The miles are racking up on our Avensis long termer. We’ve had it since March, and already we’ve added a good 5,000 clicks to the milometer.

And so far it's been a faithful companion, but after learning its greatness and its foibles in the first update, Stuart Milne has been trying to coax some excitement out of Toyota’s Mondeo rival.

Toyota Avensis
Mileage: 5,021
Average speed: 32mph
Fuel consumption: 41.2mpg
Insurance: 8E
Price: £23,030 on the road
Options fitted: Premium navigation and audio with music hard drive and rear parking camera (£1,500+VAT)

Likes:

Ride: It's still the one thing that sticks in my mind when I’m away from the Avensis. It cossets the occupants on all but the bumpiest of road, and is fast becoming my benchmark for smooth-riding saloons.

Comfort: It's not just the ride that impresses. I cover around 500 miles a week, and it's easy to travel several hours before I start thinking about needing to stretch my legs

Premium navigation and audio: My taste in music is hardly what you’d call mainstream, so suffering a Big Brother reject DJ is my idea of hell. Fortunately, the Avensis’ funky stereo lets me burn all the Allman Brothers albums I like onto the hard drive.

Dislikes:

Push button parking brake: It still feels awkward to use, and I still struggle parallel parking on hills a nightmare. I didn’t like it to start with, but familiarity is beginning to breed contempt.

Big A-pillars: Thick windscreen pillars are useful for improving occupant protection, but make it easy to ‘lose’ cyclists, motorcycles and even cars behind them. I’ve taken to peering around both sides of the pillars, but it gets tiring driving through London.

The last update on my Avensis was an overwhelmingly positive one, and not much has changed. However, as promised, I’ve been taking to the backroads in order to find out if it's capable of sticking its thumbs in its belt loops and rocking with its rivals.

One of the best things about living outside of a big city is the abundance of quiet and entertaining roads, and there are plenty around Milne Towers. That means it's hardly a chore leaving the motorways and A-roads behind in search of twistier and more challenging thrills.

So it's always a disappointment to wake up early to weekend sun only to remember there’s a dull people mover or 4x4 parked outside. But there’s not that sense with the Avensis. There are similar-sized cars available for similar money that are more likely to leave you grinning, but the Avensis is more than capable of raising the pulse.

The electrically-assisted steering feels a little woolly but Toyota knows its buyers and is more ‘well-mannered’ than ‘razor-sharp’. But there’s a decent chassis underneath that is set up to slowly understeer if corners are attacked with too much vim. And although its suspension is reasonably soft, there’s none of the ‘70s cop show-style tyre squeal on roundabouts.

Its 148bhp 2.2-litre diesel engine kicks out a respectable 250lb/ft of pulling power from 1,800 to 2,400rpm, but unlike smaller diesel engines, it doesn’t run out of puff as soon as you break through the sweet spot. That means it can be driven at pace almost like a petrol-engined car - and that’s satisfying.

Toyota say it’ll reach the benchmark 62mph in around 9.5 seconds and reach a maximum of 127mph, but it really gets into its stride at motorway speeds with enough in the bag to make overtaking easy.

So there you have it - the Avensis might not handle like a Mondeo or Mazda 6, but it’s certainly a lot more comfortable.

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