2007 Avensis

maidhc

Henry Ford III wrote:

Devoid of inspiration. Dull as ditchwater.

Future chariot of choice of minicab drivers.

Driving a fridge freezer will be more exciting

I have never driven a Mk2 , but they are supposedly alright (bazz, you have one?).

I don't think it is any duller than anything else in the segment, and apart from the mondeo probably drives as well as any of them.

But most importantly, it makes a lot of sense for someone who does big miles. It has a fine (if slightly thirsty) engine in the D4D, it is very comfortable if it is anything like the Mk1, it now has decent spec levels, and most importantly it isnt hard to shift a 3yo one with 100k on the clock and not loose a fortune.

Henry Ford III

bazz26 wrote:

Perfect alternative to the Mondeo man (no conection with Mondeoman on this forum) then.

None whatsoever.

Henry Ford III

What sense does a slightly thirsty diesel engine make?

maidhc

Henry Ford III wrote:

What sense does a slightly thirsty diesel engine make?

It's still better than the 1.6 and has more power than the 2.0? about 43mpg is what the trip computer is showing at the minute, though my mother has it mostly and she never drives in the right gear.

Don't get me wrong, I love Fords and have a Ford focus, before that a mondeo, 4x Ford tractors and a ford digger, but if I was buying a new large family car I would go with an Avensis before most other cars in the segment for the reasons mentioned above.

Henry Ford III

Each to his own I guess.

I reckon the Avensis is obviously a good product. It's always had tremendous reliabilty. The 1.6 engines are not strong enough.

I just find them dull beyond belief.

road_high

Henry Ford III wrote:

Each to his own I guess.

I reckon the Avensis is obviously a good product. It's always had tremendous reliabilty. The 1.6 engines are not strong enough.

I just find them dull beyond belief.

Hmmmm.And cars like the current Fusion, Fiesta, Focus (they ruined the looks completely), Mondeo are all such inspirational designs from Uncle Henry are they??Give me the avensis anyday!Seems the buying public agree too.

maidhc

mfitzy wrote:

Hmmmm.And cars like the current Fusion, Fiesta, Focus (they ruined the looks completely), Mondeo are all such inspirational designs from Uncle Henry are they??Give me the avensis anyday!Seems the buying public agree too.

The S-Max is nice, and the signs are good for the new mondeo after the Iosis concept car.

Its just depreciation is the killer with the mondeo, it is probably a better car than the Avensis, it just doesn't make as much sense to own from new. For instance I saw a 2004 diesel with 26k on the clock for sale last week for 16k. What a great buy s/h though!

Henry Ford III

maidhc wrote:

The S-Max is nice, and the signs are good for the new mondeo after the Iosis concept car.

Its just depreciation is the killer with the mondeo, it is probably a better car than the Avensis, it just doesn't make as much sense to own from new. For instance I saw a 2004 diesel with 26k on the clock for sale last week for 16k. What a great buy s/h though!

Couldn't agree more. Depreciation is hard on a new Mondeo. Lightly used they make a great vlaue buy.

Henry Ford III

mfitzy wrote:

Hmmmm.And cars like the current Fusion, Fiesta, Focus (they ruined the looks completely), Mondeo are all such inspirational designs from Uncle Henry are they??Give me the avensis anyday!Seems the buying public agree too.

Fusion isn't up to much I agree.

The rest of them are fine cars. Looks are a personal thing. Mondeo remains the best handling car in it's class. Focus is market leader by some distance and with plenty of justification.

As I said above each to their own.

You are most welcome to your Avensis. Best of luck with it.

colm_mcm

Henry Ford III wrote:

What sense does a slightly thirsty diesel engine make?

48.7mpg combined is hardly thirsty, and the new 125bhp is set to be better, with the addition of a 6 speed box.

hiscan

Tipsy Mac wrote:

Very mild facelift, I think the proper new one is coming in 2009, the new Corolla is out in 2008.

maybe not until 2010 when they are also bringing in a new landcruiser as far as i know

colm_mcm

New Avensis due in 2009, New Cruiser also 2009

EIN

maidhc wrote:

Toyota definately are the masters of subtle!

http://imgs.pravda.sk/sk_aaktual/A060513_P21_AVENSIS07-01_V.JPG

Any word when we will be seeing them in Irish showrooms?

whats the story with toyota? if you go for an avensis other than a bog basic one then you gotta wait 3-4 months for delivery!! seems mad

like the new avensis estate toyota cant say when they will have any in ireland for sale!!! they wont give definate dates..why put stuff in the brochure if you cant supply it within a reasonable time!

also
how the hell do they expect to sell cars if they dont have any demo models in their show rooms to show you what ur actually buying...

also the avensis 1.8 auto luna is a special order...3-4 mth lead time...
they are loosing customers by not holding some of these models in stock.

colm_mcm

I think Toyota are fairly happy with the number of cars they're selling. There's very little point in concentrating on importing Tourers and Automatics, when there's such demand for saloons with 1.6 or 2.0 D-4D engines.

