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Comments
Two weeks ago while driving in HEAVY stop & go traffic I just happened to notice I was NOT experiencing any hesitancy, the car had become "uncharacteristic ally" VERY responsive. After about 2 miles of bumper-to-bumper stop & go traffic and trying to figure why my car had suddenly become a responsive powerhouse it hit me...my foot placement on the accelerator was different. Normally I toe between the brake and acclerator pedals but this time, for some strange reason I was moving my entire foot. The entire length of my foot was on the gas when I accelerated. I'd give the pedal an slight nudge and the car accelerated very smoothly, evenly, and without any hesitation. Couple days later I was again in heavy stop & go, and noticed hesitancy with acceleration and I recalled my foot position from the time before. I changed my foot position to full foot on the pedal and what do you know...COMPLETE resolution and car was again very responsive.
I know it sounds crazy, stupid, unbelievable, asinine, whatever...but since this discovery I can actually CAUSE my care to either hesitate in traffic or be very responsive to input on the accelerator simply by altering the position of my foot. I've since made a conscious effort to alter my driving habit (full foot on instead of toeing) and haven't had one episode of hesitancy, lag, or unresponsivness since. I've also noticed increased MPG during my 70/30 highway/city drive week. Have gone from 24 MPG to 29MPG this past week and a half.
Do all the posters here hate this car????
I was also considering the Maxima SL and the Lucerne CXL (perhaps the Azera but first model year scares me).
I do not have the NAV or cooled seats that some appear to find irksome, so cannot comment on those, but there are no rattles or hesitation problems plaguing this owner.
Does anyone know how to fix the problem?
I bought one the first 05 Ltds last Feb and find driving in S mode does reduce the erratic behavior. Placing my whole foot on the gas pedal sounds like a "wifes tale" but what the heck, I'll try it out! Can anyone explain techncially whay this makes a difference-I will also investigate. I have about 15K miles on my LTD and have found using 100% synthetic oil (Mobil 1) helps performance and mileage. Also am installing a K & N air filter to increase HP a bit. I find keeping the Michilens consistently pumped up to 32 psi (use good dial gage and check in the morning before driving) helps mileage.
NWBLIZZARD
TexasRed
Steve
I too want to increased Avalon performance. I have an 05 XLS. The K&N air filters only increase HP when they are the entire "cold air intake system", which to the best of my knowledge is unavailable on the 05-06 Avalons. A cold air intake system looks like a two-foot long bent stovepipe with a conical head at the end.
Any K&N aire filter sized to fit and replace the stock Avalon filter will neither produce better HP nor increased MPG. All it will do is last forever provided you clean it regularly with the proper solvents, and re-oil it appropriately - not as care free as simply dropping in a regular stock $10 paper air filter.
I too will switch to Mobil One when I hit 10k miles - it seems to help in any car. Hope I've helped.
Regards,
Deanie
Though I hae a slight tranny shudder at low speed gear changes, it's no worse than in other toyotas I've tested, and I've experienced no worsening of the problem, which at this point bodes well for the oft-complained-about Toyota V6 5spd tranny. Time will tell.
I am hearing the fast rattling noise described elsewhere as being anywhere from the rear parcel shelf to the rear of the moonroof. I'll attempt to remedy via the method by AlanS (I think) and post my results.
Regards,
Deanie
I would love to see a few pis of your installation, especially closeups of the locations and color match. I also have the Phantom Grey Metallic ('06 LTD). I just ordered the system for my wife's '01 Highlander and if the installation goes smoothly, I'll do it on the Avalon too.
Thanks,
Dave
I have to agree with you on the Honda Pilot and how good the tranny/engine work together. Honda has come a long way in this area since the 1980s. I owned several Hondas and Toyotas (all trucks from Toyota - really good vehicles). Hondas used to hesitate, shift poorly, etc. The 2004 Accord that I have has a very smooth tranny.
Anyway, thanks for everyone's comments, but this vehicle is out as is the Azera since the resale would be quite poor.
