Upgrade Honda civic s 03 to Toyota avensis 07 1.6

To Be Confirmed

Hi all,

I am currently driving an 03 Honda civic saloon. Grand car but I've been having a few problems with it lately and have recently been offered a Toyota avensis 07 1.6 for 1500. It has high mileage (200k miles) but full service history, recently serviced, recently valeted nct until October 19. I just wanted some opinions on the car. ive read the 1.6 Toyota guzzles petrol and is very loud/struggles on the motorway. Also do you think insurance would go up by much with this upgrade?

The Honda is burning oil and the gearbox is on the way out. To be honest the Honda isn't great on the motorway either. I've already put what I paad for the car into it and don't really want to pay more when I'll probably be getting a new car eventually.

Any help appreciated folks!

bazz26

The Avensis is alot heavier than your Civic, the 1.6 in them is ok for pottering around town but on motorways it tends to struggle and isn't very fuel efficient. A 1.8 version would be more ideal for that. How much motorway driving do you do?

jacksie66

This post has been deleted.

To Be Confirmed

bazz26 wrote: »

The Avensis is alot heavier than your Civic, the 1.6 in them is ok for pottering around town but on motorways it tends to struggle and isn't very fuel efficient. A 1.8 version would be more ideal for that. How much motorway driving do you do?

Not too much. Mainly Galway to Athlone. Galway to Dublin once or twice a month. I usually get to and from Dublin on about 40 -50 quid in the honda if i take it handy

Leonard Hofstadter

The Avensis will also use oil, especially at that mileage. They're nice cars especially with the 1.8 and Luna spec.

JohnBoy26

jacksie66 wrote: »

Personally I wouldn't. That avensis has pretty high milage and the 1.6 is woefully underpowered in a car that size. I've been told it's very heavy on juice. Someone might be able to correct me but I think those Toyota engines are pretty heavy oil users also. For a car that size I'd be looking at a 1.8 or 2.0. I have a 06 saab 93 aero 2.0 petrol. Saabs can be gotten for very little money these days and parts are plentiful. I adore my 93..

The engine in those avensis were not heavy oil burners. Some of the earlier vtti's from the early 00's burned some but the worst of them were repaired by toyota.

The 1.6 in the avensis really isn't woefully underpowered either. It mightn't win any races but it's adequate.

colm_mcm

Have to agree with John. They’re not as slow as being made out.

mickuhaha

Get a 1.4,1.6 diesel ford ,Mazda, Peugeot. Good price in the 06 07 years. Same tax better mpg. More low down grunt.

JohnBoy26

mickuhaha wrote: »

Get a 1.4,1.6 diesel ford ,Mazda, Peugeot. Good price in the 06 07 years. Same tax better mpg. More low down grunt.

And far less reliable

mickuhaha

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

And far less reliable

True but the op won't need it to last forever. With the diesels for those years it was turbo failure due to leaking injector seals that seemed to be the main problem but plenty of high millage ones still around that never had any problems. Just bring it to a garage to get it checked like any car you would buy.

JohnBoy26

mickuhaha wrote: »

True but the op won't need it to last forever. With the diesels for those years it was turbo failure due to leaking injector seals that seemed to be the main problem but plenty of high millage ones still around that never had any problems. Just bring it to a garage to get it checked like any car you would buy.

They are a minefield and I don't think i'd fancy my chances with one at the €1500 price point.

mickuhaha

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/mazda-3-05-1-6d-n-c-t-until-08-18-price-drop-400/18772957

400 gets you 2 months NCT and 1100 for passing NCT cheep . You could buy a cheap car for under 750 and put NCT on it and drive it until the engine gives bother then buy another. Not every one will die in the first week you have it.

bazz26

That Mazda3 looks like a rusty shed only fit for the breakers yard. The OP might not want to play NCT roulette every few months with cars close to the end of the useful life. At least the Avensis they have been offered has 14 months NCT and a service history.

