Toyota Avensis. Do you own one if you do are you happy with it or have you had any problems thinking of buying a 2004 sedan 2000

paxandtrax, May 28, 1:02am
Do you own one ! If you do are you happy with it, or have you had any problems. Thinking of buying a 2004 sedan, 2000cc, petrol. 15000 ks.
Do you run it on 96 fuel!
Thank you for your comments and help.
pzkpfw, May 28, 3:10am
My 2006 wagon (last year of its model, I think same as a 2004) definitely needs the higher octane fuel (D4 engine, 2000cc). It really sings on the Gull ethanol mix.
Great car, only real issue is it very quickly chews up the front pads AND disks (may not apply to Sedan) - and parts are not so easy to get, e.g. Repco can't figure out which pads to sell for it.
I really really hate the rain sensing wipers.
lk104, May 28, 3:59am
Totally different vehicle to the one the OP is looking at. The only thing the same is the name badge.
phillip.weston, May 28, 4:05am
^^ really! how so!
freedomaira320, May 28, 4:19am
The second generation Avensis went from 2003 to 2008. So I can't imagine there would be a lot different between 2004 and 2006 model. British built Toyotas - not bad I understand.
pauloc, May 28, 4:21am
All Avensis of that age are built in the UK
lk104, May 28, 4:29am
Wrong, Jap Imports are also from 2003.
freedomaira320, May 28, 4:35am
As I undertand it, those were built in the UK too. Quite a bit of fanfare about British assembled Toyotas being exported back to Japan.

Could be wrong though - the international car market is pretty complex.
freedomaira320, May 28, 4:44am
I think the confusion could be the Avensis Verso, which is a Japanese made people mover. Different car, but I don't think that is what the OP was referring to.
pzkpfw, May 28, 5:58am
Yep. The wagon and sedan are as usual basically the same thing (apart from the obvious body differences!). The Verso is very different. One of the reason getting parts is "hard".
shane.64, May 28, 6:01am
They should be ok as alot of them are taxis that clock up the Ks
paxandtrax, May 28, 6:10am
Thanks everyone for your comments.
phillip.weston, May 28, 6:54am
Better off with a Mazda6, Mondeo or Accord Euro. The Avensis isn't exactly a pleasing car to look at or be in, doesn't give a spectacular ride and isn't feature rich.
trele, May 28, 9:05am
Owned a 2006 2.0 litre Avensis S/W for 4 years and was not sorry to be rid of it.Brakes are very expensive to replace as (I am told) being a European vehicle the discs are softer metal and quickly wear down below tolerance levels so at, say, 45,000 kms when you replace the pads you also have to replace the discs.There is an unsolveable problem with the auto gearing that sees you sometimes hit a flat spot on a hill when it will not drop down a gear.This can be both embarrassing and dangerous when overtaking on an incline.Neither Toyota nor their service agents could or wanted to correct the problem and suggested that when the problem occurs I take my foot off the throttle so that the gearing drops down a notch and then re-apply acceleration.This is the last thing you want to do when overtaking.Alternative, as it is tiptronic, is to flick from auto to manual.Minimum 95 octane petrol otherwise flat spot is aggravated.Due to the gearing, to sit on 100 km on open road running the 2.0 litre engine runs at 2500+ revs so not the most economical.Vehicle is low to the ground so hard to get in and out of if your limbs are not supple.On a more positive note, servicing only needed at 1500 kms and comfortable ride.Re a post, above, the rain sensing wipers only cut in if you select 'auto'.
pzkpfw, May 28, 10:31am
Of course, but because of them, there is no decent "slow" mode for the wipers. Also, I find on mine, the "rain sensing" usually just means they take a while to get started, but when they do they tend to go mad. When the rain really is very light, I like the wipers to just flick every few seconds or so. (Otherwise the wipers are more distracting than the rain). With these, the slowest speed achieved in reality is way too fast. (And yes, that's including use of the sensitivity adjusting dial).
I'd rather just have manual control of the wipers, with a decent range of speeds to choose from.
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You're not wrong about the brakes. I actually got my first new front disks for "free" as they got replaced during the warranty period, with not many k's on them.
zephyrheaven, May 29, 7:41am
Drive one over a weighbridge - crazy heavy for size / power: buy a BMW wagon instead
807, May 29, 8:00am
they seem to have that D4 engine, which nobody here seems to like !
doug207, May 29, 8:56am
People are forgetting softer pads/disks = more braking power with cheap callipers.

They're nothing great though, reliable, yes, but just a tool. The Accord Euro is a much nicer wagon

Or a FIAT Multipla.
paxandtrax, May 31, 8:26am
Thank you for all the helpful comments much appreciated.
jfstyle, Jun 1, 8:27am
dont as getting old now/tech outdated and most uk features like voice command dont work here.direct inject engine is nightmare if goes wrong so toyota servicing a must.very slow really as very heavy.
buy a 2007 new shape mondeo if you can .very safe and reliable chain drive motor(same motor as mazda6)6 speed auto so goodon fuel