I saw the new Avalon at the Auto Show yesterday, and had I not been reading this thread, I would have walked right past the elevated turntable and not realized there were any changes.

 

LOL Even Toyota people (lovingly) call it the Geezer Pleaser.

 

To paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld, "when you reach a certain age, you HAVE to get one, it's the law."

 

Cars like the Avalon can please a lot MORE than just Geezers. You don't have to have one foot in the grave to enjoy a car like this. Nice, smooth, quiet cars like the Avalon, Lucerne, Azera, ES350, etc.... can be well-appreciated by even younger people who do hard physical work all day......loggers, miners, construction workers, dock loaders, etc..... A whole day of that stuff, and you can be TIRED. A nice, cushy, comfortable, quiet drive on the way home may be just the thing they need as a nice reward for a hard day's work.

 

I was joking mostly (though Toyota people do call it that) but seriously, back in the day when I did that kind of work (farming, construction) about 95% of us drove trucks, and wouldn't be caught dead in a front wheel drive sedan. Even today, I seriously doubt that the logging parking lot is full of Avalons.

 

I actually kind of like it. The old dash looked more upscale, but the exterior design is pretty nice.

 

That was my thought too. A nice theory, but not reality.

And Avalon has always been purchased by a very high percentage of "mature" buyers.

 

Agreed. And I've seen articles where Toyota discusses how they are well aware of the demographics/age of Avalon buyers. As I mentioned before, the Avalon is best appreciated from it's luxurious and roomy backseat. During the past decade it's truly been "the better Buick", a label earned due to high levels of refinement, reliability and quality compared to it's Buick competitors of the past.

Note: despite my avatar, I'm somewhat mature, lol.

 

Only somewhat mature? I'm really mature! And yes, I had an Avalon in the past. As mentioned above, it's the law.

 

Mature is good., especially for wine.

My semi-retired friend has a current gen Avalon and also had the last gen, a very satisfied customer.

 

My Avalon was the previous gen. I looked at the current gen among other cars when it came out but opted for an ES350 instead.

 

My preference would be the ES350 over the Avalon too. I had an ES350 for over a week (Lexus loaner) and drove it extensively, I liked it.

 

So tonight this car comes up right up on my butt then swings right over in front of me. It looked slab sided but had full LED rear lights in an oval pattern so I had no idea what it was, maybe an Optima.

It was a new Avalon. This guy was just trying to race me over and over. I was like "huh", and ignored him.

But the rear LEDs really surprised me, I had no idea. It looked "new" but slightly out of place to me.

 

Seen a few of them on the road now. It's amazing how small details can really change the look of the car. Exterior-wise it's very similar to the previous gen, yet on the road the new headlights and tails combined with those LED strips makes a real difference.

 

Toyota has been on a strange rear LED schedule lately. Several years ago they made them standard on the Rav4 and 4-Runner, but the ES350 has yet to get them.
Now you got me wanting to see a new Avalon at night (never thought I'd say such a thing!).