Avensis Hidden Features

Gumbo

Hi Guys, Just picked up a 2005 Avensis D4D T-Spirit Saloon yesterday in England.

im just wondering, is there any features on the car as the way BMW would have the window closing feature by holding the close button, the follow me home lights by flashing the fogs etc etc

thanks very much, and heres some pics if you wana have a goo :

E92

kceire wrote: »

is there any features on the car as the way BMW would have the window closing feature by holding the close button, the follow me home lights by flashing the fogs etc etc

Lovely Avensis. Pity Toyota don't sell more high spec ones here(instead Toyota choose to equip our cars with SFA) like that T Spirit model.

To answer your question, the Avensis doesn't have Car/Key memory as standard. It's very comprehensive apart from that though equipment wise.

JHMEG

Nice car... What's that thing that looks like a button on the side of the driver's door armrest?

E92

JHMEG wrote: »

Nice car... What's that thing that looks like a button on the side of the driver's door armrest?

Fuel release. Another completely useless piece of info is that if that button doesn't work, there is a little strap on the left hand side of the boot(by the wheelarch intrusion) which you can give a tug and the fuel door opens then:p.

Stevie Dakota

It has a neat feature whereby once you lock it in a high rise carpark, it become invisible to all, including the owner. Only by plipping the alarm will you have any chance of locating it!

Only kidding, looks like you got a good one. Best of luck.

JHMEG

E92 wrote: »

Fuel release.

Ah right. Doesn't look ergonomic.. are you supposed to press it with the side of your leg?

Gumbo

cheers guys, the only things i can fault the car on at the moment is :

1. i would of liked a sunroof.
2. rear parking sensors would of been helpful.
3. memory seats would be excellent!!! they are electric so not much extra effort would of been needed to supply memory function.

the car cost me :

Car : €9979
VRT : €6819
Flights for 2 : €160
Boat for 2 + car : €189
Spending : €132
Reg Plates : €20

Total : €17,300

hopefully i done ok.

fletch

JHMEG wrote: »

Ah right. Doesn't look ergonomic.. are you supposed to press it with the side of your leg?

I suppose the idea is that you will have to open the door in order to fill up, in which case it should be easy enough to press.

Gumbo

fletch wrote: »

I suppose the idea is that you will have to open the door in order to fill up, in which case it should be easy enough to press.

its actually grand, you dont hit it by mistake or anything, weird place to put it alright but ok.

Biro

As with nearly all recent jap cars, if you press the lock button on the key, then press it a 2nd time within 3 or 4 seconds it will activate the deadlocks.

Gumbo

Biro wrote: »

As with nearly all recent jap cars, if you press the lock button on the key, then press it a 2nd time within 3 or 4 seconds it will activate the deadlocks.

yeah, thats the only one i have found so far, do you know if the alarm still functions as normal with the deadlocks?

Biro

kceire wrote: »

yeah, thats the only one i have found so far, do you know if the alarm still functions as normal with the deadlocks?

Yep. You can check this by deadlocking it and putting the key in the door and unlocking it.

bazz26

Nice car, I had one of those but it didn't have such a high spec, had the same alloy wheels though. Found them to be a great car.

There are not alot of hidden features to be honest. but check out some of the Toyota owner's club forums for some pointers.

One thing I had done was to have the electrically retractable wing mirrors to fold automatically when the car was locked via the fob. The guy that fitted my alarm at the time got this to work. One of the forums might know the technique for this.

Regarding the fuel filler release on the inside of the door, actually in 4 and a half years I never accidently hit it. You just press the button once you are out of the car and the filler pops open.

Also I'm surprised you found a saloon version in the UK as 99.9% of them sold there are hatchbacks.

Best of luck with it.

Gumbo

bazz26 wrote: »

Nice car, I had one of those but it didn't have such a high spec, had the same alloy wheels though. Found them to be a great car.

There are not alot of hidden features to be honest. but check out some of the Toyota owner's club forums for some pointers.

One thing I had done was to have the electrically retractable wing mirrors to fold automatically when the car was locked via the fob. The guy that fitted my alarm at the time got this to work. One of the forums might know the technique for this.

Regarding the fuel filler release on the inside of the door, actually in 4 and a half years I never accidently hit it. You just press the button once you are out of the car and the filler pops open.

Also I'm surprised you found a saloon version in the UK as 99.9% of them sold there are hatchbacks.

Best of luck with it.

i was searching for 3 weeks to find a saloon, found 3 and the other 2 were sold by the time i rang them! 2 of them were the same colour (charcoal) and the other was silver, glad i went for the charcoal now

tw0nk

congrats on car. Looks to be a beauty! Vrt was heavy enough though. I'm thinking about buying in the uk post July. May I ask what resources you used to find car and which port did you bring it back through? Thanks in advance

Tipsy Mac

Nice motor, if you dont mind me asking how did u manage to pay for it, cash or card etc and how did u insure it for the trip back. I'm heading over myself in a month or so but the whole payment and insurance is wrecking my head, ideally I would like to fly over, stay overnight, sort out insurance and payment and drive home first thing next day. Big problem with the insurance is trying to sort it without actually knowing if the car(s) your looking at are what you want to buy.

