Toyota Avanza 2012 - Not Just a Married Man's Car

You've done up your ride by making it look sleek and fast, and then your mom, dad or siblings ask for a favour - "Can you help me carry all that furniture I bought from Ikea? Can you bring your grandmother and your nephews/nieces around KL for the school holiday, since you're not going anywhere?" etc. In your nicely done up cool mobile? Nuh-uh.

You won't even drive it to the wet market or pasar malam (night market) to avoid dirtying your car, if you can help it. But you really don't want to hurt your parents' feeling, your siblings' feelings or those of your extended family.

So, what you need is a utility/auxiliary vehicle for all the rough stuff. But you seriously don't want to cram your style while catering to as many of your immediate and extended families as possible. What you need is a small 7-seater like the Toyota Avanza.

It's better than a truck because you can cram more than five people in an Avanza. Also, unlike a big-ass MPV, the Avanza is not too big an investment and it does not scream "I'm a boring old married man".

Think of the Avanza as a Toyota hot-hatch on steroids.

It comes in three variants: 1.3, 1.5G and 1.5S. But whichever variant you choose, if you've ever driven a Daihatsu Terios or its local equivalent Perodua Kembara, then you'd be familiar with how the Avanza's driving feel is like.

And that's because the Avanza uses the same chassis as the old Terios/Kembara.

In terms of styling, the new Avanza sports better looking headlights and rear lights, as well as a more stylish bonnet and front grill.

Unfortunately, it still comes with rims and wheels that are too small for its wheel wells. But don't let that stop you, since you can always put in after-market rims and tyres that make the Avanza look really sporty and sleek.

Of course for RM78,000++, you can get a bigger MPV like the Proton Exora. Or you could save some money by opting for the Perodua Alza.

Yeah, but, neither of them would be a Toyota, would they?

The Avanza selling price starts at around RM63,000+, but it would come with only a 1.3L engine and manual transmission, and at that entry level, it won't have ABS/EBD