2004 Toyota Avensis t4 from UK and Ireland - Comments

3" paint drip on tailgate.

Steering rack replaced.

Toyota cd player skipped.

Engine under cover came away whilst on m1.

Rear window dermister doesn't work.

Central locking temperamental.

Air bag light intermittent.

Gearbox wines in third gear.

I have owned Citroen's for twenty years and at last felt like a change. I went for the toyota avensis because it was given a good review and was reliable.

Sadly I have been most disappointed in the car and the 3 dealerships I have had to deal with.

The car has been back to the dealership, in a year more times than my last Citroen did in 6 years.

The car looks OK, a bit bland.

The interior is Very Black and boring compared to my pevious XM.

Passengers always seem to have the temptation to throw up in the back, might be due to the bouncy ride.

May be reliable, but build quality sucks!

How can you think a Citroen XM is a better vehicle than an Avensis.

First of all most Citroens are renowned for appalling reliability, a myriad of electrical gliches and desperate build quality. Have you really driven an Avensis... gearbox whines, intermittent central locking and all those comments you made do not ring true.

I would be the first person to agree with you had I ever encountered such problems, I have covered 50,000 miles combined in several different Avensis in the last one and a half years and found the build quality etc to be top notch, not a hint of dodgy warning lights or anything at all.

You must be very very very unlucky if this review is bona vide.

I have now sold the Avenesis to my local Citroen dealer as they where the only group to give me 60% of what I paid for it. I have now bought another Citroen XM (2000). This time a top of the range model. It has to be said that this car is ten times better than the Avensis. Mainly because its so comfortable, 0% road noise, 0.1% wind noise at 80mph. The car is also fantastic looking - a real future classic car. It has also been so far 100% reliable.

I will accept that my Avensis may of been a one off or a Friday afternoon car, but with faults like the ones mine experienced I wouldn't own another.

The dealership really need to get sorted out as well as they have proved to be utterly useless.

I have owned Citroen's for years, my Dad years before me and neither of us have experienced these sort of problems from new cars. Hysteria inspired unreliability polls may of put big Citroen's near the top of the list, but most owners will another. Read the Xm page and see how many have owned two or three over the 15 year production run.

I have just bought the same model as you with 15,000 miles on the clock. I took the car to the local dealership with what I thought was a gearbox whine, it turned out to be a loose plastic manifold cover which vibrated at certain revs. My central locking has also been troublesome, this has also now been sorted. The main problem I have now is that the "check engine" light sometimes comes on, there is no difference in performance or any other effects. I took it to the dealership yesterday and they can find no faults on the cars ECU. They say that the only way to cure this may be to replace the ECU, but this would be under warranty anyway.

I am pleased with the car as a whole and see it as value for money, but also I agree with the author of this review that for a manufacturer in the top of the reliability polls the Avensis is a little disappointing.

What is it with those manifold covers, I'm on my second Avensis and they've both been back to the garage to get them sorted. Do Toyota not communicate with there dearlerships? Sort the rattles and vibrations!!

The Avensis on whole is okay, but it is the only car in its class to make the Vectra look exciting.

I am getting a whining sound from my 2004 Toyota Avensis... I don't know much about cars so I am just realising it could be the "gearbox whine" you are talking about. The dealers also recently "refaced four wheel discs" (49,000 km) I really have no idea why... after all it's a fairly new car... it is after this was done that I am hearing the sound. I am now not sure I want to take it back to them...

I bought a 53 plate Avensis T Spirit automatic with 37,000 miles. I love Japanese cars and have owned many, but now I am faced with a car which has a really annoying whine between 20 and 45 miles an hour. I'm pretty clued up with the mechanics and sure this is coming from the gearbox, it's enough to drive me wild.

I also get a lot of clicking and clucking when doing maneuvers, and sometimes when cornering. I think it's the bushes around the suspension area.

The engine also uses a small amount of oil, which I find shocking as I have never had this with any of my previous Japanese cars.

The brakes also squeal a treat, and can be quite ear piercing at times. This will be rectified next time I change the pads/discs hopefully.

Apart from the above, it is built very well and oh so comfortable. It's not tiring to drive and apart from the gearbox noise, which is the right pitch to tick me off, it's a very quiet car!