We take a look at British built cars that simply went on… forever.

“Compared to Mondeo, the Avensis had an almost narcoleptic interior. That said, I found very few rivals to be smoother and more comfortable. Every knob and dial was rock solid and totally robust for a lifetime’s hard work”

We have the most unlikeliest of companies to thank for Toyota deciding to build in the UK, and that company is British Leyland. If it hadn’t been for Austin Morris boss George Turnbull’s nose being put out of joint by chairman Donald Stokes, he wouldn’t have taken a senior role with Hyundai to come back to the UK to run Toyota’s biggest dealer group Inchcape after a stint with Chrylser UK.

It was Turnbull’s pitch to the Japanese that convinced them to join the likes of Honda and Nissan by building a factory here in the UK near Derby to produce cars for the UK and European market. The Carina-E was an extremely well made car, if a little dull in its presentation. In fact, Toyota used the BMW 3 series as a benchmark for fit, finish and overall build quality when developing the Carina-E. Just as Nissan found with the UK built Bluebird, Toyota’s UK KPI quality factor soon matched and often exceeded that of vehicles produced in Japan.

That alone just goes to show that when it comes to building cars there isn’t much wrong with British workmanship. Treat them right, treat them fairly with respect and provide the right ingredients and they will do the job as good and if not better than anyone else in the world. The Carina-E sold in impressive numbers and was eventually replaced with the Avensis. The launch was heralded on the T.V with a slick and glossy commercial using the brilliant Iggy Pop track ‘Passenger‘. In no time at all, the Avensis became a darling for the fleet manager, the family motorist and the mini-cab driver.

One such acquaintance I knew ran a cab firm in Bedford who outed a pair of Vauxhall Carlton saloons and replaced them nearly new VW Passat and a brand new Avensis. The cars were operated around the clock being double shifted seven days a week. The Passat suffered a timing belt issue after two years and required a replacement engine but the Toyota went on to cover 200,000 miles on its original clutch. In fact, it barely costed him anything outside of wear and tear items you’d expect for a taxi.

Clive went on to purchase a few more before selling on his business, yet at the time of writing the firm still features a number of Toyota’s. You may recall a few years ago, I ran an Avensis on test for week and found it one of the most soothing and comfortable cars I have driven this side of a Jaguar. Okay so they may have an interior that screams ‘I’m Japanese‘ thanks to some odd colour schemes and loads of orange and neon blue night time illumination, but every button and switch feels like it will outlive the driver.

There is zero driver involvement and the overall experience is about as memorable as the last time you blinked but to some folk it’s trojan reliability that matters. Just ask anyone who’s owned or spent a lengthy time with one, I pretty much guarantee they’ll not have a bad word said about them.