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Comments
I think most of the Toyota's and Lexus's has been reduced by 12 HP because of this.
That is what Toyota told me.
No doubt there are a combination of factors that led to the revised HP ratings under the new SAE guidelines, such as:
type of fuel used (octane);
whether A/C compressor, alternator, water pump, and power steering pump are connected or not, and loaded or not;
engine calibration optimized for each vehicle tested, or not.
Uh oh, what's wrong with the design of it?
Bump!
When you are in "Audio" mode, and you are tuned to a regular FM station, many times certain information about the station, the song being currently played, etc is displayed on the screen. (I think a lot has to do with the fact that only some stations support this) Anyway, as soon as you start to move the large display area marked "TEXT" on the LCD-display screen goes to a standard screen that advise you "... for safety reason, no song information is displayed while moving..." blah blah blah. Then, when you come to a stop, the song information re appears. Then the process repeats itself over and over.
Here's the rub: if you have the optional Toyota factory installed or factory aftermarket XM satellite radio, the display screen behaves a little differently. All of the above mentioned safety warning goes out the window, and the song and artist information now appears in the "TEXT" window. Doesn't make any difference whether you are mobile or stationary, it's there! And it stays there... So why, when the same designers worked this out, is it too dangerous to display one and not the other? Pretty inconsistent.
The final Audio rub: when using XM radio, it only displays the first ten (10) characters of the Artist and Song Name, even though the display is at least forty (40) characters wide... A full three-fourths of the window is wasted. Don't the people who design this stuff actually use it?
Having said all of that, I still luv my new Avalon. It just gets irritating that some of this small stuff wasn't addressed. I have found myself wishing I could connect my laptop to some kind of interface and program this thing the way it ought to be... :confuse:
Mike
Also, we have discussed adding padding to the front seats on my LTD. Has any one done this and if so, where did you add the cushion?
Good to see you are still around and enjoying your new Avalon. We are also enjoying our new Avalon. Just yesterday I took it in to correct a loose front right pillar cover. They must have forgotten to put all the required clips in to hold it in place. I have had a busy summer so haven't had time to do much research on nav systems, other than the ones I looked at earlier. I did notice that Canadian Tire have a sale on a larger ( 7" screen ) nav system made by macvision. I tried to find some reviews on this system but found only one which was not very good. The writer said that it performed poorly and he returned it. It is priced at $399.00. I would like to look at it in the store and talk to someone who has used one.
As I am going through the so called male menopause I decided to look for a sporty car and had decided on a newer edition of the Thunderbird. About a month ago I purchased a 2002 T-Bird which had only 570 KM on it. Paid only a fraction of the new price. A real fun car and great to drive. Has the removable hardtop with the porthole windows. So I have to wait a while before I buy any more toys.
I didn't catch the CTV news, but it shows our former Govenor General has a lot of class. I haven't seen very many new Avalons here in the Kelowna area at all.
I heard something about the new car smell and the gasses that a new vehicle gives off for a while, and I notice how the inside of the windows get smoky after a short time. I don't even smoke. Someone mentioned that there is a new glass cleaner that works great to clean car windows, and I believe that it is called invisible glass. I still intend to purchase a nav system, but as there are so many new ones coming out and the prices are dropping, I will just use the paper maps for a while until I decide on which system to buy.
Take care and let me know if you find any good nav systems or reviews.
Gladiator99
zekeman1
Thanks.
Is there any update on the rumor that the 2007 avalon may be out in January or February of 2006?
Regards
Is there a bracket for this car? Or do you mount it flush to the paint? We are moving from FL. to IL. and will need to install a front plate.
Thanks
Does anyone know if this also applies to the door of the tape player (I don't have the NAV system).
Can someone from a front tag state please help us out? :confuse:
Haven't heard that rumor but this is a good was to start one.
http://groups.msn.com/ToyotaAvalon/regis2006avalon.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=32
I know the amout of Limited models is in short supply. My friend owns a large Toyota dealer so my experience is not typical, he was able to help a lot. I have noticed that his supply of Limited models is getting better. I think a lot depends on how many dealers sell and that affects their allocation. Not sure if I understand this; how do you increase your sales of certain models if you don't have them to begin with?
