Should I Continue With My Purchase

[markyc100]

I have just put a deposit down on a 55 2006 corolla verso t180 with 54,000 miles on the clock with ftsh buying from a toyota dealer. I narrowed it down to the t180 for the space and extra poke. After reading various posts about poor mpg, head gasket failure, and 5th injector problems. Hopefully these are isolated problems and there are plenty of happy Toyota owners who have had many thousands of trouble free miles. I also have a 2005 bmw 320d touring which struggles more than 37 on a combined cycle.

[Anatoli]

I've had my Verso T-Spirit 05 Plate (petrol) since new which now has 50,000mls on the clock.

Prior to owning this car I'd never kept a car for more than two years. Although one of the reasons for not buying a new car is the current financial market, the main reasons I have held on to this car is the reliability factor. My car looks as good as the day I bought it and has never let me down and I have always had good service from Toyota. The Verso is a good all rounder, a family car that converts into a van in seconds. The fuel consumption is a bit on the poor side if used mainly for urban driving (28-30mpg) but on long runs I get 40-45mpg which is not bad. My first two services were done by the dealer to ensure the warranty would not be compromised but after that I did my oil changes myself each year and at 30,000mls renewed my brake pads. I have recently renewed my tyres for the second time which means around 23,000mls per set which is good. Still on the same exhaust, never had to top up the oil between changes, neither have I had to top up the engine coolant. Renewed the Wiper Blades a couple of times and that's about it. Each year I keep wanting to change my car just for change sakes but my wife just says I'd be foolish and my granddaughter (12 year old) who travels every day in it just loves it and pleads with me not to change it. So, how's that for an advert.

[butterman]

I've had my Verso T-Spirit 05 Plate (petrol) since new which now has 50,000mls on the clock.

Prior to owning this car I'd never kept a car for more than two years. Although one of the reasons for not buying a new car is the current financial market, the main reasons I have held on to this car is the reliability factor. My car looks as good as the day I bought it and has never let me down and I have always had good service from Toyota. The Verso is a good all rounder, a family car that converts into a van in seconds. The fuel consumption is a bit on the poor side if used mainly for urban driving (28-30mpg) but on long runs I get 40-45mpg which is not bad. My first two services were done by the dealer to ensure the warranty would not be compromised but after that I did my oil changes myself each year and at 30,000mls renewed my brake pads. I have recently renewed my tyres for the second time which means around 23,000mls per set which is good. Still on the same exhaust, never had to top up the oil between changes, neither have I had to top up the engine coolant. Renewed the wiper blades a couple of times and that's about it. Each year I keep wanting to change my car just for change sakes but my wife just says I'd be foolish and my granddaughter (12 year old) who travels every day in it just loves it and pleads with me not to change it. So, how's that for an advert.

Hi Anatoli,

I currently drive a 03 T Sport but I am also considering buying a T180 verso as I need a bigger family car but would also like a bit of that performance I am so used to with my T Sport. What is that 2.2d engine like? Is it as quick as the figures make out? In terms of engine noise also, is it very loud on the motorways? The T sport I drive at the moment is great but driving on the motorway is quite tiring as the engine is so loud even when just cruising.....

[Anatoli]

Sorry but I can only comment on my model.

I do recall that when I bought mine (from new) I originally wanted the diesel model as my own car at the time was a diesel but when I took the diesel for a test drve I wasn't all that impressed. I had been used to the VW 1.8TDI engine which was a workhorse and flying machine and the Toyota came nowhere near it for performance.

I settled on the petrol engine because the Verso was my preferred choice of car at the time. As I'd said in my post I'd never kept a car longer than two years and I've been driving for 48 years.

[Peterkin]

The wisdom of this crowd seems to be

- The T180 engine can be troublesome

- Avoid the MMT gearbox

Perhaps you should be looking at the 140PS diesel or the 1.8VVT petrol engine combined with a conventional manual gearbox. The 180 is only half a second or so faster to 100Kpm than the 140.

[coffee_junkie]

I have a 2007 Toyota Verso T180 and have covered 75,000 miles. The car on the whole is great, and the speed of the car is fantastic.

