It's Mine, Finally Mine

[Smart Jims Toy]

It's felt like torture, but I finally collected my car today :D :D :D

The dealership (Inchcape Toyota, Basingstoke) had enormous trouble locating a 1.8 T3-x auto within my budget, so I finally agreed, after some negotiating in the price to take a 2.0 - and I'm very happy.

It's a dream to drive - I understand why some people speak about the intrusion of road noise - it's not that bad, but with the engine noise so well suppressed it only makes this one stand out. A little tip = play the Maroon 5 album at vol 25> and you won't care about anything else!!!

I can see that the black paint will be a beggar to keep pristine, but I'll spend more time driving it than looking at it B)

Oh well, back to work tomorrow, so normality reigns again :(

At least it'll get a good run down to Devon in just over a weeks time (got the kids a portable dvd player to keep them quiet during the journey :)

James (one very satisfied Avensis owner)

p.s. top marks to Karen at the dealership for all her efforts.

[Roytoner]

Get some pic's up..

[Tawse57]

Congratulations - hope you enjoy.

Out of interest, what did you do? Did you buy a new one, a secondhand one, a pre-registered deal one, what exactly?

Did the dealer go and locate the car for you? Did they get it in for you and you were able to look at it before you purchased or put down a desposit? Or did they want a 'if we get it you must buy it' Ford direct type agreement? How much was your budget and how much did you pay?

It would be realy helpful to know this. Thanks.

[Zz24hours]

great .. congrats on your car :-)

looking forward to getting that same feeling soon :-P

[runboy]

Congrats, and welcome to 2.0litre Auto Avensis ownership-ain't it sweet!!!

[Airbag]

Congrats, and welcome to 2.0litre Auto Avensis ownership-ain't it sweet!!!

←

A 2.0 Litre auto? In black? (envy) Doh, mine's only a 1.8. But I'm sure you'll like it, mine's been sweet from day 1 with no problems. Congrats on the car and I hope it looks after you well.

[Smart Jims Toy]

Congratulations - hope you enjoy.

Out of interest, what did you do? Did you buy a new one, a secondhand one, a pre-registered deal one, what exactly?

Did the dealer go and locate the car for you? Did they get it in for you and you were able to look at it before you purchased or put down a desposit? Or did they want a 'if we get it you must buy it' Ford direct type agreement? How much was your budget and how much did you pay?

It would be realy helpful to know this. Thanks.

←

I was originally after a 1.8 T3-x since (apart from the good standard of spec) I wanted an economical car for my journeys to work & back - M3 j6-j4a & back. I told the dealer I had a £12k budget which included a low mileage V reg Merc A160 (wife's car which she's hated from day 1) and a 51 reg Smart City Coupe (don't knock em until you've driven one). :) They also gave me very good px values for both,

They struggled to get me an example from within the Inchcape Group (although Toyota's approved car section showed at least 3-5 on a regular basis). This went on for just over 2 weeks, at which point we discussed looking at the 2.0l version. They offered me a choice of 2 in immediate stock <_< - Silver Fern with 11,000 miles and Metropolis Grey with 13,000 miles, both marked up at £12,995.

I opted for the S.F. and because I'd been harping on about economy, they not only knocked £400 off the initial price, but gave me a further £250 as a contribution to my 'increased fuel costs'. Unfortunately, due to a clerical error it turned out a deposit had already been on the car so I was back to square one & I didn't fancy the grey (colour, not import) version.

By chance, back at work & on the web, I found their sister dealership in Guildford had a black one with 10,400 miles recorded and a few £hundred less. They got it shipped to Basingstoke. I viewed it (couldn't drive as it was on the workshop lift mid-way through the RAC approved inspection and service), agreed on a price and yesterday took delivery!!!!!!!!!!

The car is a Toyota GB owned vehicle, covered completed the 10k miles in the first 7 months, got serviced and put aside/stored. It has therefore only covered 50 miles since last May. All told, I went over my original budget by only £200 (+ road tax). My only other cost is a 3yr Invoice Price Protection insurance product that tops up the market value of the car to match my original purchase price, should the car be written off.

It's an absolute dream to drive. Nice solid feel about it. Excellent sound system, but will be a pain in the a*se to keep looking clean.

Jim

[Tawse57]

Thanks, excellent info. So, basically for 12K you have got a one year old car with 10K on the clock. What is that, a saving of about 4K from new?

[runboy]

Thanks, excellent info. So, basically for 12K you have got a one year old car with 10K on the clock. What is that, a saving of about 4K from new?

←

I think the list on my 2.0 auto T3-X with metallic was over £18k. Didn't pay that of course!

Dont forget auto is a £1k option!

