@Hellion,
I'm not saying that avast doesn't need to improve. I'm not saying that the tests don't matter at all.
What I said was that it is only a (little) PART of my decision to use one antivirus or the other.
About specific tests being some "must" because "every user can find these malware", I would agree about the set of malware to be tested against, but the methodology is still a problem (for any antivirus, not only for avast). The method that one antivirus stops some malware can be measurable by the specific test, while other antivirus uses a very different method to stop the same malware and the same test is not able to measure this other method of protection. Both protection methods stop the same malware, but only one protection method is evaluated by the specific test. The results of the test won't show you "real" results, but a comparison about a certain method of stopping malware.
In short, avast needs to improve (as always), but I take the tests (also when avast's results are better) only with a very little weight in my decision. Examples of other factors are system resources, forum help, ease of use and more.