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Mon 7 Oct 2013 22:56

Toyota Avensis - A £11-12k petrol Avensis or ????????? - gazbut

Hi all,

i'm looking to change our 55 plate Renault Modus for something bigger and hopefully better?

basically got £10-11k plus the modus.

only going to do 10 - 12k miles per year so think a petrol would suit best??

need it to average 40mpg to keep running costs similar to the Modus.

it needs to do general school runs and the odd camping trip and not be too big for the wife to drive.

has anyone got any suggestions????

quite like the Toyota Avensis Saloon which just abouts averages 40mpg?

are there any other options Hyundai i40??

would really appreciate some guidance.

regards

Gazbut

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Mon 7 Oct 2013 23:04

Toyota Avensis - A £11-12k petrol Avensis or ????????? - iFocus

Have a look at a Ford Mondeo, for 11 to 12k you'll be able to get a 1.6 EcoBoost, will do the 40mpg required and a fantastic car to boot too.

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Mon 7 Oct 2013 23:39

Toyota Avensis - A £11-12k petrol Avensis or ????????? - gazbut

hi,

will look at the mondeo.

has anyone any experience of the 1.4t insignia?

cheers

Gazbut

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Tue 8 Oct 2013 11:30

Toyota Avensis - A £11-12k petrol Avensis or ????????? - daveyK_UK

IMO,
the Toyota Avensis 1.8 petrol is the best engine for mpg and smooth performance out of the big saloons available.
Add to that its ultra reliable and at your price range you should be buying one with plenty of warranty left (now 5 years).

The mondeo as previously mentioned is a good car.
But similar to the Insignia, the small turbo engines are not proven and you could end up with a decent bill for replacing the turbo.

They did put the 2.0 petrol in the latest Mondeos which is a great engine but it wasnt very economical it was withdrawn which was a shame as it could really move.

I wouldnt touch an Insignia in all honesty, already stories of lots of common faults with parts prematurly wearing.
Mondeo are proving more reliable, but there are still common problems with the new mondeo if you read the mondeo forums.

The garage I use has had 3 mondeos all come in within a month of each other on the back of tow trucks with the same major fault.
One of the coolant pipes seems to have a defective holding bracket/clip; randomly they break away and the car gushes out all of its coolant.
Before the warning light comes on, it can be to late to stop the engine.
Especially if your on the motorway.

They are now reccomending all owners have the clips changed when they put them in for a service.

Edited by daveyK_UK on 08/10/2013 at 11:40

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Tue 8 Oct 2013 13:06

Toyota Avensis - A £11-12k petrol Avensis or ????????? - coopshere

The 1.8 Avensis is a great car and no turbo to worry about. An approved used car from Toyota dealer will have the residue of the 5 year Toyota warranty for models from June 2010. It is also possible to extend the warranty for a fee.

For a car of the size you are looking at a 1.4 engine will be working hard and therefore may not give the best economy long term.

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Tue 8 Oct 2013 20:12

Toyota Avensis - A £11-12k petrol Avensis or ????????? - TR7

I have a 2010 1.8 Avensis estate. It's a great car I've done 20k in it in 6 months. I get around 38mpg. After a disastrous time with a 2008 focus I needed something reliable. I get my petrol paid for by my company so reliability is the key for me. The factory fitted sat nav and Bluetooth are excellent as is the boot space.

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Tue 8 Oct 2013 20:34

Toyota Avensis - A £11-12k petrol Avensis or ????????? - corax

I have a 2010 1.8 Avensis estate.

pkqpr - how do you find that engine, because my previous Avensis 1.8 (2007) was a bit raucous at motorway speeds. It was doing around 3000 rpm at 70mph. I understand that the later cars with the valvetronic engine are higher geared with a six speed box.

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Tue 8 Oct 2013 21:19

Toyota Avensis - A £11-12k petrol Avensis or ????????? - TR7

I have a 2010 1.8 Avensis estate.

pkqpr - how do you find that engine, because my previous Avensis 1.8 (2007) was a bit raucous at motorway speeds. It was doing around 3000 rpm at 70mph. I understand that the later cars with the valvetronic engine are higher geared with a six speed box.

I find it very refined. It just does everything nice and easy you don't have too push it the power delivery is nice and smooth. I had a petrol qashqai on hire last Christmas and it is a million miles away in terms of power delivery compared too the Avensis.

