T4 2.0 D-4D 5dr

A superb car, refined, economical with enough poke - just watch out for that electronic parking brake (EPB).

I bought this car, an early 2009 T4 sports wagon with 81,000 on the clock. I needed something bigger and more refined than my Yaris. This Avensis must have been a launch period car as it was registered 2 Jan 2009 and had upgrades such as the metallic blue paint and the optional panoramic roof. Unfortunately the car was written off just last month (August, 2021) with 95k miles on it.

Overall this car was superb. It felt solid and the 2.0 D4D is, I can confirm, a very reliable engine which (contrary to another recent review) certainly is not known to have any headgasket problems. Everything other than the handbrake worked faultlessly, the engine, gearbox (which felt as though it was honed from granite, with a gearlever that hardly vibrated when stopped in traffic.

Beware though:

Certainly on earlier cars the Electronic Parking Brake does appear to be a known issue. The previous owner of my car had to have a new parking brake actuator about August 2018; suggesting to me that he got rid of the car following March hence I came to own it.

Cost of a new EPB (according to dealer) is £1000 for the part alone, £1300 fitted - they confirmed that's what the previous owner paid in 2018.

With the above in mind Toyota sold me an extended warranty which, back then, you could buy for £400 for two years' cover, which could be purchased on cars less than 12 years old and with under 100,000 miles. I thankfully bought mine to become active on 1 Jan 2021, which meant my 12 year old car with then 91,000 miles was still under Toyota extended warranty until (get this) 1 Jan 2023.

Back to the EPB - it failed this February. It didn't leave me stranded, just messaged "release parking brake". The auto release still worked but the message continued to flash up. The need for a new actuator was established by my local Toyota dealer and this was replaced under extended warranty, saving me £1300.

EPB aside, I cannot recommend this car highly enough. I've even spoken to taxi drivers out of curiosity and with the same engine and manual gearbox and they told me "they (the cars) don't go wrong". One had covered 284,000 "trouble free" miles, another driver was boasting of his 460,000 mile trouble free experience.

Overall this is a superb car. So good in fact, I have just bought myself a 2015 2.0 diesel Excel (happily full leather and heated seats, with the panoramic roof as per my written off 2009 T4. Encouragingly the handbrake on this car sounded quieter than my old car, so I'm guessing they've improved the design.

Owning a Toyota is actually a very nice experience. Older cars get discounted servicing at Toyota dealerships. I only take my cars to franchised dealerships as having owned BMWs before the servicing costs at Toyota dealerships is actually absolutely fine. With my 12 year old car, I was treated just as well as someone with a 12 month old car.

An aspect that has also led to me buying another Avensis - in spite of the EPB issues I'm aware of - is that now, whenever you have your 10yr old or younger, with less than 100,000 miles car, Toyota now give you 12 months' extended warranty. They have actually introduced this without increasing servicing costs. You'd also be surprised to find that tyres and wiperblades are very competitively priced: A pair of front wiper blades was easily £12 cheaper at the Toyota dealership nearby than Halfords.

If you need a substantial, reliable car that performs well, isn't underpowered but is economical and without engine and gearbox problems I cannot recommend this car highly enough - just mind out for that EPB as apparently the older ones don't like the wet. I'd try and get a 2011 onwards car but if I get my new one serviced as planned at Toyota, I've just bought a superb 2015 2.0 Diesel Excel sports wagon with 56k miles for just shy of £11k... with full Toyota service history and she'll be under warranty until 2025! Hence no EPB anxieties here.

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