2007 Avensis D-4d 2 Litre

[ernie]

Having owned many petrol toyota cars in the past, I decided to purchase a diesel for the first time. I have not been dissapointed! The new engine is truly remarkable and considering the size of the car, it is more than adequate. Fuel consumption has been averaging 46.1 mpg (have now done 1600 miles) and the engine is now loosening up nicely so hopefully the average will increase in the near future. Oil consumption has been nill so far (was a little worried before purchasing as I have previously owned 1.8 litre Avensis with the notorious oil consumption problems!

I have only one question which I am hoping other members may be able to comment. On a cold start, there appears to be a slight whining noise coming from either the gearbox area or perhaps alternator area.

The noise increases and decreases with engine speed and appears to disappear once the engine is hot after say 5-6 miles. Mr T thought it could be the steering box fluid and topped it up - surprising for a new car! It is booked in next week overnight with Mr T so that they can have a listen in the morning but I expect that they will say that it is a carachteristic of the car. I believe I have read elsewhere that some Avensis gearboxes do whine a little although my previous ones were ok.

Apart from this slight problem I am entirely pleased with the car and would certainly reccomend it to anyone thinking of buying one.

[bristolmotorspeedway]

Never noticed any whine on mine (2.2 D4-D, but assume the gearbox is the same).

[Dunkelmann]

Apart from this slight problem I am entirely pleased with the car and would certainly reccomend it to anyone thinking of buying one.

Thanks for this - I'm swithering between the 2 litre and the 2.2. Did you try a 2.2. and if so how do they compare?

[ernie]

Apart from this slight problem I am entirely pleased with the car and would certainly reccomend it to anyone thinking of buying one.

Thanks for this - I'm swithering between the 2 litre and the 2.2. Did you try a 2.2. and if so how do they compare?

Unfortunately the Dealer did not have a 2.2 available for a test drive. I was however more than impressed with the performance of the 2 litre plus the fact that there was only one available for delivery within 10 days that swayed me to purchase + a respectable trade in price.

The car cruises nicely with very little effort at 70 mph. Be careful though as the revs are only ticking over at this speed in 6th gear so be on your guard for speed cameras!

The salesman did say that the 2.2 is slightly faster but I believe there is approx £3000 price difference so you would have to take this into consideration.

Incidentally, I opted for the Toyota door side strips to be fitted which blend in nicely. I have not to date seen any fitted on other Avensis's but your local Toyota Dealer will have photo's of these on his computer.

Hopefully this will save any car park dings.

[bristolmotorspeedway]

The salesman did say that the 2.2 is slightly faster but I believe there is approx £3000 price difference so you would have to take this into consideration.

£3000

That's probably because there is no Colour Collection 2.2? Where the 2.2 is available it's only £500 more than the equivalent spec 2.0 I think. Probably a fair premium because, as you say, there is not a huge difference in the performance figures - about 1sec off the 0-60 I think.

Glad you are enjoying your purchase though

[Shoto]

I was however more than impressed with the performance of the 2 litre plus the fact that there was only one available for delivery within 10 days that swayed me to purchase + a respectable trade in price.

Glad you're enjoying your new car Ernie. I'm surprised by the availability claimed by your dealer. I took delivery of a T180 Tourer in early October, it arrived within 7 days of ordering and I had a reasonable choice of colour. :D

The main thing is that you like your car. I think the Avensis is quite underrated but it's worth looking at because it really is such a nice car. A friend also has a hatchback 2.0 D-4D T Spirit and rates it highly, we are both reasonably 'mature' (ok, we're middle-aged! ) and I wonder if this shows a trait amongst Avensis D-4D owners?

Happy and safe motoring.

[mickey.j]

ernie.

dont know if this is the same problem as yours but i test drove 2 diffrent avensis d4ds and they both had a similar noise which also went when the engine was warmed up.

i belive it sounded like a petrol engine does when it is pinking. as of yet iam still waiting for any comments as a posted this query on the forum today.

the models i drove were very nice 2.2 t3x 5drs not hte 180.too expensive as yet.

fingers crossed.for the answer

[ernie]

ernie.

dont know if this is the same problem as yours but i test drove 2 diffrent avensis d4ds and they both had a similar noise which also went when the engine was warmed up.

i belive it sounded like a petrol engine does when it is pinking. as of yet iam still waiting for any comments as a posted this query on the forum today.

the models i drove were very nice 2.2 t3x 5drs not hte 180.too expensive as yet.

fingers crossed.for the answer

Unfortunately I have not had a chance to drive any other D4D's to compare the noise but I was interested to hear your comments with regard to your two test drives.

I returned my car to Mr T earlier this week so that they could test the car first thing in the morning on a cold start. Guess what? they said that they could find nothing wrong. I suppose that I expected this response! I later spoke to the technician who tested my car and he informed me that the noise was not related in any way to bearings, but was as a result of a modification made to the drive belts on later models to try and eliminate the screeching noise which was as a result of belts slipping in damp/wet weather. I believe he told me that the belt is covered with some type of felt to solve this!

If what he says is correct, I can perhaps understand why the belt slips slightly when the engine is operating at different temperatures as this would cause the type of noise when accelerating and deaccelerating. I would not however say that the noise is similar to the pinking noise of a petrol engine.

Perhaps I am being a little critical on a otherwise fine car but would be interested to hear from any other D4D owners if they are experiencing the same sort of noises. Also any Toyota technicians out there who would like to comment?