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Wed 9 Oct 2013 10:42

Toyota Avensis - A £11-12k petrol Avensis or ????????? - Sulphur Man

A 2012 facelifted Avensis 1.8 V-Matic estate, with the M-Drive S auto gearbox, is a strong contender for best used car right now. An 18-month old example can be had for £12K, with over 3 years of Toyota warranty remaining. Smooth and refined engine with ample power and linear power delivery. M-Drive S is far and away the best CVT I've encountered, with little drone or 'spooling' before the power is delivered. 40mpg is very achievable, and interior spec is very strong on the TR and T4 models.

Basically, an Avensis 1.8 V-Matic M-Drive will be my next hack once the W124 E280 gives out.

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Wed 9 Oct 2013 17:39

Toyota Avensis - A £11-12k petrol Avensis or ????????? - corax

Basically, an Avensis 1.8 V-Matic M-Drive will be my next hack once the W124 E280 gives out.

You might be waiting a long time Sulphur Man :)

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Wed 9 Oct 2013 17:51

Toyota Avensis - A £11-12k petrol Avensis or ????????? - skidpan

We test drove a manual 1.8 petrol Avensis Tourer when we bought the wifes car. At the time we had a 1.6 TDCi C-Max which was steady to say the least but in comparrison to the Avensis it was a racing car.

To say we were very disapointed with its performance (or lack of it) was an understatement. Lovely car but very poor performing engine unless you were thrashing it.

The 1.4 TSi in the Skoda Octavia estate was by far superior, great drivability.

Bought a Kia Ceed CRDi, much better car overall than both at a much lower price. 51mpg so far and with a 7 year warranty no surprise bills. We do 10000 miles a year in the Ceed and in 3 years have saved a fortune in fuel and RLF costs (I estimate the saving so far to be about £2000) with none of the much publicised DPF issues which in fairness do not appear to afflict Kia's like some brands.

Edited by skidpan on 09/10/2013 at 17:56

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Wed 9 Oct 2013 20:14

Toyota Avensis - A £11-12k petrol Avensis or ????????? - TR7

We test drove a manual 1.8 petrol Avensis Tourer when we bought the wifes car. At the time we had a 1.6 TDCi C-Max which was steady to say the least but in comparrison to the Avensis it was a racing car.

To say we were very disapointed with its performance (or lack of it) was an understatement. Lovely car but very poor performing engine unless you were thrashing it.

The 1.4 TSi in the Skoda Octavia estate was by far superior, great drivability.

Bought a Kia Ceed CRDi, much better car overall than both at a much lower price. 51mpg so far and with a 7 year warranty no surprise bills. We do 10000 miles a year in the Ceed and in 3 years have saved a fortune in fuel and RLF costs (I estimate the saving so far to be about £2000) with none of the much publicised DPF issues which in fairness do not appear to afflict Kia's like some brands.

Maybe it was the car you drove (are you sure it wasn't a 1.6). I had an i30 diesel estate same as the ceed and agree it is a great engine. In terms of refinement the i30/ceed is not as good as an Avensis. I found the i30 noisy and crashy on a long journey. I do approx 1000 miles a week and the Avensis is much more relaxing.

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Wed 9 Oct 2013 20:31

Toyota Avensis - A £11-12k petrol Avensis or ????????? - catsdad

I have a 2011 diesel avensis and I find radio, sat nav and other features very unintuitive. For example if you lock the doors by pressing the interior button it also applies the child locks in the rear and the only way of reversing all this is to follow a convoluted set of instructions in the 600 page (that in itself says something!) manual. On top of this is a 400 page sat nav handbook. In comparison to my previous 2009 Mondeo it is not a car you quickly come to terms with. Satnav is always on, turns down the brightness if you put the headlights on in poor visibility so you can't see it, it's nowhere near as good as my 100 quid tomtom. On the plus side it's comfortable and fast enough. So to the OP don't just think about the engine, see if you can get on with the rest of the car!

