Buying Tips On An Avensis

February 18, 2005

Hi Ladies and Gents

I discovered and joined the club today having justb purchased an 10month old Avensis D4D T Spirit.

I had a good buying experience at my local dealer in York, courteous, efficient and keen to get a deal, not like the Swansea dealer described by one contributor.

I too have been seduced by the prospect of having lots of toys and also leather trim and I have been interested to read about the road noise issues with the 17" wheels - hopefully some Pink Floyd (showing my age now) played through the sound system will make all other sounds vanish.

I am thinking about having a 6CD autochanger fitted but would prefer not to spend the £350+ on a Toyota dealer fit unit. Can anyone offer some advice / experience on decent makes, models and places to buy such an item.

I am also considering getting some mud flaps as my commute is on country B roads. Notice any discussion is ongoing about these, but again any comments and experiences would be most welcome.

By the way Silver Steel is undoubtedly the fastest colour :)

Cheers

Glyn

York

February 18, 2005

I'm about to get another Avensis having had a 2.0 litre for 2 years & 20k miles. The niggles I've had I put down to the car being an early model - some rattles from the dash, a buzz from 5th gear and squeaks from the front brakes. The only major fault was a misfire and flat spot around 2000 revs which the dealer took a few goes to fix. The performance is otherwise good and pretty quiet.

Economy is fair. 25ish in town, 38ish on a motorway, 40ish on a gentler run. It does drop alarmingly in town in cold weather though. My 1.8 Carina used to beat those figures easily.

The ride is a bit on the jiggly side with 17in wheels and low profiles but the good seats compensate and there isn't much roll to upset passengers. The road noise is irritating especially on concrete carriageways. That's the penalty for having those wheels and tyres. I found the steering a bit heavy in town after the Carina, however it is direct and you get used to it.

Overall it's a good package and the new one should have the niggles ironed out I hope.

February 18, 2005

One other thought on this topic has just occurred to me - my Avensis is a 4 door and I find the boot aperture restricting as I am neither 6ft tall nor especially agile. It only becomes obvious when you want to put something heavy and/or bulky just behind the seats. So my next Avensis will be a 5 door.

February 18, 2005

I am amazed that car makers still make 'boot' cars in the family range as I just do not see them as being practical.

I am even more amazed that the likes of BMW and VW, with the Passat, do not offer hatches. Honda are now doing the same with the Accord. Perhaps they think that hatches are 'downmarket'. Frankly, when I look at cars with boots I think just how impractical they are.

March 23, 2005

I'm about to upgrade to a new Avensis as a company car, just awaiting delivery, expected Early May, I test drove both the Mazda and the Mondeo as well before deciding, although in each case for me it was diesel only, company policy. I found the Mazda to be quite 'entertaining' to drive, eminently chuckable, similar to my present Focus, but as others, found the interior trim a bit lacking, and those red dials and controls....yeuk. Mondeo was quite nice, but bland, bland, bland, so many on the road. Avensis was slowest of the three, in diesel form, but distinctive, nice toys, well screwed together, and in Kielder green, quite unusual.

So there's my 2 bobs worth. Nice forum BTW, hope I gonna be able to contribute something useful in the future!

Mkuk0

March 23, 2005

Got my Avensis T4 D4D on the 1st and have just under 1000 miles on the clock. This is my third Avensis, other Toyotas before that for the last 30 years and I can say this one is the best so far.

Still leaning about Diesel, its the first one I have had and when you get it warm and on the motorway it is very good.

Yes I would agree that the road noise off the 17" wheels is high, the handbook states this.

The MPG seems around what is stated, will be checking this on a run up to York on Thursday for the weekend then back down here on Monday.

Has anyone worked out how to use the Power Heater switch ?