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REALLY hope you're wrong! If you're not, why get the Avalon over the Camry? That will take the Avalon off my list, I drive clients almost every day in my Lexus LS, I need the back seat room. :mad:
Skip
2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve
As for the room in the back seats É that doesn't seem as small in comparison to the front. Most folks who have ridden in the back say it's just as roomy as my 2011. Now I'm not sure that could be said if 3 people were out back.
Oh let's see, it sucks in the snow, but then again, most cars do with summer tires on them:) Well it doesn't suck, but it's not great.
I think the drivers seat is more comfortable then my 2011, not much, but enough that I can tell.
The finish seems to be very nice. I've washed it a dozen times or so, and it washes real easy, and dirt and snow washes off real nice. It seems to be a much higher gloss then my 2011.
Not a single person has said anything bad about the car. I have had several people ask if they could sit in it, and walk around it, and all of said in some way, shape or form "Wow, Nice Car" "Sure wish it was mine" or "Damn I'll bet your one happy in camper with this car" É
It's at least as quiet if not just a little bit quieter.
I'm not sue I like the window buttons. My 2011, you could hit real quick, and the window would go up / down, and you could hit the switch again in mid stream, and the window would go up / down. With these, you need to hit and hold the button albeit for just a second or so, but still not as easy / quick as the 2011.
My head unit looks like it is bad:( I've tried 3 other cell phones, and they all do the same thing. I have an appointment at the dealer for them to check it out. Hopefully it's just a setting I'm over looking.
I'm still going to be interested to see what if anything they change next year. I think they need to decide if it's a Luxury Car / Sports Car (hardy) or a Sports Car/ Luxury Car.
I for one, have owned Avalon's because they were a Luxury Car. I was fine with the size (heck I would have been fine if it were a bit bigger:)
I know it's not in this market, but you don't see many luxurious;
- Corvettes
- Cameros
- Mustangs
- Buick Regals
- Genesis
- Infinity G35, G37
You get the picture.
Make a sports car, for the sports fan É
Make a luxury car for those who understand, the size, comfort, LUXURY, and are ok with the poor fuel economy. I understand I Bought a Luxury car and know that it's MPG's won't be as good as a ECONOMY car É I'm ok with that.
Oh, again, the front with a front plate is a NON issue:)
Skip
Thanks Skip for the updates on your new Avalon.
22 thousand and still counting, Fixing to take another Birmingham trip, that's about 500 miles one way. So I'll be putting some miles on the old car.
Filled up yesterday, got 25.6 mpg in city/hwy driving. Two people, no luggage. I always keep my air pressure up to par.
2011 LTD,
2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve
Thanks, for the updates on your new 2013. I enjoy reading them. You may have stated but, what color interior did you get and how do you compare to your 2011? I have only seen pictures of the interior and would appreciate you comments.
Thanks,
George
Have spend the past few months looking at different cars Nissan Maxima, Infinite, Lexus....all have strong points, all nice cars.....but when you consider all the Deluxe features, that are standard, not many options and runs on "regular gas"...Toyota Avalon Ltd. is the best value for my dollars.
Champagne Mica, Technology Package, paint protection film, rear bumper applique, all weather floor mats. Interior color, not decided yet.....local dealers only have 1 Avalon a piece.....what I can't believe is that the 2013 Avalon brochure HAS NO INTERIOR COLORS OR A OPTIONS PAGE.
Will keep you posted.
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/vonstringcaldinkal/
Compare: 2011
- 2011 larger inside
- A bit more cushy of a ride
2013
Much more luxurious inside and out. The fit and trim is very well done. The paint seems to have much more or a much better grade of clear coat on it.
Fuel economy is hard to judge right now, with Winter in Maine, but I DON'T like that the fuel tank is smaller:( I drive a lot, and can really appreciate not having to stop as often to get gas. It's only 2+- gallons smaller, but on the highway that 60+- miles.
