Toyota Avensis - Let’s be Aven’ you… - 2008

We want to get excited about the new Toyota Avensis. Really, we do.

See, it’s an important car – all-new, not just a facelift – that’ll do battle with the Mondeo and the new Vauxhall Insignia when it goes on sale in January next year.
That’s serious territory, and the Avensis has got some serious tech to take the fight to its illustrious rivals, including a whole bunch of cleaner, more powerful engines.

These include 1.8- and 2.0-litre petrol units featuring something called Valvematic technology (which sounds like something invented in 1950s America to reduce the workload on the common housewife, no?) – a development of variable valve timing that reduces emissions between 10 and 26 per cent while increasing power by between three and 20 per cent.

We’ll see 2.0 and 2.2-litre diesels, too, with the option of an automatic transmission for the first time. As you’d expect, there’ll be plenty of clever technology – including adaptive cruise control – and laudable safety stuff.

To our eyes, the Avensis looks pretty tidy, too – OK, not as sleek as the Insignia, but is there a little bit of Cadillac CTS about the shoulder line? No?

Oh, and let’s not forget that it’s built in Britain. Which is sort of, er, interesting, isn’t it?

But, for all that, we just can’t get excited about the Avensis. Can you?