Silver Avensis. Ireland most common car?

Hogzy

On my way out of Cork City center last night I passed a taxi rank and noticed of the 8 cars parked there 7 of them were Silver Toyota Avensis'. The last car was a silver Corolla :rolleyes:
Drove back to Douglas which is about a 4 mile drive and counted another 13 Silver avensis most of which were not taxis.

Why the hell is the silver avensis so bloody common. I drove the avensis a few years ago and didnt think it compared in anyway to a Mondeo, Passat or a Peugeot 407 (all of which iv driven, used to work with Budget Car Rental)

Has anybody else noticed how common the Silver Avensis is?

EDIT: There are 2 visible silver avensis out my window. This could be the beginning of some serious paranoia :P

ShadowHearth

Well Irish obsession with Toyota is your answer.

Then people had few extra quid so they bought bigger cars like avensis. Soon therecwill be only corrolas and yaris as that is the only yokes that being bought brand new

megapixel

I just put a thread up asking about buying a new avensis(diesel) and its silver but so is my old one..:D

pcardin

...and not only cars. Look at the houses all around Ireland. All the same. Copy - Paste, Copy - Paste, .....

johndaman66

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Then people had few extra quid so they bought bigger cars like avensis.

Or were more easily willing (able) to buy cars or whatever on credit if you do feel the need to generalise....

johndaman66

pcardin wrote: »

Look at the houses all around Ireland. All the same. Copy - Paste, Copy - Paste, .....

A lot of that is probably more to do with planning more than anything. Would have been pretty difficult if not impossible to get planning for whatever takes your fancy. A debate for another forum no doubt

kermitpwee

Background to it is the Carina 2 which was very reliable and so is the corolla 92-97 got people interested in the brand. Then when the Carina E came out in 92 it was the most technolicically advanced car in its class. Mechanics at the time didnt know how they worked! As a result toyota built up a image of reliability and the middle classes bought them in droves.


Why silver? Silver was claimed to be the 'New Black' in the last decade and eveyone was told that you will selll a silver car on quicker.

megapixel

Silver hides dirt really well.

Buffman

Even the guards have silver ones now, could be something to this theory!!!:D

Photo from ES forum.

ShadowHearth

johndaman66 wrote: »

Or were more easily willing (able) to buy cars or whatever on credit if you do feel the need to generalise....

well i did not tryed to be a dick here... just the thing i would think of first.

people in ireland love toyotas, it was not so bad at that time to have a 1.8++ car, tax was not so idiotic as these days. so i presume poeple just bought them as it was good bargain: toyotas good name, resell value, quality etc.

Even with all that noise about toyotas faulty pedals it still managed to sell a huge ammount of cars here. Moust of them are smaller class cars, as those are cheaper to run.

C4Kid

Exactly what I was thinking Op,There seems to be these days and Like You can't see the attration imo. I'm in cork as well and Douglas was full of them last night.

Two neighbours of mine have identical silver avensis !

dr.fuzzenstein

pcardin wrote: »

...and not only cars. Look at the houses all around Ireland. All the same. Copy - Paste, Copy - Paste, .....

True.
It's the Celtic Tiger.
Everyone used to have Corolla's, having money meant upgrading to an Avensis with (and this is crucial) the latest numberplate.
Here, you don't replace the car because it's old, you just buy a new one because the numberplate ran out.
And this being Ireland, Heaven Forbid you might do anything different than anyone else!
You have to have your kids in the right school have the right friends, be onboard with the community and go to the right church.
Your house has to look the same as everyone else's with the same furniture and plants in the garden.
And don't forget to holiday in Spain like everyone else, what, you think you're better than us?
It's for the same reason that every shop carries the same stock at exactly the same price.
Just watch any shops that open that look different, or sell different goods, no matter if they're better or cheaper. That shop will fail within a year.
If you now would do something that is considered subversive and suspect (i.e. buy an Alfa or worse), you would be ostracised and shunned, your friends would avoid you and you would be barred at the pub.
Your kids won't be welcome at (hurling, rugby, football) anymore and at church you will be stared at and there will be whispering behind your back.
You can have a a VW or Ford at a push, but you're already being watched.
And if you have a Prius?
We're onto you, you pinko, lefty bastard!:D

