6 years and 94k miles later ...

[plasma99]

Just wanted to sing the praises of Toyota.  I bought my 2017 2.2D4D Avensis when it was 4 years old and had 41k miles on the clock.  It is now over 10 years old and has 145k miles on the clock.  Been the best car I have ever owned and there is still nothing wrong with it (not even the hg).  I realised that if I were to wait for something to go wrong, I would never get a new car.

Anyway, I have just bought a 2 year old Skoda Superb.  Yes, I know I should have stuck with Toyota but I have never really liked the new Avensis and I really wanted Adaptive Cruise Control which is standard on most Superbs.  I am keeping the Avensis for business use and as a general runabout.  However, I will be looking after it with the same care as I always have done.  I can confirm that this car has been bullet proof in terms of reliability.

[speedwaydthom]

Reading your post was a bit like music to my ears.

My 2010 Avensis 2.0D4D T4 is coming up to 86,000 miles. Like you this is the best car I have ever owned!

I too would not replace it with the latest Avensis with its BMW engine and have also been looking at the Skoda Superb.

I am really impressed with the Superb, even though it needs money throwing at it after 5 years (new cambelt/water pump etc) and does not come with the benefit of a 5 year warranty.

The trouble is, I am just so reluctant to part with this car which I am sure could go on to 150K + miles no bother at all and will almost certainly see out my driving days. The paintwork, chrome trim, interior are almost as new and anyone not familiar with model shapes could be forgiven for thinking it was new out of the showroom.

Great advert for Toyota but good luck with your Superb

[plasma99]

1 hour ago, speedwaydthom said:

Reading your post was a bit like music to my ears.

My 2010 Avensis 2.0D4D T4 is coming up to 86,000 miles. Like you this is the best car I have ever owned!

I too would not replace it with the latest Avensis with its BMW engine and have also been looking at the Skoda Superb.

I am really impressed with the Superb, even though it needs money throwing at it after 5 years (new cambelt/water pump etc) and does not come with the benefit of a 5 year warranty.

The trouble is, I am just so reluctant to part with this car which I am sure could go on to 150K + miles no bother at all and will almost certainly see out my driving days. The paintwork, chrome trim, interior are almost as new and anyone not familiar with model shapes could be forgiven for thinking it was new out of the showroom.

Great advert for Toyota but good luck with your Superb

Sorry, I managed to get two things wrong in that post.  It's a 2007 Avensis with 135K miles on clock but no less impressive.

I agree with the "as new" comment.  It's difficult to point the finger at anything on the Avensis that has noticeably aged or worn.  There's the odd supermarket dink and scratch but that happens on all cars.  Engine and gearbox feel sound and there's no tearing of the upholstery.  Toyota commented that there was some corrosion of the rear brake pipes when I took it for the airbag recall but it sailed through an MOT last December.

You're beginning to worry me about the Superb - I'll have to read up about the water pump business.  It is a great car for the money though.  A real premium feeling car packed full of toys.  Whether or not I will regret deviating from Toyota only time will tell.  I did consider a RAV4 second hand but they are just so expensive.

[yossarian247]

Water pump replacement is a pretty standard precaution on any car where the water pump is driven by the cambelt. Because the pump is cheap to buy but requires the cambelt to be removed in order to change it, when the belt is due for replacement you may as well change the water pump while you're at it. 

[speedwaydthom]

2 minutes ago, yossarian247 said:

Water pump replacement is a pretty standard precaution on any car where the water pump is driven by the cambelt. Because the pump is cheap to buy but requires the cambelt to be removed in order to change it, when the belt is due for replacement you may as well change the water pump while you're at it. 

I believe the Skoda dealer price for this job on the Superb model is circa £700ish. I also believe the replacement period was increased from 4 years to 5 years for later models or mileage based for high mileage drivers.

[yossarian247]

Yes I know its not a cheap job if done by a main dealer, although when I had a Skoda Octavia some dealers occasionally had lower fixed priced offers on for things like cambelt replacement. 

I remember it was always a bone of contention on the Skoda owners forum that in practically every other country in the world except Britain,  VW Group didn't set any time interval at all for cambelt replacement, only mileage. In Britain however they inexplicably also impose the 4/5 year time interval too. Someone actually queried it with VAG head office in Germany and they apparently couldn't understand the reason for it either! 

[plasma99]

Haven't VAG heard of chains?  That was one less thing to worry about on the T25.

[Willss]

Last year I bought an Avensis over the Octavia (lower quality and old fashioned (my opinion only!)) and the Superb.  Superb seemed a really nice car but had a few draw backs to me and my circumstances:

1 - Rear doors on Superb are huge.  Needed to be able to get child in/out of car seat easily, with such a large door it made it very difficult to open the door wide enough to access easily without very wide parking spaces.  Wife also found them hard/heavy to shut with arms full of small child!

2- 3 year warranty vs 5 yr with Toyota (and in my experience Toyota have honoured it well on previous cars).

3 - Wanted petrol due to lots of short trips.  Skoda 1.4TSI was much more economical on paper but had numerous issues on forums (probably most now sorted but......)  the 1.8 Avensis petrol seems to be tried and tested and relatively bomb proof if not great on economy and/or acceleration.  Turbo on the superb was not as smooth as the acceleration on avensis. 

4 - Toyota garage much closer than Skoda! 

I appreciate that these are my own opinions and everyone's requirements and circumstances differ.  I also wasn't impressed with the avensis diesel when I tested the 1.6, lots of noise/vibration. 

I made the boring choice because I wanted tried and tested/reliability and also convenience for servicing etc.  Superb was probably a nicer car to sit in and certainly had more 'go' in it!

[Husbandofstinky]

Five years and 100k intervals for the belts (recent stuff - Superb)

Don't worry about the Skoda. Had the current one for 5 years from new and nothing has gone wrong in that time. The diesel maps well to over 200bhp and mpg is great at 55 on a run and late 40's running around. It is far from a disappointment As said above all belts plus water pump is the norm plus a full cam belt kit when changing. Pretty much standard practice.

VAG diesels and the cars in general are solid if looked after. I still use a PD150 Leon cupra as a daily driver and had it from new (14 years this year). The only non service item has been a window regulator (common VAG issue) in all that time. It has been staged two mapped for 11 of those years without consequence.

 

[Husbandofstinky]

There are VAG engines with chains (older 1.4 TSI springs to mind).

However chains are not bullet proof in themselves and can easily stretch and not last the life of the vehicle. There are plenty of examples out there - ask many a BMW driver

I used to be one for the 'chain for life of the engine' brigade but following more research, have swung back to the belts (quieter and simplicity)

[Heidfirst]

6 hours ago, plasma99 said:

Haven't VAG heard of chains?  That was one less thing to worry about on the T25.

They have & did. Then they put price pressure on their supplier who had to make his tools last longer to meet it which resulted in poorer quality parts which not surprisingly started failing ...

[Husbandofstinky]

12 hours ago, Heidfirst said:

They have & did. Then they put price pressure on their supplier who had to make his tools last longer to meet it which resulted in poorer quality parts which not surprisingly started failing ...

Spot on and well publicised.