Considering a Toyota Yaris - help?

katchambers

Hi,

I need advice from mechanics or people who know alot about cars or owns a Toyota Yaris car.

My husband and I are wanting to get a very cheap to run car, he currently has a toyota avensis 2.0 but we want a tiny engine, cheap on petrol tax and maintenance, hence why we are considering the Yaris, however, we have had a very, very bad experience with the Toyota Avensis - everything that could go wrong with this car has, and it has cost us at LEAST £1k each year to fix it - which for a car that never goes wrong (accoring to every mechanic we have spoken to) is very frustrating!

So what we want to know is, the Yaris is well know for being cheap to run and maintain, BUT, is it cheap to maintain because it 'never goes wrong' just like the avensis is not supposed to, or are the parts cheap? are the parts for the Yaris cheaper than the parts for the avensis? If anyone who owns a yaris would like to share some of their costs with us, I would be grateful
e.g how much did it cost to get:
- a cambelt changed?
- head gasket?
- fan belt?
- general service with a non-toyota garage?

Thanks
Katrina

moneysaver

My mate has a Yaris & swears by them, it is his second one. He is not a small guy either but he loves the car. I can't say much about repairs as he never has any to do, it has never let him down.

You must just have been unlucky with your Avensis, unless you are doing high mileage of course, then you can expect to have repairs with any car.


Moneysaver

Mrs_Ryan

My OH has a Y-reg Yaris but its still in beautiful condition and runs like a dream. Like moneysaver's mate, OH's car hasnt had any repairs (other than a new tyre when we ran over something sharp in the road which shredded the tyre) in the 10 years he's had it which is pretty amazing, and he does a lot of miles in it. The car will be mine next year *yay* so I just hope it will run as well for the next ten years!!! Would definitely recommend it.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Katchambers, its most unusual to find a Toyo Avensis with numerous problems.

Is it possible your car has been mini cabbed, they are very popular with taxi firms and for good reason.

When i sold my diesel avensis, the phone never stopped with taxi firms wanting to buy it, one of the two who viewed the car bought it (the other chap we couldn't agree the price), but both told me that at the time apart from Skoda octavia's the avensis was almost the only car that could stand mini cabbing.
They both expressed disappointment at Nissans offerings since getting into bed with Renault.

Out of interest just what did go wrong with the avensis?

hewhoisnotintheknow

have you considered how many miles you will have to do to start saving money

often it is cheaper to keep the larger car as selling it you will probably loose a lot selling it

jeannieblue

Very unlucky - Avensis' normally very reliable, as are all toyota's.

Yaris is a good car - hope you find one that is as good as it should be!