Mike
PS: I may be buying a black 2002 300M Special today so I will probably be putting off a purchase of an Avalon anytime soon. I decided to go with handling and style over cushiness. The 300 Special has most of the toys that the Avalon has and I'm saving over 20G compared to a Limited Av.
The Av is a bit more refined than the M and gives a quieter ride. It's a tradeoff with the M--great seats, great handling, lots of room and comforts, but louder noise level and harsher ride.
I would like to see Toyota address all the issues mentioned here, especially the tranny issue. I may be interested in the Av in 2007.
If only it were "... a few more bucks..."
Mike
My reluctance to move ahead with a purchase now is directly related to the number of problems reported on the product via this forum.
However, just to speculate, if Toyota wanted to demarcate ' significant fixes' (reference to problems noted in the forum) to the product, labeling the product 2007 has lots of advantages, e.g. customers would see 2007 as the start of the new improved product. Just musing.
Regards
You said earlier that you are ex QA manager (hi-tech) and a researcher, so surely you will agree that with increasing technological complexity there is a greater (not lower) risk of encountering problems. This is true not only for the car industry but with life-saving medical devices, too. The FDA recently reported that 4,225 cardiac defibrillators had failed between 2000 and 2003, about as many as those that failed in the previous 10 years. The increase in malfunctions may be a result of "increased complexity of these devices, manufacturing challenges posed by device complexity, or increased reporting by physicians", according to the FDA. The FDA said on its Web site that the higher percentage of failures may be a result of design changes that made the devices smaller -- they are now the size of a stopwatch -- while their computer memory was increased and their power maintained. Here is a link:
link title
Like pacemakers, new cars have many more features and are far more complex now than 20 or 10 years back. This is true for all car makes and models. The severity of the problems reported by new Avalon owners in this forum, pales in comparison to problems affecting other new cars. The frequency of problems reported by Avalon owners is very hard to gauge from these postings, but may be increasing because of the easy availability of these forums. We don't hear as much from owners who don't have the same problems. This is where stats compiled by Consumer Reports are useful; but it takes a long time to build up their database.
In the meantime, Toyota has a well-deserved leading reputation for high reliability, that I think they are interested in keeping. So if their vehicles show real flaws, they fix these quickly. They won't just wait until the next model year.
I too had debated whether to buy one of the first 2005 Avalons, or maybe better wait for the 2006 model year. Today, 7 months later, I remain really pleased that I bought mine when I did. My "problems" have been few and truly minor, my satisfactions have far outweighed the risks I took in being an early adopter.
And, if you are going to buy a new car someday, what better choice will you have later, really? The 2007's may come with newly introduced, advanced features... together with their own set of potential new problems. Or, as the recent trends suggest, with greater chance of problems...
Best wishes,
havalongavalon
Congrats on your 02 T-Bird! Sounds like great fun and a great deal too. I'm starting to look for an additional car, since my teen kids will be driving soon; I bet they'd really go for a T-Bird... For now they are chauffeured everywhere in the Avalon and I may start to call them Governor and General, in honour of Adrienne...
To confirm, Canadian Tire carries Invisible Glass. It removes the haze really well but make sure to keep the car doors open while you apply it, as it is likely toxic (far more so than the natural new-car scent may be).
Best regards,
havalongavalon
Is there any other items that are troublesome?
The repair dealers will love you . I had 3 Chrysler products that gave me much trouble and cost me dearly, curently $100/hr. My '66 Chrysler Imperial , power brake failure, tranny failure, rear axle failure, speedometer failure and burned valve. My '72 dodge Dart total inginion failure at 700 miles in front of NIH Maryland. For some reason it used to dump large quantites of tranny oil on the ground on hot days.Then one cylider pumped oil till I got rid of the car. Then for the dodge 440 engine in my motor home I'd write a book about it. Beware fo poor quality.
My '97 XLS has never been in a shop for repairs yet!!
No apology necessary. I see this forum as a place to share thoughts and not feed egos. There is no right or wrong.
My problem is that I do not consider the NAV user friendly. For those who like to tinker or who often travel to unfamiliar territory it is OK, but it's interaction with audio and temperature controls could be improved.
I just want to have the option to choose my defaults and find that, the next time I jump in the car to take a local trip, my defaults are still there displayed and waiting. No buttons to push.
Have a great day.