Avensis 1.8 V-Matic Petrol

[Flashman21]

 Hi i have a Avensis 1.8 V-matic petrol and it meant to be 148bhp but it feels like there very little umph there is it me or are they just a slow car?

Edited July 14, 2019 by FROSTYBALLS
Fonts equalised, bold removed

[FROSTYBALLS]

Moved to the Avensis club.

[Heidfirst]

there is very little torque low down. & the max. power is way up the rev range where most will never go ... (& imo the clutch on these doesn't help).

You will notice this particularly if coming from a turbo-diesel where there is a lot of torque fairly low down & which don't rev. to the same heights as petrols.

[m456an]

You notice it more on the older engine and I am coming from 1999 focus zetec, and that has done a couple of steep hills without little stain. My avensis seems to struggle up curbs, but once it is going it is a fast car.

[Alan1234]

When I was looking at buying my avensis we tested a lovely condition 1.8 at the showroom .allmost walked away from toyota it had a clutch pedal up around your ear wife struggled to pull away really disappointing salesman your typical joke there all like that sir .saw the diesel lets try that one it was night and day top of the range still have it 4 years later wife loves it . We looked at a Lexus rx450h as a replacement for the avensis 25k it was a total disappointment for the money condition and interior condition etc compared to my avensis RAV4 no better ,I just can't justify paying 20k plus for something no better equipped or condition than what I have now . Am I just being to picky .

[m456an]

I do not think the high clutch helps with both of my cars, it is a slow starter. You have to be relaxed with the clutch and gears, if you fast start you can get it wrong and have to restart, it is like this with both of toyota cars. But once the cars have warmed it is a different story, it is one of them past cars that you may or may not seem on the second lane. But it does get respect from the Mercedes, Audi and BMW cars. But the yaris feels louder but it is not I measured the db of both using sound detector 2019 and I got the same high 69 db.

[Shavestick]

We recently moved from a Kia Estate turbo diesel to the 1.8 ValveMatic Avensis.

Yes, as said tourque is lacking on steep hills, I just star the hill on third and keep it steady.

The car is so buttery smooth otherwise and the ride plus handling is far better than the Kia, wife already loves it.

Sent from my Mi A2 Lite using Tapatalk

[Mr Wolf]

My Avensis is the Icon Business Edition 1.8 petrol Tourer. Its saloon equivalent 0 to 62 mph official performance is 9.4 seconds. Not bad, even compared to more modern cars. Interestingly 0 - 62 mph for the same Avensis  2.0 diesel version is 9.7 seconds and for the 2.2 diesel it's 9.5 seconds, suggesting the petrol is quickest of the three! (Up to 62mph at least). 

In my experience the petrol engine version is quiet and refined but if you choose to drive it hard it will accelerate quickly enough; but then the engine sound becomes quite raucous. It's not a great performer going up hills unless you keep the revs up and use the gears. I expect the diesels will be better in this respect. However, it cruises effortlessly on the motorways and although not important to me, it's quick enough for my purposes.

[Heidfirst]

1 hour ago, Mr Wolf said:

My Avensis is the Icon Business Edition 1.8 petrol Tourer. Its saloon equivalent 0 to 62 mph official performance is 9.4 seconds. Not bad, even compared to more modern cars. Interestingly 0 - 62 mph for the same Avensis  2.0 diesel version is 9.7 seconds and for the 2.2 diesel it's 9.5 seconds, suggesting the petrol is quickest of the three! (Up to 62mph at least). 

I have had both the 2.2 Diesel (150bhp) & now the 1.8 petrol, both manual. The 2.2 is definitely quicker to accelerate (I don't know where you got your 9.5 figure from, iirc it is sub 9.0s for the 2.2 150 & the 180 was something like 8.5s). 

[Mr Wolf]

The 0 - 62 mph performance figures are from the Honest John website https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/toyota/avensis-2009/data/. See bottom of Saloon table. The 1.8 Petrol 9.4 seconds, 2.0 Diesel 9.7 seconds and Diesel 2.2 at 9.5 seconds are as I quoted for the Icon Business Edition, which is the version I own. 

[furtula]

You need to keep the revs high to get more oomph from a petrol.

Sometimes i think that ECU is configured for fuel savings or something, not really giving you the power that the car has.

If you cruise let's say in 2nd at 3500 RPM for 10 seconds or so, like getting ready to take over someone, and hit the gas, there's more oomph than compared to normally accelerating until 3500 and you floor it then.