Skip
I appreciate your comments and pictures. Your new Avalon looks very nice. My local has two or three that I plan to go see. I am anxious to see the new interior. Just hate to walk on the lot and have to deal with the sales people. My wife still has her 2000 Avalon that she loves and it still rides and drives great. But, it time for a change. We are in our seventies and want something that is nice and comfortable to drive and ride.
Again, thank you for your updates and comments.
George
So, keeping to my M.O., I was looking at 2010 ES models and while I obviously like the brand, the update as snot that significant from my 02 and the MPG was the same. That is when I ran into an 11 Avalon Limited all black with the black/Bordeaux seats. love the LED taillights and incredible roominess. I will be driving many clients and employees and the back seat legroom is impressive. Most impressive is the MPG gain. The new 13 ES is awesome, but I am not spending $40k plus when I can drive the Avalon for three years and then get the ES at a discount. With my trade, I have a total deal pending for $19,998 and 2% financing ( I could pay cash, but would rather make a hire percentage with investments ) for the black 2011 Avalon Limited with 32,000 miles. I like the fact that E previous owner had also paid for the extended warranty, but even if they had not, I have time to check on the few issues that you have listed here - wipers/arms, steering column, and I'll have to scheme the seats again since they cool have cooling.
I want to thank all of you for posting here. It truly helps in the decision making process. It has also helped with maintenance issues, TSBs, recalls, warranties, dealer spiffs, pricing, etc.
Thank You! if I pick up the Avalon next week, I be sure to post on if I noticed any of the issues previously reported. Peace!
If I understand you right then I'm always about cruching the numbers and saving a dollar. I would buy an 011 or 012. But that's just me. All cars go down in value and it won't be long before your 2013 will be old news. SOMETIMES car hold value better simply because the company did change things on the newer one. I hope this is the case. The new Avalon, I am told is smaller. I suspect that's why it gets better MPG with viturally the same engine. I have a 2011, LOVE the car, LOVE the back seat. Other people might feel different though. I have 22 thousand on my car and honestly 30 grand couldn't buy it.
I found out there are a few issues with the 2011. Poping in the steeriing column happened on my car and the dealer liked to never found it. Other owners out there reported the same problem, some didn't. Took about 4 or 5 tries before a tech knew what it was. I think they replace the entire steering column, problem fixed. ONLY a few of them had this problem. Sweaky wiper blades was a big problem but my dealer found that problem first thing and change my wiper arms, not just the blades but the whole wiper arms, problem fixed. Hope this helps. Sounds like you have a great job to give you a car.
Seriously? "hire percentage"? Most CEOs (including me) can spell "higher".
Comfort and room was the selling point for me as my first Avalon was an '07 followed by the '11. It's highly doubtful that I will buy another.
I live in the SF Bay Area, in case you're anywhere close by.
BTW, I sat in a new (2013) Limited at the dealer the other day. Nice looking car, but they've changed the whole concept, going after a younger demographic, which probably makes sense from a marketing POV but doesn't do me any good when what I want is the big driver's seat. Also, it seems quite a bit lower than the older models.
If anybody reading this has a really low mileage 2003 or 2004 XLS, I could get interested in that as an alternative.
PS: My experience with Toyota service departments has run the gamut from pathetic, insulting, and incompetent (usually) to minimally sufficient (at best). At the Lexus dealer, even with an 8-year old used car, I was always treated *very* well, offered free services -- loaners, wash and wax -- and, surprisingly, not overcharged. (They did try to talk me into replacing the timing belt at 34,000 miles when I first bought the car last year [because it was 8 years old] but I can't see why it should be changed before 90,000 miles unless the water pump leaks.)
Of course, your mileage may vary.
I'm sorry but it's not white. I was offered a white one but that was a demo with miles for the same money. I choose the one with no miles. I posted a picture on the blog some time back you might want to check or I can do it again.
I bought my Avalon because my wife was receiving treatments in Birmingham AL and it's about a 5 or 6 hour drive one way. So most the miles are road miles but all is documented in our book.
The 2012 is the same car, so I would look for a new 2012. If I was you.
