End of life accounts for Mark one Avensis 1.8 petrol

[Harry Carri]

My mark one Avensis has recently reached the end of the road with a big Mot failure, mainly underside corosion. 

I kept a service history with costs whilst I had it. Out of interest I have added this up. How practical and costly has it been for me to run an old Toyota Avensis as an everyday car covering 60,000 miles in seven years. 

A new car suffers depreciation, an old car requires replacement parts and repairs. 

The figures. 

Purchase July 2012 £800

Sold to scrap July 2019 £110

Net £690

Total costs of parts, oil, antifreeze purchased and fitted myself, garage labour, parts supplied, mot tests, mot work and tyres fitted. £4355.36

Net purchase cost plus parts, servicing, repairs, mot test fees and work. 

£5045.36

Seven years and 60,000 miles

£5045.36 over 7 years =£720 per year

5045.36 over 84 months =£60.06 per month. 

 

Notable figures 

7x mot tests plus mot work at garage £2330.68

16x oil filter changes done by self £307.68

4x Michelin energy tyres covered 60,000 miles and finished 1mm above minimum tread depth in July 2019

There we are, £60pcm for purchase, repairs and servicing over the 7 years. Granted I did my own oil changes, air filter changes, spark plug and lead changes and coolant changes. I fitted a new radiator, headlight, pcv valve and ignition switch. All other servicing and repairs were completed at an independent garage with labour rate of £50 per hour plus Vat. 

 

[Ant-Rav]

Now that is very impressive, 50 quid an hour for labour rate is scary money, where I live about 20 quid an hour is average I think , U got ur money's worth out of it. Wud u not buy another one, maybe go up to an 03. They were a fantastic car.

[Harry Carri]

8 hours ago, Ant-Rav said:

Now that is very impressive, 50 quid an hour for labour rate is scary money, where I live about 20 quid an hour is average I think , U got ur money's worth out of it. Wud u not buy another one, maybe go up to an 03. They were a fantastic car.

Absolutely. 

Labour rates are what they are, it does not take long to end up with a £150 invoice once parts, labour and Vat are totalled up. The garage I use are convenient and honest. Doing the basic servicing myself has certainly kept the costs down. 

Garage did, cambelt, water pump, brake fluid changes, fuel filter change, replaced clutch, welding, drop links, 2 catalytic converters plus some smaller bits. 

I was looking for a 2006 to 2009 Avensis 1.8 petrol estate. Not happy hunting. Travelled to see two 2009 newer shape cars but both needed full service and had too many faults for prices. Could not get comfortable in that 2009 2010 car. Sat high and ended up looking through top inch of windscreen even with seat at lowest. 

Mark ones for sale were at the other end of the country or £1200 with mot history showing welding had started. 

Turned my attention to finding a 2006 t25 petrol, manual, estate. At this point time was running out. Not much about. 

Bought a 2004 1.8 Vvti estate locally cheaply. 

Needs a wheel bearing, drive shaft oil seals and back box. 

Needs must, I didn't want to buy an oil burning era Vvti. Oil was low before test drive so was topped up. 

I bought it, changed oil as soon as home for 5w30. Added 4.2 litres as suggested and filled up with super unleaded petrol. This should hopefully minimise oil burning. We shall see. 

 

[Gerg]

Your detailed insight into longer-term 'bangernomics' is interesting. 

Is there any story as to how you needed 2 catalysts?  

Also, did you get any brake pipes replaced?  How was the gearbox at the end mileage, any whines?  If it had it, did the aircon need much work?

Did the fuel consumption vary much as it aged?  How was the final oil consumption rate?

Apologies for all the questions.

Cheers.

[Harry Carri]

37 minutes ago, Gerg said:

Your detailed insight into longer-term 'bangernomics' is interesting. 

Is there any story as to how you needed 2 catalysts?  

Also, did you get any brake pipes replaced?  How was the gearbox at the end mileage, any whines?  If it had it, did the aircon need much work?

Did the fuel consumption vary much as it aged?  How was the final oil consumption rate?

Apologies for all the questions.

Cheers.

Not a problem you are welcome. 

The original section of exhaust joining the original cat corroded at the joint so both sections required. Age related wear and tear. At that time Konrad was also driving a mark one and the same section of exhaust was finished off by rust. 

My car, 1.8 GS 7AFE engine did use some oil. I changed the oil at 6 months and did 8 to 10,000 miles a year. Filling oil to max mark at oil change then topping up with remaining oil from 5 litre can. At 6 months, sometimes before when I bought fully synthetic the oil would be at minimum mark so I would change the oil. The oil burning ruined the replacement cat in 2 years so had another cat and a lambda probe to get through emissions. The 2019 mot was another fail on emissions so I imagine that another cat had been ruined. 

The car had a full service history. Earlier in its life it was covering over 12000 miles between oil changes. From memory even up to 18,000 in one year and only an annual service. 

