USED Toyota Verso MPV (06 - 09)

My car

We have now owned a Verso for three years, and in that time I have not even had to change a light bulb. I can get in and drive without even a care about breaking down I am so confident of the build quality.

I have had fridge-freezers in the back (still in the packaging), beds etc - it just takes it all and you can still shut the doors.

The only gripe I can think of is that the seat fabric in the T2 stains very easily and the boot load cover is a pain to stow away.

I have the 1.6 petrol and don't find it slow at all. I get 37mpg on average, and it still looks like new inside and out.

I would say to anyone thinking about buying one that you won't find a better built car.

My car

After considered numerous cars for a year, I short-listed Toyota Verso and Skoda Octavia for their customer satisfactory record in the past 3 years. Both top of their classes.

I test-drove Verso and the ride is more comfortable. I am impressed at how effortless it is to stay in the middle of the lane at speed without constant minor steering adjustment. It has a more luxury cabin, 2 extra seats and a spare wheel (which is why we had to take VW Touran off our list sadly).

However, we don’t like the visibility when parking that you can’t see where the front & back of the vehicle are. For a medium sized Corolla with 2 extra seats, I am reluctant to pay £3k extra over the bigger Octavia, though some people reckon the Corolla and Corolla Verso are 2 different animals. Even the T3 or SR have single CD player only while both Skoda Octavia Ambiente & VW Touran SE have CD autochanger.

I was torn between the two. Should I go for Verso’s more comfortable ride and the flexibility of 2 extra seats for extended family or friends? Or should I go for Octavia estate’s bigger boot for bikes over weekend and holiday luggage, a few thousand pounds’ saving and a car with higher rank in customer satisfactory?

It’s a pity to dismiss such a good car like Verso but we bought a brand new Skoda Octavia Ambiente estate for just over £12k

My car

After injuring my back, I needed a taller car than my wonderfully reliable Skoda Octavia 1.9 diesel. It had to have a boot big enough to hold a 1030mm long scooter and it had to fit in my garage, so could not be wider than 1790mm. It had to do at least 45mpg and have a spare wheel.

After trying out most MPV’s, I finally decided that the Verso D-4D ticked all the boxes. The diesel Verso is quiet, refined and better than the C-Max. There is no wind noise at all. The acceleration of 0-60 in 9.4 secs is better than most MPV’s. For a tall spacious vehicle, it handles extremely well with very little roll, although the trade off is a firmer ride, but it is still very comfortable, with good supportive seats. My back proves it The steering is well weighted, but lacks feel. I am achieving 49.5 mpg overall, which I am very happy with. The interior plastics look good, but are hard and mark much too easily. Even the seat material marks easily and can look shabby quickly. If a rain soaked person gets in, white marks appear on the seat, although a wipe with a damp leather makes them look like new again. I have never experienced the like of this in 50 previous cars. I hate the old fashioned push button starter and much prefer the more efficient key start of my Skoda. Overall though, my relatives and I are very happy with the Verso.

My car

I purchased my T180 Verso as an ex demonstrator in October '06, it was about 11 months old at point of purchase. I have now owned the car for one year. I can confirm that when it comes to reliability the car is excellent. My Verso has so far covered around 24,000 miles, around 16,000 or so being driven by myself and I have experienced no problems. The build quality of the car is good and the interior is wearing well, plastic trim, carpets are good quality and rattles and squeaks are virtually non-existent. I am lucky to live near a Toyata dealer who appears to be very competant. Nothing it seems is too much trouble, I have visited them for a vehicle re-call (airbag fault) and for a 20,000 mile service and the reception I have received is excellent. My one criticsm of the car is that it is (for me) not a great car to drive, it does the job, is very fast in a straight line, but it feels heavy and sometimes loose when cornering, it is not a great handler even in T180 form. In addition, the drivers seat is not so comfortable and I find it hard to get the seat in a good position. I think this is perhaps a characteristic of MPV's as I have driven a Vauxhall Zafira which was more or less the same. My verdict so far is that on the plus side the car has been a good choice in terms of looks, reliability and running costs, but on the down side it is (for me anyway) quite uninspiring to drive.