Which to buy

[mbailz85]

I'm new to the Toyota world. Had experience with Lexus but looking at an avensis as my next car.

After looking through fleabay, gumtree, autotrader etc I've noticed some issues.

It seems that the diesels have known head gasket faults which I don't want.

However I like the mpg they give. And the t180 looks good too.

I have also looked at the 1.8 vvti which I read is chain driven and not belt which is more reliable. Plus it seems to give ok mpg for a petrol. But I can't find the 1.8 with leather interior.

Can anyone explain further or recommend what I should do?

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[thom1983]

Hi I have a 1.8 t3x, has all the kit etc other than leather and can get high 40s on a run and generally averages over 40 around town....and I paid...£1500 for it...winner

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[mbailz85]

Sounds good mate. What mileage is yours and should I worry about high mileage? Looking at the £1500 or less mark.

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[Duggerz]

I'm not as familiar with petrols as diesels but I understand that some of them have oil burning issues. The details Will be located in earlier posts on this forum. As for the diesels it seems that head gasket failure is inversely proportional to the power output, so t180 would be the worst followed by regular 2.2. The 2.0 which has the least power almost never fails. Mine has 211k so far with no sign. The earlier 1cd 2.0 diesel seems to be bullet proof but has less power again and only 5 speed.

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[Konrad C]

Here is the post that detailed the AD engines with head gasket issues and the fixes. Not all car suffered with this issue: - 

And another - 

With all the info on the AD diesel engines, I would stick with the 2ltr as it less stressed compared to the bigger engines. The 180 engine the most likely to fail. also the economy of the 180 version can be worse than the petrol!

The 1ZZ 1.8 was fixed by mid 2005, so all facelift Mk2s should be free of the oil burning issue. The limiting factor is no Tspirit version.

[mbailz85]

So what would be the best trim level on a 1.8?

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[avensisd4d786]

TR is the best trim on the 1.8 facelift. 2.0 petrol some t4's came with leather t spirit should have leather

[Heidfirst]

I agree that the facelift TR (I had a lovely 57 plate) was the best value trim. Iirc all that was missing from the top trims were really leather & powered seats,

[mbailz85]

I prefer the mpg of the 1.8. how much different is the 2.0?

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[Heidfirst]

quite a bit according to HonestJohn's RalMPG. http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/toyota/avensis-2003

There is a reason that Toyota UK stopped offering the 2.0 petrol - the marginal gain in power wasn't really worth the extra fuel consumption & taxation.

[thom1983]

Sounds good mate. What mileage is yours and should I worry about high mileage? Looking at the £1500 or less mark.

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Well I'm on my second now this year (first was written off), and first one did near on £30k in 7 months without any major issues other than a wheel bearing. New one had 95k on it and again drives fine

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[thom1983]

Sounds good mate. What mileage is yours and should I worry about high mileage? Looking at the £1500 or less mark. Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

Well I'm on my second now this year (first was written off), and first one did near on £30k in 7 months without any major issues other than a wheel bearing. New one had 95k on it and again drives fine

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Ps the 1st one had 128k on when it fell out with a wall!

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