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JamesBro, many backroomers considered your last post about your oil burning Skoda.....
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=147026
....and offered two fairly easy suggestions. One was to check the sump breather pipe apparatus to ensure it wasn't blocked with gunk, and the other was to pour an eggcup full of diesel, or brake fluid, or thinners into each cylinder to rejuvenate gunged up piston rings.
Did you actually try them? If not, why not?
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Standard reply...
Buy a proper Japanese (i.e. not Nissan) with petrol engine and no turbo. Then get on with enjoying the rest of your life.
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Hi John.
To be completely honest, a lot of the suggestions went over my head. Checking the sump breather pipe apparatus, or pouring fluid into cylinders isn't something I would like to attempt on my own, through a lack of experience/confidence. I also received a lot of advice to just let it become someone else's problem, especially on the Skoda forum with this being a known problem in Skoda's. With work and kids, I feel I've already spent far too much time trying to get my head around this problem and feel pretty stressed by it. I am going to speak to my friendly local garage today though, and maybe they can carry these options out for me. The oil is burning, I can see that now. I had a huge plume of smoke when I turned a corner on my commute yesterday - so much so that the car behind me swerved to get out of the backfire! It's stressful and just not fun to spend so much time worrying about it. All that said, I have read everything said to me and take it all seriously.
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Re the Toyota Avensis - are there any differences between the estate and saloon that I should be aware of? Been considering the estate but actually the saloon's boot seems pretty big anyway. This caught my eye
www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202102169117646?f...s
Only you can decide whether or not the boot on the saloon is going to be capacious enough for your needs, though obviously a roof rack and box could be got if needed.
The car you posted the link to looks ok, but it is very difficult to spot issues on a black (or dark coloured) car, certainly in photos. The one off-putting (for me anyway) thing which I did spot was the cheap and nasty Landsail tyre on the one wheel/tyre picture shown. Not sure if there are Landsail tyres on all four corners, but were I buying the car, I'd be wanting to replace them with decent quality rubber ASAP.
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Thanks. Yes, might be naive, but I wondered if a saloon could even have a different mechanical spec to an estate? If it's only to do with size, I think that's OK. Yes, the one I've posted is just an example really as it's not that close to home, but in the ballpark of what I think I'm looking for.
Thank you.
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Give me a rough search location and I’ll dig out some wheels worthy of a closer look.
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Sometimes the estates on certain models have different rear suspension setups to cope with the potential added weight which will create a different feel on the road. The Avensis estate feels little different. I can’t really recommend these enough, mine has been brilliant so far. Cost me £4150 two and a half years ago and I’d probably get £3500 back on it today. The Mazda 6 is a nicer thing to drive though.
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Oh wow. Can I offer you £3500 then?! Ha. I'm pretty keen on the Avensis I have to say. Like the look of them.
I'm in the Peak District - postcode S32, so close to Sheffield, Chesterfield, Matlock, and commute to Manchester so also a possibility (though not preferable).
Thanks so much.
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“ Oh wow. Can I offer you £3500 then?! Ha. I'm pretty keen on the Avensis I have to say. Like the look of them.”
The dealer in me always wants to sell but this old wagon is just too useful and reliable. It’s on 2nd car duties these days so other than my very short commute it’s used to haul my mountain bike around and from what I’m seeing regarding prices I’d have to spend substantially more to get another big petrol estate that was much younger.
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Of course - definitely gives me confidence in them though.
Where did you find yours?
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Of course - definitely gives me confidence in them though.
Where did you find yours?
Private sale on Auto trader. A similar car at the local Toyota dealer at the time was on at £5995 so even with a discount it was £1500 or so less than a dealer and I got to meet the owner face to face at their own home which tells you plenty about them and how the car was looked after. A good friend has recently bought a 11 plate example with 78,000 miles for £3800 but I suspect his has been clocked as it feels much more worn than mine does at 90,000 miles.
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We own the Estate Avensis 1.8TR since new (2010), only recently it gave us some hassle with some erratic revving at cold starts. We took it to an independent specialist and they found nothing, and the problem never raised it's head again. The white example here looks nice, and 4k is not a lot of cash for hassle free motoring. I have a neighbour here who have the booted diesel version on MY15 and he has similar reliability experience to me with a 45 miles a day commute.
Funnily our is running on the same set of 'Cheap and Nasty' Landsail tyres for almost three years, again never gave us any bother in any weather (SW). They are on 5mm now and will be replaced at the end of the year if they go down to 4mm.
My belief is that any tyre that don't get the minimum maintenance will give you poor performance and short life, we never spend more than £60/corner and we are ok.