[Smart Jims Toy]

I've got the January 2005 price list in front of me here.

T3-x sal/hatch 2.0 VVT-i 4spd seq. auto £18,145 otr (5spd man is a grand less). Add in metallic paint @ £325 inc. VAT, you'd be looking at a price tag of £18,470 before you start any negotiating.

On this basis, I'm more than happy to have someone else rack up the first 10k, if it saves me 1/3 of the original price!! :D

Jim

[Tawse57]

I was just looking at the 1 year old depreciation estimate in Whatcar for a 1.8 T3 with 10 - 12K on the clock and it is BELOW 10K but nearly every Toyota dealer I look at, via their website, wants about 12.5K. I'll get my coat.

Interestingly, Toyota have brought their diesels prices down to about £750 more for a diesel T3, (In last month's Whatcar they had a diesel review which said that Avensis diesels actually fall more in price than the petrol ones.), so, in theory, the diesels at 1 year old should be below 12K also. What I think the figures are showing that a BRAND NEW Avensis today will be at those figures in a year the way the current market is going... if that makes any sense.

A 7.5k saving for a 1 yr old car - WOW! (I notice top of the range Mondeo TDCis drop a similar amount also to about 12K after a year!).

[Zz24hours]

grasp yourselves

The Danish equivelant of the T3X Diesel Wagon is ... hold on .. £37.500! including metallic, not auto

Just signed for one .. due to certain circumstances and fleet owners discount, I got it at £32.000 though, 0km on it

You think your wait has been long .. I'll be waiting for 2 months

[runboy]

I was just looking at the 1 year old depreciation estimate in Whatcar for a 1.8 T3 with 10 - 12K on the clock and it is BELOW 10K but nearly every Toyota dealer I look at, via their website, wants about 12.5K. I'll get my coat.

Interestingly, Toyota have brought their diesels prices down to about £750 more for a diesel T3, (In last month's Whatcar they had a diesel review which said that Avensis diesels actually fall more in price than the petrol ones.), so, in theory, the diesels at 1 year old should be below 12K also. What I think the figures are showing that a BRAND NEW Avensis today will be at those figures in a year the way the current market is going... if that makes any sense.

A 7.5k saving for a 1 yr old car - WOW! (I notice top of the range Mondeo TDCis drop a similar amount also to about 12K after a year!).

←

The price in What Car?-is that the price YOU would get from the dealer at trade-in? I think they are (the blue pages at the back of What Car? with cars, years, miles). So they will be a lot lower-that's how those good old dealers make so much money.

I think there is more money in used than new-Toyota cut prices to the bone, so dealer margins are also low. But used, where else can you take in a car at £10k, spend even £500 for prep and sell it for £12k clear (possibly put it out at £12.5 so the customer can haggle £500 off and feel good!).

I got £8700 for my Corolla when I traded it in for the Avensis. It had some damage that would cost £200 to fix, so I reckon at £9k they had the car ready for sale...at £10k, so I reckon a good £800-£900 profit for them, plus a bit on the Avensis I bought. They did well enough out of me!

[Tawse57]

I've been searching Toyota's online used car database for the South Wales/Bristol area and all I seem to get is 1.8 manual petrols advertised for between 12 and 13K. If you want the manual 2.0 or the 1.8 or 2.0 in auto then the price shoots up.

Are these prices about right? Seems some of you got 1.8 or 2.0 autos for less?

[runboy]

Could be supply and demand-most of the Toyota cars are managers/staff cars, so they go mid range and no more (plenty of 1.8 man t3-x_.

When we were thinking of a used 2.0 auto, there were 3 on the database, and when we put an offer in on two, they had already gone (and we didn't like the third!). SO maybe they command a higher price as so few around. Even the dealers don't have many auto demos-only one at our dealership network.

[Tawse57]

Interestingly, I got an email from Toyota this morning of quite a few 1.8 T3-X manuals, some even 2004, for less than 12K. Again, none in my area but it looks like the prices are falling further.

Alot of fleet cars will probably come on the market in March when the fleets change some of their cars.. so will continue looking...

[glyn_smith]

Just done a deal at the main dealer in York and paid £16K for a 9 month old 10000mile D4D T Spirit, including 6 months RFL and a set of roof bars (got 2 under 5's so have a Thule Roof box).

The car was sourced through the dealer network and should arrive in a week or so, can't wait.

Considered buying a new T3-X via the internet, but finally went for the top spec and £5K+ off list. If you are thinking of buying new should checkout www.broadspeed.com.

Nice to be able to say my local dealer has been really good.

[Tawse57]

You forgot to tell people the most important thing - what colour is it? :P