and not as enjoyable to drive as the alternatives, and it’s short of engine options. Toyota only offers three engine options – a 1.6 or 2.0-litre diesel, and a 1.8-litre petrol, and while these will serve the purposes of plenty of buyers, there’s none of the breadth of options you’d expect. You can’t have an automatic gearbox with either diesel engine, for instance.

If you do find the Toyota’s workhorse nature and reputation for reliability tempting, we’d opt for the 2.0-litre diesel - an engine that combines reasonable CO2 emissions with respectable performance. The 1.6-litre car may be more economical but it feels sluggish on the road.

We would avoid entry-level Active models (partly because you can’t have the bigger diesel) and go for Business Edition trim. This adds climate control, sat-nav, alloy wheels and a rear-view camera.

You can tell that the Avensis Sports Tourer has been set up for long distance work. The soft suspension delivers a comfortable lope on the motorway, and larger bumps are dealt with adequately (if with a fair bit of heaving and pitching from the body), although sharp-edged potholes can really unsettle the car.

With its sloppy suspension, it’s no surprise that the Avensis leans quite a lot in bends, although few will be overly bothered by it. The steering is precise enough, and it’s well suited to muddling through town or cruising on the motorway.

In terms of handling, it’s good to drive for the majority of the time, but the Mondeo Estate would much better serve a keen driver, and the Superb Estate is also more comfortable and more composed through corners.

Of more concern are the diesel engines, which are some way behind the refinement of the engines in cars like the Superb. They sound gruff at both idle and high rpm, and you feel vibrations through the steering wheel and pedals, although they do settle down at a cruise. You’ll also notice a fair amount of road noise over rougher surfaces, and some wind noise at speed.

Our choice of engine, the 2.0-litre diesel, offers plenty of flexibility from low rpm, but it isn’t as quick as rival engines and there’s a noticeable surge in acceleration as the turbo kicks in, making it less easy to predict than the smoother, more flexible diesel in the Superb. The 1.6-litre diesel in the Avensis offers lower CO2 emissions but it’s underpowered for a car of this size, particularly if you plan on towing, or carrying a car full of people and their belongings.

As for the petrol, it may be cheap to buy but it will prove to be the thirstiest. Unfortunately, it’s the only option if you want an automatic gearbox.

As you’d hope from a car destined to rack up serious mileage, it’s easy to get comfortable behind the wheel of the Avensis. Both the driver’s seat and steering wheel have plenty of movement, although we’d like it to drop a touch lower to accommodate the truly lanky, while all but entry-level Active models receive adjustable lumbar support. The dash is also fairly straightforward, with all the main controls where you expect them to be, and visibility all-round is among the best in class, albeit a fraction behind the Superb for the visibility to the rear three-quarters.

Disappointingly, there’s a significant amount of scratchy feeling plastics in areas you often interact with. For example, the door grab handles are made out of a hard, glossy plastic that isn’t particularly tactile and easily attracts greasy marks. Ultimately, a Superb feels much classier inside, and a Passat feels vastly more premium.

That’s not to say that the materials won’t be very durable, but as a whole the interior looks a bit drab and uninspiring compared to the aforementioned rivals.

Even the infotainment system looks and feels dated; the 8.0in colour screen is too slow to respond, and can be distracting at night as it’s prone to showing a black screen when switching between displays.

The main screen is augmented by a smaller display in front of the driver. This displays additional data clearly enough and is simple to navigate. Some other controls look a little dated, especially the LCD display for the climate control, and the dials to control it feel flimsy.

Even basic Active models get electric heated mirrors, cruise control, air-con and a Bluetooth hands free system. Moving up to Business Edition adds climate control, alloys and sat-nav, among other goodies.

The driver gets lots of head and leg room in the Avensis, and it’s unlikely you’ll be clashing elbows with your front seat passenger. Rear seat passengers are similarly well catered for and get a central armrest. It’s not as big as a Mondeo or a Superb, but there are good amounts of head and leg room, and the flat floor will also be welcomed by centre-seat passengers.

At the base of the centre console there’s a rubberised pad that proves perfect for a smartphone, holding it securely even when tackling roundabouts briskly. Unfortunately, the nearest USB socket is to be found in the centre armrest meaning you’ll be trailing wires around the gearstick.

The doors have reasonably sized pockets with slots for 500ml bottles of drink. Larger receptacles are unlikely to fit, though. There is at least plenty of room inside the armrest for your phone and a myriad of other odds and ends.

The big boot is very practical, being a good shape, with a low load lip, standard under floor storage and rear seats that fold flat easily. It’ll certainly be a good family estate, with ample room for a bulky buggy and a dog, although Toyota’s claimed 543-1609 litre boot capacity does look a bit pokey next to the Superb’s cavernous 660-1990 litres of space.

It’s pleasing to find a space-saver spare wheel standard across the range, too, instead of a tyre repair kit. Little touches like this can make a car so much easier to live with.

If you're interested in buying a used Toyota Avensis Touring Sports, check out our used car classifieds site here.

Prices for high-mileage 1.6-litre diesel cars start at around £9000, but you can find others that have covered a more reasonable distance for between £9500 and £10,000. That’s also the point at which you’ll start to find examples of the Avensis TS with the petrol engine and automatic gearbox.

Cars with the larger, more powerful 2.0-litre diesel engine will set you back at least £11,500. If you’re going for the very last examples from 2018, be prepared to pay around £16,000 for one with less than 10,000 miles on the clock. Mind you, that’s still a considerable amount off the near-£25,000 price that Toyota was asking for a high-spec 2.0-litre diesel when new.

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Both the 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre diesel models should be inexpensive to run, with official (NEDC) fuel economy figures of 67.3mpg and 62.8mpg, translating to annual road tax costs of £20 and £30. The petrol is much thirstier, at 46.3mpg, so it will cost £140 in road tax. However, any Avensis TS that was registered after 1 April 2017 will cost £155 per year, because it will be charged under the new system.

Toyota servicing isn’t the cheapest around and the Avensis TS isn’t yet old enough to qualify for discounted rates, so you’ll need to choose from either ‘Intermediate’ for £185, ‘Full’ for £335 or ‘Full plus’ for £395.

The petrol Avensis TS is rather rare, but if you need an automatic gearbox, it's the only model you can have. We’d pick the 2.0-litre diesel over the 1.6-litre diesel, because while there are an awful lot more examples of the smaller engine around, it’s too underpowered for a car of this size.

All versions of the Avensis TS come with automatic emergency braking, climate control, cruise control and Bluetooth, but we’d suggest going for the most popular Business Edition version, which adds sat-nav, a rear-view camera, rear parking sensors, lumbar support and alloy wheels. Business Edition Plus gets you partial leather seats, while top-of-the-range Excel includes full leather, heated front seats and faux wood inserts on the dashboard.

Our favourite Toyota Avensis Touring Sports: 2.0 D-4D Business Edition

The Ford Mondeo Estate also comes with plenty of equipment, plus it’s very big, has a more practical boot and is far better to drive.

A slightly more premium choice would be the Volkswagen Passat Estate, which offers much more refined diesel engines, has a better infotainment system and is pleasant to drive, with a cosseting ride.

If you regularly carry passengers in the back, there’s no better option than the Skoda Superb Estate. Much like the Passat, it has a great infotainment system and is easy to drive, but it adds to that a cavernous boot.

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If you're interested in buying a used Toyota Avensis Touring Sports, check out our used car classifieds site here.