Gumbo

tw0nk wrote: »

congrats on car. Looks to be a beauty! Vrt was heavy enough though. I'm thinking about buying in the uk post July. May I ask what resources you used to find car and which port did you bring it back through? Thanks in advance

heavy but still nice savings to be had, i bought the car in birmingham and drove to Holyhead and got the irish ferries boat back to east wall.

Gumbo

Tipsy Mac wrote: »

Nice motor, if you dont mind me asking how did u manage to pay for it, cash or card etc and how did u insure it for the trip back. I'm heading over myself in a month or so but the whole payment and insurance is wrecking my head, ideally I would like to fly over, stay overnight, sort out insurance and payment and drive home first thing next day. Big problem with the insurance is trying to sort it without actually knowing if the car(s) your looking at are what you want to buy.

i knew what car i was buying so i told my insurance company on the friday to transfer it on subday morning at 9am to the english reg of the car.

i also paid a deposit for them to hold the car for me of 200 pound on the credit card then when i got there i paid the balance with an AIB Sterling bank draft. whatever garage your buying from, ring to confirm they will accept a draft, and tell ask them what irish banks are in their system to accept.

congo_90

Biro wrote: »

Yep. You can check this by deadlocking it and putting the key in the door and unlocking it.

Excuse my ignorance but what is dead locking?

ninty9er

congo_90 wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance but what is dead locking?

It means the locks effectively die...so even if someone breaks into the car they won't be able to use the buttons to open the doors.

colm_mcm

I've thought of one, you can manually lock the boot with the key, there's a keyhole hidden beside the right hand number plate light, turn it to the left to lock.

handy if you have something valuable in the boot, as normally if the central locking is unlocked anyone can open the boot from the outside.

I think you can also lock the rear seats from inside the boot on your car, there are 2 sliding catches on the back of the seats. handy again if you don't want someone to get into the boot, even if they smash a window and climb through.

Profiler

kceire wrote: »

the car cost me :

Car : €9979
VRT : €6819

:eek: holy feck the VRT is 68.3% of the purchase price... is that normal

bazz26

Profiler wrote: »

:eek: holy feck the VRT is 68.3% of the purchase price... is that normal

VRT is valued at a percentage of the OMSP or Open Market Selling Price, in other words the price the VRO value the car to be worth over here, not what was paid for it abroad.

I'd image the extras on it such as the leather heated electric seats, Satnav, etc bumped up the price a nice bit too.

Profiler

bazz26 wrote: »

VRT is valued at a percentage of the OMSP or Open Market Selling Price, in other words the price the VRO value the car to be worth over here, not what was paid for it abroad.

I'd image the extras on it such as the leather heated electric seats, Satnav, etc bumped up the price a nice bit too.

:rolleyes:shocking... and aren't we the only country in Europe who gets that charged by the government

ninty9er

Profiler wrote: »

:rolleyes:shocking... and aren't we the only country in Europe who gets that charged by the government

Nope, there's at least 3 others that get charged similar or more.

HJL

Nice motor OP, they are a lovely car.
Were you not tempted into leaving it till after June to clear the car?
Thats what i would have done, even if it mean it was to sit in a garage for 7 weeks.

bazz26

Profiler wrote: »

:rolleyes:shocking... and aren't we the only country in Europe who gets that charged by the government

I reckon the OP meant that he bought it for GB£9k rather than euros.

Afaik the likes of Denmark and a few other countries have something similar to VRT but not as extreme as ourselves.

ninty9er

HJL wrote: »

Nice motor OP, they are a lovely car.
Were you not tempted into leaving it till after June to clear the car?
Thats what i would have done, even if it mean it was to sit in a garage for 7 weeks.

Quite true. I missed the D4-D until I read this post.

AntiVirus

The car looks pretty good in that colour, haven't seen many in that colour driving about.

congo_90

Ah i know what ya mean now. my mas car has it.
(sorry for hyjacking)

colm_mcm

A chrome rear garnish would look very smart on that car.



Available form Toyota dealers.

Gumbo

bazz26 wrote: »

VRT is valued at a percentage of the OMSP or Open Market Selling Price, in other words the price the VRO value the car to be worth over here, not what was paid for it abroad.

I'd image the extras on it such as the leather heated electric seats, Satnav, etc bumped up the price a nice bit too.[/QUOTE]

not at all, because they are standard items on the T-Spirit model, and the vrt was calculated on the basis of a T-Spirit model, no extras wrote on the sheet and no visual inspection.

Gumbo

HJL wrote: »

Nice motor OP, they are a lovely car.
Were you not tempted into leaving it till after June to clear the car?
Thats what i would have done, even if it mean it was to sit in a garage for 7 weeks.

would of made no difference to me at all, you see the car is a taxi, so if i waited until just the VRT would of dropped from 30% to 24%, so it only meant a saving of circa 1400 euro, sure i will earn that between noww and then so it would of being no difference tbh.

if it was a personal import and going to be used as a family car then yeah, i would of stored it until july.

