Greetings From The Slow Lane

June 11, 2012

Hi everyone,

Here I am introducing myself... The username says it all I'm afraid.

I have recently bought a '58 reg Avensis Tourer TR 1.8vvti. My reasons: i) Need to regularly carry bicycles, outdoor gear etc. ii) Only likely to average 10,000ish miles per year. iii) My mechanic's assertion that he only ever sees Toyotas (briefly) for their routine services.

I am looking forward to exploring the site, but a couple of initial queries please while I get used to the setup. They might be already covered by forums etc so you may just need to point me in the right direction thanks.

1. As you can imagine one of the first things I would like to research is how to drive this car for maximum fuel efficiency. So far (a few weeks) I have been getting average 41mpg for shortish around town runs, 49mpg on a mixed longish trip involving some cruising but a fair bit of hilly/twisty Scottish Border roads too, and 54mpg on an eighty mile motorway run. This is with sloooow take-offs, trying to keep rev counter between 1500 and 2000rpm, and keeping to around 55mph cruising.

This is my first petrol fuel injection vehicle, previously various diesels and old-skool carburettored petrol.

I would appreciate any advice at all from other shall we say 'economically' minded drivers!

2. Got good deal on car as damaged tailgate (works fine but not looking it's best). At some point (not urgent) would like to source another tailgate. Tailgates for Avensis Tourers seem far thinner on the ground (Google, eBay) than hatches for hatchbacks. The car is of the 2003-2008 shape with a 1ZZ engine. Anyone know where best to go searching?

Many thanks for your welcome.