Toyota Avensis (2003 – 2009) Review

Reports of rattle from steering column/steering rack. Initially irritating rather than dangerous and replacements in short supply. Not replaced under warranty unless actually dangerous. Later recalled.

Report of creaking from steering caused by severe corrosion of the steering rack at 4 years old, though of a car kept in salt air on Anglesey.

Mysterious rattle from the rear experienced by HJ over 6 months with a D-4D.

Make sure recall work has been carried out. If the engine intermittently cuts out and the fault cannot be diagnostically traced it may be due to a faulty safety fuel cut-off solenoid switch. On D-4D, cutting out can also be caused by a build of of salts on a hot wire in the mass airflow sensor.

Reports of speed humps damaging the rear suspension.

Report of front wheel bearing failure at 6 months old.

Early 1.8 and 2.0 litre VVT-i engines can start to use up to a litre of oil every 600 miles after 40,000 miles due to a bore liner problem and/or being fitted with slightly undersize pistons. By February 2009 Toyota had extended the warranty on these engines to 6 years or 100,000 miles. Cars built from July 2005 should not have this problem.

Early 2.2 chain cam diesels are gaining a reputation as moderate oil burners, consuming around 1 litre of oil every 5,000 miles with this considered "normal" by Toyota.

Headlight bulb holders can melt, making replacement of bulbs impossible. Toyota replaces headlight units under warranty.

Clutches can fail quite early. Clutch trouble with T180 due to a problem with the master cylinder, not the clutch itself, clutch release or slave cylinder. Failed glow plugs reported on 4 year old D-4Ds. Cost £300 to replace.

Can develop manual gearbox bearing problems. Several reports of this.

On 2.0 belt cam D-4Ds reports of "turbos failing and destroying engines at 80k - 100k miles". Probably what is meant is that the swirl flaps in the inlet manifold break off and are ingested into the engine. Report of one turbo failing at just 9 months old.

High level brake light can fail completely and the whole unit needs replacing, cost £80.

Squealing brakes can sometimes be cured by fitting a shim in the calipers. Toyota dealers know about this.

Have been reports of head gasket failures on 2.0 litre D-4Ds and of cylinder head problems on 2.2 diesels (see WB553 under 'recalls'). These seem to be consequential of water pump failure. Overheating as a result can damage the block and liners to the extent that the car needs a new engine. Don't reckon on very high, trouble-free mileages for these engines, and if you have one keep a close eye on the temp gauge and header tank level.

With 2.2 litre diesels, problems over regenerating of DPFs can lead to overfuelling that can damage the piston rings and bores. Apparently Toyota has extended the warranty to 5 years (even on 3 year warranted cars) to cover this.

Headlamp bulb holders disintegrate. Toyota extended the warranty to six years, but out of warranty a pair costs £500.

On belt-cam 2.0 litre diesel engines the waterpump must be replaced at the same time as the timing belt. They are prone to breaking up and when they do they throw the belt off.

Fault with steering angle sensor sent wrong message to ESP causing a 2006 Avensis automastic to suddenly brake hard in traffic. VSC and TRC lights illuminated. Coast £600 to fix.

Report of 10 year old 2005/55 reg Avensis starting to rust quite badly underneath.

Report of cylinder head gasket failure of 2007 Toyita Avensis D-4D estate bought from Toyota dealer in 2012. Toyota issued a Warranty Bulletin (WB553)in 2010/2011 which identified a problem which could result in head gasket blowing. Owner insists that that Toyota, its dealership and its service centre would have been aware of this fault (through the warranty bulletin at least) when he bought the car in 2012 and should have warned him of the problem either when he bought it or when he subsequently had it serviced. Instead he were told that the Toyota engine would be good for 150-200,000 miles. If he had been advised of the potential problem we could have taken out a third party warranty.

Tip from reader with 2006 Toyota Avensis estate. Recently showed three warning lights together, ABS, VSC and the traction control off ( not responding to the switch ). Thinking it was a wheel sensor or ECU, service garage put it onto the computer that showed no fault. Then it was noticed that neither stop light was working. Changing both bulbs alone didn’t work so the ECU was re-booted and everything worked normally. A quick and low cost remedy for what could have been very expensive, if you get this fault, look at your lights.

Report of ABS/ESC playing up on 2005/55 reg Toyota Avensis after heavy rain. Probably a wheel sensor or reluctor ring.

"Catastrophic" engine failure reported in 65k mile 2007 Toyota Avensis VVTI. Dismantler though that perhaps a valve had sheared off and dropped, smashing a piston crown. Owner secured a 2nd hand engine for £595 and had if fitted by a Toyota dealer for £1019.

Tip from owner with 302,000 mile Toyota Avensis D-4D: "I f any one asks why they are getting blue smoke at idle then pulling away on Toyota Avensis t25 2.0 D4D after they change the turbo, check the three bolts that hold the waste-gate, losen them and let the waste-gate find its own position, then tighten the bolts up and see the blue smoke is gone and the car is going to be smother when you drive it."

Erratic idle reported on 2008 Toyota Avensis Estate 1.8 VVTi petrol with 68k miles. The car idles erratically when warm, typically bouncing 600 to 1000 rpm and sometimes dips down lower when coming to a stop with clutch down. Owner has changed air filter and spark plugs, MAF sensor and fitted a replacement throttle body but it is still persists. Super petrol might clean it up and the higher octane burn might cure the idling problem.

Report of 125k mile 2003 Toyota Avensis 1.8VVTI automatic starting to "shudder" on pressing the accelerator after start-up. Might be caused by a dirty fuel system. Might be late development of bore liner problem that afffected Avensis petrol engines from 2003 to 2005. Turned out that a gasket/rubber seal over the spark plugs was leaking oil. The oil had leaked onto 2 of the coil packs. This caused caused a cylinder to misfire. Coil packs were cleaned, new rubber seal (£70) was fitted & new spark plugs (£40). That solved the problem the car runs as new.