Perhaps more oil changes earlier may have helped. I think it was piston ring related rather than valve guides or stem seals. 

I drove gently and tried not to put under load or labour to try to reduce oil burning. If I was forced to accelarate up a steep hill, such as when on holiday in Cornwall or Dorset, visible smoke would come from exhaust. I also used super unleaded every third fill which I think may have helped as I started having oil above minimum mark after 6 months. 

 

Fuel consumption was always great for an 1800 cc petrol. Would average 42 to 45 mpg. I could get 50mpg and beyond on long runs. 

I did record fuel used. When I bought the car it struggled to average 40mpg. Having had a Carina e (hence Harry Cari) 1.8 7AFE lean burn which always averaged 40 to 50 mpg depending I was disappointed so I kept a record to see how many mpg the Avensis was delivering. The servicing helped but was still below what it should be. The new cat and exhaust section was the answer, the missing 10% immediately found. From then on mid 40s mpg. 50 to a 'played for' 63mpg on motorway and dual carriageway runs. 

Played for means, I targeted 60 mpg. Put only the fuel required in, increased tyre pressures to max handbook figure, took surplas weight out, didn't open windows and hid behind lorries where possible. It was a dull journey I regularly made from Nottinghamshire / Leicestershire border to Surrey. A46, M1 complete with lots of tempory 50mph and M25 to junction 10, A3 Guildford Road. A challenge I set myself having had 55mpg before I wondered if 60 was possible. It was. 

[Harry Carri]

1 hour ago, Gerg said:

Your detailed insight into longer-term 'bangernomics' is interesting. 

Is there any story as to how you needed 2 catalysts?  

Also, did you get any brake pipes replaced?  How was the gearbox at the end mileage, any whines?  If it had it, did the aircon need much work?

Did the fuel consumption vary much as it aged?  How was the final oil consumption rate?

Apologies for all the questions.

Cheers.

The gearbox was the original and had oil changed twice, from memory. Was a bit baulky going into second. The gearbox can be a bit weak on mark one, apparently so I was gentle. 

Air con packed up a couple of years ago. Had a regas but was warm air only after a couple of weeks, clearly a fault causing the refrigerant to be lost. Didn't have any more air con repairs. 

[Harry Carri]

Brake pipes, yes had some of those for an Mot. 

[Harry Carri]

It is an interesting exercise. The garage I use think "peak motoring" for cars which are reliable, repairable and corrosion resistant is between circa 1995 and 2005.

 

[Gerg]

1 hour ago, Harry Carri said:

 The garage I use think "peak motoring" for cars which are reliable, repairable and corrosion resistant is between circa 1995 and 2005.

 

I would be agree with that sentiment, the corrosion woes of the eighties and before had been sorted out, and from a Jap-car perspective, cost considerations did not seem to be such a ever-present concern (they probably were, but it didn't show as much to me).  The Japanese cars built in Europe were still using local content made to Japanese designs, rather than vendors being invited to submit their own 'solutions', largely for cheapness (efficiency?), and the Japanese were still closely tied to their long-established suppliers, so designs were more evolutionary, with the result of reliability and simplicity.

I used to work in the computer industry back then, and the ease of maintenance and reliability of the Japanese products (esp. mainframe computers) was almost astonishing when compared to everybody else's, they were only ever replaced because they had been rendered obsolete by new technology, not because they had ever become unreliable.  At the same time I was a regular visitor to SKF, then the world's largest bearing manufacturer, they had set themselves the new quality goal of a specific set of tight tolerances in some of their bearings, they considered these to be a 'super-high' spec. that would need more expensive manufacturing equipment for them to make, but this level of uniformity and tight-tolerance was apparently completely routine for the Japanese bearing manufacturers at the time, this was acknowledged by their own engineers. 

I think it was in 1999 when Eiji Toyoda, then head of Toyota, made his ' We engineer our little cars the same way we engineer our big cars, we can not afford to continue doing this any more.' speech.

And at our local Nissan dealer, the chatty parts dept. bloke said to me, (in about 2009), that the warranty costs for Nissan vehicles had gone up four-fold since their tie-up with Renault had come about.  But then Nissan was a loss-making concern for several years before Renault stirred it all up, so changing the 'partner' arrangements with long-standing suppliers (Calsonic? Koito? etc.) was inevitable, or they would sink.  Also, in the nineties the Japanese domestic economics were going down the pan into a 20 year period of damaging 'stagflation', if I remember correctly.

I put mega-miles onto a few, secondhand, Japanese cars of that era, they just went on and on!

I think in many ways the Koreans have maneuvered themselves into the position the Japanese car makers once had, certainly a lot of their cars seem to have a thorough, OCD-style, element to their engineering.  I'm just surprised they don't dominate the reliability tables, they look like they ought to.

