drzoidberg

http://carrentingreviews.com/2012/04...toyota-avalon/

PCAR
19/28

PROS:

- Cleaner exterior redesign
- Improved interior dashboard shows better quality materials, layout

CONS:

- Reduced steering feel
- Soft suspension

CONCLUSION: Rear passengers will love you for renting the Toyota Town Car. Drives well on the highway.

mdaecher

That is a gret one sentence summary! Not that I've rented it, but doubt I will now!

drzoidberg

It's much better than the Town Car, but shares the Lincoln's generous interior cabin.

peteropny

I totally agree with this - had one for a weekend in SAT - next weekend in PSP was offerred either one of these or a 300 - chose the 300.

dwbf11

Having rented these back to back the past two weekends (1600+ miles total) I can say I concur with everything in the review. In addition:

I found the wipers are extremely loud, surprisingly so actually given the emphasis on noise dampening that is so prevalent in this car. The fastest wiper speed also seemed to be pretty slow. You can really hear the wiper motors working, a feature I did not really appreciate.

The light interior models look extremely busy; with the fake wood, fake aluminum, and hard plastics, I think there are 4 or 5 different textures and colors going on which was not particularly attractive. This was much better in the dark interior-equipped cars.

The Bluetooth is not as intuitive as in other vehicles but once paired worked very well.

I actually like the white gauges with the purple hue to them, but the gauge cluster felt a bit cheap and the radio did wash out in direct sunlight. A hood would have been appreciated.

I don't think the steering wheel is actually leather, but rather vinyl/pleather. Was not a fan of that.

I also was not a huge fan of the seats. The thigh support is lacking and the bolsters were too short for me. I found the seats in the 2013 Taurus to be infinitely better.

I take these over the 300's whenever possible because UConnect won't sync with my iPhone. For a large highway cruiser it does well and I think it is probably in my top 2 or 3 PCAR picks, unless there is a well-optioned Lacrosse available.

bocastephen

Pretty much sums up my experience as well. I was able to get a brand new Avalon (3 miles on the odometer, complete with new car smell) a few weeks ago and I've held on to it because I need the space in the back for 3 people.

It's basically an American made Toyota-branded car that perfectly illustrates everything wrong with the US auto industry 5 years ago and prior (before Ford woke up and started bringing their superior Euro designs back here). Completely lacking any soul or style or driving excitement.

I second the bluetooth issue which I posted about in the PBI thread - it took me ages to figure out how to sync my phone and I have a tech background...there is little hope the "target market" for this car would have a chance figuring it out.

One big plus...it came with SiriusXM

drzoidberg

2013 toyota avalon revealed today; looks much better than 2013 version, inside/out, and mechanically.

jlin011

Nice, Toyota Town Car. The Avalon seems fairly prevalent in the larger National stations, I was going to start calling it the Toyota Impala.

It's a plush, decent highway cruiser but agreed it's a fairly boring drive.

Jack Wang

Got one from MIA for 4 days to go down to Key West. Comfortable, it is. AC is pretty powerful, too. However, as drzoidberg pointed out,

Car leans in the corners like a yak in heat
Center console displays completely washed out in direct sunlight
Boring drive
Outdated trip computers
I also didn't care for the gear selection display on the cluster. What am I, hiding my gear from the passengers?

There are pluses:

Trunk has enormous volume
Cabin has enormous volume
Sunroof, leather, all windows auto down/up
New taillights look great
Back up camera in the rear view mirror (fun gadget)

Bottom line: glad I tried it, but probably won't take it in the future unless I've got grandparents/parents/in-laws.

drzoidberg

I don't think I've ever seen a yak in heat before.

You can add your grandparents as extra drivers when they're in town, hahaha.

Jack Wang

Hah, it's an expression I picked up from the Simpsons. It's probably not something I want to see anytime soon.

The grandparents would probably love it. I've always been in awe of how the older generations can maneuver land boats around like it's nothing.

Beckles

I rented one of these from DTW a few months ago, it was cold and raining and I didn't feel like hunting a car and this was literally the first car off the bus, I thought it was strange that there were no heated seats.

Afterwords I saw on the National website that these cars supposedly have heated and ventilated seats, but when I got one a second time at DTW last month for the life of me I couldn't figure out where the controls were for the heated and cooled seats, anyone have any insight on where the controls are, or is the website wrong that the cars are equipped with this?

One big plus to note is that the two I got both had XM Radio activated.

dtremit

I would be hard pressed to recognize any of the leather in these new Avalons as genuine. It is some of the cheapest looking hide I've ever seen, and seems unusually prone to showing dirt.

The seats in the Taurus are much better. Really, on the upper trim levels, nearly everything in the Taurus seems of much higher quality. But the Avalon feels much roomier compared to the almost claustrophobic Ford.

Odd -- I've never had an issue with UConnect and my iPhone -- it's worked flawlessly on several recent rentals.

dwbf11

I have yet to see one of these with heated or cooled seats. Although, that wouldn't be the first time National promotional materials don't necessarily reflect reality. I am guessing that while the Avalon can be optioned with heated and cooled seats the fleet buyers don't tick that box. I also rented one from DTW which I would have expected to have heated seats at least, given that most vehicles from northern locations tend to be optioned by the fleet buyers with "climate" packages.

As for UConnect it seems to be a well documented (on the Internet, anyways) that iPhone 4's do not play nice with the UConnect system. I've had this issue with Town and Countries, Chargers, and 300s.

Did anyone else get a follow up email from National congratulating them on a recent Avalon rental? Apparently, only the most discerning renters choose the Avalon! LOL

drzoidberg

I've always liked the redesigned Taurus, but it's odd that for such a large car, it has very little interior passenger volume. Felt cramped.