When I looked around in 2007 I could get the Ford S Max 140bhp, Volkswagen Touran 140bhp or the Toyota Verso T180 with all its extras for the same price and after a test drive the T180 was the obvious choice as it blew the others socks off for pace.

I have a few gripes, but most will be the case with all Verso’s I would guess. The paintwork is very poor compared with my old Audi A4, within 6 months my bonnet was peppered with stone chips, while my 7 year old Audi had none when I sold it. I also have a rust issue at the bottom of the rear passenger door.

The automatic wipers are set to react to atmospheric changes I think, so start to work before it rains, and are normally on at full speed when they should only be on intermittent!

The fuel economy is poor and I never get more than 38mpg no matter how I drive, although if you drive like a mad man you still tend to get 34!

The final gripe is 0 -15mph in the T180 is slow ...really slow, but once you get to second it really does pull well and keep on pulling.

In conclusion, the car has been reliable and I am happy with it on the whole, especially it’s speed. If I had my time over again, and knowing all I know now, I would still happily buy the T180.

Cheers

[HoneyBear1980]

My 2.2d SR 08 plate has done 45k miles and I still really like it - no plan to change.

Does 60mpg if driven gently, 50-55 mpg on average. It is a little slow getting away at roundabouts etc but still pulls like a train in 3rd & 4th gear, suprises many drivers of Mondeo's etc who can't keep up under 30 to 60 mph acceleration. Never driven a T180 but the stats don't seem much quicker. Also T180 has a dpf which doesn't like too many short journeys - no such hassle with 134 bhp model as it just chucks the black dust straight out of the exhaust under a heavy right foot (it feels like a 007 car if you have a pushy convertable driver behind you who you want to give a face full!!!)

The 134bhp model is less stressed I think with a shorter 6th gear allowing quieter cruising on the motorway (in T180 the engine labours under 80 mph in 6th so you have to use the higher revving 5th gear). In the 134bhp you can comfortable use 6th at 60mph & above.

On downside paint is poor and headlights could be upgraded if candles were used instead!

[Alp]

My 2.2d SR 08 plate has done 45k miles and I still really like it - no plan to change.

Does 60mpg if driven gently, 50-55 mpg on average. It is a little slow getting away at roundabouts etc but still pulls like a train in 3rd & 4th gear, suprises many drivers of Mondeo's etc who can't keep up under 30 to 60 mph acceleration. Never driven a T180 but the stats don't seem much quicker. Also T180 has a dpf which doesn't like too many short journeys - no such hassle with 134 bhp model as it just chucks the black dust straight out of the exhaust under a heavy right foot (it feels like a 007 car if you have a pushy convertable driver behind you who you want to give a face full!!!)

The 134bhp model is less stressed I think with a shorter 6th gear allowing quieter cruising on the motorway (in T180 the engine labours under 80 mph in 6th so you have to use the higher revving 5th gear). In the 134bhp you can comfortable use 6th at 60mph & above.

On downside paint is poor and headlights could be upgraded if candles were used instead!

I have a Feb '08 2.2d with 12k miles and get about 42 mpg when the display says 48. My silver paint is good and my headlights were poor but are now excellent since I had them set FOC by the Toyota dealer to the max permitted upper limit on the beam setter.

[hertsnminds]

The automatic wipers are set to react to atmospheric changes I think, so start to work before it rains, and are normally on at full speed when they should only be on intermittent!

I thought they worked in the following way...

The most common modern rain sensors are based on the principle of total internal reflection: an infrared light is beamed at a 45-degree angle into the windshield from the interior — if the glass is wet, less light makes it back to the sensor, and the wipers turn on

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_sensor

If your wipers are not turning on correctly you can get the sensor adjusted. You should be able to see the sensor behind the rear view mirror near the top of the windscreen and you can test it by just spraying water on to the top of the windscreen (in any atmospheric conditions).

I have had auto wipers come on when the sun is low in the sky, it can confuse the sensor the same way bright light can stop an IR TV remote working.