Buying A 2006 T180. Good Or Bad Idea?

[Gav rav]

Had my T180 engine replaced 12 months now and it's been running really sweet since, although the car has nearly done 115,000 miles so been looking to replace but nothing comes close to the drive of this car. I went for a drive in the Dacia duster on weekend and it was like driving shed in comparison!

[Big Kev]

I wouldn't be put off a T180 that has had an engine replaced correctly by Toyota. We have now put 50k on our new engine without a single issue.

I know there have been various failures even on engines that have been replaced but I have every confidence in ours & whoever buys it will get a sorted motor that's in top condition

I too am of a mind that if yours was gonnae go again, Martmin.......it would have done so by now.......nae oil usage, nae watter usage must indicate you have a goodie. Keep forgetting the mileage your astronaut wife runs up......lol.......could it be the longer runs which has helped your replacement injun......? Know we will never.......

[gjnorthall]

I don't think that it's an entirely altruistic action on Toyota's part. There was a huge issue a few years ago with oil consumption on the 1.8VVti engine as fitted to the Avensis etc. The publicity was very damaging and Toyota came up with the 7 year warranty extension which took a lot of the heat from the situation. When the same sort of thing raised it's head on the Rav etc about 5 years later - there was already a precedent set and given the number of cars affected - there was little option but to offer the same terms as previous. The strategy has worked to a very large extent - the problem hardly gets a mention in car reviews and the majority of people buying early 4.3 diesels are blissfully unaware of a potential issue.

[SteC73]

" early 4.3 diesels"

whats classed as early ones? mine is march 2008, is this an early one or would the issues i keep reading about have been ironed out by then? only had it a week so not really sure what to look out for

[voyager t180]

I don't think that it's an entirely altruistic action on Toyota's part. There was a huge issue a few years ago with oil consumption on the 1.8VVti engine as fitted to the Avensis etc. The publicity was very damaging and Toyota came up with the 7 year warranty extension which took a lot of the heat from the situation. When the same sort of thing raised it's head on the Rav etc about 5 years later - there was already a precedent set and given the number of cars affected - there was little option but to offer the same terms as previous. The strategy has worked to a very large extent - the problem hardly gets a mention in car reviews and the majority of people buying early 4.3 diesels are blissfully unaware of a potential issue.

Potential issue gets a bit of a mention on here Gareth.

A top of the page pinned thread running to 54 pages of 543 posts,but some might miss it ;-)

I for one hadn't even joined up.

[gjnorthall]

Rav's after end 2008 should be OK - a few have appeared into 2009 - this may be due to late registration of cars in stock.

[blue monster]

Steve, there are some good threads on here especially in the pinned area by Charlie Farlie. I was aware of the potential issues before we bought ours with 30k on the clock, 1 previous owner & FTSH thinking we should be okay with a low mileage 2008 car. Running around town everything seemed to be fine - it was only when my wife changed her job and started to commute around 90 miles per day that we noticed it was drinking oil and we ended up getting the engine replaced when the car had only done 41k from new. It's now on 91k (serviced by Mr T 5 times since the new engine in November 2011!!!) and running as sweet as a nut - never had to clean the EGR valve or anything else but have put a few cans of BG244 through it purely because of the motorway mileage my wife has been putting on it and the engine has never really been under any strain when as it's been sat at 2,000 rpm in 6th gear for most of the 50k it has now racked up.

Maybe Kev is on to something, maybe it it lots of motorway journeys help these diesel units rather than lots of small town trips.

[SteC73]

Thanks Martin. yeah ive read most of that thread lol i only had a couple of hours free so skimmed through it, scary stuff

will wait and see i guess, it had a service when i got it so will leave it a month or so and see if the oils gone down, although i think its fine...