03 Avensis ?

techie

My brother is seriously thinking of buying one of these, is there anything in particular to watch out for on these or anything that gives trouble? Its a 1.6 Petrol he is looking at. Cheers.

These are fairly solid cars, most common problems with the ones I've encountered are the rear anti roll D bush becoming worn, cheap to replace though. Also the headlights in some selected models seem to burn out a lot sometimes.

techie

Ok thanks for that. Do you know if they are ok on petrol?

colm_mcm

They're not light on petrol by any means, but aren't shocking either.
The headlight units melt the bulb holders sometimes, many replaced on warranty.

There isn't folding rear seats on the saloons till 06 facelift
Pre 06 seats go white if they get really wet. As a result seats can get tired looking easily.

Very little goes wrong on these 1.6s

Incidentally they're better on fuel than the 07 model Corolla petrol.

techie

Thanks for the replies, he is seeing some 1.8 Mondeo's (2005) for similar money with low mileage, which is better?

Also does the 1.8 in the petrol Mondeo have a timing belt?

flyingsnail

the 1.8 mondeo has a timing chain. If it was my money I would have the mondeo over the avensis.

Gophur

Mondeo is a much superior to the Avensis in almost every way. The 1.6 Avensis will get between 35 and 42 mpg, depending on how and where it is driven.

Do not be tempted by a 1.8 Avensis, their vvti engine was problematic with excessive oil consumption

ActingDanClark

Not commenting from any inside track here, just general observation- be very careful about history, very popular as a taxi

I Was VB

I own two, very reliable both 1.8. The 03 one has been a taxi since day one and it has 370K miles on it, has gone through 2 gearboxes though.

bazz26

Gophur wrote: »

Mondeo is a much superior to the Avensis in almost every way. The 1.6 Avensis will get between 35 and 42 mpg, depending on how and where it is driven.

Do not be tempted by a 1.8 Avensis, their vvti engine was problematic with excessive oil consumption

Not all of them suffer from excessive oil consumption, my oldman's 03 1.8 Avensis covered over 215k miles on it and the engine was still going strong, yes it liked a bit of oil but that is expected at that mileage. What did go on it was a gearbox bearing which practically made it an economic write off. Common enough problem with the 1.8 litre models.

BTW the 1.8 engine in the Mondeo is far from bomb proof either. A Mazda 6 is probably the best buy in this class and price range.

MidlandsM

techie wrote: »

Ok thanks for that. Do you know if they are ok on petrol?

a pig on fuel

ofcork

I have a 04 with 131k on it and it is easily the most reliable car i have owned,fuel consumption in nothing worse than others and have seen over 50mpg!

MidlandsM

ofcork wrote: »

and have seen over 50mpg!

freewheeling downhill ?

ofcork

Doing between 55 and 60 foot off the gas now and then.

MidlandsM

ofcork wrote: »

Doing between 55 and 60 foot off the gas now and then.

whilst the on board computer maybe suggesting those figures to you, in the real world, they never happen.

techie

Thanks for all the posts.

We have come across the following in a Toyota dealer:

2004 Avensis 1.6 Strata with 120k miles.

We have not been able to look at car yet, going there tomorrow morning, assuming the car has had service done according to Toyota, I assume from the posts above that they are able to handle the mileage?

Price is €4500 cash from Dealer, expensive???

Sully

Folks have a 03 Avensis. If you look after it well enough, shes a great car. Heavy enough on petrol alright, but haven't had a huge amount of problems on it. Prefer the Avensis over a Mondeo personally.

Well able to handle the millage anyway.

bazz26

techie wrote: »

Thanks for all the posts.

We have come across the following in a Toyota dealer:

2004 Avensis 1.6 Strata with 120k miles.

We have not been able to look at car yet, going there tomorrow morning, assuming the car has had service done according to Toyota, I assume from the posts above that they are able to handle the mileage?

Price is €4500 cash from Dealer, expensive???

They are having a laugh asking €4500 cash for a 04, here is a 05 model with less mileage which could probably be bought for the same money:

http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=201140204889264

DanWall

There is a design fault on the VVTi engine which was not fixed until mid 2005, If it is a design fault it should effect all engines, there is an overheating issue with the pistons and presumably the engines that have been doing a lot of work such as motorway driving will get hotter and cause problems.

techie

DanWall wrote: »

There is a design fault on the VVTi engine which was not fixed until mid 2005, If it is a design fault it should effect all engines, there is an overheating issue with the pistons and presumably the engines that have been doing a lot of work such as motorway driving will get hotter and cause problems.

Is there a recall on this issue??

DanWall

There is conditions on the recall, eg it must burn more than a litre of oil per 1000 mile, it must have a full service history, it must be less than 7 year old etc.
I have a 05 Avensis with 100,000 km up, so far it does not use any oil between services.

techie

Ok thanks for that, will ask him to keep an eye on the Oil.