Avensis Estate 2012 - any thoughts

zarkov

I'm looking at an Avensis Estate as a family car.
Does anyone have experience of them?

colm_mcm

They're ok. They're not anything special to drive, and rivals have caught up in the quality stakes.
Don't pay over the odds for one.

zarkov

Thanks Colm, the lack of a transmission tunnel is a big plus for the Avensis - need to carry 3 kids in the back.

The Irish spec was basic so most of the decent ones are UK imports but the listed prices are on the high side €16k for high mileage and low spec to €20K for low mileage, medium spec. Importing myself could be done for €17K at a squeeze.

colm_mcm

I dunno, with exchange rates as they are, you could end up doing yourself over.

ofcork

I have the saloon 2012 and finding it good although doesn't seem to be as well built as my previous one,few rattles etc.Tr spec in the uk or strata at a minimum here is what you want plenty of poke in the 2l diesel.

bazz26

What about the Hyundai i40:

http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/Hyundai/i40/1.7-CRDI/160714314512971980/

zarkov

Bazz, I don't like the design of i40 and hadn't considered it. I'm not mad about the Avensis either but if I had to pick between them, the Avensis would shade it. But, now that you mention it, I'll take a look at an i40 on Wednesday. I discounted the Mondeo due to uncomfortable drivers seat and the Passat has the transmission tunnel.

finalfurlong

regarding build quality beware as there is an issue with the door build in that model.i had a 2011 model and toyota were paying for repair and replacement of doors.The metal between the hinges on all doors begins to crack with repeated opening and closing .mine started as a hairline one on drivers door and it was replaced but the dealer had 1 year old onesin fr same job.if you have kids you could see problem appearing on rear doors frs.the paint job on mine wasnt great and i was regretting not being aware of problem when buying.Toyota didnt declare an offical recall but privately dealers will admit they should have as customers coming back with problem were plentiful.

zarkov

Is the door crack problem limited to a particular year or range of years. The Avensis was face-lifted in 2012 - was the problem fixed then?

AMKC

What about a Mazda 6 Estate. Citroen C5 estate and the Peugeot 508 estate are two other options.

zarkov

They were on my original list. I dropped the Mazda because of bad reports of the reliability of the diesel engine and I'm not a fan of the C5 or 508.

AMKC

What about the Skoda Superb Estate. Should be loads of room in one of them they are a big car. There is also the Octavia too.

finalfurlong

zarkov wrote: »

Is the door crack problem limited to a particular year or range of years. The Avensis was face-lifted in 2012 - was the problem fixed then?

Think that facelift was more cosmetic,I had mine in for repair in sept 2013 and workshop manager said they had newish 12 reg in with same problem.The recall was using the same door with a modifying metal bar which they said would alleviate theproblem.They did give me a letter to pass on when trading in from toyota verifying repair-just as well as every dealer last yyear asked"are the doors done?"Otherwise car was bombproof mechanically and did 50k miles without missing a beat.It was the t4 model imported by dealer with leather,sat nav etc.I traded in foran octavia which has massive room .check it out or the estate version of it.

zarkov

Is the Octavia comparable to the Avensis in size?

colm_mcm

zarkov wrote: »

Is the Octavia comparable to the Avensis in size?

It'd be a bit smaller in the back.

Why not get a Toyota Verso?

finalfurlong

zarkov wrote: »

Is the Octavia comparable to the Avensis in size?

boot in octavia is 590 litres while avensis was about 510.It has a more useful shape being a liftback as opposed to avensis saloon boot.took a decking down at weekend and octavia swallowed it to take to recycling.loads of leg and headroom front and back.dont know if the estate could be much bigger.

zarkov

I had the use of an Avensis estate overnight and i was disappointed with the built quality. Front doors rattle around the glass on closing,etc, putting me off. I drove a couple of new shape Octavia estates yesterday and they are decent cars, especially the VRS. Does the VRS hold its value?

zarkov

Went for the Octavia estate in the end. Thanks for the advice.