A What Car thread! I think the answer is "Toyota Avensis?"
Discussion
Afternoon all, I'd like your thoughts and suggestions on my next car - here are some criteria and parameters to work with:
1 - Based on company car opt out rules, I want to buy a 1 year old / 20k miles car. I'll run it for 4 years / 80k miles and dispose of it at 5 years / 100k miles.
2 - I fancy something bigger than a small hatch - not only for my own comfort, but I'll regularly take out colleagues/clients - neither of which will appreciate having their knees touching their ears in the back.
3 - A full warranty over the cars life with me is important - I want to pay for service and wear/tear and not worry about DMF failures etc.
4 - At this miles a diesel makes sense and 45-50mpg would be splendid. I'm more a fan of the traditional 2.0lt lumps as opposed to the newer 1.6 units pulling bigger cars ie Passat Bluemotion (I've also read that mpg tails off significantly if you cruise above 60mph with the small motors).
5 - I'll view this car like a laptop. Its a tool for a job that needs to be reliable and functional. It will not be a pride and joy or an extention of my personality for others to clock my 19s and rate how great I am or how fabulously well my work is panning out.
6 - It needs to be quite and comfortable on the motorway. No sports suspension required here. If that means I have to go a bit slower around corners, then so be it as 99% of the time this car will be travelling in a straight line.
7 - Spec wise I want aircon, bluetooth and the ability to plug my old ipod in for music. That's about it. Nav is nice but I'm not going to seek it out. I know where the office is and have a Garmin in the glovebox.
8 - I have a Caterham as a toy which I adore. The less money spent on this work/commuter tool, the more 'car money' is maximised for mods / trackdays / european adventures which is more important to me.
So I'm looking at a Toyota Avensis saloon.
5yr/100k warranty and a local dealer in town. Reasonable service costs. Probably cheap to insure.
I reckon I can buy for £13k and then sell for £3k to a village mini-cabber - so that's just over £200/mth depreictaion - lovely.
Kit seems genourous enough in Icon spec, mpg from the 2.0d seems OK, the shape doesn't offend me, it's a decent size.
I've read a few reviews - worthy but dull seems to be the consensus. Fine by me and supresses nearly-new values.
Thoughts on the Avensis? Anyone running a new one?
What else should I consider? The only other one I'm going to look into is a Hyundai i40 saloon.
1 - Based on company car opt out rules, I want to buy a 1 year old / 20k miles car. I'll run it for 4 years / 80k miles and dispose of it at 5 years / 100k miles.
2 - I fancy something bigger than a small hatch - not only for my own comfort, but I'll regularly take out colleagues/clients - neither of which will appreciate having their knees touching their ears in the back.
3 - A full warranty over the cars life with me is important - I want to pay for service and wear/tear and not worry about DMF failures etc.
4 - At this miles a diesel makes sense and 45-50mpg would be splendid. I'm more a fan of the traditional 2.0lt lumps as opposed to the newer 1.6 units pulling bigger cars ie Passat Bluemotion (I've also read that mpg tails off significantly if you cruise above 60mph with the small motors).
5 - I'll view this car like a laptop. Its a tool for a job that needs to be reliable and functional. It will not be a pride and joy or an extention of my personality for others to clock my 19s and rate how great I am or how fabulously well my work is panning out.
6 - It needs to be quite and comfortable on the motorway. No sports suspension required here. If that means I have to go a bit slower around corners, then so be it as 99% of the time this car will be travelling in a straight line.
7 - Spec wise I want aircon, bluetooth and the ability to plug my old ipod in for music. That's about it. Nav is nice but I'm not going to seek it out. I know where the office is and have a Garmin in the glovebox.
8 - I have a Caterham as a toy which I adore. The less money spent on this work/commuter tool, the more 'car money' is maximised for mods / trackdays / european adventures which is more important to me.
So I'm looking at a Toyota Avensis saloon.
5yr/100k warranty and a local dealer in town. Reasonable service costs. Probably cheap to insure.
I reckon I can buy for £13k and then sell for £3k to a village mini-cabber - so that's just over £200/mth depreictaion - lovely.
Kit seems genourous enough in Icon spec, mpg from the 2.0d seems OK, the shape doesn't offend me, it's a decent size.
I've read a few reviews - worthy but dull seems to be the consensus. Fine by me and supresses nearly-new values.
Thoughts on the Avensis? Anyone running a new one?
What else should I consider? The only other one I'm going to look into is a Hyundai i40 saloon.
xRIEx said:
Just throwing out similar names to the Avensis, but what about and Accord or a Mazda 6?
Yup, will consider also. I think they are a bit more popular though and the 6 is a new model. Not falling into my bottom-feeder price bracket according to AT search criteria. Also, pretty sure I'll have to run year 4 and 5 out of warranty which I'd rather not unless they offer a significant advantage in other areas.I have a 2009 petrol TR. Same shape as current but previous trim levels, so I would expect to be very similar.
