Avensis Taxi . Petrol Or Diesel

[joeegg]

Currently running a 2009 avensis 2.0d as a taxi and looking to change in the coming months .

My dilemma is that i am now pretty much part time and cover no more than 16000 miles a year .

Am i now is petrol territory ? my jobs are nearly all stop go town shunts and only getting 36 mpg with my current deisel .

If a petrol is possible whats the auto box like for mpg against the manual in reality and are there any reliability issues with the auto ?

Any thoughts and advice would me most welcome .

Thanks, Garry.

[James Death]

I would be looking to Honest John website for reviews and true mpg figures.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Real MPG - http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/toyota/avensis-2009

Review - http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/toyota/avensis-2009/

Not much in the Good & Bad section. Reckons the economy of the 1.8 petrol quite good.

[Heidfirst]

if you want an auto I would definitely go with the petrol CVT over the diesel auto (currently only available with the thirsty 2.2. D-CAT).

[joeegg]

Thanks for the replies , seems that the petrol auto really is a serious option now that my annual milage has halved over the last year .

[James Death]

Especially when you said short stop start the petrol came to mind, the auto would certainly be better on the left foot.

[Whitewagon]

Had a Taxi home from the airport last night, it was a 6 month old Avenis Tourer with a Diesel engine and manual box, driver didn't know which Diesel engine it was, but he was only getting 35mpg over all journeys. I get 37 to 38mpg out of my 1.8 petrol with CVT auto and no worries with the DMF and DPF issues some diesel users get. If you look at the general consensus on petrol v diesel then you are probably border line on mileage, some say 20,000 is the cut off point.

There are several reviews on here about how smooth etc the auto box is. For town and short runs it is ideal.I did a lot if research before buying mine and found no reliability issues with the CVT box and have yet to see anything to the contrary. Only downside is that the electronic parking brake does not auto release on the CVT version.

[cal]

Yes, CVT has come a long way since both in terms of durability and performance.

I would also like to recommend the petrol version with LPG conversion. LPG is a very good alternative to diesels and can always switch back to petrol with a flick of a switch if you happened to be in the area where you can't fill up.

[joeegg]

Thanks for all the feedback guys , a petrol sems very very temtping on what has been said . But why does the CVT handbrake not auto release , anyone have the answer ? Seems very strange to me .

[Whitewagon]

As I stated in another post it seems to be just the CVT that has this lack of auto release. Other manufacturers do fit auto release to their auto boxes.

[tonino]

Best option for you is cvt petrol. There is no better drive in towns and stop and go cases. I drive a Prius and I am impressed how good is this car , and of course ultra economical average 55-65mpg with hybrid friendly driving even more, so if learn yourself to drive properly a cvt tranny you should probably looking at around 40mpg combined not bad at all, and again no troubles with expensive bills for repairs. Forgot to say I am doing a private hire in London and next car will be new Prius or Avensis or Auris hybrid.

Good luck