Just Bought An Avensis Ii

[bristolmotorspeedway]

Hi All,

Picked up my new Avensis on Friday, so thought I would pass on my initial thoughts. Took me a long time to decide on this car, having previously had extended test drives in an Accord 2.2 CTDi Executive and a Golf 2.0 GT TDi. The Accord was pretty good, the Golf pretty dire in my opinion. But a quick spin a D4D Avensis convinced me that this was the way to go, the quality and equipment levels at the price seem unbeatable to me. It's my first ever brand new purchase and hopefully I have made the right choice....

Pluses so far:

smooth powerful engine

excellent ride and handling (far better than I had been led to expect by the motoring press)

quiet and comfortable

I actually think it looks quite good, at least from the front

superb climate control

Negatives:

I'm really going to miss the heated front screen that my old Mondeo had

auto lights pretty useless - they don't regard heavy cloud and pouring rain as dark enough!

not too sure that the headlights couldn't be better anyway

And that's it....

[Shoto]

Hi Bristol,

I'm looking to change my car and have tried the 2.2 (150bhp) D4-D Avensis. I found that the auto lights worked fine during heavy rain. The car I tried was a new face-lifted model with only 1200 miles on the clock but I did find the mid-range urge (torque) lacking compared to my current BMW 320d.

I have looked at but not driven the Accord & Passat and on the face of it I think the interiors of the Honda & VW may be nicer than the Avensis. Having said that I note there are a lot of complaints about new Passats on the VW Owners Forum, yet it seems rare to see complaints about recent Avensis cars on this site (big plus point).

I certainly agree with your other comments. Just not sure yet that this is the car to replace my BMW (even though I can't have another BMW due to recent company restrictions).

[bristolmotorspeedway]

Hi Bristol,

I'm looking to change my car and have tried the 2.2 (150bhp) D4-D Avensis. I found that the auto lights worked fine during heavy rain. The car I tried was a new face-lifted model with only 1200 miles on the clock but I did find the mid-range urge (torque) lacking compared to my current BMW 320d.

I have looked at but not driven the Accord & Passat and on the face of it I think the interiors of the Honda & VW may be nicer than the Avensis. Having said that I note there are a lot of complaints about new Passats on the VW Owners Forum, yet it seems rare to see complaints about recent Avensis cars on this site (big plus point).

I certainly agree with your other comments. Just not sure yet that this is the car to replace my BMW (even though I can't have another BMW due to recent company restrictions).

Yes, I'd imagine the 320d has a bit more torque from what I've read - the Avensis is a big step up for me from a 1.8 petrol Mondeo - anything feels like it pulls like a train in comparison :). How about a T180 for you, is that within budget?

I liked the Accord, and the build certainly felt a touch better than the Avensis (the Accord is 'proper' Japanese of course), although I prefer the design of the Avensis interior. I also think the Avensis has a better ride on the motorway. Close run thing all round though, had they been the same price it would have been a tough decision (I'm a private buyer so budget was important and Toyota discounts are a fair bit keener than Honda's).

I never tried a Passat for 3 reasons: 1 the reliability doubts compared with Toyota/Honda; 2 - equipment levels a bit stingy at a given price level; 3 - if it uses the same gearbox as the Golf that I did try I wouldn't want to go near the thing :).

Good luck with your decision.

[Shoto]

Hi again,

Not sure about the T180, waiting to hear from the firm that provides our contract hire deals. A number of things contribute to the monthly cost including residual value, servicing frequency and cost (not forgetting price of car). Seems strange but I can have a £23k Audi A4 Avant 2.0TDi SE, but some cars such as Volvos & Saabs costing less than £22k are excluded due to running costs.

The Honda has 10bhp less than my beemer but has more torque so I'll be interested to try the Accord. Then of course there is the T180 which has considerably more torque.

Enjoy your new car, I'm sure you've made a good choice. ;)