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The '05+ Avalons are not based on the earlier Camrys. That was Yota's first vehicle on the new platform with the 2GR motor. Then the '07+ Camrys got it, shortened of course and the '08 Highlander is now on it too. I think the only vehicles on the older frames are the Solara and Sienna.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
I do an extensive amount of driving each year. My 2007 XLE V6 Camry will be one year old in January, and I will have somewhere between 22,000 and 25,000 miles on this vehicle. I will keep this vehicle for three years, and at that time it will have about 75,000 miles. This is why I purchased a Toyota extended warranty. I want the vehicle to be completely covered for major repairs while I am on the road.(Routine maintenance is done by the selling dealer, and I keep photo-copies of all repair orders in the car should a warranty issue develop while I am "on-the-road".)
The purchase price of the vehicle is not my concern, but the resale value is very important to me. My vehicle is serviced every 2,500 miles, so as such, it is in very good condition when it comes times to trade it in for the next vehicle. I looked the Hyundai and the Kia vehicles, but in my part of the country most Hyundai & Kia stores, (with a very few exceptions), are part of a Chrysler Dealership. Since I drive all over the eastern United States, I am not sure of the quality of service that I could get "on-the-road" if a warrnty issue develops. Chrysler dealers have "all-to-do" to service their vehicles, let alone a second line of vehicles! Yes,I love the styling of a Chrysler vehicle, and I would love to own one, but their repair record, their quality, their dealer network, their warranty administration and their customer relations skills leaves much to be desired! Purchasing a Kia or a Hyundai, that is affiliated with a Chrysler Dealership, would be putting myself into this negative issue at the service desk! Yes, when you purchase a vehicle, you are also entering into a relationship with the dealer for a period of time. I walked out of two (2) Toyota dealerships, before purchasing my Camry, because I didn't like the "body language of the sales staff," or the manner in which the customers were treated at the service desk! When I purchase a new vehicle I consider everything.
Best regards. ---- Dwayne :shades:
As it should be to us all - sounds like folks should be lined up for miles just to get at one of your 'used' cars - trading them off at 75k and maintaining them the way you do.
And yep a common compliant I hear about Toyota (and Honda) dealers is their 'let me do a favor and sell you a car' attitude and FTM a general lack of good service at Hyundai dealers. Hyundai dealerships being associated in any way with Chrysler dealers may not be a good thing even over the next 3 years.
Now can we get back to LARGE sedan discussion?
Having had an 02 350XG before the Azera, I was concerned about the service network as well, when I bought it. It had about 75+K on it when I finally traded it in on the Azzy (along with cash from an 00 Avalon XLS, which I sold). What I found, at least in the Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, and Wyoming areas, were a surprising number of dealers who handle Hyundai's in smaller cities. I know in Colorado, when I was looking for an Azera, I contacted dealers in Ft. Collins, Greeley, Pueblo, and Cheyenne Wyo., as well as several in the Denver area. So, while there are CLEARLY way more domestic and Toyota dealers around the country, I have not run into any problem finding a dealer for service, although the most I have ever needed was an oil change or filter when I was out of town. So, Hyundai service and support has never been a problem for me since I got my first one in 02.
First Place: 2005 Toyota Avalon
By Erin Riches, Senior Content Editor , Edmunds.com
Date posted: 03-28-2005
...
Discreetly Fast
Redesigned from the ground up, the Avalon now rides on a stretched version of the current Camry platform.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
funny you should mention that - had the same problem with my Avalon in 05 - whether it be wiper blades, oil filters, oil capacities etc. the dealer had evidently had no 'training' on the car. Wonder why they do that, both the Avalon and the Azera are the flagships of their respective brands - you would think they would make some effort.
Funny you mentioned that issue with Avalon service. I had really forgotten that I had similar initial problems with service writers on the 00 Avalon XLS when new (it was the first year of that generation's model). I ended up switching to a different dealer. LOL, so I know how some Azzy owners who had to struggle with a dealer must have felt. Although, with Azera's now almost three years old, I suspect that the only signficant dealer service problems are warranty disputes, where the dealer doesn't want to support the customer. I imagine the days of trying to figure out how to program lock/unlock issues, and getting immobilizer codes are past.
Its your money, but personally, my opinion is that you're wasting it by getting it serviced TOO often. That's about once every 4 weeks on a 25k mile/yr routine, right?
