Just in: Toyota Avalon

"That car we had last weekend--it was a really good car."

I was surprised to hear this come out of the blue from my wife. Our spouses get pretty jaded from riding in a never-ending rotation of cars, so a car has to be pretty special to make such an impact.

I racked my brain, trying to remember what I was driving. Our new Mercedes-Benz E350? The Infiniti G37? Maybe the Fusion Hybrid?

Nope. It was our Toyota Avalon. Really, I thought--the Avalon? Let’s just say that we’re not exactly the target demographic for this big luxury-in-everyway-but-the-nameplate sedan.

Even though Consumer Reports tested the Avalon when the current generation came out way back in 2005, we recently bought a new one to compare it against new large sedan competition. We also wanted to check out the effect of the six-speed automatic (it originally had a five-speed.) Our nicely equipped Avalon XLS, one of the few new cars left on the emptied-by-CARS dealer’s lot, listed for $34,974.

My wife and I took the Avalon on a day-long 300 mile round-trip to visit the Vintage Trailer Jam (vintagetrailerjam.com), a gathering of old travel trailers, in Saratoga Springs, New York. This is what the car was made to do: wafting along the highway in near silence, sitting on big wide leather seats. Despite having only a few hundred miles on the clock, blasting the AC, and spending a lot of time in the passing lane, the Avalon’s 3.5-liter V6 returned 30.5 mpg, according to the trip computer. That’s impressive for this big car. It’s far from sporty, but it sure is comfy, hence my wife’s appreciation of this cruiser.

We’ll see if the Avalon still has what it takes to stay near the top of the large sedan pile, especially with redesigned competition from Ford and Buick.

—Tom Mutchler

Comments

[CyCarConsulting]

Avalon is truly a superb car, that being said it has not been that successful for Toyota due to its price point. Lots of resistance from a Toyota buyer. After a ride in both the Camry and Avalon ,somewhat thrifty Toyota buyers usually opt out for that rather than the Avalon. A high line buyer would opt out for a Lexus first, for a few more dollars. That keeps the Avalon in a very precarious spot. In fact, if I stocked any used Lexus product it would pretty much kill the Avalon numbers.

[Denis Ciaciuch]

I'm surprised to see an Avalon return that kind of mileage. Have you been able to check it versus a manual calculation? It would be interesting to see the difference given the Japanese manufacturers tendencies on odometer readings. Perhaps that could be added to CU's test data in the future since many newer vehicles have some type of mileage calculator. I've often been astounded at the mileage claims of people I talk with. I have a 2006 Cadillac STS and the mileage calculator reads about 3 - 5% higher than actual calculations.

[Len Smith]

As the owner of a 2001 Avalon XLS with 175K miles, the comments made above on the new one could also be made for my car today. It has been a great car, trouble free, and gets 27 to 28 MPH on the highway.
As I travel a lot and have used a fair share of rental cars, I am constantly reminded of the quietness of the Avalon when I get into most rental cars. And it becomes especially so when I use the cell phone and have trouble hearing in many of the rental cars, which has never been a problem in the Avalon.
As far as going for a Lexus "for a few more dollars", in 2001 the ES300, a smaller car, was about $7,000 more. And with the Lexus 6-cylinder engine in the Avalon, it can move out when I need it to.

[Jim Johnson]

I bought my 1995 Avalon xls 14 years ago and 133,ooo miles later had only to replace the rack and pinion, a headlight and the timing thingamabob. I really enjoyed this car. Recently my wife got dizzy while driving and hit a telephone pole at about twenty miles an hour. The air bags both deployed as they should, she was mostly ok, and the car sustained just enough damage to make repairs not worth while for a 14 year old car. I was tempted to try.

I strongly recommend the Toyota Avalon and appreciate how well built the car is.