General Comments:

From this brief drive, it was apparent that the 1.3-litre engine is a robust unit and should offer reasonable performance in normal driving conditions. In the higher rev range, the engine noise does intrude so some extra insulation may be welcome, but at town speeds, it is fairly smooth and quiet.

Handling-wise, the Avanza is impressive and very stable in tight turns. It also shows the same stability in fast weaving and this quality could well be something the chief engineer, whose background is in chassis engineering, could well have given a lot of attention to. High marks also go to the ride comfort, although we will have to see how the Avanza takes bumps and potholes (which were not present on the smooth test track).

The build quality of the vehicles was very good and those in the showroom can be expected to also be of the high quality typical of Toyota products. Though it’s a low-priced vehicle, Toyota has not compromised in areas that are visible to customers although for under RM60,000, you obviously cannot expect them to provide the same standards as a Corolla.