Gumbo

colm_mcm wrote: »

A chrome rear garnish would look very smart on that car.



Available form Toyota dealers.

had one of them on my old 2002 civic, looked really well. you say available at the dealers.....i will be ringing them tomorrow, thanks colm.

ps. any idea on price?

colm_mcm

I never actually paid for one! I think they're around €80. they're dead easy to fit as well.

ankles

Does anyone know the impact on resale values of having a car with mph instead of kilometres on the speedo? Was thinking of importing an Alfa but not sure how sellable it would be in say 3 years or so

colm_mcm

To be fair, if resale is an issue for you you probably shouldn't be looking at an Alfa.
The fact that it's UK rather than the clocks will go against the car, but if it's a high spec model like the OP's then you'll always get a buyer.

Gumbo

ankles wrote: »

Does anyone know the impact on resale values of having a car with mph instead of kilometres on the speedo? Was thinking of importing an Alfa but not sure how sellable it would be in say 3 years or so

well it wouldnt put me off buying a car, but i cant talk for the general public. if its looked after, well serviced and its up for sale against a km reading car in worse condition then i would buy the mph reading car.

theres so many more important factors when buying a used car than what the speedo reads in imo

Nuttzyy

Was it bought for £9000 or E9000?
Best of luck with it by the way, nice colour.

ankles

I was looking at say a 1 year old 159. At that stage they've been caned on depreciation in the UK but a good spec model here is still the guts of €40k. The maths gives you a saving of something like €10k. I'll look after it I promise.:D

HJL

ankles wrote: »

Does anyone know the impact on resale values of having a car with mph instead of kilometres on the speedo? Was thinking of importing an Alfa but not sure how sellable it would be in say 3 years or so

Interesting question actually, wouldnt bother me, in fact id sooner MPH, when i see a sign i just know its MPH equalivant and go by that. My eyes see a 100 sign and my mind sees a 60 MPH sign. Maybe is because im left handed, and use the left side of my brain more!

Isnt it dangerous that newer cars only have KPH, shouldnt they have MPH in small writting for driving in the North and UK? Or do they actually have that? You can tell i dont drive an older car!!

jaybee747

Some hidden features or maybe not hidden.

Jam protection on all windows,anything gets stuck between the window while closing it'll open straight back up,handy little safety feature.
Voice activated radio,check your manual on how to use,couldnt get it to work myself.
And if you submerge your car in water all the windows apperently open,havent tested this one...

JHMEG

HJL wrote: »

Isnt it dangerous that newer cars only have KPH, shouldnt they have MPH in small writting for driving in the North and UK? Or do they actually have that? You can tell i dont drive an older car!!

Do older cars have mph in smaller writing for driving in the North and UK?

OP, since jaybee747 mentioned safetly, look at the bonnet hinges and the construction of the bonnet. In a head on collision it's designed to get hooked at the bottom of the windscreen and buckle in half rather than come through the windscreen, decapititing the occupants. Nice.

HJL

JHMEG wrote: »

Do older cars have mph in smaller writing for driving in the North and UK?

I meant to say 'you can tell i drive an older car', not dont drive one.
Should really read things before i submit them!

The questions i was asking, was do newer cars just have Kms on them? Or do they have MPH as well in small writting, kind of like the opposite of the older style of MPH and Kms in small writting beside them?

I could have swore i was in a new Opel and only saw one set of numbers.

tossy

Biro wrote: »

As with nearly all recent jap cars, if you press the lock button on the key, then press it a 2nd time within 3 or 4 seconds it will activate the deadlocks.

Something ze germans have been doing for years even on lowly 1.4 golfs :rolleyes:

apparently there is soul and character hidden in there somewhere but no noe has ever found it! :pac::eek::D only joking :cool:

Nice car,good to see an avensis thats a little different!

Gumbo

bazz26 wrote: »

I reckon the OP meant that he bought it for GB£9k rather than euros.

Afaik the likes of Denmark and a few other countries have something similar to VRT but not as extreme as ourselves.

nope mate, as i said on page one, all prices are in euros :

Car : €9979
VRT : €6819
Flights for 2 : €160
Boat for 2 + car : €189
Spending : €132
Reg Plates : €20

Total : €17,300

Gumbo

Nuttzyy wrote: »

Was it bought for £9000 or E9000?
Best of luck with it by the way, nice colour.

euros, after conversion, the sterling cost me 9979 euros

bazz26

kceire wrote: »

nope mate, as i said on page one, all prices are in euros :

Car : €9979
VRT : €6819
Flights for 2 : €160
Boat for 2 + car : €189
Spending : €132
Reg Plates : €20

Total : €17,300

Still a sweet price for the spec compared to what is available here.

E92

ankles wrote: »

Does anyone know the impact on resale values of having a car with mph instead of kilometres on the speedo?

Woluldn't put me off a car in the slightest if the speedo was in mph. I drive a car that's in mph anyway and it's never bothered me that the dominat reading is in mph.

Any driver worth their salt should know what the car (s)he's driving feels like at different speeds anyway, you shouldn't have to be gawking at the speedo every 2 seconds to see how fast you're going.