2013 2.0 diesel for 3600 quid.

[John Seidon]

Sorry guys complete newbie here regarding cars. Vectra turbo is braking down so need another car. Came by avensis icon with 140 000 diesel.  On mot it had oil leak 2years ago did not seen car yet. Know that only car is posted 10 days and nobody bought it yet.  As so tired with repairs of previous cars and so motivated by Toyota reliability to try it out. Just don't want to be burned again. Is it worth a buy?

Thanks for any advice.

John

[Rhymes with Paris]

Hello John, sorry it's unlikely that anyone can give an opinion on an unseen car with no information about service history, previous usage and general condition, dealer or private sale etc.

But you're correct in trusting general reliability in Toyotas, but you can't take it as read that this one will be.

I would have a good read up on the other threads about diesel engines relating to the engine in the car that you are looking at, the BMW one is generally not well regarded I think.

I would also check if that seems a cheap price for that year and mileage, what with the very high prices being asked for good examples.

What seems a cheap car can soon turn into a money pit.

Others with a lot more knowledge of the avensis than me will hopefully be along soon to give more specific advice.

Good luck, and always remember there is always another one if that one is a wrong 'un.

 

[John Seidon]

Thanks for the advice what the car had 2 owners and serviced buy no details to what. I think it is red flag that it is still not bought after more than a week. As other smaller cars are even more expensive and older.

[Cyker]

Toyotas are generally very reliable *if* they are looked after, and while they can deal with more abuse than certain other marques, if it's not looked after they will develop problems just as much as any other car.

One of the most critical things, esp. with chain-cam Toyotas, is regular quality oil changes. If it gets them, the engine will generally last with no major repairs needed, but if oil changes are skipped or rubbish oil used then problems will result.

Check the Avensis to see what was done about the oil leak at the least, and make sure it's got solid service history.

There should be enough of them out there that you can find a decent one and not settle for one with problems...

[avetoy]

It might be red flag as you think... If you are going to look at the car, check the coolant reservoir for excessive pressure after the test drive. Blown head gasket is very common issue in those diesels. Very expensive to fix.

Of course there are many other things that need to be checked, but I think that is the most important. 

 

[flash22]

I would leave it well alone and find a petrol version around that sort of mileage, there are some big bills that can crop up (injectors, DPF, SCV and glow plugs), also being a 2013 it will be a dpf car, these hate short runs you need to be doing 12-16k miles a year minimum

I thought I posted this last night, but I obviously didn't

cost of diesel vs mpg is marginal these days compared with petrol

[APS]

22 hours ago, John Seidon said:

On mot it had oil leak 2years ago

This may or may not mean anything. If it's repeatedly being reported in consecutive MOTs then yes, it's probably a leak. If it's only one year, it is probably minor and could just be something as simple as a bit of oil spill from the last service/oil top up.

You never know with second hand cars, it may be a money pit, it may be a reliable workhorse. As Bob mentioned, diesels are more complex and there are more expensive things that can potentially go wrong. If you want to reduce the risk, go petrol.

[2009joe]

when you guys and oil changes i found out with im guessing cheap oil (gemoil) i got well i put it into my car and well the oil got black quick as not many miles compared to my last vw group car and tbh i suffered a head gasket problem with those 1.9tdi engines with that gemoil and it was well looked after. i have bought genuine toyota oil and filter from the dealer so hoping will be good. theer are so many oil brands out there you would not know what is the good oil to put in . that  Castrol magnetic a mechanic of mine told me thats the last thing you want is oil sticking to parts of tye engine blocking things up 

[flash22]

iirc Castrol produce Toyota's oils, there is a lot of myths surrounding oils - older cars I use to run duckhams but have used Castrol for many moons

Magnatec is not "sticky" it coats the metal at a molecular level