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Sr180, Do I Or Don't I...


-T- Sport
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Hey Guys,

It's been a VEEERY long time since I was active on here. :/

Anyways, Since selling my Red CTS that's in my sig I've had a fair few different cars, but now looking at buying an SR180.

Insurance Group is fairly low, Running costs seem fine and tax isn't exactly a bank breaker.

I'm currently driving around in a 2011 520D, which needless to say is a barge. But the Torque is awesome, but looking at the SR180 figures the Torque is even higher and the car weighs about 300KG less.. Can't be a bad thing right?

I'm sure this thread has popped up 7000 times in the paat, and apologies that I'm being rather lazy and not properly searching. Two main things I wanna know..

1) Any major underlining issues to keep an eye out for? I've a 10k Budget so can get a fairly decent used one.

2) Are Toyotas tuning boxes worth the money for the extra oomph? I understand it has a good amount of oomph as it is, but I have been driving 200+ and 300+ cars lately :/

Ok, So I need to make it 3...

3) How easy is it to come by the skirt packs I've seen on a few of em? Much prefer them with the kit & the twin exit exhausts.

The car will mainly be used by my partner ferrying the kids about etc, but I still want some power and looks to go with it! hehe.

Cheers in advance for any responses. :)

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Hi, as a current SR180 owner I thought I'd reply first :)

First of all, if the car is going to be used for lots of short-distance stop/start runs (especially from cold) I would not advise the SR at all. It wasn't made for that kind of treatment so will object fairly quickly. The MPG will be much poorer than your 520D & it would probably clog up the DPF pretty damn quickly ! I get approx 43-44 MPG out of mine, doing a mixture of commuter miles (A-roads) & some cross-country (B-road) driving.

The known issues are mainly to do with possible head-gasket failure, but in fairness that does affect the previous model T180 much more. With a full service history & no obvious signs or symptoms of trouble, you could find a perfectly good car. I like mine a lot, but keep it Toyota serviced just in case. I didn't like how much it rolled in the corners, so fitted a set of Eibach Pro-kit springs which helped a lot (without ruining the ride quality).

I also tried out a TDI Tuning box for a while - it gave even smoother running than normal & a bit of extra torque, but MPG only improved a little. You CANNOT run the boxes at maximum power gain without a lot of smoke & warning lights. Mine's ran at medium on the settings.

Hope that helps answer your question, any more just ask :)

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I too had a T Sport and then went for a T180 Auris, so I sort of understand your thought process :)

What I will say about the T180/SR180 is that they sound better on paper, it was also the spec sheet that got my attention for the T180. It never felt that fast and the torque figure sounds impressive, but in real life the acceleration never had a wow factor. Certainly nothing like the 'Lift' of the T Sport (which I misses dearly). However, don't get me wrong, the T180 was swift enough but it never drove as nicely as my wife's Audi A3 TDI, both in speed and handling. The Auris felt like an elephant (lots of body roll) and the Audi like a cat, and I found Turbo lag an issue.

As mentioned already do look out for DPF and head gasket issues, mine also consumed a fair bit of oil.

I found the fuel economy ok, mine averaged 38mpg overall over 2 years.

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We sell a tuning box for it, takes the BHP to around 200 and will smooth out the torque curve very nicely for you

Kingo :thumsup:

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My IS220d goes well, so id imagine the SR180 is a flying machine 3rd gear upwards. No need to spend 10k, you would get a nice one for 6-7k - re the dpf as long as it gets a good long fairly hard motorway run once a week, it will be fine.

Check the reg with toyota to see if its got the engine replaced - i personally wouldnt buy one unless this has been done. But otherwise, they are a nice car - especially in white!

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Cheers for the replies so far chaps!

I'm just trying to play the game safe at the moment, as had a very bad streak of luck with my cars lately.

When I sold my Red CTS, I bought a 2001 Subaru Legacy RSK B4 Twin Turbo, Running 310BHP. Loved it to bits and never caused me any issues, but had to sell it due to running costs etc at the time. In the space I had the Scooby, The mrs went through...

