What A Cracker

[m5xas]

Hi everybody - joined the club after picking a silver steel T3x 2.2 150 tourer from the company car list. Got it 3 weeks ago and after 2200 miles think its brill :D . Its sooooo quiet and smooth it makes my previous 115bhp diesel Mondeo zetec and 130bhp Passat sport seem agricultural!! It must be the latest facelift model as it has 17" alloys, the headlights seem brighter? than on the test car but apart from that it seems the same spec as the test car of Feb 07.

Great to see the posts - good club, hope to contribute as time goes by.

[bristolmotorspeedway]

Hi everybody - joined the club after picking a silver steel T3x 2.2 150 tourer from the company car list. Got it 3 weeks ago and after 2200 miles think its brill :D . Its sooooo quiet and smooth it makes my previous 115bhp diesel Mondeo zetec and 130bhp Passat sport seem agricultural!! It must be the latest facelift model as it has 17" alloys, the headlights seem brighter? than on the test car but apart from that it seems the same spec as the test car of Feb 07.

Great to see the posts - good club, hope to contribute as time goes by.

Glad you are enjoying your Avensis, I have the 5dr hatch version of yours, only other difference being that mine has 16" alloys. Just got mine back from the bodyshop today and, after a week of driving a Chevrolet Matiz loan car, I cannot tell you how refined the Avensis feels.

Mine has now done 12.5k in 8 months and I am just as pleased with it as the day I picked it up. I don't think anything comes close to the Avensis for the same money (which is why I bought one in the first place of course!). That's not too say it is perfect, but it is pretty good....

[Berti]

Hi everybody - joined the club after picking a silver steel T3x 2.2 150 tourer from the company car list. Got it 3 weeks ago and after 2200 miles think its brill :D . Its sooooo quiet and smooth it makes my previous 115bhp diesel Mondeo zetec and 130bhp Passat sport seem agricultural!! It must be the latest facelift model as it has 17" alloys, the headlights seem brighter? than on the test car but apart from that it seems the same spec as the test car of Feb 07.

Great to see the posts - good club, hope to contribute as time goes by.

Glad you are enjoying your Avensis, I have the 5dr hatch version of yours, only other difference being that mine has 16" alloys. Just got mine back from the bodyshop today and, after a week of driving a Chevrolet Matiz loan car, I cannot tell you how refined the Avensis feels.

Mine has now done 12.5k in 8 months and I am just as pleased with it as the day I picked it up. I don't think anything comes close to the Avensis for the same money (which is why I bought one in the first place of course!). That's not too say it is perfect, but it is pretty good....

Just joined the club after taking delivery of a Silver Steel 2.0 D-4d T3x Avensis Tourer on Friday 11th May. Have had two successive Citroen Zsarra Picasso's over the last 6 years - the last one a 2.0 HDi - not bad for the money but having owned a Toyota 1.6 Corolla Liftback in the 1980's [most reliable car I ever had!] I just kept fancying another Toyota. So far I am well impressed. Like it's been said - it's not perfect ......... but it's a pretty classy act - smooth, nippy, good level of spec, and plenty of space. In my view, a considerable cut above your Mondeo's and Vectra's!

[bristolmotorspeedway]

.... having owned a Toyota 1.6 Corolla Liftback in the 1980's [most reliable car I ever had!] I just kept fancying another Toyota.

The build quality of the cars Toyota were churning out of their Japanese factories in the late 80s was simply outstanding . My Dad's first Jap car, and the first car I ever drove, was an 87D Corolla 1.3 bought at 3 mths old. He still talks about how good it was! Next he bought (new) a 91J Corolla 1.3 - the design that came out in 87/88. He kept that until late 1997. The 87 one had a new exhaust back-box fitted, the 91 one needed nothing, repeat nothing, not even pads, in over 50k miles and seemingly did not age at all.

My Mum has had two of each of those designs and still has a (different to the one above) 91J 1.3 Auto. It's only done around 43k and is immaculate bar a slightly leaky sunroof. It feels a newer car than the 00X Mondeo I replaced last year and mechanically still feels like it could go on for ever. They really don't make them like that any more.....

Unfortunately, the strong yen meant the Japanese had to start cutting back on quality slightly early in the 1990s (decontenting was the buzzword of the time) and I am afraid that the Euro 'transplants' do not match the 80s quality either. (Not knocking any Burnaston workers :) , it's simply that quality is no longer the priority that it was in late 80s Japan.)

Nostalgia moment over, for now :!Removed!:

EDIT - Oh, and I forgot to welcome you on board....enjoy your Avensis :D

[Berti]

[[EDIT - Oh, and I forgot to welcome you on board....enjoy your Avensis :D]

Thanks for the welcome! I am enjoying my Avensis but with just one small concern. Today I had occasion to stop fairly sharply for the first time and I thought that I had to stand on the brakes a bit hard! On closer examination later - with car stopped & engine running/hand brake off - there was about 1 1/2+ inches [ 4 cms] of travel in the pedal before resistance is felt and then it's a bit spongy. Now it's still early days as the car has only done 260 miles so things might be bedding in BUT IS THIS NORMAL?? It's the first time I've noticed it and if there is normally some fair amount of travel in the pedal then that may explain it. Problem is that on my Citroen I just had to touch the brakes and a firm resistance was there with virtually no pedal travel.