EIN

colm_mcm wrote:

I think Toyota are fairly happy with the number of cars they're selling. There's very little point in concentrating on importing Tourers and Automatics, when there's such demand for saloons with 1.6 or 2.0 D-4D engines.

they told me that they stock what they sell the most, and that they dont care if they miss the odd order.(avensis high spec) . they lost a few cash sales from me so far in the last 2yrs.

their normal spec cars aura, terra, are bog basic and dull.

why advertise cars in their brochure if they are not going to be able to supply one in a reasonable amount of time...

i have owned many new toyotas in the past and found them reliable , but because toyota were not able to supply what they advertise after waiting 4 mths!! i went elsewhere...

another thing,, why is it that if you ring a toyota dealer, and ask for a cash price ,,, they all seem to give the same price!

colm_mcm

EIN wrote:

they told me that they stock what they sell the most, and that they dont care if they miss the odd order.(avensis high spec) . they lost a few cash sales from me so far in the last 2yrs

.
It's not that they don't stock high spec models. They stock a good range of cars, what they don't do is build cars that they won't sell.

EIN wrote:

their normal spec cars aura, terra, are bog basic and dull.

Any base model will by its nature not be as exciting as more expensive versions, it's not unique to Toyota!

EIN wrote:

why advertise cars in their brochure if they are not going to be able to supply one in a reasonable amount of time...

Some people don't mind waiting for a special order.

EIN wrote:

another thing,, why is it that if you ring a toyota dealer, and ask for a cash price ,,, they all seem to give the same price!

Maybe because all dealers buy in the cars at the same price, advertise them at the same price and have the same amount of margin. lots of trades give a certain percentage of a discount. You'll find price differences between dealers anyway.

knifey_spoonie

EIN wrote:

another thing,, why is it that if you ring a toyota dealer, and ask for a cash price ,,, they all seem to give the same price!

Hmm, good point....................why is it that when you buy the paper its the same price, go'on now have a guess, its called cost price

And that statement that all dealers quote the same price is a pile of bull, How about when eddie hobbs went and got an avensis for €1000 cheaper than any other dealer and all he had to do was pick up the phone, so maybe if you might pick up the phone and dont be so lazy as to just ring your local dealers you might just find that all dealers dont give the same price

im sure toyota ireland are really bothered that you have not bought 2 cars be cause your impatient

After all there are 222,652 toyota's on the road, but im sure those 222,652 people all drive manual cars with basic spec

maidhc

EIN wrote:

whats the story with toyota? if you go for an avensis other than a bog basic one then you gotta wait 3-4 months for delivery!! seems mad

like the new avensis estate toyota cant say when they will have any in ireland for sale!!! they wont give definate dates..why put stuff in the brochure if you cant supply it within a reasonable time!

also
how the hell do they expect to sell cars if they dont have any demo models in their show rooms to show you what ur actually buying...

also the avensis 1.8 auto luna is a special order...3-4 mth lead time...
they are loosing customers by not holding some of these models in stock.

All the above is exacly my experience.

Toyota have the Irish market cracked. Large cars, low spec, low capacity engines, inoffesive style and a reasonable price for all the above.

When I was considering a Corolla diesel, I could only get the terra spec and they didn't have one to test drive.

colm_mcm

You can't blame them for selling what people want.

EIN

colm_mcm wrote:

You can't blame them for selling what people want.

or not selling what people want

EIN

knife_fighter wrote:

Hmm, good point....................why is it that when you buy the paper its the same price, go'on now have a guess, its called cost price

And that statement that all dealers quote the same price is a pile of bull, How about when eddie hobbs went and got an avensis for €1000 cheaper than any other dealer and all he had to do was pick up the phone, so maybe if you might pick up the phone and dont be so lazy as to just ring your local dealers you might just find that all dealers dont give the same price

im sure toyota ireland are really bothered that you have not bought 2 cars be cause your impatient

After all there are 222,652 toyota's on the road, but im sure those 222,652 people all drive manual cars with basic spec

ya dont work for a toyota garage do ya?;)

4mths impatient?? come on..

knifey_spoonie

EIN wrote:

ya dont work for a toyota garage do ya?;)

No not half , but come'of trying to give toyota ireland a business lesson, do you really think they dont stock auto avensis ect of course they do, just not very many

As to not getting a test drive in a corolla that doesnt suprise me when most dealers got no more than 10/15 diesel corollas for the year

unkel

colm_mcm wrote:

what they don't do is build cars that they won't sell

Which makes perfect sense. I can see very few people over here ordering an Avensis and ticking every option on the list

maidhc wrote:

Toyota have the Irish market cracked. Large cars, low spec, low capacity engines, inoffesive style and a reasonable price for all the above

Add to that good build quality, reliability and good customer service and it's time for the jackpot!

colm_mcm wrote:

You can't blame them for selling what people want.

