Excel 2.0 Diesel

[sproutdreamer]

Following my recent posts about my wish to have HID and Adaptive headlights and that only the Excel trims level Avensis includes these features  I have looked ion vain for a petrol, auto Excel circs 2013( no problem with a new one but these are expensive and I am not that bothered about a new car and £10k first year depreciation would hurt) . There are a few 2.2 diesel Excels around but very few 2.0 diesels. It seems that I am going to have to get a diesel despite it not being my 1st choice (town driving with a 500mile motorway trip every couple of months.)

I know nothing about the diesel Avensis. Is the 2.2 to be preferred to the 2.0 or vice versa. I would prefer the 2.0 as the accumulation of road tax, insurance and fuel consumption loads the 2.2 about £500 a year compared to the 2.0, for my low mileage. Also what to look for buying a diesel Avensis with modest mileage (under 50k)?

[Heidfirst]

If you had been 2 weeks quicker you could have bought mine ...  It's now up for sale in the dealer for £2200 more than they gave me for it (admittedly they will have had to it a  new tyre & provide a warranty etc.).

A pre-2015 T27 Avensis will have a Toyota AD series engine (2.0=1AD, .2.2=2AD) so the engines are closely related & any issues are likely to be similar on both.

For the 2012 (facelift) model the 2.0 diesel was tweaked supposedly increasing economy by up to 15%, dropping CO2 emissions  etc. etc. The 2.2 didn't get any tweaks. The 2.2 auto also used a thirstier (but cleaner) version of the engine (can't even remember if they did a 2.0 diesel auto until they switched to the BMW engine in 2015?)

For me, the 2.2 was the better engine to drive with more power for overtakes etc.  but obviously fuel economy was not as good. Real world figures of course are not as good as the NEDC test figures - I would suggest ~42-44 average for the 2.2 &  47-50 for the 2.0 manuals (the 2.2 auto you will probably struggle to beat 40) but it will vary according to where & how you drive. Compared to the 1.8 petrol you will enjoy the low down torque & surge for accelerating.

They are both Euro V so will have a DPF  & at some point may become subject to charges for entering some city centres etc. - you might want to wait until this Autumn budget to see which way the wind is blowing.

Given your mileage profile you may want to consider running it on premium diesel (so 8-10p more per litre) as carbon build up is probably the most likely engine issue.

 

Obviously look at condition, no. of owners & service history. 

Whilst EPB actuator failure can happen & is very expensive to fix, in reality on the T27 Avensis it seems incredibly rare. A no. of T27 Avensis (incl. mine) had cracks appear on the door skins of the front doors by the hinges - there are threads with photos on here - but Toyota would replace foc especially as a 2013 would still be under the 5 year warranty.

T25 diesel Avensis quite often had water pumps that would start weeping after 40 or 50,000 miles but that doesn't seem prevalent on T27s.