Possible Purchase

[Alpine]

HI, my wife has an 2007 Avensis which is a great car, with which we've had no problems. I am thinking of getting myself the model after (T270, I think), a petrol manual estate. Can anyone advise if this model is just as reliable as the Avensis we already have, and if there is anything specific to look out for on the later model. Cheers in advance.

Phil

[alan333]

There are some reports of electronic parking brake (EPB) actuator failure, with the repair being around £1000.

[Heidfirst]

are you thinking of buying new or used? & if used what sort of age? The manufacturer's warranty in the UK changed from 3 years/60,000 to 5 years/100,000 for cars registered from 1/6/2010 on.

The 2 potential issues that have turned up on a very few original T27s are:

EPB actuator failure (as Alan says a £1k fix out of warranty). Supposedly changes to unit certainly by 2012 facelift.

cracking of front doors by the checkstrap. Again supposed to have changes made certainly by 2012 facelift.

Other than those the 1.8 petrol seems to be boringly reliable ...

[Alpine]

Many thanks all, it would be second hand probably spending £5k to £7k. I would want to avoid an electric handbrake as I spent over £500 to fix that on an s type jag I have just sold. Am I right it think that the 2009/2010 models had an ordinary handbrake? Also, I've only seen these early models in fairly dull colours like silver, black, dark blue. Are there other brighter colours, red, white?

[alan333]

All T27's have EPB

[Heidfirst]

depending upon model year available in white, pearlescent white, met. black, met. titanium (black with a slight blueish tinge), 3 shades of met. silver/grey, met. red (although tbh it's a burgundy rather than bright red) & 2 blues (1 light, 1 dark). In the UK the Avensis is mainly a fleet car & businesses tend to go for safe as do Toyota anyway (imo Mazda do more exciting colours). I think that it probably loses them sales in the user chooser market.

This is the 2009 brochure https://d1hu588lul0tna.cloudfront.net/toyotaone/gben/Avensis-June-2009_tcm-3060-363527.pdf

[Konrad C]

I am thinking of looking at a 2009 1.8 Tourer in Bexleyheath I spotted in Auto Trader. It has 50,000 miles and only one owner. Does £5950 sound okay.

There are not much Tourers near to me and this would be a great car, even though it is outside the warranty period. I am aware of the EPB issue and the doors straps. Not a fan of EPB.

In the same search, a dealer (also local) is selling a 58 1.8 T25 hatch with half the mileage for £6000! That is high price to me.

[Heidfirst]

Trim level obviously comes into it too - a T Spirit is going to sell for more than a T2 all else being equal.

[Konrad C]

I am thinking of looking at a 2009 1.8 Tourer in Bexleyheath I spotted in Auto Trader. It has 50,000 miles and only one owner. Does £5950 sound okay.

There are not much Tourers near to me and this would be a great car, even though it is outside the warranty period. I am aware of the EPB issue and the doors straps. Not a fan of EPB.

In the same search, a dealer (also local) is selling a 58 1.8 T25 hatch with half the mileage for £6000! That is high price to me.

Trim level obviously comes into it too - a T Spirit is going to sell for more than a T2 all else being equal.

The T25 in my area has been sold, but the T27 TR 1.8, I might look at is still available. There are other T25s TR and colour collection available at near the price of the T27.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/used/cars/toyota/avensis/postcode/da175dr/radius/90/sort/default/price-to/8000/maximum-mileage/up_to_70000_miles/maximum-age/up_to_8_years_old/transmission/manual/engine-size-cars/1-7l_to_1-9l/fuel-type/petrol/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew/quantity-of-doors/5