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Wed 9 Oct 2013 20:50

Toyota Avensis - A £11-12k petrol Avensis or ????????? - TR7

I have a 2011 diesel avensis and I find radio, sat nav and other features very unintuitive. For example if you lock the doors by pressing the interior button it also applies the child locks in the rear and the only way of reversing all this is to follow a convoluted set of instructions in the 600 page (that in itself says something!) manual. On top of this is a 400 page sat nav handbook. In comparison to my previous 2009 Mondeo it is not a car you quickly come to terms with. Satnav is always on, turns down the brightness if you put the headlights on in poor visibility so you can't see it, it's nowhere near as good as my 100 quid tomtom. On the plus side it's comfortable and fast enough. So to the OP don't just think about the engine, see if you can get on with the rest of the car!

I suppose we are all different. I use the sat nav to find 5 addresses a day and have never used the handbook once. I've previously used Garmin and Tom Tom and find no difference the toyota system also gives traffic updates for free.

Edited by pkqpr on 09/10/2013 at 20:52

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Thu 10 Oct 2013 01:27

Toyota Avensis - A £11-12k petrol Avensis or ????????? - Avant

The Avensis is a good place to start: as suggested above, make sure you like the car as a whole.

Alternatives: Ford Mondeo 1.8 (but your wife might find it too big); Skoda Octavia 1.8; and Mazda 6 2.0 - all petrols, as secondhand diesels can be risky.

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Thu 10 Oct 2013 12:30

Toyota Avensis - A £11-12k petrol Avensis or ????????? - skidpan

"Maybe it was the car you drove (are you sure it wasn't a 1.6). I had an i30 diesel estate same as the ceed and agree it is a great engine. In terms of refinement the i30/ceed is not as good as an Avensis. I found the i30 noisy and crashy on a long journey. I do approx 1000 miles a week and the Avensis is much more relaxing"

Definitely a 1.8 Avensis because the car we drove (T4 Tourer) was not available with the 1.6 engine.

Another issue I had with the car was its CO2's, they were very high compared to most of the competition.

If we have an issue with the Ceed and its refinement its tyre noise on some (and only some) road surfaces. Even so we can do over 400 miles in the day and get out refreshed. Some say its the standard Michelins but when we fit the winter tyres there is very little (if any) change to the noise levels. But considering our 2002 Mondeo had this issue and the 2005 C-Max that we had before the Ceed was just incredibly noisy at all times (tyres and wind competing to be the winner) we are certainly not complaining.

With regards to the i30 being crashy this was a comment often made about the early Ceeds. But when they upgraded it in late 2009 they changed the spring/damper rates and after that all testers appeared to agree it was far better. Ours is a 2010 thus has the improved suspension (not quite as good as the Mondeo or C-Max if I have to be brutal) and we have no complaints. Did Hyundai make similar changes to later i30's I wonder.

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Thu 10 Oct 2013 15:59

Toyota Avensis - A £11-12k petrol Avensis or ????????? - daveyK_UK

The C02 is higher but long term your better of with a relaxed engine than the ford eco boost - how long can you expect to get out of a a turbo on a 1.6 petrol engine at 150bhp even if you follow HJ advice of allowing the turbo to cool down after a run (which I doubt 95% of the user's will ever do)?

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Thu 10 Oct 2013 16:10

Toyota Avensis - A £11-12k petrol Avensis or ????????? - skidpan

The C02 is higher but long term your better of with a relaxed engine than the ford eco boost - how long can you expect to get out of a a turbo on a 1.6 petrol engine at 150bhp even if you follow HJ advice of allowing the turbo to cool down after a run (which I doubt 95% of the user's will ever do)?

My new Seat Leon 1.4 TSi has 140 PS and with 185 lbs/ft of torque between 1500 and 3500 rpm it is a superb drive, best petrol engine I have ever owned. 119 CO2's (£30 RFL) and 46 mpg average so far in mixed running, seen 52 mpg on a decent run. Cruising is very relaxed as is day to day driving. No need to go over 3000 rpm to get decent performance, crusing at 70 mph is only 2500 rpm. The Avensis 1.8 we test drove needed thrashing to get decent performance, not very relaxing at all.

In 17 years of owning cars with turbo's I have never yet allowed the car to idle before turning off. If I have been driving "enthusiastically" I slow down for the last couple of miles before journeys end. I have yet to have a problem with a turbo.

We are not in the 1980's now when turbo installations were basic to say the least and in some cases needed a fan under the bonnet to blow on the turbo after turning off the engine.

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