Raising the flag
Toyota making it known that Avalon is still flagship vehicle
Toyota is making the fifth-generation Avalon a more modern and aggressivelooking car, hoping to attract more – and younger – buyers back to their flagship sedan.
The Avalon shares the new global midsized platform with the Camry, but is a car aimed at a slightly different audience.
This is a car driven mostly by those in their 60s, but Toyota is trying to attract some of the older Millennials by giving the front end a more dynamic look, and also one that seems to look like the Lexus family front end.
By that I mean that the grille goes from the top of the front all the way down to the front of the car’s lower fascia. It does make it look more dynamic, and it actually is more dynamic. LED headlights are standard throughout the trim levels.
The lines of the car flow nicely to the rear, as does the roofline, which has its highpoint moved rearward. The back is quite modern, with new three-dimensional taillights adding texture to the rear, as well as the back of the side view. While all the cars use the same powertrains, both the luxury and sport-ish models have exhaust tips to define them, although the actual exhaust system is the same single-exhaust setup.
The design creates a coefficient of drag of 0.27, which is decent for a sedan. It is also longer, wider and lower than any of the Avalons produced since its inception in 1994. It also has a slightly longer wheelbase than the previous generation.
All this means that the interior is also bigger. It is attractive, pushed somewhat upmarket from that of the Camry. The Avalon’s slim center stack is a new look, but still houses a nine-inch display Satin chrome-finish decoration surrounds it and “floats” above the instrument panel, looking quite modern. Below there’s slide-open bin with a 12volt plug and the standard wireless Qi mobile device charger at
least on XLE. Three of five total USB power ports are located inside the center console.
This is the first Toyota to get Apple Play, as whatever legal or technical issues between Toyota and Apple and Toyota have been solved, and most new models from now on will have it.
The standard sound system includes six speakers and sound are decent. There’s also a premium system which ups the sound ante a fair bit. A JBL premium performance audio system is standard on Limited and Touring grades and is available on XLE and XSE grades. a 14-speaker, 1200-watt, 7.1-channel surround sound
The Avalon is powered by a 3.5-liter V-6 engine generating 301 hp. and 267 lb.-ft. of peak torque. The power’s sent through an eight-speed manual transmission. That is 33 more horsepower than the previous generation. Avalon HV continues to be the only full hybrid vehicle in the segment
The hybrid gets its 215-nethorsepower 2.5-liter four-cylinder and a 650-volt electric motor. EPA mileage ratings for the two powerplants 22 mpg city and 32 mpg on the highway for the gasoline-powered XSE model and the hybrid Avalon XSE HV is rated for 43 mpg for both the city and highway driving.
The hybrid uses a continuously variable transmission to integrate the two sources of power. Interestingly Toyota has
put in “fake” shift points in the drive train which accelerating to overcome that horrible “slipping clutch” feeling which used to be associated with any CVT transmissions. It works quite well.
You can get the hybrid powerplant in all models, except for the Touring.
Trim levels are divided between premium – the XLE and Limited – and sporty – XSE and Touring – models. The differences are clear. A dark gray front grille with chrome border, fronts the XLE and Limited versions. The LED headlight bezels are machined-silver, bodycolor rearview mirror housings, and unique wheels help identify these trim levels. Chrome badge letters, as well as dual exhaust with chrome tips fill out the difference.
The XSE and Touring sport a black mesh grille, machine-finish and gloss black wheels. There are black outer mirror housings specific to the grades. Black headlight bezels are certainly something new for an Avalon. In back these models include trunk lid spoiler and badging in black, and different lower diffuser between quad tailpipes.
The Touring is the sportiest of the models, with higher performance wheels and tires. The aggressiveness of the looks is upped just a bit. you get the active noise control, which “tunes” the sound in the cabin, eliminating some of the harshness of the engine removing
it with Bose-headphonetype technology to eliminate the sounds, Then the “engine sound technology” uses the speakers to add a bit of tuning to the actual engine sound, making it just slightly more “heroic.”
Not only do they look different, the actually drive differently.
The suspension is new for this Avalon, with a reengineered version of a MacPherson strut front and a multilink rear suspension. This lets the engineers set the tolerances differently for the two purposes. It does quite a good job in both iterations. You can opt for adaptive variable suspension on the Limited for an even smoother ride.
In the sporty models it does a nice job of keeping the car steady, and you can feel what’s happening on the road quite clearly. In the premium iterations you still feel everything but somewhat more comfortably. You can also get between 17-in and 19-in. wheels and tires, depending on which trim level.
All models come standard with Toyota’s Safety Sense which bundles active safety technologies including Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Detection, Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Departure Alert with Steering Assist and Automatic High Beams.
Also, standard are Blind Spot Monitor with Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Back Guide Monitor. There’s an option for adaptive cornering lamps.
Prices start at $35,500 and climb to an MSRP of $42,200 for the Touring. Adding the hybrid powertrain only adds $1000 and that makes it somewhat of a nobrainer. The primary competition are models such as the Chrysler 300, Buick La Crosse and Nissan Maxima.
For over two decades, all Avalons were assembled there. That continues with this fifth generation of the car which was also designed and engineered in U.S. facilities. It goes on sale in May.