I take our cars to do the tracking once a year and always keep to the correct pressure (checking on the weekends), seems to do the trick.
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“ We own the Estate Avensis 1.8TR since new (2010), only recently it gave us some hassle with some erratic revving at cold starts. We took it to an independent specialist and they found nothing, and the problem never raised it's head again.”
Did you per chance change the battery? They need to relearn after the power is cut and a few days of erratic idling will follow. Mine did the same when I changed the battery as a precaution as it was the original.
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Hi Slo,
No, didn't change the battery, she is still on the original Toyota battery (not sure of make these).
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Thanks for that list SLO. Some intriguing choices there. Hadn't been looking at the Mazda's, especially the Mazda5, previously. Will look further into each.
Though - having said that - an Avensis is still the top of my list and I'm struggling to find many available. Thought there'd be more.
Also, I've seen Lexus's recommended too - the rx400h. Any thoughts on these? Worry it's a bit too massive for commuting.
Edited by JamesBro on 21/05/2021 at 12:08
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I think Avensis is very good - but it has a couple of potentially expensive quirks..
1. It has an electric handbrake with is basically the normal handbrake cables connected to an electric motor mounted in a box under the car. Water can get in £1200 for new one.
2. This 1.8 engine is Valvematic. Throttling done by varying valve lift. Electric motor involved. If it packs up expect £1k part plus fitting.
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Well that's pretty scary.
Anything I should look out for when trying to find one? Can there be signs that either is under threat of needing a repair?
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Like any other car you buy, get it checked by an honest mechanic who can run a scan and tell you if there are any issues. Saying that, although not a scientific approach, I am a long standing member of one of the larger Toyota forums and the issue with the EB did crop up few times though I led to believe by the bods there that it's affecting a tiny number of UK cars. As to the Valvematic motor, again I understand it cropped on relatively small number of cars here in the UK. Go to many scrap yards and you will not see a T27 Avensis (and hardly any T25's).
These cars are not as common as the German stuff so you will drive something a bit more exclusive if these things bother you.
The RX400h will survive the apocalypse though I personally tend to stay away from tall bulky cars for daily usage, I hear it will do 30mpg while the petrol Avensis will give you 45mpg at any day and 50 on the motorway with a light foot.
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Well that's pretty scary.
Anything I should look out for when trying to find one? Can there be signs that either is under threat of needing a repair?
Get someone to scan the car for fault codes. Preferably with Toyota's own Techstream software. If you can get hold of a disc it will run on laptop.
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Get someone to scan the car for fault codes. Preferably with Toyota's own Techstream software. If you can get hold of a disc it will run on laptop.
Techstream is available to download foc from Toyota & you can licence it by the day, week, month or year. www.toyota-tech.eu/DiagnosticTools/Setup/
Also, on T27s (2009>) check for cracks on the front doors in the vicinity of the checkstrap.
The price of replacement EPB actuators has dropped quite a bit recently but it only affects a very small % of cars (usually due to moisture ingress) & not as much as many other cars that use EPBs (which is most of that class these days - the Mazda 6 was a bit of a holdout but even that changed over).
Edited by Heidfirst on 21/05/2021 at 20:22
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Well that's pretty scary.
Anything I should look out for when trying to find one? Can there be signs that either is under threat of needing a repair?
I wouldn’t worry too much, yes there’s potential problems as with any car but these are well made and rarely go wrong. I have a colleague with a 2013 2.0 diesel that’s done over 160,000 miles and it’s never suffered a major issue. Every car has weak points but I’m not concerned about recommending a petrol Avensis to you. It’s good advice to take a mechanic with you and a fault code reader but you can usually get a vibe for a car based on the service history, Mot history and term of ownership. I prefer buying privately so I can question the last owner face to face too. A car like mine which had been owned 4yrs, had a full service record plus receipts to back it up and a seller who had a good and plausible reason for selling sealed the deal for me. At a dealer you’ve no idea where the car came from or who owned it and why they sold it.
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Completely understand and this all makes sense.
Before I decided to upgrade my one car, rather than get a cheaper second, I looked at Ford Focus's and took one to a garage for a £45 pre-sale check up and it brought in loads of problems, so I backed out.
But was wondering what the done-thing is when getting in checked out before purchase. What's actually allowed? Do you usually take the keys from them and take it to a garage of your choice, even before owning? How does that work? Likewise, I imagine dealers don't like you doing that? Another reason to go private of course. Far more keen to go private anyway.
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“ But was wondering what the done-thing is when getting in checked out before purchase. What's actually allowed? Do you usually take the keys from them and take it to a garage of your choice, even before owning? How does that work? Likewise, I imagine dealers don't like you doing that? Another reason to go private of course. Far more keen to go private anyway.”