Hope this helps, Bill
23 Telluride SX-P X-Line, 23 Camry XSE
Any thoughs
Brian
23 Telluride SX-P X-Line, 23 Camry XSE
We had the Motortrend car show in Greenville, SC that we go to every year. It is just a fun thing to do. I was really anticipating seeing and sitting in the new 2013 Avalon. To be honest, I just wasn't impressed so much. It is now a mid size Sedan. No longer is there room for 3 adults in back seat. And to top it off my husbands head goes out the sunroof. Very disappointing.
We came across the 2013 Honda Accord V6 Touring at the show. Very impressed. Lots of cool new features and gadgets. My husband had plenty of headroom too.
We love our Avalon but they obviously made some changes for the worse in the new one. Too bad. The Avalon just lost a future customer.
I sold my business and have not wholesaled cars for over 15 years now maybe longer. I have no access to good car auctions. I did test drive a new accord and again my biggest complaint was the road noise.
Personally for me, road noise is a big issue. I like quite cars. I like cars that have good resell value. I would stick to Honda's, or Toyota's for the BEST resell value. Unless times have changed these cars always had the best resell value.
In my opinion, Toyota made a big mistake making the inside smaller. I would think the biggest buyer of the Avalon's would be the older generation. I guess they are trying to appeal to the younger crowd.
I miss whole selling cars. I said then I WOULD NEVER EVER pay retail for a car. I guess I should have not used the word NEVER. As of today I have paid retail for 2 cars, and one truck, lol, It's hard knowing the value goes down as soon as you drive them off the lot.
For those who don't know whole selling is not like a car salesman by any means. I SOLD cars/trucks to the dealers. I bought my cars from big auctions all over the east. If you're not good at what you do, you'll go broke, fast.
My 2011 Avalon is here to stay, unless someone wants to purchase my car for about 32 thousand. I don't suspect I have any takers but that's my price. I guess my price is so high because I really like this car that much.
Here is a illustration of showing a small picture. I like this joke. After 29 years of marriage, well you can relate. Hope this helps, Now Flicka might be different from photobucket, so this isn't written in stone.
All the years of dealing with cars I never thought ANYONE would get something over on me. I checked the entire car, I knew it has some slight damage at one time. It was weeks before I drove the car at night. When I finally did it was obvious she had an electrical short. The lights look like Christmas lights going down the street. Don't get me wrong anything is fixable on any car but I thought, "hey, perhaps it's time to pay retail for a car", so I bit the bullet, traded the 2000 in and bought my 2011. I did my best horse trading and got MUCH MORE than I paid when I trade the 2000 in. I'm not a typical buyer so I won't say "I got over on the dealer", I did not. I did get a good deal though.
Other than losing value, I'm glad I bought the car. I would never feel right selling that used 2000 to anyone. The dealer will just wholesell it out.
I've drove so many cars that the back head rest gives me no problem at all. I never used a nagavation system in life so I didn't order one. My kids bought me one two years ago and still never used it.
Tires, hmmmm, I don't know what kind of tires I'll need or what to buy. I am not a fan of Bridgestone tires either. I like Michelin's but I'm told I will pay for them if I want that brand. I never owned another Avalon so I can't say anything about '04 or 98's. I only owned the 2000 model for about a month. I can tell you that the 2000 was easier to drive. The steering was different. When I owned my business, we might have bought some Avalon's but we only owned the cars for days then we sold them. Sometimes I never even drove the cars/trucks I bought. I can't say for certain I bought any Avalon's back in those days
I'm very suprised to see you have less miles than I do on your Avalon, wow! I have 22 thousand miles and drove it mostly back and forth to Birmingham AL and home. My wife was going through breast cancer treatments and we had to drive down there about once a month.
This is one reason I broke down and bought a new one. The 2011 Avalon makes the trip so much easier. I'm glad I did. No inspections in the part of the state but I can see ok out the back. Again, it's because I drove so many different kind of cars and I guess I got use to not seeing everything. Thanks for sharing,
Hondas have always been noiser than other brands, lotsa road noise. Odysseys are hard to converse in if you're in the back seat.....
