2004 Toyota Avensis T3-S from UK and Ireland - Comments

Minor condensation/damp appears within head lamp fitting.

Slight squeak when I first sit down on the drivers seat (and when I get out of the vehicle at the end of my journey) but nothing during the journey, and no other rattles or squeaks so far.

If I could sum up the car in one sentence, I'd say that "the car feels right!".

I decided to buy this car after hiring one for an entire weekend. Normally I wouldn't have paid much attention to a car like the new-shape avensis, but it was a whole weekend's worth of driving and 300 miles later that I took a real liking to it. So I ended up buying one!

First of all the car feels very solid indeed. The doors shut with a German precision, and everything inside just clicks and works with a high quality solid feel to it.

The shape of the new avensis could perhaps be a little more exciting, but overall I quite like it. The car provides ample room for 5 people, and the boot on the "liftback" version is absolutely enormous!

In terms of pefrormance, I find it more than adequate. For me, stepping down from a sports car to this came as a bit of a shock, but even with the car weighing in at over 1800kg, the 1.8 litre petrol engine with an automatic transmission provides a satisfying performance.

Let's face it, this car is all about the comfort of your journey, and even in "tiptronic mode", you won't be getting anywhere near a Supra off the lights! Having said that, it does cruise very well, and is perfectly suited for long distance motorway journeys.

It handles well around corners, and will allow you to switch off the traction control if you so wish. The car also has a "snow mode", which I haven't yet had the opportunity to try.

On the inside, as far as the driver is concerned, everything seems logically said out and is simple to learn. It's a simple and neat layout, and one that works well. Lighting of the controls and dashboard is all orange. I have found it relatively easy to master the controls so that I can do pretty much anything without hardly having to take my eye off the road.

I am quite tall (6 foot 4 inches tall, or more than 190cm) and I have plenty of legroom up front. What's more surprising is that with the front seat adjusted so that it's positioned all the way back, I tried sitting in the rear of the vehicle and I still had ample legroom!

My car comes with a satellite navigation system (the basic one with the built-in monochrome LCD display). I have used it on several occasions and I have mixed feelings about it. In my opinion it works best in situations where you are completely lost and need to find your way back to somwhere you know (or you know the address of where you want to go, but haven't a clue how to get there). The system is not a bad effort from Toyota, and will re-route you if you miss a turning or otherwise have to go against the suggested route that it gives.

I have tried it in areas of north London that I am very familiar with, and the routes it chooses are not necessarily the best ones. Most of the time it chooses sensible routes, but sometimes the route it chooses is just plain silly! The traffic avoidance does not really work well either, but perhaps it's because I live in London that I say that. The satellite navigation system extends too many other Western European countries too.

So overall I'm so far quite pleased with the car. It is good value for money, and it certainly doesn't feel cheap - and I can easily imagine its equivalent BMW or Mercedes costing up to £10,000 more! As I haven't had the car too long, I can't yet comment about reliability, but Toyota seem to be very good in this area and their reputation prompted me to buy the car in the 1st place. I intend to take my Avensis on many a road trip to Europe, so I hope it will serve me well.

Thank you for a comprehensive&well-written review. I hope you car continues to please and that you will keep us up-dated on progress or faults.

Thanks - so far there have been no further problems. I would like to add that the aforementioned minor condensation problem has now completely gone. I suspect that this was the case because the car was totally unused for about 4 months before I purchased it.

The other thing that I forgot to mention in the review was the sound system, which I am very pleased with. It is a high quality system, and unlike all of my previous cars, I do feel that it will be necessary to upgrade it at all (not that you can do it easily anyway - it's designed to be part of the actual car interior and there is no removable security panel).

That was a pretty good sum up of a Toyota Avensis... IMPRESSED.

I have had a T3X 1.8VVTI for 2 months now, and must admit that there isn't much else one could add to the above report.

The T3x does'nt have sat nav nor the 17inch alloys. Other than that, it's the same. The reason I was looking at this report is that I will be changing the T3x to a T4 as I made the mistake of getting a saloon rather than a hatchback. So I guess I do perhaps have a few negative points... nothing serious though...

1. I also had the headlights steaming up - This is a known issue with these lights and therefor a warranty issue. Toyota try to fix it by either by replacing the back panel of the light fixtures with ventilated ones, or by replacing the whole light unit... In my case they would have to change the whole unit. But as I am changing my car for another - I don't know what they'll do.

2. Squeakie front brakes. This also was done under warranty. They just replaced the front schim pads with anti squeak ones...

My local dealership is Octagon in Reading and I cannot really fault them one bit. The sales chap put up with me and I must have been his customer from hell, but it all paid off in the end.

Just a few additions to make since I wrote the original review. Firstly the headlights that steamed up were replaced under warranty and I've had no more problems with them. Secondly, I've also had the squeaky seat replaced under warranty and that, too, has been trouble-free thus far. I also damaged my oil sump (possibly my fault by driving through bad eastern european roads!) but that was also fixed under warranty.

A few more notes to add - I tried the snow mode this winter when I drove my avensis to some nordic countries. Minus 20 degrees, heavy snowfall, plus winter tyres (summer tyres would be hopeless in this situation) and snow mode, and the avensis, all worked a treat! Gave me great confidence!

Finally the dealership that I use is Jemca, Edgware Road (north-west London). They're OK, have fixed everything under warranty so I'm generally happy with them. My only complaint would be that they're badly stocked. Chances are that if your car needs any work (warranty or otherwise) you'll have to make an appointment and they'll have to order the parts. Other than that, it's been happy motoring so far. Fingers crossed!

Hi guys well I have a 2001 Avensis (the previous model) but good news is I just ordered a new Avensis, I live in Greece and basically I’m unfamiliar with the versions you have been mentioning but here in Greece there are 3 versions with the fully loaded being the Exclusive (which I have ordered) that comes with leather upholstery, parking sensors, 16' alloy (but no satellite navigation as we Greeks cant be bothered with integrating the roadmaps in DVD form...no comment on that please...lol) so basically id like some feedback if you could give me on the parking sensors and how good they are (if any) and the leather is it prone to damage due to the excess heat in Greece in the summer, what u recon guys aww and those rain sensors for the wipers do they actually work?....and now my comment on the squeaky seat you mentioned ...the old Avensis has exactly the same problem as well with a strange noise from the break callipers (especially just after maintenance) ...waiting for your feedback guys!

Thanks for the indepth review.

I ordered a used one today, and having looked around the forecourt I also noted that the some of the cars had fogged up headlamp units due to condensation - so something to watch out for. The Car I ordered didn't have any condensation.

(Idea weather to highlight it... heavy downpour of rain and then plenty of sunshine :-)

The MPG computer gave a read out of 33mpg, which is pretty impressive for a 1.8 four speed automatic engine and such a large body.

My little 1.4 VW Polo four speed automatic does around 33-35mpg.

Has anyone had any problems with ignition barrel on Toyota Avensis 2003+