Advice For Buying A Yaris Verso

[xcitu]

Hello.

First of all, sorry if this is the wrong forum, I am pretty new.

I'm from Norway(Age: 23) and I'm looking for some information and advice now that I'm going to buy a Yaris Verso. This will be my first car.

Link here: http://www.finn.no/finn/car/used/object?finnkode=47786365&searchclickthrough=true (Sorry, norwegian only it seems, might be possible for browser to translate to english).

120 000 km, 2004, 1,4 D-4D, van, 5 doors, manual, diesel, 2 seats, for 45 000 kr. That would be just under 4500 GBP.

Description:

"A safe car (doesn't break down easily) and which does not consume a lot of fuel. Just changed breakes, oil and air filter." The rest is just praising the car for its height, length and good use of space inside.

Accessories

Roof rails

Winter tires

CD-changer

ABS-breaks

Airbag infront

Load carriers

What do you think? Is this worth the price listed? Or would you haggle? :)

[Cyker]

The cheat sheet we usually point prospective Yaris Mk1 owners at is here:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/toyota/yaris-1999/?section=good

As long as it has good service history and has been looked after, the Yaris Mk1's are generally pretty bullet proof :)

But do you really need the Verso version? It's really really ugly!! :P

If you need the space, the Corolla Verso is much better (Plus you can get a 2.0 D4D version )

£4500 is a little on the high side; I paid £4000 for my one but it's a non-Verso 2005 Yaris Mk1 D4D 5-door T-Spirit and had 32,000 miles on the clock (About 50.000km?)

That Verso appears to be a T3 or GS level of trim (I'm only guessing, as the higher trim levels have alloy wheels) so I'd expect it to command a lower price, plus it has much higher mileage, although 120.000km, that's only about 70,000 miles? So not crazily high like some of the Yaris diesels I've looked at (120,000 *miles* on some of them! ).

That said, the Yaris Mk1 diesels, esp. the 5-door ones, tend to sell for more than average because they are awesome and rare (Only manufactured for a short period). I'm not sure whether the Verso adds more - They are also quite rare but I think not as high demand.

Also, Norway is the only country I know of where everything is even more expensive than the UK so that might be a good price by Norwegian standards!

[FROSTYBALLS]

We had a Yaris Verso a few times as a courtesy car when the Corolla we had at the time was in for servicing, etc. Size-wise, you cannot beat it for space and practicality. Also a good flat floor when the rear seats are folded. It might not be the best looking externally, but they are still quite sought after.

I think Toyota missed a big trick when they stopped importing it into the UK and didn't replace it with the Ractis (the second generation of which became the Verso S in Europe). When they did introduce the Verso S, competition had increased and included cars like the Nissan Note, Renault Modus, Ford Fusion, Vauxhall/Opel Meriva, etc.

No matter how good the Verso S was, it was just too late coming to market in Europe

The Honest John review for the Yaris Verso is here: http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/toyota/yaris-verso-2000/

[FROSTYBALLS]

This is the van version with the full steel bulkhead behind the front seats, no rear seats, and the differently shaped tailgate. These were never sold in the UK.

Mainland Europe tends to offer more van versions of cars than we get in the UK - examples being the first generation Auris van (three door), the current generation Auris van (five door), Toyota Corolla van, Toyota Verso van, Mercedes Vaneo, etc.

[Madasafish]

Before you do buy it, the following should be checked and changed if you do buy it ...

Front anti roll bar drop links - the rubber perishes.. easily seen. (cheap)

The fuel filter.(cheap...)

And check the exhaust where it runs beside the rear wheel - and the rear exhaust box. And the catalyst (near the front) - You'll need a torch. On an old car they corrode.

(expensive)

[xcitu]

@Cyker

Yes, I know it's ugly, but I kind of like it. Call me crazy, I think its so ugly that it becomes a little bit good looking! :P

Actually, the looks don't bother me that much. I'm buying a car to use, not to look at so I'm perfectly fine with it being a little bit on the ugly side.

It does not have a service history because the guy that sells it have done the services himself, since he used to work with cars in his younger years. Due to this I will get a NAF (Norways Automobile Forbund/associaton) buyers test, to see if it's worth the price and a detailed check for errors. The car is a plane flight away from me so I won't be checking it out until I've decided to buy it, so I get NAF to do it instead. (Which will also do a lot better job than me) And yes, things are expensive in Norway so I guess I might be paying a little to much. The buyers test will also tell me if it's worth the cash.

Thank you for suggesting the Toyota Corrolla Verso, have not checked it out yet. Looked at some listings of it and I think I'm better off with the Yaris Verso in Norway. The Corolla's had up to or more than 120 000 miles on them, in addition to being older and more expensive. My budget is limited, so I'm pretty happy with finding that Yaris Verso.

@Madasafish

Thanks for the checking list, I will ask NAF if they check for it (which they most likely do).

@FROSTYBALLS (PS: thats me this morning walking the dog at 7am)

Thanks for the input and the link to honest john, will definitely read it. I appreciate the info, I know a lot more about these cars now than I did before. :)

[Cyker]

Yeah, I know what you mean - Finding a low mileage diesel anything is very difficult, especially when they are this old!

But the Mk1 Yaris diesels are IMHO better than the newer Yaris diesels as they came out before the tighter emissions regulations so they have less things to go wrong (No dual mass flywheel, no particle filter that gets clogged up all the time etc.). Makes them super reliable and I suspect this is partly why they are still so expensive!

If it's been looked after you can't go wrong - The engine and electronics are practically bulletproof. The only reliability blemish was a head gasket problem on the early diesels, but that was fixed on all 2003 and newer ones so that'll be one of the good ones :)

Oh, one thing I just thought of that might be worth checking is the EGR and throttle body, as they tend to get sooted up quite badly if the car is only driven around town, and can cause the engine to idle to a bit erratically, but it's something that can be cleaned quite easily during servicing.

[Madasafish]

One other check,, the petrol filler pipe - near the filler cap - is in the rear wheel arch and gets covered in mud. It will be rusty.. If it has holes in it, it will need to be replaced.

SO check that carefully...