Toyota Avensis. You might not remember the car, but you’ll almost certainly recall the television advert. A well-dressed chap emerges from a building, climbs into the back of a Lucerne Silver Avensis to enjoy a ride home in a driverless car.
Using nothing more than his eyes, he opens the electric sunroof, switches on the air conditioning and changes gear. It’s like a warning from history, with Toyota’s ad team predicting the age of the autonomous car, a few decades ahead of schedule. The car in front is a Toyota Avensis… but the ‘driver’ in the back is a passenger.
If nothing else, the advert introduced a new generation of music (and car) lovers to the wonders of Iggy Pop. Originally a B-side of the 1977 track “Success”, “The Passenger” was released as a single in March 1998, peaking at number 22 on the UK Singles Chart. Is there a guy less likely to drive an Avensis? As Benjie Goodhart wrote in GQ: ‘It would be unthinkable to discover that Iggy Pop drove a sensible family saloon and was an obsessive for traffic laws.” This is a guy who had a Rolls-Royce burst into flames, flipped a car at speed, drove into a Christmas tree plantation and been caught travelling three times the speed limit – through a red light. These aren’t the kind of antics you’d associate with an Avensis driver.
Pop claimed he likes his Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead because it’s great for his back. “If you have bad back, buy a Rolls,” he said. This sounds suspiciously like something Marc Bolan would have sung…
There was nothing revolutionary about the Toyota Avensis (T220), which felt like a subtle evolution of the old Carina. More European to look at, a touch more premium inside, with engines carried over from the trusty Carina E, albeit tweaked to improve fuel economy and torque. Studying James Ruppert’s review of the Avensis in January 1998, Iggy Pop would have been overjoyed to read that the Bangernomics overlord had, ‘except when ensconced in a luxobarge [had] never felt so comfy and relaxed on a long journey’. Still want that Phantom, Iggy?
Ruppert went on to say that the Avensis ‘might not set your heart on fire, but it’s certainly up there with the Laguna and Vectra – just as functional, but with a welcome dose of flair and sophistication’. For a chap whose 1980 Corniche caught fire while listening to the Beatles’ “Rubber Soul”, a fire-retardant Toyota might be an appealing prospect. ‘The thing caught a nasty fire, recalled Pop. ‘The fire department had to hack their way through the hood.’ Again, not an anecdote you’d associate with Mr or Mrs Avensis.
Which has always been the stick with which to beat the British-built Toyota Avensis. The media has cultivated a reputation of blandness and anonymity, rather than focusing on its practicality and dependability. Not everybody wants to live the life of a punk rocker, but a lot of people want a car that gets them from A to B without having a sniff around C. For these people, the Avensis makes a lot of sense, especially as a used car. Fire up Auto Trader, and you’ll be greeted with a couple of pages of tidy and meticulously maintained first-generation models, along with an even bigger supply of second-generation cars. The majority are in better shape than their mainstream rivals, often backed by full Toyota dealer history and the knowledge that nobody with the reputation of Iggy Pop has ever gone near them. You might not have a lust for an Avensis, but it’s almost certainly a car for life.
This article first appeared in issue 17 of Classic.Retro.Modern. magazine.