2005-2007 Toyota Avalon

mstem

We picked up our new '06 Avalon Limited today at the dealership. I had snuck up there yesterday afternoon and saw them take it off the truck and head to the cleanup shop. For the record, Silver Pine Mica with Ivory Interior and light woodgrain, NAV System, Vehicle Stability Control, Laser Cruise, Remote Start, Rear Spoiler, Mat Package, XM Radio. Just drove it home, it now has all of 27 miles on it; 5 were on the odo when delivered.

First, the color combo: I think it's drop-dead gorgeous! My friend at Toyota who placed my order had advised ref S-P-M color: " you either love it or you hate it!" Several posters on this list had offered encouragement when I was debating as to what color? I am glad I took their advice: it's striking. There was quite a bit of interest while going through the pre-delivery drill out on the lot. Not sure if those folks liked it or hated it, but it did draw a crowd. Guess it's not that important, I like it, and so does my lovely bride. I also had agonized over the Ivory vs Light Gray interior choice. We already have the Light Gray leather in our '04 4-Runner so I went with the Ivory. I don't regret it one bit. They use a (sort of) light charcoal color on the dash top and the top of the door sills. The overall effect is very pleasing to me. I fully realize that color is very subjective in nature so your mileage my vary on this issue.

My rep suggested, due to the complexity of the many standard and optional Limited features, to just concentrate on getting the air-conditioner set to my liking, and finding a desired radio station, and then just motoring on home without playing with all of the controls. I think that was good advice: it can be a bit overwhelming at first. The NAV system alone seems to be quite an effort in learning curve. Sort of made up my mind to concentrate on learning the other features first and worry about Navigation later. Have to admit I DID sneek a peak or two at the moving map display on the way home, and was fascinated to see the river being crossed and other landmarks come and go!

I originally had ordered the same car, without NAV and XM, and then changed my mind and added those two options. Don't think I am going to regret that decision either. As to the XM radio, it came with a certificate that speaks of waived activation fee and some free months of service. I called my rep when I got home and he asked me to call the Service Manger on Monday morning to get the special code for the savings. That was cool also, I have plenty of stuff to learn and experiment with for the next several days.

Quick take on other options: the small SPOILER on the rear deck lid looks kinda cool. I also think it makes the rather strange location of the XM radio antenna look just a little less strange. Not sure yet if I am going to move the antenna like I had planned? It doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. SMART KEY system is neat but it feels very strange not to have to deal with a key, and the lack of an ignition key after all these years is really different! REMOTE START was tried once to test it and it worked great; am going to use that a lot during the winter! (Vehicle sits outside...) Haven't tried LASER CRUISE yet, will wait on that for a bit until I get more comfortable with the vehicle. As mentioned above, the NAV SYSTEM looks promising with further study and the XM will get activated on Monday. I did have a rental car with XM in Denver last month and found I took to that whole thing very quickly, the choices are amazing!

I will report back after getting some miles on my vehicle. I have been monitoring this board for months and am grateful for the knowledge gained here. It has a been a big help to me. Thanks to all...

Bottom line for now: "WOW!!!"

Mike

05avforum

Thanks!!! This is extremely helpful. I won't receive the unit until the end of next week when I'll make the attempt to remove all of the trim.. The instructions look straight forward. Just to try it out, I removed the first (wood-grain/pastic) trim. The second step worries me a little. This is the trim behind the steering wheel. It seems very snug and I'm worried about pulling it out because it has several controls attached, including the start button. Do the controls (such as the start button), come out of with the trim?

