Toyota Avensis: go with lower mileage or dealer warranty??

chispa

Hi there,

I'm looking at 2 used 2005 Toyota Avensises (Avenses?), which are very similar in most crucial respects - they cost the same, same model, same age. One has c 50,000 miles on the clock, the other has closer to 70,000. The one with the higher mileage is being sold by a registered Toyota dealer and comes with a one year warranty. The one with the lower mileage has a 3 month warranty from a side-of-the-road kitchen sink sort of dealer.

I'm definitely going to have a vehicle check run on at least one of them before I decide to buy it - but if I only have to fork out for one vehicle check, which is the smarter buy???

Thanks

BrianD3

The one from the Toyota dealer should be the better buy. This is assuming that the car is in good condition and isnt due an expensive job (eg timing belt) that the other car has had done

Atlantic Dawn

Your grand on the timing belt if it's the petrol model as it will be a chain, most of the diesels are chain too and should not need to be replaced.

If your after the 1.6 model it is very underpowered and you should consider the 1.8 petrol or 2 litre diesel instead.

Gophur

1.8 engines were problematic, 1.6 were not.

In all cases this car will suck the will to live out of you. Motoring banality.

mobil

I have a 2005 2.0 litre d4d and it has a timing belt which is recommended to be changed at either 60,000 miles or 105 km. Personally I like the avensis but everybody to their own.

colm_mcm

1.8 problems sorted out by the time the 03 model came out

Gophur

Buy a Mondeo, infinitely better car.

DaveJac

is the much of a price difference are both the same model and spec? id go with the one in Toyota Garage with the years warranty if all was equal, if a car is well looked after milage should not be much of a problem 70k isnt that much in 5 years anyway

mickdw

High possibility of the car at the small seller being clocked also from maybe 90 or 100k miles whereas there is a better chance that the dealer car is genuine. Still needs a history check for sure. 1 year warranty is very useful though

PaulKK

Get the one with the lower mileage, provided both have similar service history and both are in similar condition.

20K miles is more than a years driving for most people, you should be thinking resale value too when you are finished with it.

In fairness, what do you need a warranty on an Avensis for anyway!?

Just use your head and be careful, just because a dealer has a car doesn't mean its better than the small independent guys one.

They aren't my cup of tea but if it floats your boat then work away.

Mr Benevolent

SR180 is supposed to be the Avensis GTI, albeit a diesel GTI.

colm_mcm

SR180 is taxed as 2.3 though. WAY better out there

chispa

Thanks for the tips everyone. The make and model come recommended and I enjoyed the test drive so I'll stick with it. It's a family car: expecting twins in two months! Security and boot size are major factors.

Appreciate your help

MarkR

I have one, good family car I reckon. Eats the miles too. Some may find it boring. I find it very reliable.

What engine are you looking at?

Avns1s

colm_mcm wrote: »

1.8 problems sorted out by the time the 03 model came out

Unfortunately, not correct. I know from experience!!

Leonard Hofstadter

Ours has 189,000 km(117,000 miles) and isn't burning even the slightest drop of oil. The engine in ours hasn't given even the slightest bit of trouble, so I wouldn't be telling someone to avoid the 1.8, especially as that car needs at least a 1.8 and to be honest at times the 1.8 struggles, especially on motorways. A 1.6 would be grossly underpowered in one. The diesel is a much better bet for power, especially the facelifted versions with the 6 speed box.

It is on its second gearbox though; the bearings, cogs and synchros all collapsed, so I wouldn't be overly keen on recommending a Toyota to anyone on the grounds of reliability, especially as gearbox failure is very common on petrol engined Avensis while the diesels have swirl flap failure DMFs and sometimes injector failure to contend with. Currently ours is giving a/c trouble, and the suspension is starting to groan a lot over bumps, so I'm not overly impressed by the so called reliability of the car. Oh and ours is serviced religiously every 15,000 km so it's not like it has been abused.

A Mondeo or a Mazda 6 is a much better car on so many levels. You could do much worse OP than broaden your horizons, to be honest most people who think Toyotas are a good car think VWs are fantastic and Fiats or Peugeots are utter crap, and the reality is that that couldn't be further from the truth.

weekaizer

Would recommend an Avensis any day, i jus bought my second in last fortnight! had a 01 d4d, was 225000 on the clock when i sold it, still running perfect as long as the oil levels were checked every few weeks!, just bought an 03 d4d with 160000 on the clock, it is running like a train. Excellent cars brilliant on diesel and plenty of power at the same time. well equiped, endlessly reliable and hold their value better than most cars:D

I Was VB

The 1.8 are a fairly good, i have one since March of this year and it is a taxi since day one and its still taxiing. The previous owner put a new engine big block under Toyota warranty and a gearbox himself.



That was the last service on it at the start of August, so its coming back to me the end of the month for antother service, think theres about 335K on it now.

delly

Toyota eh, what went wrong?

Boring as they were, the 90's and early '00s ones had a great rep for reliability.

ormond

colm_mcm wrote: »

1.8 problems sorted out by the time the 03 model came out

sorted out by 03 ?more like thats when the problem started
i had a 1.8 estate 2004 dont get me wrong it was a great car but 1litre of oil nearly every 1000 miles .just go on to the toyota owners club and read the stories on the oil consumption issues .