partyatmygaff

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

True.
It's the Celtic Tiger.
Everyone used to have Corolla's, having money meant upgrading to an Avensis with (and this is crucial) the latest numberplate.
Here, you don't replace the car because it's old, you just buy a new one because the numberplate ran out.
And this being Ireland, Heaven Forbid you might do anything different than anyone else!
You have to have your kids in the right school have the right friends, be onboard with the community and go to the right church.
Your house has to look the same as everyone else's with the same furniture and plants in the garden.
And don't forget to holiday in Spain like everyone else, what, you think you're better than us?
It's for the same reason that every shop carries the same stock at exactly the same price.
Just watch any shops that open that look different, or sell different goods, no matter if they're better or cheaper. That shop will fail within a year.
If you now would do something that is considered subversive and suspect (i.e. buy an Alfa or worse), you would be ostracised and shunned, your friends would avoid you and you would be barred at the pub.
Your kids won't be welcome at (hurling, rugby, football) anymore and at church you will be stared at and there will be whispering behind your back.
You can have a a VW or Ford at a push, but you're already being watched.
And if you have a Prius?
We're onto you, you pinko, lefty bastard!:D

Pfft...

You commoners with your Toyotas. The only cars that could have ever set tyre south of the Liffey were German.

johndaman66

ShadowHearth wrote: »

well i did not tryed to be a dick here... just the thing i would think of first.

I wasn't intending to be a dick about it either ShadowHearth;). Just felt an urge to correct you on that particular part of your post as there is quite a difference in buying a car with a few extra quid you have knocking about and taking out a finance plan to buy a motor, which many do or at least did...not that theres anything wrong with borrowing within your means either.

dr.fuzzenstein

Brother in law just bought an Avensis...
(queue music from Twilight Zone)

Eric Cartman

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Well Irish obsession with Toyota is your answer.

Then people had few extra quid so they bought bigger cars like avensis. Soon therecwill be only corrolas and yaris as that is the only yokes that being bought brand new

please dont use the word big or bigger next to an avensis , one of the worlds smaller saloon cars and a small car overall with small engines

PaulKK

Hogzy wrote: »

On my way out of Cork City center last night I passed a taxi rank and noticed of the 8 cars parked there 7 of them were Silver Toyota Avensis'. The last car was a silver Corolla :rolleyes:
.....

This is the reason. I lived in Cork for 4 years and it seems Cork people are obsessed with Toyota.

I know they are popular most places but they are unbelievably popular there. Nearly everyone has a Toyota down there.

G Luxel

a lot of the previous avensis were saloons, whereas the taxi ranks u talk about are mostly 2nd-hand UK hatchbacks....but the avensis is still a popular car...

Yakult

I was leaving Tralee once, on the way out of the town there were 2 Avensis' infront of me and one behind me. We then caught up with another group of cars down the road low and behold ANOTHER Avensis. So out of maybe 8 cars, four were avensis'.

Eric Cartman

Eric Cartman wrote: »

please dont use the word big or bigger next to an avensis , one of the worlds smaller saloon cars and a small car overall with small engines

In Ireland they do, pre Celtic Tiger most working folks with a family had a Corolla, Escort or Astra, that was the family sized car. Generally wealthier folk or reps had the Vectra or Carina, Mondeo/Sierra.

Young lads only out of their time in a big 4x4 was unheard of too

bazz26

I don't know lads, I've seen as many B6 Passats on the roads especially in black, as I've seen Avensis. Both are big sellers here.

Leonard Hofstadter

Ford are the most popular in Cork, but Toyota are a very close second.

While I can understand the affection towards Ford, given the significance of Henry Ford's ancestors being from Ballinascarty, and the fact that Ford used to be a massive employer in Cork, I simply cannot fathom why there are so many bloody Toyotas in Cork, or indeed anywhere else in the country.

When Toyotas were made in Ireland they were made in Dublin. Similarly with VW. But Dublin seems to be a bit more sane in terms of its purchasing of Toyotas, Toyota is only something like third in the capital.

