Avensis Estate 2.0

[Dwilly]

Am new to the world of Toyota having had various Vauxhalls, Fords etc over the years. Am looking at upgrading my Astra Estate for a larger estate model. Having looked around all the other major players seem to have various problems with their large family estates. Just started to investigate the Toyota Avensis and it doesn't seem to have the same sort of level of faults as the other players. It maybe that I haven't yet found them, so was wondering does the 2.0 ltr estate have any major flaws? The Astra is a 1.7 Isuzu lump, after I bought it I discovered its problems with ecu failures etc want to try and be a bit more wise when looking for my next estate. Any advise would be appreciated and may help other too.

[Mistermena]

Welcome Dave to TOC

Ummmmm!... I think you'll be in for a bit of a suprise mate! There are quite a few problems with the 2.2 (Seems more 2.2) ond 2.0 oil burners to do with head gasket failure and EGR valve problems. I'd avoid the 2.2 D-CAT system ones are they are very expensive to put right when they go wrong! But the good news is Toyota have extended the warranty on these issues for 7 years old or 112k miles!... I've had 2 new 3/4 engines fitted FOC by Toyota at a cost of over 13k... If I were you I'd be looking at a VAG group car as well as the Avensis!

If you take a search on the Avensis and RAV forum you'll read lots on just these 2 issues alone. But... And there always is one! Toyota customer service is 2nd to none and they have gone out of there way for lots of customers will good will gestures that no other marque would do when the initial warranty had expired...

I'd go for a petrol engined one if you're doing less than 30k a year.

[Dwilly]

Was looking at the 2.0 rather than the 2.2. I am begining to think that there is no real good diesel one in this size they all seem to have their problems and all seem expensive to fix. Seem the small diesel engine and associated bits and pieces are either being pushed beyond their limits or manufactured down to a price, or even both! Maybe petrol is the way to go.

[cabcurtains]

If your mileage is under 15,000 per year get a petrol 1.8 and you wont have to worry about all the diesel issues. The 2.0 seems to be a bit more solid than the 2.2 but it still has the EGR/Injectors etc etc to go wrong.

Mileage is the key question here

All modern Diesel engines are trying to turn heavy oil into smoke free soot free mountain air, they can for a while until bits fail and the technology aint cheap to replace.

[Mistermena]

Yep!... petrol is the way to go considering the price difference at the pump! I might have miss-read something that Anch's put on the forum the other night about you can block off the EGR with a metal plate! Sounds good if it can be done and the valve can be fooled in someway! At least it stops the engine eating its own !Removed! all the time that must be a contributor to the carbon build up on the pistons and rings!... I wanna know more about this if it can be done... May have to hacve a word in his Shell like :)

[Heidfirst]

as above, if you aren't doing the annual mileage to make a diesel pay don't buy one .

If you are doing enough mileage the good news is that it seems like the Avensis built after Feb 2009( iirc check the Toyota service bulletin) have this issue resolved.

Also Toyota's response to this issue has been very good - I couldn't see Ford, Vx etc. matching let alone improving on.

[cabcurtains]

I might have miss-read something that Anch's put on the forum the other night about you can block off the EGR with a metal plate! Sounds good if it can be done and the valve can be fooled in someway! At least it stops the engine eating its own sh!t all the time that must be a contributor to the carbon build up on the pistons and rings!... I wanna know more about this if it can be done... May have to hacve a word in his shell like

This has been done on all sorts of cars before, not seen it on a late Toyota though, i'm sure its because the EML needs to be fooled.

[Mistermena]

Thats what I was thinking mate... Gonna have to chat to Don about it.

[Dwilly]

Thanks for replies, started doing some calcs this morning regards petrol/diesel there is an on-line comparisom calculator, just seem to hear lots of horror stories with modern diesel so the slightly lower mpg might well be worth suffering for peace of mind. Mileage is going to be around 1000 miles amonth so is only a little over average mileage, if average is 10,000 a year, could be less as might be able to car share so may well look at a petrol.

[Dwilly]

Just run a comparison on parkers, comparing a 2.0 ltr diesel against a 1.8 petrol, you just put in make and model, annual mileage and number of years you want to compare it against. The 2.0, monthly running costs, using a 53 plate, at 15000 miles over 3 years, comes out at £281, a 1.8 petrol, 04 plate, £295. So not that much difference, factor in the initial higher cost of a diesel and I doubt there is much difference which to be honest surprises me.

[T5NELtim]

Hi there,

I was in similar position to you.

Price comparison is purely based on the associated purchase and running costs of diesel v petrol. I think this is because, as a new car purchase, this is the easy calculation.

As soon as you are buying a car out of warranty (!) you MUST consider cost and likelihood of expensive repairs as making up a very large part of the TCO of the car.

I have been burned by this on other cars before, just look into the cost of replacing the following

Dual Mass Flywheel

CR Injectors

Turbo

DPF

All of the above frequently cause issues or fail in the 3-7 yrs old bracket for all/most manufacturers and can leave you with a bill for £1000s

I love driving modern common rail diesels and would glady do so under warranty on a new car. However, as I have bought 2nd hand (4 yrs old) I have chosen the petrol 1.8.

If you drive sensibly the 1.8 petrol should return you north of 35mpg. The current petrol engines are simpler than current diesels and less expensive to fix if they do go wrong.

I would only really want diesel if I was doing starship mileage OR towing something heavy.

Tim

[cabcurtains]

I would!

[Dwilly]

It will be a 2nd hand version, so I am definately going to start to look at the petrols, like you say the bits that seem to fail on the diesel seem to fail on the older ones and are expensive to replace.

[Heidfirst]

just be aware that there can be an oil burning issue with pre-2005 1.8VVTis.