2Ltr Petrol T Spirit

[Jon Burns]

2 years ago I bought a 53 plate 2ltr T Spirit. A wonderful car, no complaints just effortess, comfortable motoring from a hugely reliable car. I had to replace the starter 6 months ago and a O2 sensor about a year ago but it's never missed a beat otherwise. I know it's been mentioned about oil consumtion problems but I've never had an issue with oil usage.

Best car I've ever owned with lots of toys to enjoy to. If I could guarantee a newer model with the same trouble free motoring then I would but I'm enjoying it too much.

My question is, given that the car has just reached 94,000 miles do i go for a newer model and if so which one or do i stick with what I'm happy with? Are there any major problems coming up that would help my decision.

Any help or advice would be gratefully received.

[Mistermena]

Better the Devil you know my mate!

Welcome to TOC

[Jon Burns]

Thanks for the swift reply Mena......no horror stories to come then...I hope.

[Mistermena]

Not as far as I know mate... Just keep her well serviced and enjoy a troble free Toyota

[Heidfirst]

it can't be worth much now so I would just run it until it starts to be expensive to maintain (i.e. it regularly requires replacement parts etc.)

[alan333]

I had a similar dilemma at the back end of last summer...

I had owned the car completely trouble free for two and a half years, but it now needed the tappets adjusted (old fashioned shims - not easily replaced hydraulic ones) and a rear wheel arch would need repaired if we'd suffered another bad winter, tyre treads and brakes were getting low etc so I reckoned it would need a bit of money spent on it over the next year or so. It was an 05 petrol 1.8 with 80k on it.

Although I liked the car I decided I would be better to put the money towards changing it rather than repairing it, but also thought that if I simply bought another Avensis it wouldn't feel like I'd changed my car. However I was so impressed with it's reliability that I looked around for other Jap cars which fitted the bill. I ended up buying a Honda Accord 2.2 cdti. I then didn't like the Accord for various reasons ie the ride was hard and low, the pedals were cramped, and the diesel wasn't nearly as flexible as my old petrol and demanded much more gear changes at roundabouts etc. On the plus side it was a lot faster - but on the minus side it wasn't a pleasant car to drive softly or slowly (for me). The fuel economy was disappointedly around the same 45mpg too.

So, after only 4 months of Accord ownership I took the hit and sold it - and bought another Avensis 1.8, 6 months newer than the one I had sold but with 30k on it. I'm now back to happy relaxed motoring again. Ironically I see my old one occasionally and it still looks good. With the benefit of hindsight I should've spent the repairs on it and kept it - it still ran great and had years left in it.

So, in my opinion, either keep your car until it starts to need regular heavy repairs - or buy another the same but with less miles. The down side is it's not as new looking as the modern ones (although you could go for the facelift model), but the up side is you'll definitely like it.

:)

[cabcurtains]

Stick with it, its value is quite low now so even if something major goes wrong you can chuck it in the bin without a huge loss.

If you sell it someone will be picking up a nice loved car for not a lot of money. And you could easily buy somethng worse for more!