The £100 Toyota Avensis T4 Estate
Discussion
Hello everyone.
I love the threads that pop up from time to time where someone has paid a ridiculously low amount for a car and now its my turn to do one.
With the MOT having run out on my current ford focus and a new house purchase imminent this is perfect for me to throw rubbish in the back and not worry about it.
I've known the car for a while as it belongs to a friend of mine. He has owned the car for about 4 years and he was only the second owner. The previous owner being an elderly gentleman who owned it from new.
So this is how the story begins of how it fell into my ownership...........
My friend had a new clutch put in it about a year ago and all was well until he rings me one day saying that it doesn't move when he puts it into first gear. He bought a new car and parked it at his mums, forgetting about it for a while. When we eventually get round to looking at it, it turns out a driveshaft has snapped. So he buys a new driveshaft and I install it for him.
So the car is ready to sell on. He offered it to me for £500 but I didn't want to pay that much. I told him to try and sell it on gumtree or something like that. A couple of days ago I drove by his mothers house and noticed it still sat on her drive. So I messaged him and he said do you still want to buy it. I jokingly said "Yes but for £100" to which he replied "ok".
So I picked it up last night after faffing around trying to get it started due to a very flat and very dead battery.
Here she is in all her glory........
I will upload a few more pics if anyone is interested.
It's done 98k miles and has a fully stamped up service history to 90k. It drives perfectly and even has folding electric mirrors and a funky retro satnav which still works. It has a disk drive unit under the passenger seat. Its completely pointless when you can just stick Waze on your phone now but its old school touches like that that I love.
I almost feel bad for paying what I did but he just wanted rid and old cars like this are pretty worthless now I would imagine. I don't even know what it is actually worth?!
Its one of those cars that you can just tell has been loved and cared for at some point in its life.
The MOT is due in a month and its already booked in. I don't mind chucking a few quid at it if it doesn't fail too horrendously. The paintwork is excellent and without dents so I'll get the rotary polisher on it and also bring the headlights up.
Thanks for reading if you bothered!
I love the threads that pop up from time to time where someone has paid a ridiculously low amount for a car and now its my turn to do one.
With the MOT having run out on my current ford focus and a new house purchase imminent this is perfect for me to throw rubbish in the back and not worry about it.
I've known the car for a while as it belongs to a friend of mine. He has owned the car for about 4 years and he was only the second owner. The previous owner being an elderly gentleman who owned it from new.
So this is how the story begins of how it fell into my ownership...........
My friend had a new clutch put in it about a year ago and all was well until he rings me one day saying that it doesn't move when he puts it into first gear. He bought a new car and parked it at his mums, forgetting about it for a while. When we eventually get round to looking at it, it turns out a driveshaft has snapped. So he buys a new driveshaft and I install it for him.
So the car is ready to sell on. He offered it to me for £500 but I didn't want to pay that much. I told him to try and sell it on gumtree or something like that. A couple of days ago I drove by his mothers house and noticed it still sat on her drive. So I messaged him and he said do you still want to buy it. I jokingly said "Yes but for £100" to which he replied "ok".
So I picked it up last night after faffing around trying to get it started due to a very flat and very dead battery.
Here she is in all her glory........
I will upload a few more pics if anyone is interested.
It's done 98k miles and has a fully stamped up service history to 90k. It drives perfectly and even has folding electric mirrors and a funky retro satnav which still works. It has a disk drive unit under the passenger seat. Its completely pointless when you can just stick Waze on your phone now but its old school touches like that that I love.
I almost feel bad for paying what I did but he just wanted rid and old cars like this are pretty worthless now I would imagine. I don't even know what it is actually worth?!
Its one of those cars that you can just tell has been loved and cared for at some point in its life.
The MOT is due in a month and its already booked in. I don't mind chucking a few quid at it if it doesn't fail too horrendously. The paintwork is excellent and without dents so I'll get the rotary polisher on it and also bring the headlights up.
Thanks for reading if you bothered!
Dms86 said:
The MOT is due in a month and its already booked in. I don't mind chucking a few quid at it if it doesn't fail too horrendously. The paintwork is excellent and without dents so I'll get the rotary polisher on it and also bring the headlights up.
Thanks for reading if you bothered!
Last year's MOT had quite a few advisories on it.Thanks for reading if you bothered!
Yes I am aware of the previous mot history due to it being my friends car and the really helpful DVLA website. The exhaust is already fixed and I have priced up new brake all round. The advisories are nothing too scary and I know my way round a spanner!