Why not go by what TOYOTA says to do? Their engineers probably have a decent idea of the service interval. At bare minimum I'd go in at 5,000 miles or 6 months; my guess is the owner's manual says somewhere between 7,500 miles and 10,000 miles.
Even after Honda starting implementing the maintenance minder into all its vehicles, my dealership (which is Honda-only) still puts the 3,000 mile sticker on the windshield. I've started asking that they not put one in. After all, I go about 7,000 miles before my maintenance minder reaches 15%.
Well, djm2 has been having this same conversation over in the discussions about the Camry - and that's where it belongs.
Taurus/Sable MPG Forum
I'm helping someone consider this vehicle for purchase and would like some feedback on it. Thanks folks!
--TheGrad
IMPO, I think that you will find the engine overall to be in the same category as Hyundia's in terms of smoothness and refinement, but still short of those V6s offered by the Japan 3 - this based on a test drive I did in an Edge - not in a Taurus. That said, it is entirely possible with the 260HP (in the heavier Edge) to extract some rather spirited performance without really pushing the engine to the point that it begins to sound and feel strained (5000 rpm or so).
Overall, I believe that Ford may finally have a winner after some misfires, the 500/Taurus always was an intelligently designed space ship and now it has a Hyundai type price tag to go with it. I hope that Ford does its best to keep the car away from Hertz (aren't Hertz and Taurus one in the same?) and fleets - Ford may make some money and Taurus buyers would likely see resale values hold a bit better - a win-win situation.
If one is interested in resale value after a couple of years, stay away from Hyundai.
Their products are best suited to long term buyers or lease holders
and, to be fair, the 'US' brands as well. I believe that Ford, GM and/or Chrysler are discounting their products every bit as steeply as Hyundai/Kia, thereby undermining any hope a shorter term owner might ever have of recovering a 'fair' trade in value. Remember that the primary reason why the Avalon, for example, is so valuable as a used car is that they are relatively expensive new and are not discounted initially to the degree that the others are.
First of all, start with the purchase price of said vehicles...comparibly equipped (if that's even possible). Then, set them up evenly in a trade-in calculator (KBB or Edmunds). Put in the same superficial info, such as mileage, color and condition and see what #'s you come up with when all is said and done. The Charger may be worth more, but only because you paid more. What you need to point out is...the difference between purchase price and trade in price and calculate the percentage of difference.
If you break down the difference in value to percentages, you will be surprised to find out that it's not that far off in reality. I did the same comparison using an Avalon Touring model vs. Azera Limited...both fully loaded and both with 20k miles...the difference in value based on each cars' initial purchase price were actually pretty consistent with each other. There was no major difference in resale value between the Avalon and the Azera (refer to post #3451).
Post #3451
I set it up to be equally equipped compared to my 2006 Azera Limited with premium package.
Leather seating, Power driver's & passenger seats, V-6 engines, Heated exterior mirrors, AM/FM/CD Changer/MP3 Audio System, Front & rear air bags, Split folding rear seat, Fullsize matching spare tire, Alloy wheels, Leather trimmed steering wheel & shift knob, Front fog/driving lights, Power sunroof, and Heated front driver's & passenger's seats.
Both cars pretty much equally equiped at this point.
I plugged in 25k miles, black in color and for giggles...I selected "Outstanding" condition.
The values are as follows:
2006 Charger SE
Trade-in - $18,027
Private Sale - $19,798
Dealer Retail - $21,604
2006 Azera Limited (premium package)
Trade-in - 18,895
Private Sale - $20,471
Dealer Retail - $21,761
Again, both vehicles are pretty dead even in equipment and I plugged in the same color, mileage and condition to make them as equal as possible to determine the value. As you see...the Azera fared better than the Charger in this comparison.
No my friend, YOU are doing apples to oranges.
You don't use the MSRP as your starting point, you take two vehicles and equip them as equally as you can. Which is exactly what I did. A fully loaded Charger R/T will cost WAY more than a fully loaded Azera Limited (ultimate package).
Like I said before, I don't know what the price of the Charger SE equipped as I showed went for in 2006, so I can't honestly say which has the better value. If I'm not mistaken, it would have run about $25K to get a Charger like that, in which case...the value between the two is pretty darn close. Maybe I should have said the Charger SE with the SXT package, I guess you didn't look at the options that were listed in the comparison. Being a Charger owner, I was assuming you would have known that.
