Avensis or Mondeo

Mister Jingles

Just putting this up for a mate of mine whose looking at moving up to a bigger car soon due to a new family member...

It's been narrowed down to either the Avensis 1.6 or 1.8 or Mondeo 1.8 with a budget of 3250.

I've drove the Avensis 1.6 myself and found it nippy enough for the size of the car due to its short ratio gearbox but don't have much experience with the 1.8 and I know a bit about the Mondeo but that the petrols can be hit and miss.

The 1.8 Avensis is also not a common as the 1.6 so finding a decent one might take a bit longer i'd imagine.

Edit : Just realised I should of posted this in the Buying forum so if it could be moved it would be great thanks.

bazz26

I had a 1.8 Mk II Avensis years ago, it was a grand car, most are the higher Luna spec. The 1.8 litre has similar fuel economy to the 1.6 litre but has a little more grunt on take off and overtaking. The seats are also more comfortable in the Luna model.

Mister Jingles

bazz26 wrote: »

I had a 1.8 Mk II Avensis years ago, it was a grand car, most are the higher Luna spec. The 1.8 litre has similar fuel economy to the 1.6 litre but has a little more grunt on take off and overtaking. The seats are also more comfortable in the Luna model.

The 1.6 that I drove was a very basic spec, and badly in need of an armrest. Does the 1.8 have the same oil burning issues as many vvti engines had ?

bazz26

Some of the early ones did but so did some of the 1.6 ones, I put high mileage on mine and passed it onto my dad. It was using a bit above average oil consumption by then but nothing crazy.

toyotaavensis

After 03 there shouldnt be any oil burning unless the car has been neglected. I have an 03 (with the new body) 1.6 and it is fine. It had one or two issues. One was a wheel bearing which was 180 to put right. The other was a problem with the gearbox. It was 350 to repair the gearbox. This can happen but once it is done and fixed its grand.

I got an aftermarket armrest from micksgarage for 50 quid. It doesnt look fantastic but wears well and I dont care if it is not pretty.
The car drove to Budapest and back a few months ago and there wasnt a cough out of her. On a quiet stretch of motorway I got the car up to 120miles per hour on the speedo.

On costs, she is cheap to service. Halfords had a sale recently and I bought the oil for the next two changes for 27 quid. Micksgarage sell the air and pollen filter for 7 quid and the oil filter for less than 3 quid. I dont drive in the city much and usually get over 40mpg from a tank. Tyres last about 25000 miles on the front and forever on the back.

I will admit I like the avensis. Mine is eleven years old well over 100K and in a way most people would describe it as a piece of ****. But it is my piece of **** and I like it.

On the other hand the avensis wont set your heart on fire. The mondeo is better in this regard.

Mister Jingles

How does the 1.6 be on the motorway at 120 kph ?

toyotaavensis

Not as bad as you think. She can still get high thirties on the motorway but go much over 120km/h and that drops fast.

Leonard Hofstadter

I've driven both the 1.6 and the 1.8. The 1.6 is underpowered and is too small for the car but even the 1.8 is not going to win any performance awards. It's adequate, no more, no less. The 1.6 is very loud on the motorway because it runs at high revs. It's very noticable if you've driven both, the 1.8 runs at lower revs in all gears so it's considerably quieter and is a bit more fuel efficient as well as a result.

Ignore the reputation, the Avensis is a nice car to drive, for a large front wheel drive car it actually handles very well and the ride is very comfortable too (better than the current model by quite a bit), the only real dynamic faults are the numb steering (but most cars are like that now) and the gearbox isn't particularly slick. Most non-sporty Toyotas are very uninspiring to drive, but part of the Mk2 Avensis's suspension was borrowed from the Celica, and it shows.

On the other hand it's more comfortable and quieter than a Mk3 Mondeo.

Be warned with the Mondeo: earlier models are notorious for oil burning, I wouldn't bother with a petrol Mk3 Mondeo unless it's after the summer 2003 facelift, they modified the engines around then and they use the same engines as the Mazda 6 does, which are utterly bulletproof.

As long as it's one of the later models, then it's really a matter of personal preference, both were close to the top of the class in their day but I'd definitely would avoid a 1.6 Avensis. The 1.8s are almost always Luna models, these have a much nicer interior than the poverty spec 1.6s and have extra safety features (from 2004 onwards) like stability control and traction control that weren't fitted to the 1.6 until 2008.