Yaris T Sport - Great car, had to sell as it was a tad too small for the two kids & prams etc

Pug 307 - Clutch started slipping, so we got rid

MG ZR - Notoriously, Gasget went, even though we fixed it it was never the same. So that got sold.

After we got rid of those three, that's when we decided we needed to sell my Leggy to make way for a new motor, so we got a 2001 CTS again. Which unfortunetly clearly had a VERY bad previous owner..

90k Miles on the clock, We had the timing chain replaced, head skimmed and gasget replaced, full service, 2 new coilpacks... Seemed to be running sweet as a nut. But 300 miles after the head was done, driving up to the Lakes the day before my wedding. It decided to throw a conrod...

So been sat without a car for a month now. lol.

As I say, 10k is my top budget, but have seen a few SR180's I like, as said in WHITE! :D for around 7.5k. All the ones I'm looking at are from Toyota themselves and have a 12 month Warranty at minimum.

Edit: Kingo! long time no speak, you probbaly don't even recall my Username. :lol: Bought a few things off you in the past...

How much are these boxes from you chaps, I know the prices from Fleabay etc but not yours :)

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Hi I run a 2008 white SR180 and have done since April 2009 bought with 12k on the clock direct from Toyota. It now has 68k and still runs like a dream - the torque delivery still makes me smile as it is quite a sleeper to the uninitiated with only the Red SR Badge giving the game away.

Mine has mainly been used for motorway miles at which it excels it can deliver high 40 mpg or low 50s if you are really careful. Around town you are looking at low 30s so quite a difference but this could be improved with longer runs and less use of the loud pedal.

I have had it serviced regularly and very few minor issues which have all been picked up during servicing.

On the head gasket issue there is a Toyota Technical Bulletin mentioned on the site which extends the cover by Toyota on these engines to 7 years or around 110k miles as long as the car has a full service history ( what other manufacturer other than Toyota does this!)

The only downside I can see is as mentioned as standard this car does roll on corners slightly and mine has a regular tendency to ground out on speed humps or uneven road surfaces- although not sure how standard my car is.

It was one of the Toyota Sprint Series cars run by Redline Magazine / Tunit and featured in Car Mechanics magazine Diesel Tuning article.

I thought it may have had a hard life initially - this only came to life some weeks after I purchased the car from a main Toyota dealer however they responded by giving me a full 3yr warranty on a 12 month old car!

So to sum up still very happy with my purchase and will probably run for at least another year until finances improve.

Pete

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Interesting Pete - I had the article on your car from Redline until recently. Was doing a clearout of the garage & all those magazines went to the recycling yard !

Amazing that Toyota gave you a 3 yr warranty ! :o

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Not too fussed about round town costs, as it wont be used overly much during the weekdays, so long as I get a good return when going on Holiday etc than all is well :D

Will keep looking at some :D

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Also consider a mk5 Golf GTi for similar money, these are easy run - early 40s motorway no problem - lovely car

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  • 4 weeks later...

Love mine! Its quick when it needs to be...7.8 secs to 60 is just 0.2 off the GTD Golf. Pulls really well. Great balance between ride and cornering. I dont have the Roll issues - the SR180 has uprated rear suspension and lowered slightly over the T180....Economy...well it aint wonderful, but its a damned sight better than my 2.5V6 Mondeo. I get an extra tank of fuel saving every month. About 400-420miles the warning light comes on...but I do outer London driving mainly and a few school runs. Best thing about this car for me is its a wolf in sheeps clothing. Not many of general public know much about it (including me before I looked into it). Its on a par performance wise with a Golf GTD, though economy is less, you will save on insurance! I put a K&N panel filter in mine and its helped the responsiveness a little more....Reliable... Toyota replaced the engine in 2011, so only 26K on the new engine - 77K on the car. Cost me £6K!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'd say go easy on the additional skirts especially on the front as the overhang is already quite big and liable on catching the ground as standard. It's an ok car, in hindsight an Octavia VRS would be preferable.

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About that..

I may have accidentally bought a Mazda 3 MPS instead...

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