[talldave]

Harry Carri - you're a man after my own heart. I think we have similar experiences. Here's a summary of mine:

Avensis Mk 1, 1.8 petrol auto 1998, bought in 2005 at 49,000 miles.

Now done 168,000. Always serviced it myself and had other work done at my trusted independent garage (£50 per hour here too).

No real problems - just wear and tear. New O2 sensor in 2012, complete new exhaust in 2016, new radiator this year. New tyres (Michelin Energy) as required.

Original brake pipes and auto gearbox - no problems with these yet. I change the gearbox oil as per service schedule.

Cambelt and water pump etc changed as per service schedule.

Aircon still works - never done anything to it.

I use it every day. I used to have a 25 mile round trip to work and back but this changed 18 months ago to be a 70 mile round trip.

I too am sad enough to have kept a list of everything I've spent on it.

Total running costs over 14 years = £4730 (excluding cost of oil) so say another £450 for oil. Purchase price= £3600

Therefore total costs (running costs + oil + purchase price) = £8780

Over 14 years = £627 per year

= £52 per month, so pretty similar to you (and I haven't scrapped it yet!).

No plans to change it yet - it just keeps on going.

[Harry Carri]

5 hours ago, talldave said:

Harry Carri - you're a man after my own heart. I think we have similar experiences. Here's a summary of mine:

Avensis Mk 1, 1.8 petrol auto 1998, bought in 2005 at 49,000 miles.

Now done 168,000. Always serviced it myself and had other work done at my trusted independent garage (£50 per hour here too).

No real problems - just wear and tear. New O2 sensor in 2012, complete new exhaust in 2016, new radiator this year. New tyres (Michelin Energy) as required.

Original brake pipes and auto gearbox - no problems with these yet. I change the gearbox oil as per service schedule.

Cambelt and water pump etc changed as per service schedule.

Aircon still works - never done anything to it.

I use it every day. I used to have a 25 mile round trip to work and back but this changed 18 months ago to be a 70 mile round trip.

I too am sad enough to have kept a list of everything I've spent on it.

Total running costs over 14 years = £4730 (excluding cost of oil) so say another £450 for oil. Purchase price= £3600

Therefore total costs (running costs + oil + purchase price) = £8780

Over 14 years = £627 per year

= £52 per month, so pretty similar to you (and I haven't scrapped it yet!).

No plans to change it yet - it just keeps on going.

Fantastic. Thanks for sharing and I hope you have many more years with your Avensis. 

These mark ones really are excellent cars. I am impressed your brake pipes have lasted. From memory I needed the rears doing about 2015. The pipe blew during the Mot test. 

Mine had a full service history when I bought it so continuing seemed logical, especially as I thought I might sell the car as a going concern at that point. 

I think it is an interesting exercise to see what the monthly costs actually are as so many opt for PCP with a fixed monthly cost. It is tempting to think £600 worth of Mot is expensive but off set over 12 months it looks a lot more bearable especially if the car hasn't needed anything else except an oil change and perhaps a bulb or Wiper Blades in the same year. 

I think the costs of an early Avensis would take some beating, especially considering the cars are either 20 years old or very close to. 

I was massively impressed with the wear of my michelin energy tyres, 60,000 miles of wear and still over the legal minimum. 

I shall continue to track my costs with my replacement Avensis but I am not as confident it will offer the value my mark one did. 

[ray razor]

can I get my Toyota avensis 1.8 gs through one more mot needs welding rear sills 2 holes  

  ,petrol tank leaking , exhaust blowing . middle silencer and back box pipe , noisey wheel nsf , emmissons failing to. 1998 aircon no gas left ,leaking  abs kicking in randomly when braking no warning light though on dash, rear wind down windows no longer work cables broke corroded,,ignition key  switch fauty so now push button repair wired in to start , radiator now leaking at top , crack in nylon plastic .sills have had some welding done last 2 mots  this could be the end !! oh no , been a great car , don't want to let it go sad. still original clutch, starter motor ,alternator 181000miles 20 years old , I don't think I will get another car as good as this 7afe engine, people say have you still got that car !! yes I want it to go on for ever but this could be the end . only broke down once ,crankshaft position censor, and a drive belt failed,2 replacement catalytic converters never as good as the original ie : emissions, the original exhaust lasted 15 years. mk1 avensis 1.8 gs petrol manual 7afe engine what a car,  best car I have ever had. thank you british Toyota derby.

[Harry Carri]

Well the 54 plate Avensis 1.8 Vvti t3 estate has now reached the end with an MOT failure for rear suspension corrosion. I have worked out the costs and went back to find this thread to see how they compare. I see that I didn't think the running costs of my previous mark one Avensis would be bettered. 

So how did the costs compare? 

Pretty close, please see my new thread, End of life Accounts for 2004 Toyota Avensis 1.8 Vvti estate. 

 

 

So farewell old soldier you have served me well. 

Edited December 9, 2023 by Harry Carri
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