MarkR

The Avensis (up until recently) had a reputation for reliability. Nothing more then that I would imagine. I pssed 190,000 miles on mine the other day.

captainspeed

captainspeed wrote: »

I simply cannot fathom why there are so many bloody Toyotas in Cork, or indeed anywhere else in the country.

Go back to the 90s, as unspectacular as the Corolla was it was a much better car than the Escort, the Carina 11 was fantastically reliable while Sierra were plagued with damp starting issues. Toyota sell well now due to market share gained when they were a very very reliable product. The mark 1 Mondeo was popular but are well outnumbered now by Carina Es on the road.

MrDerp

captainspeed wrote: »

Ford are the most popular in Cork, but Toyota are a very close second.

While I can understand the affection towards Ford, given the significance of Henry Ford's ancestors being from Ballinascarty, and the fact that Ford used to be a massive employer in Cork, I simply cannot fathom why there are so many bloody Toyotas in Cork, or indeed anywhere else in the country.

When Toyotas were made in Ireland they were made in Dublin. Similarly with VW. But Dublin seems to be a bit more sane in terms of its purchasing of Toyotas, Toyota is only something like third in the capital.

It's cos 'Toyota' has been plastered across the top of D'Opera house since time began. The only way to beat it would be to stick a Skoda sign on Shandon.

But honestly, there seems to be a profile of cars to areas. Have a quick spin on carzone and look for Mazda 6s. Very few in Dublin. But very popular out the countray. Different income levels for different regions seem to drive max prices for a fancy new car. A new toyota will probably announce you higher in the social ladder in Cork than it would in Dublin.

Viper_JB

I dunno about this, living in cork I'd say the Focus out numbers all it's just they don't all look the same or all come in silver lol.

colm_mcm

I was at a funeral in rural cork in early 2007, I had a current model corolla Luna in silver at the time. I might as well have been in a ferarri the amount of double takes the car got. Complete strangers asking me what was it like and if it was the new Avensis.

Cork was always good ford country with the factory there and all that, but I reckon the huge numbers of japanese imports coming into cork in the early 90s boosted Toyotas popularity. Mostly the 87-92 shape Corolla, nearly always in white. Pretty much every taxi in cork city was a white 1.8d corolla. Of course these had such things as all round electric windows, air conditioning etc that you'd rarely see on any irish car at the time.

H8GHOTI

I notice more Yaris' around than anything else. But I think that is because my girlfriend has one. If you're looking out for something in particular, you'll notice it more.

bazz26

Toyota's sponsorship of the Munster Rugby team which might also have a bearing on things over the last few years. Cork, Limerick, etc having a large rugby fan base. I remember at around the time of Italia 90 and USA 94 there were thousands of Opels, mostly Astras sold up and down the country as Opel sponsored the national team.

A case of indirect patriotism I guess.

Zonda999

The populalarity of toyotas down here in Cork really is quite staggering alright, it must be said. Break it down even more, in north west Cork where i live, quite literally, i reckon well over 30% of new cars bought are indeed toyota's. Its unbelieveable! And dont get me started on the people who upgrade their corolla or avensis to the exact some thing nearly every year. Some one get me ouit of here, please!

mcwhirter

and most boring car

Hogzy

mcwhirter wrote: »

and most boring car

It really is the most boring car around.

PaulKK

Zonda999 wrote: »

Its unbelieveable! And dont get me started on the people who upgrade their corolla or avensis to the exact some thing nearly every year. Some one get me out of here, please!

Thank God one of ye has sense anyway

That phenomenon you refer to is number plate snobbery, paying 4K for a new digit basically.

EPM

Reckon it's the sheer number of Toyota dealers in Cork coupled with the size of the rural areas here. Also, it was the only decent colour on an Avensis...

fricatus

EPM wrote: »

Reckon it's the sheer number of Toyota dealers in Cork coupled with the size of the rural areas here. Also, it was the only decent colour on an Avensis...

Yeah... the red ones have a skanky red grille. Looks horrible IMO.

EPM

All modern Toyotas are

lomb

Truely horrible car inside , i was in a brand new one recently in Mc Coys in Lucan, they also had an 02 Audi , and guess which i preferred?
The dash steering wheel and gear knob looks like it was made out of recycled traffic cones.