Avensis T180 Any Good?

[adamtse]

I have looked at the VRS as well. I can get a nice petrol VRS for my money but call me a Badge snob, I can't quite get used to the fact Skoda now makes good cars.

i think I should be sensible here and get something that will save me lots of money (compared to the type R)so I have more to spend on my baby.

i still remember how these volvo cars were built like tanks. those cars were solid, i wonder what happened to them?! Mazda is a good choice also but no powerful diesel and the MPS is !Removed! expensive to run.

[SF695]

I have looked at the VRS as well. I can get a nice petrol VRS for my money but call me a badge snob, I can't quite get used to the fact Skoda now makes good cars.

i think I should be sensible here and get something that will save me lots of money (compared to the type R)so I have more to spend on my baby.

i still remember how these volvo cars were built like tanks. those cars were solid, i wonder what happened to them?! Mazda is a good choice also but no powerful diesel and the MPS is !Removed! expensive to run.

Volvo still makes good cars. Unlike Saab, that has been forced by GM to use GM technology, Volvo has been left pretty much free by Ford, to develope and use their own engines. Mazda just came mout with a new turbo diesel, with 180 something horsepower.

[Bry]

The only reason i would even consider a Mondeo is that Ford has used a lot of technology from Mazda and Volvo. But thinking a little furter, if i want a Volvo or a Mazda i would do the most logical think and buy a Volvo or a Mazda. Opel is the bottom of german car industry and Vauxhall is just an Opel made in UK. The Passat is probebly a good car, but doubt it's better than the Avensis in the long run.

I did not intend to post again but there are so many untrue statements in this posting that I feel I must!

"Ford uses a lot of technology from Volvo and Mazda" quite the contrary. The only substantial part that Ford use from Volvo is the 5 cylinder turbo charged petrol engine in the Focus RS, whereas, Volvo and Mazda use all of Ford Diesel's (well Dagenham built Peugeot/Citroen by roots) and in the case of Volvo, often the whole car, V50 is a Focus Estate along with other models from Ford platforms, the Mazda 2 is Fiesta and the 6 ??? No surprise as Ford owns Volvo and half of Mazda. The BMW Mini uses Ford/Peugeot diesel engines (they dropped the Toyota 1.4 unit!) and Chrysler petrol engines as BMW do/did not make transverse/FWD power plants.

The Vectra/Insignia was/is not built by Opel, its built by American giants GM, the largest car builder in the world (or was?) who own Vauxhall and Opel and many others. The Vectra is not built in the UK, it is built in Belgium, Germany and Australia under another GM brand. The only GM/Vauxhall CAR built in the UK is the Astra.

"Passat is a probably a good car" Understatement of all time that one! VAG group are recognised by almost everyone as at the leading edge of build quality/design, often copied, never bettered??? VAG own VW,Seat, Skoda, Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti and Porsche soon (again)? along with others.

[Bry]

I have looked at the VRS as well. I can get a nice petrol VRS for my money but call me a badge snob, I can't quite get used to the fact Skoda now makes good cars.

i think I should be sensible here and get something that will save me lots of money (compared to the type R)so I have more to spend on my baby.

i still remember how these volvo cars were built like tanks. those cars were solid, i wonder what happened to them?! Mazda is a good choice also but no powerful diesel and the MPS is !Removed! expensive to run.

Volvo still makes good cars. Unlike Saab, that has been forced by GM to use GM technology, Volvo has been left pretty much free by Ford, to develope and use their own engines. Mazda just came mout with a new turbo diesel, with 180 something horsepower.

Depends which Volvo's you are talking about, the V50 is nearly all Ford, the V70 uses Ford/Peugeot 4 cylinder Diesel engines as well as there own (dated) 5 cylinder unit. I think Ford's control of Volvo is little different to GM's control of Saab (ex Saab!).GM only put their Fiat/GM diesel engines into Saabs similar to Ford, nothing wrong with that, can you remember a Saab built diesel??? The Saab petrol engines are still their own petrol Turbo's etc AND GM like them so much they are putting them into Opel, Vauxhall's etc.

Mazda's new?? 180 is the Ford/Peugeut/Citroen lump, been available in them for ages and Mazda for a while now!!!

Adamtse, I cannot understand how you can work out that a T180 will save you money? compared to what, can't see it saving you anything over your type R?

[cabcurtains]

"Passat is a probably a good car" Understatement of all time that one! VAG group are recognised by almost everyone as at the leading edge of build quality/design, often copied, never bettered??? VAG own VW,Seat, Skoda, Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini and Porsch soon (again)? along with others.

Have a look at this thread and draw your own conclusion http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=85818&st=20 - sorry its not a link, new forum makes the box fall off the edge of the screen.

[SF695]

The 2.0 petrol in the Mondeo is a Mazda design.

The 2.0 Saab is designed by Saab, Opel and GM US. I just hope that it's more Saab than Opel and US. The V6 Saab is a GM design. Saab was in the progress of developing a V6, but GM cut the project when they took over

Although the VW group makes good cars compared to a lot of other companies, their reputation for build quality is partly a myth, build upon the simple, yet reliable designs they used in the past. The Beetle, old Golf etc. However the Passat is the only other car i would consider out of the examples given.

[SF695]

Something else to consider

I live in a place, where cars in general don't last very long. The roads are well made, but there are a lot of hills to climb which is tough on the engine and transmission. There are not many straigh roads compared to other places, so a car spends a lot of it's live accelerating out of corners and curves, again often up hill. Again tough on the old engine and transmission.

Now what's interesting is that with a few exceptions, all the older cars you see on the road are made by Toyota, Mazda, Volvo, Saab and Mercedes