And in the case of the estate model I drove there's a new name too – Avensis Touring Sports replaces the Avensis Tourer.Designed and engineered in Europe and built exclusively in Britain, almost two million Avensis' across four model generations have appeared on European roads since the original was launched at the end of 1997.Every so often a new car comes along that makes me think 'I love my job' as I make my daily commute to work, and I had one of those moments driving this model during the two-day heatwave that we had recently.Thanks to its fantastic reliability record and the fact that it's economical to run and comes with Toyota five-year, 100,000-mile warranty, the Avensis is a understandably a fleet favourite, with a massive percentage of sales going to that market. The updates that Toyota have made will certainly once again make it appeal to business users.It's got some serious rivals too, however. Competitors to the Avensis include the Ford Mondeo, Volkswagen Passat, Mazda 6 and the Vauxhall Insignia.There's no doubting that the Avensis is a fantastic looking car – instantly recognisable as a Toyota, it has been brought into line with other models in the range that have been recently launched so now boasts a similar aggressive front end to that of the Yaris and Auris with the sleek X-shaped grille and bumper design with slim-line headlights that are now available with LED technology.New LED tail-lights with light guides are a feature at the rear, and there's a choice of new alloy wheel designs in 17" or 18" to add the finishing touch. There's more colours to choose from too with the addition of Orion Blue and Havana Brown to the palette.There's a real sense of quality and sophistication about the interior, and the neat central console combined with the rest of the clutter-free dashboard really gives the cabin a spacious feel about it.Toyota claims that the new Avensis is its most comfortable car, and it's difficult to argue with that statement.The front seats have been made of the highest quality materials and designed to suit long distance driving, while there's clever little storage pockets too to conveniently store personal items such as your keys and mobile phone, and the glove box is huge.Like every other model I've driven in the Toyota range, the Avensis' gadgets and gizmos are easy to use, and I particularly liked the addition of the Thin Film Transistor multi-information display which gives the driver all the necessary information at the touch of a button on the steering wheel.Internally,you get masses of kit as standard. The Business Edition Plus model I drove came with the outstanding Toyota Touch 2 with Go Navigation system that I've waxed lyrical about numerous times on previous test drives.There was also rain and dusk sensors, automatic air conditioning, an eight-inch touchscreen with DAB radio and all the usual media connectivity, Smart Entry and Start system, privacy glass, a reversing camera and Toyota's Safety Sense consisting of Pre-Collision System, Lane Departure Alert, Automatic High Beam and Road Sign Assist.As with all estate cars there's also the all-important practical side to consider, and the Touring Sports' statistics measure up well. It's almost totally flat load floor means that boot measure an impressive 543 litres with the rear seats up, or more than 1,600 litres with them folded flat. And in the back there's more than enough room to comfortably seat three adults.The Avensis is available in a choice of new economical 1.6-litre or two-litre diesel engines which can return 67.3mpg and 62.8mpg and CO2 emissions of 108g/km and 119g/km respectively. A 1.8-litre petrol engine is also available with either manual or automatic transmission that can achieve 47.9mpg and CO2 emissions of 139g/km.The biggest compliment I can give the Avensis is to say that it was as easy to drive as any car I have ever driven – the perfect car to cruise home in after a long day at work.Combine this with the perfectly acceptable power and eerily quietness at high speeds on motorways and dual carriageways and this makes the Avensis the ideal car for business users who spend long parts of the day travellingFor such a long car it handled brilliantly with no trouble at all when I took it on the country lanes around where I live. I could have no complaints about the steering either, which was light and responsive.The good news is that the cost of the versatile Avensis isn't going to break the bank either, with prices for the Touring Sports starting from £18,945.
