Facelifted Toyota Avanza – Is the “upgrade” enough to woo buyer's attention?

The ever-popular Toyota Avanza, one of the most versatile Mini MPV’s around, has been given yet another lease of life - UMW Toyota Motor Sdn Bhd has announced the introduction of an updated Toyota Avanza with significant changes that include two new engines and revised exterior/interior styling.

The Toyota Avanza is renowned for its great utilitarian qualities, including ease of entry and egress, a fantastically small turning circle, plus the versatility of being a seven-seater MPV, with folding and tumbling seats allowing many storage variations. Good ground clearance and rugged construction make it the perfect run-about MPV for many small and medium-sized families. To top it off, the Avanza is simple in construction, and together with Toyota’s legendary reliability, it is a vehicle that can still run despite being neglected.

In spite of the competent features loaded in Avanza, Toyota thought of adding up something new and refreshing to the line-up! But, is it going to be a successful venture by Toyota Motors or not, is a major lookout in this case.

The new Toyota Avanza claims that it is heavily restyled version of the MPV, but trekking deep down the statistics and features equipped, Facelifted Avanza is nothing more than a 'Lilliputian' of the original model! The changes can be only seen in the front and rear including external outlooks with the S model getting a front grille with the addition to the side skirts. The S model also gets a 15-inch alloy wheels.

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Inside, there are a fair few revisions to the Facelifted Avanza model. The centre console has been redesigned with a new matte silver finish, which extends to the bezels on the steering wheel audio controls and power window switches on 1.5S and 1.5G variants, as well as the new trim piece above the glovebox. There’s also a new black fabric upholstery pattern, as well as refaced gauges in the instrument cluster (the 1.5S gets “sports” graphics).

What's notable is that the Facelifted Toyota Avanza gets new engines for both 1.5-litre and 1.3-litre variants, which is designed for a wide circle of its customers. However, there is no considerable change or increase in the total power output figure. The 1.5-litre engine variant gets bumped up by 1 HP to 103 HP, and torque remains the same at 136 Nm. The 1.3-litre motor’s output increases by 5 HP to 95 HP, and by 4 Nm of torque for a total of 121 Nm.

Revisions made to the suspension setting may or may not provide improved handling and stability as well as ride comfort. Braking performance has been upgraded of the front discs to the ventilated type that offer better heat dissipation than solid discs used in earlier models.

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Above all this, due to the Facelift changes appointed to Avanza, the MPV has seen a considerable price hike in the model, which may dissuade the buyers from purchasing it. The range now starts with the manual-only 1.3E, retailing at RM68,330 (metallic RM69,072), followed by the auto-only 1.5E at RM75,017 (metallic RM75,787); all are RM3,000 higher than the previously asked.

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Moving up, the 1.5G is now priced at RM77,735 (RM2,028 up from before) or RM78,477 for metallic paint (RM2,000 up), while the range-topping 1.5S breaks the RM80k mark at RM80,040 for solid paint, or RM80,810 for metallic (both RM2,000 up). All prices are on-the-road with insurance, inclusive of a three-year/100,000 km warranty.

Our Verdict: Toyota Avanza is nothing flashy, it is a car made to be driven about within the city alongside your family and it has been doing a fine job at that (previous version) for years now. That been said, the recent facelift would have been a welcome addition had the price not been increased by a good 13% which suddenly drops down the value-for-money quotient associated with this economy MPV. We would say that these changes seem a little desperate and the price hike comes along unnecessary. Won't make you happy and certainly not help your bank account.