The first thing I noticed about the Avensis was that it had a shape that was quite pleasing to the eye.  Such things are highly subjective of course, but I liked it.  The interior was pleasing too - not flash or ultra-stylish, but everything was in the right place and it had a quality feel to it.  The car was not loaded with kit, but had everything a family saloon should have, including a CD player, air conditioning and a computer to tell you about fuel consumption, etc.  I particularly liked the dash lighting at night - a very pleasant light blue colour!

This Avensis had a 1.8 litre engine that developed around 120 BHP and this gave the car reasonable performance.  It didn't mind high revs (which was good as you needed to use them to crack on) and it was smooth and quiet.  The suspension set up seemed to favour comfort in favour of sharp handling, so this car was better at soaking up the bumps and keeping things cool and calm inside, rather than enabling you to go like a rally driver down country lanes.  Fuel economy was pretty good too - it did about 38 MPG on the average in the time I had it, and that was without setting out to drive economically.

Overall, the Avensis proved to be a reliable and comfortable companion in the two weeks that I drove it.  I suspect that's exactly what Toyota intended it to be when they designed and built it.  The car came with the option of a 2-litre engine, and I would certainly have gone for that option if I were to buy one with my own money.