jacksie66

This post has been deleted.

slave1

I had a 2007 1.6 petrol Avensis for 9 years, apart from servicing (tyres, pads etc.) never had to spend a penny on repairs, was getting 650kms on a fill with mixture of town/longish runs. No complaints whatsoever.

gibbon75

The Toyota 1.6 / 1.8 oil burning issue (small sump capacity,lack of oil cooling,bad piston ring design,long servicing interval) was not solved till April (1.6) and July (1.8) of 2005 (there is a VIN cut off in a Technical Bulletin somewehere to show when the engines were modified). But still even few years old Auris / Corolla 1.4 engines struggle with clogging oil scraper piston rings,which causes premature ring and cylinder wear.

The post 2006 Honda Civic saloon with the 1.8 engine would be my choice.Very good MPG and more than enough power for the chassis.Even my CL7 2.0 Accord does close to 40mpg on motorway runs.

JohnBoy26

gibbon75 wrote: »

The Toyota 1.6 / 1.8 oil burning issue (small sump capacity,lack of oil cooling,bad piston ring design,long servicing interval) was not solved till April (1.6) and July (1.8) of 2005 (there is a VIN cut off in a Technical Bulletin somewehere to show when the engines were modified). But still even few years old Auris / Corolla 1.4 engines struggle with clogging oil scraper piston rings,which causes premature ring and cylinder wear.

The post 2006 Honda Civic saloon with the 1.8 engine would be my choice.Very good MPG and more than enough power for the chassis.Even my CL7 2.0 Accord does close to 40mpg on motorway runs.

Never seen a problem with the newer engines, the older vtti's didn't even burn that much oil. My old e11 vvti's didn't burn anywhere near 1 liter per 1k miles

gibbon75

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Never seen a problem with the newer engines, the older vtti's didn't even burn that much oil. My old e11 vvti's didn't burn anywhere near 1 liter per 1k miles

I know of 3 or 4 Auris with the 1NR-FE engine which has a serious case of oil burning. My wife owned a 2001 1.4 vvti Corolla for 11 years and 140k (short runs and cold starts)miles.I always had the oil changed at every 6k miles and the engine still doesn't use a single drop of oil.

student7890

I have a 2008 avensis 1.6 after trading from a 2002 corolla 1.4.
The avensis uses less fuel at around 650km per tankful. The corolla used to need topping up regularly with engine oil. The avensis dropped a drive shaft within a week, apart from that I'd be interested if the hydraulic clutch means it lasts longer which can be an expected expense on cars over 10 years.

Leonard Hofstadter

They definitely hadn't solved the oil burning problem by the start of 2005, our 1.8 VVTi is fairly fond of the stuff despite being put on 10W40 semi synthetic. I don't think it uses more than a litre every 1000 km, though. It's been burning oil for the past few years and now has the MIL on due to the catalyst efficiency being below threshold.

In its defence, there's 201,000 miles on it now.

As for the performance, the 1.8 is just about quick enough, I wouldn't want any smaller that's for sure. The 1.6 spins at 3600 rpm on a motorway and the engine is quite boomy, they're not a great motorway cruiser, the 1.8 runs at 3200 rpm and it is a fair bit quieter.

JohnBoy26

captainspeed wrote: »

They definitely hadn't solved the oil burning problem by the start of 2005, our 1.8 VVTi is fairly fond of the stuff despite being put on 10W40 semi synthetic. I don't think it uses more than a litre every 1000 km, though. It's been burning oil for the past few years and now has the MIL on due to the catalyst efficiency being below threshold.

In its defence, there's 201,000 miles on it now.

As for the performance, the 1.8 is just about quick enough, I wouldn't want any smaller that's for sure. The 1.6 spins at 3600 rpm on a motorway and the engine is quite boomy, they're not a great motorway cruiser, the 1.8 runs at 3200 rpm and it is a fair bit quieter.

They changed to the updated engine in late 2005