BMW D4D 1.6 - How do you find the gearing? 1WW

[Guest]

Just wanting to get some of your thoughts - anyone who owns or has owned or spent extensive time driving an Avensis with the 1WW 1.6 BMW engine... 

How did you find the gearbox when driving? 

I love the car but at various points, including today I've had other cars catch my eye giving some thought to trading mine in. This is the nicest car I've ever owned but sure enough, if that were the case I wouldn't be so keen on the look out for another. There definitely are things that are a bit frustrating and today I think I put my finger on it. The gearing. 

I think Toyota pulled off some miracles to make it drive as well as it does with a small 1.6 engine in such a big car... Not fast or sporty but it's not meant to be. I think the drawback is that the cars never really happy in any gear when it comes to real world driving - speeding up, slowing down behind someone doing less than the limit... don't even get me started on overtaking.  It seems you either end up having to drop a gear to stop it struggling, then when you do it jolts forward... or you stay in gear and let it try and catch up... but either way, you risk losing your speed ad then it's really not happy.  

I know some of this might be written off as error or lack of skill on my part, but I find on a clear road it's fine and happy at one speed. But in many situations involving real everyday traffic.. I've noticed that's when an otherwise refined and comfortable car becomes a hassle as it's constant working the gears. I've never had this or been frustrated by this in any other car I've owned, and I reckon it's because they had a better job of the gearing for the engine power / size and car size / weight. 

Is this just a sad reality of how they stuck a BMW engine in? Sure it works, but it seems to drag down an otherwise great car. It's taken me a while to work out what was so frustrating about longer journeys and that's it. 

[2009joe]

7 minutes ago, SB1500 said:

Just wanting to get some of your thoughts - anyone who owns or has owned or spent extensive time driving an Avensis with the 1WW 1.6 BMW engine... 

How did you find the gearbox when driving? 

I love the car but at various points, including today I've had other cars catch my eye giving some thought to trading mine in. This is the nicest car I've ever owned but sure enough, if that were the case I wouldn't be so keen on the look out for another. There definitely are things that are a bit frustrating and today I think I put my finger on it. The gearing. 

I think Toyota pulled off some miracles to make it drive as well as it does with a small 1.6 engine in such a big car... Not fast or sporty but it's not meant to be. I think the drawback is that the cars never really happy in any gear when it comes to real world driving - speeding up, slowing down behind someone doing less than the limit... don't even get me started on overtaking.  It seems you either end up having to drop a gear to stop it struggling, then when you do it jolts forward... or you stay in gear and let it try and catch up... but either way, you risk losing your speed ad then it's really not happy.  

I know some of this might be written off as error or lack of skill on my part, but I find on a clear road it's fine and happy at one speed. But in many situations involving real everyday traffic.. I've noticed that's when an otherwise refined and comfortable car becomes a hassle as it's constant working the gears. I've never had this or been frustrated by this in any other car I've owned, and I reckon it's because they had a better job of the gearing for the engine power / size and car size / weight. 

Is this just a sad reality of how they stuck a BMW engine in? Sure it works, but it seems to drag down an otherwise great car. It's taken me a while to work out what was so frustrating about longer journeys and that's it. 

tbh al toyotas must be like that shane . my 2.0 1adftv gearing is the same compared to my other vw  group car i had tbh i kina like the way my older 1.9tdi car drove but with this avensis i think u have to rev the sht out of it to get any half descent moving. nice car and all comfortable but the common rail engine is a bit of getting used to i guess compared to the tdi engines .