Hi everyone,
I’m not experienced with cars and have basically no technical knowledge, so I’d really appreciate some advice.
Car: Toyota Auris, 2011, around 110,000 km
I bought it a little over a year ago for around €8,000. It had about 90,000 km when I bought it.
It’s an automatic, but from what I understand it has Toyota’s MMT system, basically a manual gearbox where the clutch/gears are operated automatically.
A few days ago, while driving, the transmission suddenly started switching from D/E to N. It also happened when selecting R: it would go back to N. Basically, it kept dropping into Neutral.
I live in Germany. ADAC checked the car first but couldn’t find anything wrong at the time and said I could drive it to a workshop. I drove it there without any further problems.
Today the workshop called and told me that there is a problem with the clutch and actuator, and that they need to be replaced. They estimated €3,000–€4,000.
Considering I paid €8,000 for the whole car just over a year ago, that sounds like a huge amount to put into it.
I’m definitely going to get a second opinion before doing anything. But I’d really appreciate some advice from people who know these cars/MMT transmissions:
- Has anyone had the same problem with an Auris MMT?
- I’ve read that sometimes actuator problems can be fixed with adjustment/recalibration or cleaning instead of replacing everything. Is that actually true?
- Does €3,000–€4,000 for clutch + actuator sound reasonable?
- How much would you personally be willing to spend repairing a 2011 Auris with 110,000 km?
- If I decide to sell it as-is with this problem, roughly what could it be worth?
- What would be the best way to sell a car like this in Germany ,mobile.de, Kleinanzeigen, wirkaufendeinauto, dealer/export buyer, etc.?
- And finally, does anyone know a trustworthy Toyota/MMT specialist or independent workshop around Bonn/Cologne who could give me a second opinion?
Any advice would be really appreciated. I mainly want to avoid spending €3–4k if there’s a much simpler repair or if putting that much money into the car simply doesn’t make sense.
Thanks!