Exactly. Toyota is doing very well in Ireland and fair play to them

Audioslaven

What sort of mpg do ye get out of the avensis d4d 2.0 Diesel engine on average? Am considering an Avensis although Mazda 3 1.6 Saloon Diesel is a nicer looking car imo but in a different class

bazz26

Audioslaven wrote:

What sort of mpg do ye get out of the avensis d4d 2.0 Diesel engine on average? Am considering an Avensis although Mazda 3 1.6 Saloon Diesel is a nicer looking car imo but in a different class

Which Avensis D4-D are you talking about?

Up to July the old 2.0 D4-D unit had 116bhp and returned about 48mpg on average. The new 2.0 D4-D from July has 125bhp and a 6 speed gear box. It is supposed to be more economical and quieter than the old unit. There is also a 2.2 D4-D with 150bhp but this is very rare in Ireland.

The Mazda 3 diesel is the Peugeot/Citroen HDi unit also found in the Ford Focus, Volvo S40, Peugeot 307/407 and Citroen C4/C5. It has 110bhp and in a car the size of the 3 is grand and very economical.

bbability

Don't know what all the fuss is about. I know that they are trying to get rid of the old stick that returned for lease and car hire last month before they started really pushing the remastered model. I know that th 1.8 luna is hard to get at present but there will be one in a family members in the next 2 weeks. Its just a matter of finding someone who's willing to get you one. The other problem is the second registration of new cars in the Uk only happened on the 1st of September so all new cars are made for UK market. We get priority in January when demand is high. (and I don't work for Toyota)

colm_mcm

The revamped Avensis has been launched already, they're not waiting for hire cars to come back. It's only a "minor change" model and doesn't really need an advertising campaign, most people have heard of it at this stage.

bbability

Yeah what's all the money being spent on a billboard campign with the "remastered" avensis all over the country????

Go into any main dealer at the moment and see what's sitting outside. "Nearly New Toyota's ,Volvo's, Ford's, Nissan's..." i could go on. Most of the 06 stock are returns from Car Rental Companies. I have being to five different dealers in the last 2 weeks. Either they're lying through their teeth or I'm going mad.

maidhc

colm_mcm wrote:

The revamped Avensis has been launched already, they're not waiting for hire cars to come back.

They have been in Keary's Midleton for 5/6 weeks, maybe longer.

I only was in the base spec d4d one, and I was really really dissappointed. Just seemed like no effort was made in building or designing it. I'm not into VWs slush molding, and quite like my Mk1 Focus' plasticky dash, but I really thought the new/remasterd avensis dash is awful.

Because:
a) It looks cheaper than the one fitted to the Mk1 facelift, which actually is a lovely dash.
b) It doesn't have the nice amber light from the orginal Mk2
c) The eye level fuel compuer thing is gone back into the radio display.
d) Mismatching plastics
e) Horrible steering wheel.. you can see the mould marks and it is big enough to steer the Queen Mary.
f) Ugly squared off uncomfortable rubber gearknob.

bazz26

maidhc wrote:

They have been in Keary's Midleton for 5/6 weeks, maybe longer.

I only was in the base spec d4d one, and I was really really dissappointed. Just seemed like no effort was made in building or designing it. I'm not into VWs slush molding, and quite like my Mk1 Focus' plasticky dash, but I really thought the new/remasterd avensis dash is awful.

Because:
a) It looks cheaper than the one fitted to the Mk1 facelift, which actually is a lovely dash.
b) It doesn't have the nice amber light from the orginal Mk2
c) The eye level fuel compuer thing is gone back into the radio display.
d) Mismatching plastics
e) Horrible steering wheel.. you can see the mould marks and it is big enough to steer the Queen Mary.
f) Ugly squared off uncomfortable rubber gearknob.

Not really gone on the revamped model myself either. The new steering wheel audio controls don't look the best either. The front grill is not nice either imo. It seems too fussy, looks like they didn't know what they wanted in the end and just changed it for the sake of it.

I was always a fan of Jap cars especially Toyotas (owner of a few of them at this stage) and generally I am not put off by their inoffensive styling but the one place that has always disappointed me is the cabin design. I'm not talking about build quality but rather the quality of materials used, yes they are put together very well but as you said some of the plastics tend not to match or have a slightly cheapish looking shine after a couple of years. This is obviously an area they still need to work on.

Saying all that and as the owner of both a MkI and MkII Avensis I still do think this is a small price to pay when the overall package of reliability, resale value, durability and after sales service are top notch imo.