New Avensis Tourer

[Nightstalker]

Gutted!

the budget wont reach for a newer T4 model where the sat nav came a standard :-(

So now its going to be a T4 and getting MR T to add reversing sensors to it...

Then it will be mine... I think...

If you prefer the TomTom, that's not a bad thing really mate. The head unit in the T4 is pretty good, the bluetooth side of things works well it's just a little awkward getting setup. I must admit that I do love the reversing camera though, I find it more useful than sensors as long as it's kept clean (Have it on my TR and had it in the Prius).

It wasnt the NAV feature I was after(I dont like the birdseye view, much prefer the 3D view on Tom Tom), it was the reversing camera bit as no T4 seems to have reversing sensors, not even the older models. So to keep within budget I've instructed my local MR T salesman to look for a T4 with standard head unit (I currently have a iPhone Grom kit which I can add to it so my IPOD feature should work) and get them to add the reversing sensors as I believe you need something like that with the type and size of the car.

I was umming and aring about getting a TR, but with young kids, the oldest has just turned 5, I want/need the leather option. I dont know how many times we've cleaned out the back seat on our LC because there was cake smuged or chocolate smeared on the seats... If that would have been cloth I think I would not have got it all off... I also kinda like the start button... although I think that novelty will wear off sooner or later...

Regards

Rob

[Nightstalker]

ONE HAPPY CHAPPY HERE....

My local MR T salesman has found the Avensis I've been looking for.

Its gonna be a 09 Blue T4 Tourer with the light interior ... and the nav screen.... so no need for reversing sensors and from what I've been told a better sound system...

Should be driving it by the end of the month????

Still be sad to see the LC go though...

Regards

Rob

[Phoenix999]

Nice one Rob... so we both make the LC to Avensis change

You will enjoy the new car..... good luck with it

[Fluffmeister]

It's not this one is it Rob?

http://www.vehicleimagezoom.r66.co.uk/?Theme=Toyota&Id=601240560&DefaultImage=Toyota

Thats my local dealer and that car is really really tidy.

[Nightstalker]

It's not this one is it Rob?

http://www.vehicleimagezoom.r66.co.uk/?Theme=Toyota&Id=601240560&DefaultImage=Toyota

Thats my local dealer and that car is really really tidy.

Nope its not the one at your dealership its got the wrong registration on it;-) otherwise the car is exactly the same.

I remember seeing one in our dealership when the new style Avensis came out and thought.. that's nice... now I'm getting one :-)

From what I understand this thing's got a 10mb harddrive built in? Can anyone confirm this please...

Hey Steve...

Yep your right there, only difference I'm coming back to the Avensis fold, I previously had a 2003 reg avensis T3x, nice car but no leather and was a hatch back, from there we moved on to the RAV4 then on to the LC just about when the new avensis came out, now that the government are bowing to the oil industry and chargin us a small fortune to fill up and on top of that the insurance hike I've had to look for a different vehicle to transport my brood about without breaking the bank.. and think this will do just fine ;-)

By the By, It's a 2ltr Petrol CVT I'm getting...

[Fluffmeister]

I am sure the HD is 20GB but with 10GB reserved for Navigation / System info / Gracenote Database and 10GB left over for your MP3's.

That's what it was on the Prius, and it's the same headunit. Sound quality I thought was excellent for a factory fit unit, and if you have a time when sitting in a tesco's car park take a batch of CD's with you and rip them to the disk. You can't transfer MP3's to the drive though, as in you can't put a CD full of MP3's into it and transfer them to the Hard Disk.

The CD will play MP3 CD's though. I can't remember if the iPhone supports AD2P for streaming, if it does you can just stream your music via bluetooth to the head unit, that works reaaly well.

Here's a Prius video showing it being done, but like I say it's the same head unit in the T4 and works in exactly the same way.

[Phoenix999]

.... It's a 2ltr Petrol CVT I'm getting...

Good man .... the tourer coupled with the 2 litre and CVT is not all that common. I guess you will also have the flappy paddle gearshift, now that can be fun when used at the right time

[Nightstalker]

.... It's a 2ltr Petrol CVT I'm getting...

Good man .... the tourer coupled with the 2 litre and CVT is not all that common. I guess you will also have the flappy paddle gearshift, now that can be fun when used at the right time

Ive tried to get my head around the CVT system...