I wanted something reliable and cheap to run, so far it has been both.
It find the petrol surprisingly economical, mostly it just gets used on short journeys and averages mid 30's mpg. We had to go down to Ramsgate last week so 100 miles or so each way of good motorway speeds saw an average of 44mpg.
It is comfortable and spacious, I like it a lot more than I expected to.
Edited to add that the dealer Iis fantastic, amongst the best I have come across. I have also had dealings with another Toyota dealer and they too were very good, so I guess Toyota give the quality of their dealer network some priority.
I wanted something reliable and cheap to run, so far it has been both.
It find the petrol surprisingly economical, mostly it just gets used on short journeys and averages mid 30's mpg. We had to go down to Ramsgate last week so 100 miles or so each way of good motorway speeds saw an average of 44mpg.
It is comfortable and spacious, I like it a lot more than I expected to.
Edited to add that the dealer Iis fantastic, amongst the best I have come across. I have also had dealings with another Toyota dealer and they too were very good, so I guess Toyota give the quality of their dealer network some priority.
Edited by Russ T Bolt on Sunday 26th October 13:21
Matt UK said:
Bonefish Blues said:
A Prius. I think it fits your criteria very well and is a nice relaxing place to sit. 
Fair shout, not looked into one. A lot of my miles though are Motorway - do these do the mpg / use the EV benefit at 80mph?
A measured 55mpg across 80K miles, likely high 50s if I'd cruised at 70.
Bonefish Blues said:
Matt UK said:
Bonefish Blues said:
A Prius. I think it fits your criteria very well and is a nice relaxing place to sit.
Fair shout, not looked into one. A lot of my miles though are Motorway - do these do the mpg / use the EV benefit at 80mph?
A measured 55mpg across 80K miles, likely high 50s if I'd cruised at 70.
Seem more expensive to purchase, but will investigate further. Cheers.
BorkFactor said:
Can you get a Mondeo for that money?
They are seriously good cars, very comfortable and nice to drive. Loads of room in them too.
You can, there are plenty. I agree in so much as I like the Mondeo. But the 3yr/60k warranty will bother me for the final 2 years. If the injectors, turbo, DMF bork I'll be at the mercy of the local Ford garage sucking their teeth, saying how incredibly rare this is, but that'll be £2.5k please. I'm not sure it offers enough extra to offset that mean warranty.They are seriously good cars, very comfortable and nice to drive. Loads of room in them too.
If this was a fully funded car then I'd take the Mondeo, but with my own cash I want to minimise having to shell out.
Russ T Bolt said:
I have a 2009 petrol TR. Same shape as current but previous trim levels, so I would expect to be very similar.
I wanted something reliable and cheap to run, so far it has been both.
It find the petrol surprisingly economical, mostly it just gets used on short journeys and averages mid 30's mpg. We had to go down to Ramsgate last week so 100 miles or so each way of good motorway speeds saw an average of 44mpg.
It is comfortable and spacious, I like it a lot more than I expected to.
Edited to add that the dealer Iis fantastic, amongst the best I have come across. I have also had dealings with another Toyota dealer and they too were very good, so I guess Toyota give the quality of their dealer network some priority.
Cheers Russ and good to hear from an owner. That petrol mpg is pretty good, I might see how much cheaper the petrol variants are. I wanted something reliable and cheap to run, so far it has been both.
It find the petrol surprisingly economical, mostly it just gets used on short journeys and averages mid 30's mpg. We had to go down to Ramsgate last week so 100 miles or so each way of good motorway speeds saw an average of 44mpg.
It is comfortable and spacious, I like it a lot more than I expected to.
Edited to add that the dealer Iis fantastic, amongst the best I have come across. I have also had dealings with another Toyota dealer and they too were very good, so I guess Toyota give the quality of their dealer network some priority.
Edited by Russ T Bolt on Sunday 26th October 13:21
And I agree about the dealers. Our local one shares with Lexus, and having run both Brands in the past, I could never fault their service. Even their costs were very reasonable vs the Germans who were out to mug me every time I walked in.
xRIEx said:
itz_baseline said:
I would consider a Kia Optima. Seems to tick quite a few of your boxes.
Matt UK said:
What else should I consider? The only other one I'm going to look into is a Hyundai i40 saloon.
Simon-R said:
I am running a 2009 2.2 T-Spirit Avensis estate. I absolutely love it. Very comfy 50+ mpg on the motorway, 45 mpg on the 20 mile commute. I used to work for a Toyota dealer and these were fairly bombproof. Lots of space in the rear seats. Would recommend.
Thanks Simon, good to hear. They look a useful well priced tool to do the job. Thinking of the 2.0D4-D. Same reputation for ultra-reliability?
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