It has to be said. I just can't shut up. The Avanza is officially the worst car I have ever driven.
When I first saw it being driven around by a local security company, it was hate at first site. It was too tall, too narrow and and I really just did not like anything about it. After speaking to someone who was driving one as a company vehicle, I began too hate it even more.
Some of the worst cars in the world will be defended by those that drive them. Not the Avanza. Most people I know that drive them wish they didn't.
I was maybe being a bit unfair as I had never driven one. I had been a passenger though.
My first experience of the Avanza was when a colleague had received one from the rental agency. It had a little bit over 20 000km on the clock and as soon as it hit 40km/h the plastic bits started rattling. I also thought it was a perfect example of how too make an interior look as cheap as possible.

Up until today, I had never actually driven one. I then got given one to drive from one of our branches back to our main office. Total distance: +/-350km
The first thing that I noticed was the lack of a radio... that's right: Toyota can't afford to put a radio in a vehicle that costs R130 000?? But they will throw in 4 electric windows.
I then realised that at speeds over 100km/h wind was leaking through a steady rate. This was even more noticeable due to the lack of radio. There was also that damn plastic rattling all over the place.
I tend to use my rear-view mirror quite often while driving and by the time I had reached halfway, I had a headache. Confused? You see besides the plastic rattling, so does the mirror. And anything further 20m behind me looked like a blur.
I could carry on all day about all the things that suck about the Avanza... but that would just be a waste of my time. It sucks, that's all there is to it.

Screw you Toyota, for thinking we're retarded enough to like the Avanza! 

(Photo courtesy of www.dispatch.co.za)