2005 Toyota Avensis Reviews - Page 2 of 4

At 99000 miles, the air con pump failed. Cost 1600 euro to repair.

When the pumps fails, it pulls the fan belt off the pulleys, and as a precaution, the engine shuts down.

Nothing else to report otherwise.

Have this car for the last few years. Has proved very reliable.

The fuel economy is excellent when driven at 100km on the motorway. Put up 1000 miles on it one day during the summer, with no problems. Only fault would be under 2000rpm, there is turbo lag. But once it hits 2000rpms, it's great.

Best described as a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Recently started towing a caravan; 1100kgs, no problem with hills, and fuel figures still in the high 30's.

The inside could be brighter.

Still on its original clutch and suspension.

Servicing is cheap.

Used as a taxi so more wear than your average Avensis.

The clutch has been replaced. Apart from this, it has been little run of the mill things such as light bulbs etc.

1.6 unit is seriously weak for the size of the car itself. With people in the back it has to work hard to go through the gears.

The cabin is fairly dull with a black interior. The dials in orange look good however.

The cup holder doesn't seem to be very sturdy, and rattles eventually after some use.

If you're looking for a good family saloon, go for the 1.8 or 2.0 models, don't touch the D4D as it is massively expensive to buy, and if anything serious goes wrong, you will have a big bill as opposed to a petrol model.

Toyota make it extremely difficult for the owner to do simple jobs such as changing light bulbs, as there is a special "Toyota clip" which only they know about, and isn't in the owners manual. Toyota servicing is over priced.

There has been engine problems from day one with rough running and dealers has not been able to fix. Has been in contact with two different Toyota dealers and neither can help me. The car also uses a lot of diesel and sometimes "smokes" and engine warning light comes on and off.

Also there has been a series of smaller issues repaired by local dealer, like front light stopped working and one of the front lights had fallen into pieces which was a manufacturing defect. I think the other one needs to be replaced as well since there is moisture inside it.

I've been running different japanese cars for the last fifteen years and never had any kind of problem, even some of them has been second hand cars. So I thought the Avensis would fall into the 0% error category like most other japanese cars, but I was definitely wrong. This car is bad and after what I understand the Avensis has some serious problems in general.

I imported it from a dealer in Denmark and my local Toyota dealer has a "I don't give a damn" attitude even if I have a 3 years EU wide warranty.

So be aware!