Lets hope there are a few more years left in the old girl yet.
Lets hope there are a few more years left in the old girl yet.
Best thing is to keep it for a while....otherwise your pal may not be amused if you flip it for a tidy profit ....!!!
Just joking !
Seems a no brainer as long as it doesn't cost too much to fix up.
I was 'in between' cars a couple of years ago, having scrapped my beloved Alfa 156 due to chassis corrosion, and was undecided as to what to get next, so a good pal 'lent 'me his 2003 Polo 1.9D ( no turbo...!) which was just sitting in his garden taking up space. The understanding was that it was all transferred into my name, then it would sold when I found my next car.
I ran that Polo ( it had 123,000 on the clock) which had no rust whatsoever, the bodywork was mint!) for about 4 months, hammered it up and down the M1 to Gateshead for work, then I advertised it on Gumtree for £550.....
The phone rang off the hook, so the first sensible message left was contacted and we sold it for £500.
All in all it was a great arrangement !
The point of this tale is that it can be very satisfying running an older car that has been looked after well, while costing virtually nothing to own. And you are helping out a pal at the same time.
Looking forward to your journey with your £100 Toyota !
Just joking !
Seems a no brainer as long as it doesn't cost too much to fix up.
I was 'in between' cars a couple of years ago, having scrapped my beloved Alfa 156 due to chassis corrosion, and was undecided as to what to get next, so a good pal 'lent 'me his 2003 Polo 1.9D ( no turbo...!) which was just sitting in his garden taking up space. The understanding was that it was all transferred into my name, then it would sold when I found my next car.
I ran that Polo ( it had 123,000 on the clock) which had no rust whatsoever, the bodywork was mint!) for about 4 months, hammered it up and down the M1 to Gateshead for work, then I advertised it on Gumtree for £550.....
The phone rang off the hook, so the first sensible message left was contacted and we sold it for £500.
All in all it was a great arrangement !
The point of this tale is that it can be very satisfying running an older car that has been looked after well, while costing virtually nothing to own. And you are helping out a pal at the same time.
Looking forward to your journey with your £100 Toyota !
Dms86 said:
I actually think it’s quite a handsome design. Maybe I’m biased because it’s new to me. I like the wheels on yours. They are different to mine? Are they still 17”?
In the right colour (grey) and in estate form they do look good and have aged pretty well. Yeah mine has 17” wheels and must be one of the last as it was registered in 2008.
loskie said:
that must be less than scrap money!
If you do flip it, after your expenses split the surplus maybe 70:30 with your mate so as not to rub it in. The 70 being yours.
The last I heard about scrap value was that it was at an all time low and people were paying to have cars taken away?If you do flip it, after your expenses split the surplus maybe 70:30 with your mate so as not to rub it in. The 70 being yours.
This was a while ago...
Mine has the same, just waiting for kids to get a wee bit bigger before we get a dog and put it to use. I like the car so much that we’re currently planning to upgrade the wife’s car and I’ll just run mine until it dies. It’s worth much more to me as a practical car than I could get if I decided to offload it.
I may have to retract my statement about finding a car that has been loved and well looked after 
I thought I would have a check of the pollen filter as they're cheap and easy to get to.....
Do I win a prize for the filthiest filter ever?! At least it has been doing its job
Also re attached the little strut for the glovebox so it opens and closes nicely now.
The previous owner (my friend) had fitted a cheap reversing sensor kit which worked fine but he had stuck the lcd screen underneath the headrest on the rear seat. This was really annoying and looked crap.
So I spent 20 minutes routing it through the tailgate and down into the rear quarter where the control box was. A very boring but satisfying job when complete. Its much better here as it can be seen in the rear view mirror.
I thought I would have a check of the pollen filter as they're cheap and easy to get to.....
Do I win a prize for the filthiest filter ever?! At least it has been doing its job
Also re attached the little strut for the glovebox so it opens and closes nicely now.
The previous owner (my friend) had fitted a cheap reversing sensor kit which worked fine but he had stuck the lcd screen underneath the headrest on the rear seat. This was really annoying and looked crap.
So I spent 20 minutes routing it through the tailgate and down into the rear quarter where the control box was. A very boring but satisfying job when complete. Its much better here as it can be seen in the rear view mirror.
Edited by Dms86 on Friday 30th October 15:35
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