Toyota South Africa has added Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) as standard across its Avanza range in South Africa.

The Toyota Avanza is a proven South African favourite for Uber drivers, moms and shuttle services. It’s a no-frills, affordable seven-seater MPV that serves up the simplest and most practical way to transport people and things around. The Avanza received an update late last year with a more modern exterior design and an improvement in the quality of the cabin. Toyota has now included Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) as a standard feature on the Avanza.

The new look Avanza

The refreshed Avanza features an almostentirely new front-end design in order to catch up to the new Toyota design language that is being implementing across all models. Consequently, the Avanza looks more substantial and bulkier where the older model looked tall and thin.

Updated interior

Toyota has aimed to improve the quality within the cabin of the facelifted Avanza. The previous model always felt a little utilitarian, especially when compared with newer rivals from Suzuki and Honda. Amongst the changes inside is a new instrument cluster thatfeatures amber-hued inserts, a silver outer bezel and white night-time illumination for greater clarity. All models receive a new Eco indicator, to provide feedback to the driver on economical driving – no doubt this will help your Uber driver improve his overall fuel economy as well. Toyota has also seen fit to add a driver foot rest.

Seat flexibility

A new, split third-row seat allows passengers to independently adjust the back row seating, allowing more flexibility and seating arrangements. In addition, the thirdrow of seats also feature a tumble function to increase cargo space when so required.

The adjustable secondand third-row seating of the Avanza make it possible for owners to configure the interior layout to suit their exact requirements, offering various combinations of passenger versus cargo space.

Improved basic safety

A few basic improvements have been made to the Avanza to try and improve passengersafety. Thesecond row of seats comes with a centre headrest and the middle seat can also be ordered with a proper three-point seatbelt. ISOFIX points have been included and the Avanza is sold with driver and passenger airbags as standard. ABS with EBD, Brake Assist, Vehicle Stability Control and Traction Control is also standard.

Overall refinement

As well as the aforementioned changes, the new Avanza is said to be quieter with improved vibration and harshness (NVH) control. Slight tweaks to the suspension are also said to improvehandling and stability – something current owners will no doubt look forward to, especially in windy conditions.

Engines

Providing the motivation are two new engines, in 1.3 and 1.5 litre guise. These engines are shared with the Etios hatchback, with specific tuning for use in the Avanza. The 1.3 litre engine delivers 70 kW with 121 Nm of torque, with the 1.5 litre delivering 77 kW and 137 Nm. The previous engines made 67 kW/117 Nm and 76 kW/136 Nm respectively.

Fuel economy is improved with 6.1 L/100 km being quoted for the 1.3 litre and 6.3 L/100 km for the 1.5 litre manual. The automatic derivative weighs in at 6.7 l/100 km.

Buyers have the choice of a 5-speed manual transmission or 4-speed automatic on the 1.5l model, which drive the rear wheels.

Toyota Avanza – Price in South Africa

1.3 S – R219 100

1.3 SX – R235 900

1.5 SX – R243 100

1.5 SX AT – R261 600

1.5 TX – R277 100

1.3 Panel Van – R224 400