alan_s

You were right in not accepting the repaint job. A repainted panel can ALWAYS be detected and it doesn't have the same factory finish. I can imagine you trying to trade or sell it in a few years time, and when asked about the hood, your prospective will roll their eyes back after they hear your story, and assume that it had a major frontal collision and either reject it or devalue it considerably. A damaged and fully repaired car is actually worth less than one that wasn't damaged i the first place. There is an insurance term for it. It is called "diminished value" and probably reduces the value of this car by at least a couple of thousand dollars. :sick:

rosebud3

I have XM Radio in my '06 Avalon Ltd. When I had difficulty subscribing 'on line' I phoned XM Satellite Radio at 1-800-253-6900. Toyota has a special running through the end of January '06. The initial connection fee of $10-15 dollars is waved and you receive a 90 day free trial. After 90 days you may continue service if desired for their monthly or yearly fee.
Following their directions I turned the radio on and set the dial to FM1. Within 10-15 min. my radio was receiving the signal and I had programed 18 stations. Programing is diverse and the fidelity is very good. Stations and volume controlled with buttons on the steering wheel. Very cool!

alan_s

I installed the splash guards today. The instructions were very straightforward. I had to remove the rear wheels to drill the holes in the lower plastic fender. The whole job took about an hour. The Blizzard Pearl color is a perfect match and they look great.
Thank you anythingtoyota.com. You saved me a bunch of $$$$ over the local dealer, who could only supply black anyway.

Interestingly, the color-matched guards are made in Canada for Gulf States Toyota!

bahraini_zupra

YOUR POST IS WORTHLES WITHOUT PICS :P :P

rtimbo

The panel behind the steering wheel should pull out just as the wood trim piece does. Grab firmly and pull slowly. I did not even disconnect the switch connectors, just left them attached and moved the panel to the side to gain access to the radio surround. I have the XLS, which does not have the start button. It has a trim ring around the ignition switch which came off with the panel. I would expect the start button on your car to come out with the panel.

lnt

I ordered a frontend mask Thursday. I HOPE it will look okay. I'll post about it when I get it. I hope they'll take it back if I don't like it! It was $139 plus shipping which was a few cents over $16.00. I checked with my dealer before I ordered and he said they didn't even have a parts number for them - can't get them.

lazarous

Bahraini Zupra, your screen name is unusual. I wonder if anyone else beside me knows what it means? LOL. Mack

nimimi

. . . and where did you find a front end mask for this car?

gar333

Did you order a "Toyota" face mask, or another manufacturers ?

jim250

Bought '05 Audi A4 1.8T cabriolet/convertible in 7/05. Thought it looked nice and drove well. After two weeks I traded it in on '05 Avalon Limited. Turns out that it was very difficult to see when backing A4 with top up out of parking spots, likely a similar problem with most convertibles. Decided it was often too noisy or too hot to have top down and that car offered very little storage space or rear seat room. Also, the A4's engine sounded kind of tinny and was rated for 30 mpg on highway while the much more substantial, comfortable, and roomy Avalon was rated 31 mpg. It seemed Avalon must have a much more efficient engine as it is rated slightly higher in mpg with its 3.5 liters displacement while A4 had only a 1.8 liter engine with turbo. The turbo had a definite lag period between pressing on gas pedal and car accelerating appropriately. The '06 Audi has a different engine (2.0T) but I would surmise it is not all that different from the 1.8T my '05 had. Also, I never warmed up to the Audi's controls. When I attempted to change the cruise control I kept hitting the turn signal stalk instead. I decided that I'm a Toyota guy and prefer TMC's arrangement of controls to Audi's setup. For Audi's 7 year/100K mile/$0 deductible extended warranty I was charged around $2800, while for the same warranty on the Avalon I had to pay only about $1200 and others have reportedly gotten it for <$1000. I guess that says something about the projected repair costs of Audi vs. Toyota. The A4 stickered approximately $4+K higher yet it lacked many of the bells and whistles my Limited includes. I think the sticker was around $41K but the car seemed to lack many of the options discussed in the owner's manual. It didn't seem like as good a value as the better equipped and lower priced Avalon. And then there is the difference in safety and practicality between a convertible and a large 4 door sedan. Once I got over the idea of having a convertible it made good sense to switch to the new Avalon.