MY OPINION: I would not worry because it's been in the shop for that. Smart to check car fax, make sure it's a one owner or a lease. Lease cars are good to buy, perhaps better than a one owner. Make sure you have a warranty on the car, if you don't then you MIGHT want to check into that. WHY? I hear a rear view mirror cost 1200 dollars. This is just an example. Hope this helps,
Anymore questions feel free to ask.
Answer: I thought I might get this question without fully explaining myself.
First of all, there are different kind of leasing. I SHOULD have said corporate leasing. On Corporate leasing, they lease a fleet of lets say Avalon's. THEY have to be maintain regularly, this is part of the agreement in leasing. SO normally without exception, these cars have been serviced regularly. One owners cars are NOT always serviced regularly. Fleet leasing care are USUALLY brought to auction before the warranty is up. Then auctioned off. Usually right under the wire of the warranty running out.
Please don't get me wrong, I'm not a "know it all". This was my business.
At big auctions, you would easy spot the difference between a repo car/cars and a fleet lease car. You'll see a fleet of lets say, Avalon's, or other type cars would be 100's (perhaps, sometimes only 30 or 40) of them together. Normally these are good cars. Again serviced regularly. I've bought tons of them. NOT Avalon's but tons of these kind of cars. Simply better than a one owner repo. At the dealship, it can be a one owner but it could be a repo one owner. In my day they didn't have car faxes. So I'm NOT sure if a car fax says the car was ever auctioned off.
NOW, individual leasing, that's a whole different ball game. I won't go into difference about individual leasing.
Times are different. In the 90's, it was not uncommon to see a lot of fleet leasing cars at auctions.
Hope this helps, Bill
I loved buying the fleet lease cars. They sold good with very little problems. I never saw Avalon's in the fleet lease cars, but I did see a LOT of Camerys.
Hope this helps, Bill
Yes, in my opinion.
Ok, so they didn't destroy it, but it is now a Very Nice SPORTS Luxury Sedan, and I have come to appreciate the Avalon as a True Luxury Sedan.
IF they had made this New Model, the same size as the 2010, 11, 12's, and gave it the same ride (or more comfortable), I think, it would have sold just as well. I say this, because it would have LOOKED the same as it does, just been a better car. And if folks are buying because of the new Look, Style, Fit, and trim, then why wouldn't folks still have purchased it, if it was a bit bigger, a bit smoother and a bit more quiet?
Skip
I know what you are saying. Of course they didnt' destroy the car. I bet there are some that even love the NEW 2013 Avalon. HOWEVER, overall, I personally think they are getting away from their base sales. My opinion is that the older people are the main ones that buy these cars. I guess I'm old, I'm 56. Not old enough to be call old but feeling older.
I like the 2011 Avalon because it is big, I love the ride and don't mind paying a little more to ride around in luxury. Thanks for the input. I'll be keeping my for a while, unless I get that 32 thousand I'm asking.
My Lexus dealer told me, Toyota and Lexus is following the BMW lead, and moving toward producing a "reliable BMW". That means sportier, faster, and if you look at the stying trend of the dash, it's almost a knock off of the BMW dash, right down to the Mouse. Every manufacturer for decades has tried to reduce the average age of their buyers, Cadillac, Lincoln, Lexus, all of them. Yet, to me, that's a little odd since old guys have the money generally, and there continues to be a vast demand for luxosedanolas, like the Avalon. Pretty soon, 60 year old guys like me are going to be looking hard for a new car with a quiet, smooth ride and lots of relaxing room. Where will we go? I don't see what's so wrong with making one Avalon type model with these characteristics. Sure, we are all dying off, BUT, they make a new batch of 60 years olds EVERY DAY!!! We do renew....
Seems like you have a pretty good ad started. I would mention any damage, if any, tell if it's a one owner mention that, etc, Plus the report card everyone is looking at today. Having a senior moment fire fox, something like that. Oh yea, clean car fax report. Don't lie about wrecks. The one owner I bought had nothing about the accident it was in. YET, the car had been hit on the back corner. An expert can spot it every time.
Hope this helps,