Avensis- What to look out for

[B_giB]

Hi all,

I am looking at getting a new wagon, and quite like the look of the Avensis 2003-2005 ish)

Is there anything to look out for? Problems etc?

What engine is better? The 2.4 for power obviously, how does economy compare for the two?

[AE111_JAMES]

Sorry to burst your bubble but the avensi' are horrid pieces of s!@t. I work at Toyota so have my fair share of them.
Being euro spec'd the indicator stalk is on the wrong side, they have sacrificial brake rotors so come time for a brake pad change you have to replace the rotors aswell and the rotors are of an odd type so from memory genuine is quite likely the only way to go (could be wrong).
Theres no room in the engine bay for repairs so labour costs will be more, trust me it will be in for some.

Those D4 direct injection 1az engines are horrid, theyre gutless, not sure what theyre like on fuel but have a high tendency to block their egrs sending the engine into a limp home mode or spontaneously cut out. To repair this the whole intake manifold/egr valve has to be removed and sent away to be ultrasonically cleaned, though to remove this is another mission in itself.

Another thing being a high compression motor you have to run it on at least 95, 91 will have it pinking/detonating.

Thats my 5cents worth on them anyways lol.

imo - i'd much rather go for a Feilder or Wish but not the v spec which has the same motor as the Avensis.

[matt dunn]

We have an Avensis at work.

If we are going away on a course and are going to be driving on the open road for more than an hour or so,
we will use it as it has cruise control,

Other than that I hate it and would rather run round in the Diesil van,
as it drives better.

Ours is a manual too, aparantly they are worse than the auto's as 1st in them is so high geared,
you need to ride the clutch to take off.

They are called Cavalier wagons by the Toyota tech's here.

[strx7]

the good thing about them is they look pretty cool, that is all they have going for them.
the engines die and have issues, the headlights are prone for melting the back off them.

[RS13]

I liked them too and was considering buying one until I read more into the engines and how unreliable they can be. We too were shopping around for a wagon, the Avensis are attractive cars but they are just too cheap for what they are, evidently for a reason.. we bought an '04 1.8 (1ZZ) Caldina instead about a month ago, outstanding car. Handles incredibly well, comfortable to drive and super cheap to run, not as gruntly as I'd have liked but still gets along nicely even with a full load. Wouldn't recommend the 2L Caldina as they've the same engine as the Avensis, but if you're after power the GT4 Caldinas are generally the same price if not cheaper than the 1.8/2L versions and they've literally twice the power of ours. Not really much else in the 2001-2007 sub-$10k Toyota wagons.. the Fielders are good cars but a bit too tradesman/rep-mobile for me personally, everything else is too people-moverish which isn't what we wanted.

[Crampy]

Mark X Zio.
Other than having a stupid name and looking like a giant jellybean, they do have some good points. Namely a 2GR and 6 speed auto!

[B_giB]

Thanks for the input guys/

I do like the look of the late model Caldinas, Might take a few for a test drive.

The Mark X Zio is a bit big for what we are after really...

[RS13]

I do like the look of the late model Caldinas, Might take a few for a test drive.

Good man, again I'd stay away from the 1AZ though.

[MrOizo]

How about a 2JZGE Altezza Wagon, regularly serviced with genuine Toyota parts, one careful lady owner

[B_giB]

Dont want 4WD