Jim in WI.

lnt

I ordered it from AutoWebAccessories.com and I am not sure whether it is a "Toyota" mask. The advertisement made me think it was, but I doubt it is really made by Toyota since the Toyota Dealership said they didn't have a number for one and that they were not making them yet. I'll let you know when I get it. Supposedly it was to be shipped within 1-2 days. Other people on this forum have ordered accessories from this company and were pleased with the products, so I took a chance.

lnt

I ordered the front end mask from autowebaccessories.com.

bahraini_zupra

Bahraini Mean i am a bahraini from bahraini Zupra is nice nick name for Supra cuz i got 2 supras here link : www.cardomain.com/id/ghoshee

plus if u were in supraforums.com they will know me instintly unlike u :P
plus having unusual screen name dosent make sense for not posting the pics

cheers

lazarous

Sharp looking cars my friend. Did you say you have 2 Zupras? Again, that's unusual for a man to have.LOL -:) Mack

tony17

I also have the awell sensor without the LED display. I noted in the manual that the wire from the beeper to the reverse lights has an in line fuse. There is no such fuse on my kit.

Is there a fuse on yours or is the fuse only for the kits with a LED display?

Thanks

Tony

growwise

Traded a brand new Audi in two weeks? :surprise: :confuse:
Yikes.. the depreciation must have been brutal.. unless ofcourse, you are allowed to return the vehicle without having to resell it..

n0v8or

The Awell kit I purchased came with a fuse holder mounted on the Red wire.

nimimi

Where and on which website did you find this?

rainiereagle

By default, the navigation system will not use toll road at all. You can change that setting and allow it to use toll road. Hit the "menu" button and explore from there. Read the nav manual and you will find more.

Have fun.

n0v8or

Where and on which website did you find this?

http://www.techinfo.toyota.com

Filenames:
2006_features.pdf
2006_general.pdf

bahraini_zupra

lol yeah yeah whatever i still wanna see the pic :P

havalongavalon

Tony,

My Awell system has a fuse on the red (power supply) wire, as n0v8or also indicated. There is no other fuse to the beeper.

Regards,

havalongavalon

havalongavalon

n0v8or,

Congratulations on your exemplary Awell backup sensor installation guide PDF, post #8109!

Awell must be in awe -- should well direct new Avalon customers to your counsel.

Perhaps Toyota should read it, too?

Ah, well...

Regards,

havalongavalon

geoshill

Bought a Blizzard White XLS yesterday from a great dealer. Spent the afternoon reading the 393 pages of instructions and warnings. Today I took it for a drive and everything works just fine. The driver's seat fits me just right too. Much more comfortable than my '97 XLS. I'll keep you all posted if anything goes wrong.

njny

Got a similar issue, what did the dealer do to fix?

quilter

I, too, have had my Avalon (XLS) for only 2 months. I have put 800 miles on it, mainly doing stop/go in suburban Atlanta area. Yesterday, I drove over 100 miles, most of it freeway, right after gassing up. After 50 miles, the computer indicated 35.8 mpg. Since then, I added another 50 miles of freeway and 10 miles of stop/go (30-40 mph). I was driving no faster than 60, but had the A/C going the entire time. I am extremely pleased with the performance, mpg, and overall ride. As of today, the 'average' mpg is still right at 30. I couldn't be happier!

havalongavalon

No news is usually good news and this I'm happy to confirm today.

After 6 months and 10K km, same superb engine performance from my XLS. Same smooth transmission behaviour generally, except for the occasional unnecessary downshifting when accelerating uphill after traveling downhill to a near-stop (seems to happen more with shifter in D than in S). Same reliable steering under all conditions, without any hint of torque steer. Same ultraquiet road manners on anything except loose-gravel logging back-roads (tried this once; won't go there again). Same expressions of admiration from new and repeat back-seat passengers, representing all age groups. Same superior gas mileage both in city driving (long-term average 11-12 liters per 100 km, or 20-22 mpg) and open road (best: 6.4 liters per 100 km, or 37 mpg after 11 minutes after a fill-up, with 2 passengers as witnesses and I took a photo to prove it, in case ever needed) on 87 octane Petro-Canada regular gas.