If you drive it sharply for a bit, it gets more responsive, but as soon as you stop, the car gets back to it's old slow responsive self.

I was also disappointed when i got my Auris, as i expected more of a kick from 124 bhp petrol, seems to me that older cars with same BHP had more grunt to them.

[Heidfirst]

47 minutes ago, Mr Wolf said:

The 0 - 62 mph performance figures are from the Honest John website https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/toyota/avensis-2009/data/. See bottom of Saloon table. The 1.8 Petrol 9.4 seconds, 2.0 Diesel 9.7 seconds and Diesel 2.2 at 9.5 seconds are as I quoted for the Icon Business Edition, which is the version I own. 

That entry is wrong then or you are looking at the auto (I don't think that you could buy an Icon Bus Ed 2.2 manual). It happens, they give the 0-62 for my manual 2015 Bus. Ed tourer as 10.4 - the same as the CVT version - when it should be ~9.7s.

The 0-60 time for the 2.2 150bhp manual tourer is 9.2s (8.9s for the saloon). The 150 auto is 9.5s for the saloon & 9.8s for the tourer. 

[Mr Wolf]

1 hour ago, Heidfirst said:

That entry is wrong then or you are looking at the auto (I don't think that you could buy an Icon Bus Ed 2.2 manual). It happens, they give the 0-62 for my manual 2015 Bus. Ed tourer as 10.4 - the same as the CVT version - when it should be ~9.7s.

If the Honest John website entry is wrong, then so is the Parkers website which is the same! 

[Heidfirst]

As far as I can see Parkers don't list an acceleration time for a 2.2 Icon Bus Ed. TS manual or auto. They also list 0-60 times rather than 0-62.

They do list 0-60 for my car as 9.1s (rather than HJ's 10.4s) & they list a 2.2 manual Icon TS @8.9s for 0-60 https://www.parkers.co.uk/toyota/avensis/tourer-2009/22-d-4d-icon-5d/specs/

[Konrad C]

In most situations, my 1.8 is fine. I tend to short shift and use fifth gear a lot in city/town driving. The revs are between 1000 - 2500. The rare times the revs to 3000 and above, the car really goes. No problems with hills. I used to stall the engine when I first owned the car, but since the clutch was changed and I got used to the characteristics, I have had few problems. My previous Mk1 7A-FE felt more livelier low down! 
The CVT version would be better suited for some drivers.
In current road traffic conditions with speed restrictions, and traffic calming, I am more concerned about fuel economy, which compared to some smaller cars, is not bad.   

[Mr Wolf]

11 hours ago, Heidfirst said:

As far as I can see Parkers don't list an acceleration time for a 2.2 Icon Bus Ed. TS manual or auto. They also list 0-60 times rather than 0-62.

They do list 0-60 for my car as 9.1s (rather than HJ's 10.4s) & they list a 2.2 manual Icon TS @8.9s for 0-60 https://www.parkers.co.uk/toyota/avensis/tourer-2009/22-d-4d-icon-5d/specs/

Seems there are a number of inconsistencies between specs on the HJ and Parkers websites. I see that Parkers list your current Tourer 0-60 at 9.1 seconds and the Saloon at 9.1 too. That's got to be wrong given weight and aerodynamic differences - your Tourer will be slower at about 9.4?

[wrxmania]

Seems there are a number of inconsistencies between specs on the HJ and Parkers websites. I see that Parkers list your current Tourer 0-60 at 9.1 seconds and the Saloon at 9.1 too. That's got to be wrong given weight and aerodynamic differences - your Tourer will be slower at about 9.4?

Is the tourer actually any heavier - and I’d imagine it is possible more aerodynamic than the saloon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Heidfirst]

13 hours ago, wrxmania said:

Is the tourer actually any heavier - and I’d imagine it is possible more aerodynamic than the saloon.

Given that we have shown errors/inconsistencies from readily available resources I might be forced to go looking & see if I have an Avensis brochure still for reliable figures ...

Fairly sure that the estate has always been slightly slower than the saloon in the published acceleration figures though.

What I can say with confidence having had a 2007 2.2 T25 estate, a 2012 2.2 estate & now a 2017 1.8 estate the 2.2. is definitely quicker to accelerate & does so in a less frenetic way. There is no point in going past 4,000 revs in the 2.2 turbodiesel whereas for the 1.8 Valvematic if you want max performance you really need to get up to the likes of 5,500.