Never really had an auto untill the LC, and pretty much got hooked on it, really good for town driving or when caught in traffic jams on the motorway ;-)

Now from what I understand the CVT is a belt driven gear set rather than cogs, so I understand that the car will always be in the optimum gear for the speed your traveling at, but whats the benefit of the flappy paddle bits? With the auto I've got now I just put it in D and off I go, unless I'm helping someone out of a sticky situation (like when we had all the snow) and tow em out...

Perhaps some one can let us know how the flappy bits really work...

Other than that, I really like the car, not seen it yet, but seen pics of some... so once the dealer has got it in I'm popping round to google over it and perhaps drool a little ;-)

[Fluffmeister]

The CVT uses a steel belt iirc in the Avensis, if you wander past a copy of EVO magazine, have a look on the back page to see Ralph Hosier's description of CVT's etc. Basically CVT is 2 cones with a belt between them so the drive is seemless and the car should always be in the correct ratio for optimum performance (can be a bit audibly challenging at times when it's revving it's nuts off, but thats where NA petrol engines make their power, at the upper end of the range).

To make them "feel" like more traditional auto's, manufacturers introduced artificial steps in the transmission, where it would stop the belt's movement for a short period of time. Adding the flappy paddles allows you to manually control the steps. To be honest on a CVT I think they are a bit of a waste of time, as all you are doing is actually interfering with what could potentially be a brilliant transmission system.

VW's DSG is probably the best mass produced Automatic manual box out there though, no clutch pedal, two clutch packs, 7 ratio's and will handle lot's of torque (Veyrons have DSG).

All the info you could ever want is on wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuously_variable_transmission but have a nose at the back page of this month's evo when passing WH Simths

[Heidfirst]

VW's DSG is probably the best mass produced Automatic manual box out there though, no clutch pedal, two clutch packs, 7 ratio's and will handle lot's of torque (Veyrons have DSG).

I don't know what the situation is now but at the end of 2008 when I was looking at buying my present car I also closely considered a VW Passat estate.

There were lots of good deals on demo DSGs but perusing forums it quickly became evident that (at least at that time) there was quite a high incidence of failure even at low mileages, when they did break it was always a £1000+ fix & there was apparently only 1 facility in the whole of the UK that could fix them which meant it could take weeks to get your car back on the road.

Hopefully things have improved since then on the mainstream models (I very much doubt that the Veyron's bear much relationship to those on Passats etc.).

[Fluffmeister]

VW's DSG is probably the best mass produced Automatic manual box out there though, no clutch pedal, two clutch packs, 7 ratio's and will handle lot's of torque (Veyrons have DSG).

I don't know what the situation is now but at the end of 2008 when I was looking at buying my present car I also closely considered a VW Passat estate.

There were lots of good deals on demo DSGs but perusing forums it quickly became evident that (at least at that time) there was quite a high incidence of failure even at low mileages, when they did break it was always a £1000+ fix & there was apparently only 1 facility in the whole of the UK that could fix them which meant it could take weeks to get your car back on the road.

Hopefully things have improved since then on the mainstream models (I very much doubt that the Veyron's bear much relationship to those on Passats etc.).

There have not been that many failures mate, I only know of 2 failures and I am pretty active on Briskoda.net as well as numerous VAG forums.

I ran an early 6 speed DSG Octavia PD140, it had a custom remap along with other mods and the DSG software was tweaked to. It ran 440nm Torque for almost 60k in 2 years, was driven like I stole it and never missed a beat.

A friend of mine works for Bentley in Crewe and a few years ago was involved in a project in Germany where they where running Supercharged R32's on standard DSG box's again without failure.

The 2 failures I know of have been on the mechatronic unit, but if you trawl internet forums, all you tend to find is the faults that people have had. Trawl this forum and you would probably come back with more negative points about Toyota's than positives :)

[Heidfirst]

There have not been that many failures mate, I only know of 2 failures and I am pretty active on Briskoda.net as well as numerous VAG forums.

I suppose it might depend on what you class as a failure. It certainly seemed back then that there were notably more than 2 - just Google Passat DSG problems (it'll also throw up problems with other VWs & Audis but I don't recall seeing a Skoda). How about a guy that bought 6 for his company & had 5 fail?

The mechatronic unit does seem to be a weakness.

if you trawl internet forums, all you tend to find is the faults that people have had. Trawl this forum and you would probably come back with more negative points about Toyota's than positives :)

It's in the nature of people that they will complain far more readily than praise.

However, here you would find out what the common problems encountered by users are (e.g. poor lights, not wonderful brakes & even though the actual faulty units may be a small % compared to engines out there the 2.2 D4D head gasket problem etc.) & an idea of whether they are minor complaints or larger problems.

I don't see why other similar forums should be that different.