My own remaining little issues: Second set of windshield wipers still squeak loudly (maybe I'm keeping the glass too squeaky-clean?), but then it hardly rained during summer. Twice the cover over the audio controls refused to open, both times while driving up a steep hill; it then opened OK when the car was level again. And, I still have a hard time holding my 280 (Canadian) horses from taking off to pass any other vehicle on the road, fortunately at no cost so far except for a little worse gas mileage.

Back in March-April we had a lot of forum discussion about early adoption of the 2005 Avalon. Now Consumer Reports (Oct) came out with a strong warning against early adoption of any new car model (except Toyota has a far better track record than most). Well, in my case the problems have been very few thus far, and I remain very satisfied to have traded my trusty but aging Camry for one of the first 5000 2005 Avalons, on the very first day they were sold in Canada over 6 months and 10,000 km ago. A Consumer Reports dream car, come true?

Regards to all,

havalongavalon

n0v8or

Havalong . . .
Actually it was your posts, description of the color match, and photo of the installation that motivated me to purchase the Awell system.

If I had to do it over, I might mount the outer sensors 1 or 2 inches further inboard. Last week I was backing into a parking space alongside another car (with ~3 ft between cars). The sensor started beeping. I stopped, got out and looked, and there was nothing behind me for 50 feet. I had not realized how much the field of sensitivity extended to the sides.

Now that another poster described his successful installation, I am thinking about adding a camera to supplement the sensors.

Like you, I am surprised that Toyota and/or their dealers have not added reverse sensors as an Avalon new car option. These sorts of dealer/distributor "add-ons" usually have profit margins much better that the vehicle itself. Heck, they tried to sell me a supplentary theft protection system, leather conditioning treatment, paint sealant, plastic film nose mask, undercoating, remote starter, rubber mats, glass treatment, a "5 for the price of 4" oil change coupon book, prepaid remotes battery replacement plan, etc, etc, (all to no avail) but nothing really useful.

captain2

thanks for the info. - anything toyota quote was $4.00 for the oil filters and $36.00 for the wiper set - about a third less than what my local dealer wants for them!

havalongavalon

n0v8or,

Glad to hear that my original post was useful. I also had learned from johni who posted earlier, so we are all adding to the knowledge base here.

I agree that the back-up sensors as we placed them in the Avalon bumper can be quite sensitive to lateral objects. I think this feature is actually very desirable in particular for parallel-parking, when there may be a post, tree, trash can, planter or low-lying object close to the curb, that the overhanging rear corner of the car could hit while reversing into the space.

I prefer a wider field of sensitivity, even if this may cause occasional false warnings.

Regards,

havalongavalon

parks1

Don't do it. I agree with many others about having your rear window changed because of distortion. You are risking a botched job by a local tech that probably
never did it before. Live with it. In time you will not even notice it. This is good advice, please take it.

parks1

Someone recommended STONERs glass cleaner. I thank you.
It worked like a charm and like nothing else I have tried in the past. I am sure the haze will return but I am making an effort to keep the car vented on hot days. By the way out-gassing of new materials is not a new concept and there is not much you can do about it since most new cars take advantage of modern synthetic
(petro-chemical derived) materials. In time the out-gassing will diminish. On the positive side I have been introduced to a fabulous glass cleaner.

dmorcos

I have the same issue with the rear window being distorted and my biggest gripe with that is that when at a stop light, looking behind at a lady that looks different, only to find out she is beautiful when I look through the side mirrors.

Oops,I think I need glasses.

lazarous

Geoshill, If you don't care, give us more details about the options you got and a brief breakdown of how much it cost you. Thanks

geoshill

Lazarous, I got the Blizzard White, JBL 6 CD system, VSC and floor mats. The total with Calif. tax and some prepaid service was $36,878.73. The MSRP was $33,746. Went for a ride again this afternoon and everything worked perfectly.

