Avensis Problem

[Areca]

I was just wondering if anyone has ever had this problem, and was able to get it fixed.

We have a 2001 model Toyota Avensis and we have never had a problem with it until Christmas Eve. It has no power to take off and bunny hops sometimes.

We have taken it to our mechanic twice, to another mechanic, to a transmission specialist and no one knows how to fix it. Our mechanic even rang one of the local Toyota dealers here who said they had a car in with the problem once before, they had it for 2 weeks trying to fix it and never could fix it 100%.

We're a one car family, with 3 small children. Has anyone had this problem before? It will not go in to first gear, so we have no power on take off (dangerous, we have to avoid busy roundabouts etc.) and the bunny hopping all over the road at times (not every time) isn't much fun either.