Go back to your apples and oranges pick with the Charger R/T vs. the Azera...that's a joke!!! The BASE 2007 model R/T starts out with an MSRP of just over $30K. Not to mention to get an R/T with some of the same features as the Azera...you're talking an MSRP of $35K (that's not even fully loaded). The fully loaded 2007 Azera Limited w/XM shows and MSRP of just over $27K. With all the options, the MSRP on the Azera is just over $31K How on earth do you try to compare the two???
The 2007 Charger SE with the SXT package (which equips the Charger very similarly to the Azera Limited w/Premium Package) as I stated in my initial post, comes to just under $26K. So why is it apples and oranges when comparing the two???
Whatever it is you're smoking over there...take it back and get a refund because it's a bad batch!!!
I'm sorry if you're feelings are hurt to find out that there's no big difference in resale value between the Azera and the Charger (when equally equipped). LOL You tried hard though, I'll give you a C+ for your valiant effort. :P
Although the prices may be similar, the markets they appeal to are completely different. You might as well be comparing fishing poles to baseball bats (or whatever other weird comparison you wish to choose). Nice to be able to have that choice in the same price range, though, don't you think?
Worst logic. ever.
You've proven MY point as well. The Charger SE started around $20K and when you get done adding all the options to make it comparable to the Azera Limited w/premium package...it is closer to the price of that rather than the Azera SE. You just choose to go with the SE instead to TRY and validate your point.
Your SXT at $24,665 is much closer to my Azera Limited at $26,081. So, once again...in comarison...you lose out on which car is a greater value. You're also reaching by trying to compare the Charger SE to the Azera Limited when it comes to options.
If you go back and look at the comparo I posted, I used the Charger SE, but...with the SXT package which made the two cars equally packaged. I'm sorry if YOU don't want to accept the truth in the matter that that Azera and the Charger are pretty equal in resale value at this point.
In conclusion, you have YET to prove your point other than trying every way possible to sell the idea that your Charger SXT is superior in value to an Azera SE or Limited. It's not that I can't accept your logic, it's just you haven't shown any with the route you're taking to make the comparison. First you want to compare a Charger R/T to an Azera Limited, then you turn around and try to compare your SXT to the Azera SE!!!
You can't compare the Charger SXT to the Azera SE. You can compare the Charger SE to the Azera SE, but...once again, you'll see the the Azera will show and prove to be a better value. I've already shown a perfect situation with both cars being pretty much equal in listed equipment, condition and with the exact same mileage. The numbers speak for themselves. Now tell me what point you've proven! :confuse:
I'm sorry, unless you have a Charger R/T...the rest just suck! It's akin to buying a Ferrari with a 4 banger AND an automatic (okay, maybe a V-6)in it! In the end, your Charger can't even keep up with an Azera...how's that for insult to injury? :P
I've test driven both and much prefer the Azera, especially if they get their suspension problems cleaned up.
Honestly, the Charger had a nervous feel to its handling which I didn't like. But, each of us obviously can make our own decisions, right?
By the way, I wouldn't consider myself "stuck" with an Azera should I purchase one. I'd be proud of my decision to spend my money wisely.
The Azera lists for $29.8K and had a used value of $16.3K: cost to own was $13.5K.
Looks like they cost about the same to own for 2 years.
I then compared these to an Avalon XLS ( closest in equipment ) and found a new price of about $32.2K and a trade-in value of $21.2K, cost to own: $11K.
However, thank you for proving my point that the Charger and Azera are pretty much the same value. There are some that just refuse to believe that their precious American-made Charger can even be compared to the likes of a Korean-made product! LOL
Like I said before when I bought my '02 Sonata, the rest of the car makers need to keep an eye over their shoulder because Hyundai is creeping up on them.
Anyway...what exactly do you mean by "status"??? Are you aware that the Avalon isn't even the best vehicle that Toyota makes? The FJ Cruiser has taken that distinction as the Toyota vehicle with the least amount of problems.
The Azera 1/4 mile and 0-60 are each about 1/2 sec behind the V-8 Charger; in the stoplight Grand Prix, whoever leaves first will not be caught without going into illegal speeds.