You can pay for an inspection, there’s a number of firms offering this or simply take someone knowledgeable with you when you view. Remember that any used car inspection will find wear and tear on a sub £5,000 car so don’t expect perfection. Garages or individuals shouldn’t mind you doing this but most won’t hold a car for you unless you pay a non-refundable deposit. It’s probably best if you stick to buying at a dealer if you’re not overly comfortable with buying a used car, you’ll then have at least some warranty and legal cover but in turn this will cost more.
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Thanks for that list SLO. Some intriguing choices there. Hadn't been looking at the Mazda's, especially the Mazda5, previously. Will look further into each.
Though - having said that - an Avensis is still the top of my list and I'm struggling to find many available. Thought there'd be more.
Also, I've seen Lexus's recommended too - the rx400h. Any thoughts on these? Worry it's a bit too massive for commuting.
Good cars but I wouldn’t advise buying a highly complex 4wd SUV hybrid at this money. Parts are expensive and it’ll be older with higher miles for the same money. Parts are also much more expensive. Stick with simple petrol engines preferably of Japanese design.
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Noted. Don't want a complicated purchase like that.
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If you are looking at petrols then remember in the age bracket you are looking at they probably sold 10 diesels for every petrol when new so will be a similar ratio used.
Prices are through the roof at the moment and seemingly going up every month. There are reports of dealers buying retail cars from Cazoo rather than trade sources because they are cheaper!
Don't be put off by normal wear and tear and don't confuse that with faults. There will be something imperfect about every used car and maybe some old historic codes or something. It is the major impending stuff with big ££ or signs it has been clearly neglected you need to look out for.
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are there any differences between the estate and saloon that I should be aware of?
Back in 2002 myself and a colleage both bought a new Mondeo. We got the hatch, the colleage got the saloon beacuse it was a better deal (cheaper). For the record all 3 body styles (esate, hatch and saloon) had the same quoted luggage space of 520 litres (I think) but access to that space differed greatly. Carrying large square boxes, get the estate, normal luggage hatch fine, if you are a postman get the saloon. Colleage soon discovered that loading the saloon to go on holiday with wife and 3 kids was a nightmare, loading our hatch in similar use was easy.
His next Mondeo was a hatch.
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The search goes on... Seems a real dearth of availability near me that feels good enough to pursue. I'm really keen on either a Mazda6 or Toyota Avensis. And I've found two that both appeal.
Could I get thoughts on these please?
Mazda6 - www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202105192809638.
Owner says it's not got service history since 2016. I noticed the MOT had some brake problems, but he said the calipers have been replaced. It's pretty cheap.
Avensis - www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202105293220690
Not enquired about this yet, but looks OK. But is it a bit too expensive/should it be cheaper? MOT flags up a few issues:
- Offside front service brake excessively binding (MAJOR)
- Nearside front windscreen in an unacceptable condition CRACKED (MAJOR)
- Nearside rear suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement TRAILING ARM BUSH (ADVISORY)
- Offside rear suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement TRAILING ARM BUSH (ADVISORY)
How serious do these look, if not sorted?
It failed on both nearside and offside front inner suspension arm pin or bush likely to become detached. And then passed seven days later.
Thanks in advance!
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I’d sooner have this one. The traders “personal” car has no proof it’s seen spanner’s one the last 5yrs. Many dealers utterly neglect the cars they drive themselves, if there’s no proof of regular preventative maintenance then leave it. The big Toyota looks fresh enough and that does seem to be the going rate for them. It’s not a bargain but if it’s a nice example it’s worth viewing and seeing how much you can batter him down by.
www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202105122527771
Found this also but it’s top money and the 5+ owners and no mention of service history are telling a different story from the advertised low mileage. A low mileage big estate like this is quite rare but why has it passed through so many hands? This suggests a problem car sadly.
www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202105243042774
Big Ford is a lovely thing to drive.
www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202011306639320
Edited by SLO76 on 02/06/2021 at 01:16
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Thanks SLO. That Mazda is much better and have been to see it. Looks promising. Thanks
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Just wanted to say thanks, SLO, for all your help here.
Feels like it's been going on for months and I've finally got the car. Mazda 6 and in very good nick. Reassured by its reliability and feel a weight off my mind, so thank you.
Now just the matter of getting rid of my defunct Skoda!
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That good to hear, I’m delighted you found a good car but which one was it? The 6 estate in burgundy?
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Mazda 6 saloon. 55k miles, full service history, well looked after. Very pleased.
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Good cars, nice to drive. Hope it serves you well.
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