Faults:

Exhaust and suspension required attention at MOT test. Otherwise no advisory.

Serviced when purchased, the car runs smooth and quiet for diesel. It was a bit rattly when I test drove it, but much better now and has been fine for 2 years. Do not touch these (or any used car) without oil service history.

Subframe has light corrosion, but not as bad as some Avensis's out there.

General Comments:

The Avensis from this time period is a reliable car. I bought mine 2 years ago and it has been great.

2.0 turbo diesel "D-4D" has plenty of power and averages over 50 mpg. The car is very smooth to drive, not exciting but does the job.

T2 model is rather basic, go for the TR models or upwards. Wheel trims let the car down, it is otherwise OK looking, but thinking of fitting alloy wheels to brighten things up. Inside still has all the essential electrics for a modern car. It has wind up windows in the rear though which I think it a bit mean!

Really hard to say much more about it that other reviews have not covered on here, the Avensis is pretty much the text book definition of a dull but durable and reliable car. Buy a nice low mileage car and enjoy a few years trouble free motoring (if you take care of it); they are worth the extra cash in the long run.

Faults:

ABS sensor, clutch, rear suspension, etc. The normal things for the mileage except the clutch arguably. The car had a tow bar fitted so I presume it had a harder life than average before I had it, that is why the clutch wore out a little earlier. I normally get the life of the car out of a clutch.

The car has never had any major problems, though do be aware these diesel engines need a firm and long drive every now and then to keep the DPF clear, and use quality fuel so the injectors do not get clogged, that is the key to keeping the diesels in good order.

General Comments:

A fine car if all you want reliable economical transport.

The Avensis is expensive to buy even used, but worth it over similar rival cars (Ford Mondeo, Vauxhall Insignia) I would say.

Comfortable interior. Good to drive.

2.0 turbo diesel is quick enough while doing over 50 mpg.

Not bad looking but not pretty either. Best in black with original alloy wheels.

Cabin is quiet. Quality materials used. Overall a pretty boring family car, but I like it and hope to have it many more years despite the age and mileage rising.

Faults:

Clutch started to fail after 34k miles during towing in heavy traffic.

Driver's side wiper blade smeared every 2-3 months so had to be renewed very regularly.

Online connectivity mostly didn't work due to the central Toyota site for accepting the Google T&Cs on this model of Touch & Go Plus having been taken offline after the service was upgraded.

Aftermarket towing kit caused electrical problems due to poor routing of wires to difficult to reach car battery at front of engine bay. A proper CANBUS connection for towing (situated in the boot) could have avoided this and added other benefits, like switching off reverse sensors when towing etc - Toyota don't support this. No idea why Toyota are so far behind with this kind of thing and yet have ingenious hybrid systems etc.

General Comments:

Equipment levels on this car were exceptional for the money. From memory seats to adaptive Xenon lights to voice controlled sat nav, etc etc. But as is typical of Toyota, the implementation of the tech is often poorly thought through. How stupid is it to have electric seats and electric steering column adjust on the memory function, but then not include the electric mirrors in the feature? How can you have an expensive and generally decent sat-nav that is too dumb to mute the speakers when instructions are read out? How can Toyota send out modern cars from the factory with rear parking sensors that have a quiet buzzer mounted in the boot instead of issuing beeps through the car's speakers? I've seen better aftermarket systems.

Annoying though these failings are, they weren't deal breakers. What was far more intolerable was the road noise on certain surfaces. I added some old carpet to line various parts of the boot, and that helped a lot but it was still pretty poor. Worse yet was the awful gear ratios that were clearly chosen to help get the best MPG on the official tests but were unpalatable in the real world. The gap between first and second was huge - a real pain below 25 mph in busy conditions. This combined with towing caused the clutch and flywheel to wear far too early and that was enough to get me to dispose of the car.

On the plus side, when not towing and not driving in slow traffic, it was a pleasant enough drive with comfortable enough seats, good looks (on this model with the panoramic roof at least) and enough gadgets to amuse you on a long trip. It was quite narrow too, which is always handy on the many single track roads I often use.

Things like keyless entry (the car even lit up when you walked past with the key) made ownership quite enjoyable - up to a point.

The integration with my iPod was one of the best I've had, but the poor standard speakers took some of the shine off that.

I'll try and finish on a high and say the reversing camera was great - even useful at night. I wish all cars had one as standard.