2020 TOYOTA AVALON TRD
Check out this sporty upgrade to a traditional family sedan
What’s that you say? A sporty Toyota Avalon? Have pigs started to fly?
No, the pigs are not yet airborne. But yes, starting with the 2020 model year, Toyota has given the TRD treatment to its traditional, fullsize family sedan, and the Avalon has a very cool, racecar-looking version that may appeal to a different segment of car buyers.
LOOKS
To get right to the point, the Avalon TRD is definitely a looker. It garnered a lot of attention while I was driving it, and for good reason.
Up front, you get a truly aggressive-looking spiderweb grille design, on the tires you get a distinctive black and red look, and on the rear you get dual exhaust with polished tips and a piano black rear spoiler. It’s also immediately noticeable how low to the ground this vehicle is.
The Avalon TRD features 19inch matte black alloy wheels, red painted brake calipers, and front side and rear Aero kit with red pinstriping.
Inside the Avalon TRD, the design theme continues with a red-and-black scheme that is racecar-inspired, down to details like the red stitching. Sizewise, it is very roomy inside for all passengers, and quality materials are used throughout the vehicle.
TRD logos are stitched into the headrests, floor mats and shift knob. You also get heated front seats, and 8-way power driver and passenger seats, with lumbar support for the driver.
HOW’S THE RIDE?
As a general rule, Toyota is known more for its reliability than its performance, so I rarely get the chance to say this: I truly enjoyed every moment of my time driving the Avalon TRD.
Powered by a 3.5-liter, V6 engine, and boasting 301 horsepower and 267 lb.-ft. of torque,
the Avalon TRD was a tremendously thrilling ride. The only real downside is that it only comes in FWD, with no Allwheel drive option.
The vehicle features an 8-speed automatic transmission, and its performance is helped tremendously by features such as the TRD-tuned front and rear suspension, and 12.9 inch front rotors with dual-piston caliper.
The Avalon TRD gets moving very quickly, and can go 0-to-60 in about 6 seconds effortlessly. Beyond just pure speed, the joy of driving the Avalon TRD is in the overall experience and its responsiveness. The vehicle brakes instantly, corners smoothly and is rather quiet the entire time. The smoothness and excellent handling of the ride stands out in addition to the power.
TECHNOLOGY, SAFETY
Toyota delivers, as usual, with a bevy of standard safety features.
The Toyota Safety Sense P package is included on every Avalon. It includes: Pre-collision system with pedestrian detection, full-speed range dynamic radar cruise control, lane departure alert with steering assist and automatic high beams.
Also included on the Avalon TRD is blind spotmonitoring and a rear cross-traffic alert.
The infotainment system centers around an Audio Plus 9-inch touchscreen.
In my experience, voice controls worked very well on the infotainment system In the Ava