Toyota Avensis (2015-2018) review - Reliability and Safety

Toyota has an excellent reputation for reliability and the Avensis boasts a strong track record in this department. It comes with a five-year warranty, too, which should help to alleviate any doubts that may have been created by the high profile recalls that have hit Toyota’s brand in recent years.

Disappointingly though, the Avensis only managed 89th overall in our 2016 Driver Power Top 100 – althought it is a better result that 2015 where the car only managed a 111th finishing spot. In the 2016 survey the Avensis finished 38th for reliability and the interior's spaciousness was praised. However, owners said they weren't that impressed with running costs, fuel economy and performance. 

The car hasn’t been crash-tested since 2009 – and the tests have become more demanding since then – but Euro NCAP gave it a five star safety rating, with a 90 per cent mark in the adult occupants category, 86 per cent for child occupants, 53 per cent for pedestrian protection, and 86 per cent in the safety assist category. 

The Avensis does come with a decent haul of safety kit as standard. There's a large number of airbags, including one for the driver's knee, while safety kit like automatic emergency braking, electronic stability control, hill-start assistance and tyre-pressure sensors are fitted across the range. Fleet-savvy Business Edition adds lane depatrue warning, road-sign assistance and automatic high-beam lights.

Warranty

Like most other Toyotas on sale, the Avensis comes with a five-year industry standard three-year/100,000-mile warranty.

Servicing

The Avensis is available with fixed-price servicing, with a minor service costing £169 and a major one costing a very reasonable £239. Service intervals are every 10,000 miles for the diesel models and 12,500 for the 1.8 petrol.