With a trendier looking SUV body and better safety features, it’s understandable that the Toyota Rush/Perodua Aruz twins are taking much of the limelight away from their fraternal twin the Toyota Avanza.

To recap, the seven-seater Toyota Rush/Perodua Aruz are two of the same car developed by Toyota’s compact car subsidiary Daihatsu.

Both models ride on identical mechanicals as the Toyota Avanza, which also has seven seats, sharing the same 1.5-litre (2NR-VE) Dual VVT-i aluminum block engine, paired to a 4-speed automatic rear wheel drive transmission, mounted on a semi-ladder frame chassis (monocoque in the front-half) with multi-link rear suspension.

While the Perodua Aruz and Toyota Rush are assembled by Daihatsu’s Malaysian subsidiary Perodua’s plant in Rawang, the Toyota Avanza is imported from Daihatsu’s plant in Karawang in Indonesia.

You can say that the Perodua Aruz and Toyota Rush are identical twins with different names, while the Toyota Avanza is a very close brother of the two.

In many aspects, the newer Perodua Aruz/Toyota Rush are better cars than the Toyota Avanza.

It’s already 2019 but the Avanza still lacks crucial electronic stability control, a very basic safety feature which is already available in entry level cars like the Perodua Axia, never mind the Myvi.

The Aruz/Rush also adds autonomous emergency braking (ASA for Perodua, Pre-collision System for Toyota).

Between the Toyota Rush and Perodua Aruz, the Rush costs RM 20,000 more but it adds:

• Blind Spot Monitor (BSM)
• Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA)
• 360-degree camera
• Dual-tone dashboard with faux stitching

However there are a few areas that we wished the Aruz/Rush could do better than the Avanza, but unfortunately they don’t.

Tight U-turns – nothing can match the Toyota Avanza

To keep up with its SUV-like styling, the Rush/Aruz are fitted with larger 17-inch wheels, which the original donor car the Avanza’s chassis wasn’t optimized for.

As a result, the Aruz/Rush’s turning radius are severely compromised. In its original 15-inch tyres setup, the rear wheel drive Toyota Avanza has a super tight 4.7 metres turning radius. The Toyota Rush/Perodua Aruz could only do 5.2 metres – that’s worse than even a front wheel drive Perodua Myvi’s 5.1 metres.

Normally, rear wheel drive will have a tighter turning radius than front wheel drive cars but not the Aruz/Rush.

Tyre maintenance cost

This is quite obvious. Bigger tyres are more expensive and when it comes to replacing the Aruz/Rush’s tyres, be prepared to pay at least RM 150 more per piece than the Avanza’s smaller and cheaper 15-inch tyres.

Apple CarPlay/Android Auto

This is quite ironic. The more expensive Toyota Rush/Perodua Aruz are supposed to be better equipped but somehow the infotainment was overlooked.

The Avanza comes with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, but the Rush/Aruz doesn’t. The latter two only comes with MirrorLink but that's not the same, and we doubt if many will even use it, as explained here.

Those who have adapted to controlling Waze/Google Maps and even WhatsApp using voice control will find it quite hard to go back to putting their phone on a cheap handphone holder.

In this aspect, the Toyota Avanza trumps.

Handling and ride comfort

This might come as a surprise. While the Aruz/Rush’s bigger tyres keep it better planted, balance and steering accuracy are compromised.

Remember that the Rush/Aruz is based on the Avanza, which works best with 185 mm wide 15-inch tyres.

On uneven surfaces, the wider tyres tend to trace odd road cambers more than necessary, thus requiring more steering corrections. The steering also feels less sharp than in the Avanza.

Overall, the Perodua Aruz/Toyota Rush didn’t felt as nice to drive as the Toyota Avanza. Fuel consumption is higher too, again due to the larger 17-inch tyres.

Comfort and Avanza are rarely mentioned in the same sentence but a lot of it is due to impressions formed by earlier generation Avanza models.

The current generation Toyota Avanza is actually pretty comfortable to ride in, at least when judged for what it is – a budget seven-seater with flash flood wading high ground clearance.

So there you have it. There are no perfect cars, each have their pros and cons. Ask yourself what’s your priority and begin your shopping in that order.