One advantage the Avalon offers us is large front doors. I have a disabled wife She has to navigate her legs into the passenger seat and the large door permits that in good form.

tmeframe

He said: "Gosh Steve, there's not really much I can do about it. I mean, I'd have to take your dash apart just to get to 'em, and that could cause even more noise after we put it back together.

When it makes the noise, just move the vents to another direction."

I posted here to find out if anyone is having the problem. I've seen two posts to the affirmative.

Steve

n0v8or

By the inner vanes I assume you mean those used to direct the airflow to the left/right.

I just went out to the garage and pushed on both sides of all of mine with a Q-tip. There is no appreciable play in any, and they are difficult to move other than via the adjustment wheel. If yours has play, perhaps the adjustment mechanism is sloppy or disconnected. I can't see why it would be that hard for them to replace the vents. If they are concerned about causing other damage, let them replace the entire front cover of the dash, complete with vents.

This sounds like one of those 2 hour jobs where the manufacturer only pays for 15 minutes labor.

tony17

Thanks,

I'll email Awell and ask them to send me the right wire setup. Glad I noticed this before it was installed. I appreciate all the information you have provided on this web site regarding the reverse sensors.

Regards,

Tony

leinad

Have a 2006 limited avy and have had the car back to the dealership now 3X in the past week.. The navigation menu door keeps jamming and only opens up 1/2 way which doesn't allow one to be able to press the button to accept the agreement to drive safely....?????

am I the only person who doesn't know how to unhook this agreement with the navigation ?

thanks for any replies!

jim250

Well, it wasn't the best situation but I didn't want to be stuck with a car which wasn't the best choice for me. So, after putting on only 800 miles in 2 weeks, off the new Audi went as a trade-in at the Toyota dealership so I could get my Avalon instead. I didn't even try to take it back to the Audi dealership but they were rather surprised when I stopped by to get a refund on the extended warranty.

Jim in WI.

jim250

The nav controls door on my late '05 Limited likewise stuck halfway open at first. It would open all the way when prodded with a finger. The dealer ordered a new door and after that was installed there was no further problem.

Jim in WI.

nimimi

It looks as if one must pay to view the inner parts of this website! Too bad.

rainiereagle

It's likely not due to window distortion. It's your anti-glare rear view mirror in-work.

Sit in your rear seats, and look through the rear window towards a tree or a building, you will likely find nothing wrong. At least my LTD looks ok on this.

deanie

Hi:
A4 is tiny on the inside compared to Avalon, and has a less powerful engine with poorer fuel economy, but he A4 handles much better, and its build quality is superb. Gripes about the 05 Avalon build quality (compared to other Toyotas) are legitimate, but somewhat exaggerated given the relatively small number of complaints.

I own an 05 XLS and can confirm minor panel gaps, misalignments, etc, and would never let a dealer touch any of them - they're all relatively minor problems (uncharacteristic of Toyota)I can live with without letting a m35chanic inexperienced (with the 05 Avalons) do more harm than good. My Avalon has been 100% reliable

Here's the kicker. I'd never buy a Volkswagen or Audi because of poor reliability - particularly where the electronics are concerned. If youre looking at an A4 and an Avalon, consider strongly the G35 all-wheel drive and Acura TL. If I didn't need the Avalon's interior space (rear seating for three real-sized human beings), I'd have bought an AWD G35 without hesitation. Hope I've helped.
Deanie

islandavy

I have also tried Stoners and it cleans well, but hazing returns in a few days. My car is parked in the hot Florida sun all day and leaving windows open is not an option due to the rainy season here. I spoke to a mobile detail man who said he waxes the interior windshield and hazing never returns. Anyone ever hear of this? I noticed he was using Maguire's products on cars in the parking lot where I work.

mstem

Very interested in obtaining some of this STONER's glass cleaning product. Can anyone advise perhaps a national chain that might carry it? Or any other source. Thanks in advance...

Mike

tkaz

BJ's carries Stoners.
Tony

gar333

Walmart carries Stoners, Hate to shop there, but do !