so last night me and my dad went to our dear Mississauga Toyota to get oil change done for his Camry, it was bit late for service but they know us well so it was nice. The sales guy is our neighbour so he asks us if we wanted to give the new Avalon a boot, we said sure.

road driving experience: Its a Toyota, what can you say, like all of Toyotas (except Corrola, Echo, Matrix, Celica, MR2) you can whisper to your passenger at hwy speed and have a conversation. The ride was mediocore, more firm than I expected, but not as firm as my GS, overall I give it out of 3 for ride comfort, the tires follow the grooves bit more than I like. I'd take it on a windy road, unlike the Camry, but I wouldn't go nuts on it.

Performance: this is where I was expecting, I kindly waited til its warm, and boy, the drivetrain team MUST love drag racing, this thing simply hauls *** for the price and the size, it felt like a larger Camry BUT that can probally embarass a GS430 or even a WRX, I knew it can do mid 14s but it hauls *** like no tomorrow once you get over the sluggish 1st gear (I guess to prevent wheel spin), and TCS. The gas consumption I heard is pretty good for what it can do. out of 3, who knew Avalon could be this fast and this elegant?

interior: again, typicaly Toyota, but now has touch of Lexus, the dash material feels very much like Lexus, the wood trim was less than satisfactory like in a Camry, its not real wood, the one we drove had all options, but all Cdn Avalons only had 2 options, HID and NAV, I didn't bother with the NAV since I know it'll take too long to know how ot use it, the leather was NICE, but not GREAT, it has less quality than the GS, its not soft enough for my liking, I guess they can't over-do it or no one will buy the ES330. The interior is huge, you can seat 5 comfortably, which my GS can't do, but in better style than a normal Camry. The sound is pretty good in my book, but I'm no audiophile, it has enuff bass and that's what I like, probally coulud mod the NAV to play TV.

overall: a fully loaded Avalon was priced at $43k Cdn incld freight before tax, incld HID & NAV. At that price I would say its a bargain compre to a Maxima fully loaded, which traditionally has been cheaper than Avalon, but a fully loaded Maxima costs almost the same and boasts less quality interiori and has more noise. A ES330 starts at $43k Cdn, so a good overlap, but ES330 has no NAV at $43k and slower, but has better leather if that's important to you. I give the car , this is literally the Caddy of Toyota line up, my dad and I are fairly impress by the car and he may possibily get one in couple of years (he always buys a car after they come out a couple of yrs to work out bugs)

Now, they have to upgrade the GS430, how can you have a Avalon as fast as a GS430 that costs 2x?

 

Are you interested in a new Avalon as a purchase? If so, compare the Avalon carefully with the ES330. While the Avalon does in fact have a little more spunk under the hood, other than that the ES330 IMO just trounces it. It has a MUCH better interior (and, I believe, can be ordered with cloth if desired). The transmission complaints of earlier ES300/330's are pretty much gone now.

 

not me, my dad does.

yea right, I can't afford no $43k car, I'm only 21, so far all my cars are used or hand me down, my dad on another hands needs new cars, he just doesn't like to deal with used, and he doesn't like his daily driver to be something "nice", his company is located at very mediocore part of the city, so he tried to avoid gain any attention.

 

I have sat in an Avalon but I haven't really look into the specs. of Canadian specs. Avalon, so I don't know the details, but do we have a touring version like the one tested in the C & D comparioson test(which it won) that have a rougher ride, & is the one you rode in the sportier version ? I suppose there is another version that have a softer ride ?

 

Id pay money to have marshall drive a car as stiff as my nissan 240sx is(was, will be again on the new one) for a week. With a suspension that is about oh... 3 times stiffer then stock.

 

I got 600/350 Eibach springs on my Volvo's coilover with custom valved Koni Yellows, and I can live with it while the shocks on softest setting, I drove on hardest setting for about 1hr and a fuse pop out of the fuse trays, ahahahhahaha it was golden.

and Andrew, to be honest with you, I have no idea if it was a touring model or not, may be next time I'll check the sticker, very well could be since it was definetly firmer than I expected.

 

Save your money, chief.......you are going to need it to keep your gas tank full. (Trust me).

 

the Toyota avalon's suspension has been stiffened up considerably--in order to Target a younger customer base. the Avalon has been hailed as Japan's Buick...but they do want more than just senior citizens driving the Avalon--hence the ***-hauling engine and the firmer suspension. Yes it's not "up to par.." as some sedans in its fully loaded price range--but no one buys a Avalon to go corner carving.

the Avalon is also one of the first toyota vehicles to be completely designed, engineered, and built in the united states.


and its spunky engine i believe was fitted into the IS350. critics love the new 3.5L Toyota V6.

 

Since when do you have to have a stiff suspension and a powerhouse motor to appeal to a younger audience? Younger people are not all a bunch of drag-race and high-G cornering freaks. Some are...some aren't.

And...you are correct that the new Avalon has a stiffer suspension than before.....especially the first-generation one, which was a nice smooth rider. It is probably as stiff now as the engineers can make it without completely losing the car's mission as a cruiser....and most of the Avalon 's customers don't WANT a stiff ride. My prediction is that the Touring model will not sell very well.

 

Touring version has pretty stiff set up but nothing close to my stock RSX. It's kind of like Honda Accord EX stiff, and IMHO, that's pretty stiff for Toyota's standard. But i like that stifness and i think it's a pretty good balance btw sportiness and comfort. I drove the new Avalon and i was quite impress with overall. Pretty sweet engine and lots of lots of punch under. the interior is just HUGE. But overall, I have to agree with Mmarshall. ES330 is a better choice,IMO, if you dont need interior space that Huge.

 

How do you figure an Avalon will embarass a GS430
Avalon 0-60 in 6.0 vs GS430 in 5.7
Avalon 1/4 mi in 14.6 vs GS430 in 14.4
The Avalon will give the GS4 a run for it's money but it won't embarass it.
And lastly, while the Avalon is a nice car, the new GS is worth the extra $$$