So, for a 300HP factory engine rating you might gain about 15HP at the torque curve peak.
Balance that with the HIGH possibility of contamination of the MAF/IAT sensors with oil wicked from the filter during those high flow volumes, and then dirt caked on the oil, and you'll begin to wonder if it was all worth the effort.
I have always wondered about this cold air intake issue so I did some research. That issue dates back to the long ago days when the engine air intake was somehere inside the engine compartment, downstream of the A/C condensor and radiator combination PRE-HEATING the airflow before it got to the engine air intake.
There have been several instrumented tests lately indicating that these cold air intake kits have NO BENEFIT WHATSOEVER provided the vehicle in question already has an equivalent intake system, as most modern day vehicles do.
NOT..!!
Toyota's DBW system, when coupled to an automatic transmission, does not respond to gas pedal position as you describe. Toyota uses DBW to "protect the drive train". While the transmission is in the process of shifting the onset of engine torque is intentionally delayed to give the transmission clutches time to fully and firmly seat.
In snow mode...
The "gain" is reduced, more pedal travel is required to produce a given level of engine torque, to make it easier for the diver to "feather" the engine and not provoke wheelspin/slip.
With traction...
The system will sometimes totally ignore the gas pedal position.
With VSC....
You get the picture....
Some drivers may regret the need to accommodate changes dictated by drive-by-wire systems in the Avalon and other new vehicles, but the direction is clear, as set out (among many other places)at http://mira.atalink.co.uk/articles/104 .
"There is considerable interest in increasing functionality and safety by developing drive-by-wire systems where electronic controls are used to supplement the driver controls or even provide full authority over the vehicle functions. In a full-authority drive-by-wire system, the driver controls are simply inputs to a computerised system rather than directly commanding the vehicle functions."
Military and commercial pilots are well-experienced in these changes; we 2D operators are headed in the same direction.
I have 9,200 miles on my 06 limited, and love it more every time I get in it. Sure, I did have to have the dealer find and fix a rattle in the overhead just about the RR seat, but they did it quickly and without complaint. Other than that, I couldn't be happier with the car, it's mileage, or how I feel while driving it.
Oh, I did adjust the headlights slightly higher. I didn't feel safe on a dark two-lane road when going to low beam...in fact, they were so low that I didn't feel safe over about 50 mph. Now I'm happy, and I'll be most Avalon owners are too.
Does anyone have any experience or ideas on which way is better?
I bought a 06 Limited in January and now have 2200 miles on it. The car is phenomenal, amazing, beyond all expectations! It is so smooth I wonder if the wheels are touching the ground. It is so powerful it still scares me sometimes.
Is it perfect? No. I'm annoyed that the NAV controller has a mind of it's own. The NAV voice control usually misunderstands me and is more for entertainment than functionality. I wish it had Bluetooth, an iPod interface, and MP3/CD playback built in. I wish the rear seats would fold to expand the trunk when I really need it.
BUT, every time I drive my wife's Hyundai Sonata or my old Suburban (which I love) I'm reminded of what an incredible vehicle the Avalon is. We have some very loud voices in this forum that seem to suffer from a world so small that the highlight of their day is moaning about their Avalon. One or two, I'm convinced are ringers that don't even own one.
Every car has a glitch or two or a design flaw and the Avalon is no exception. However, I have never owned or driven any vehicle that even comes close to the refinement and performance of this car. The more I drive it the better I like it.
I'm debating between the Maxima SL and the Avalon Touring. I think I'm at a $2K differential price-wise with the Maxima having a few more whiz-bang features(based on a pricing from a no-haggle dealership that carries both)
To those lamenting the exclusion of Bluetooth on the Avalon, if you read into the various manufacturers offering you may not find your particular phone is supported. For example I have a Treo 650 and if I buy the Maxima, their website tells me it is not supported so how it works and to what extend I can use the various features is unknown. But it is part of a package and I will get it anyway. Seems strange that Bluetooth is marketed as a "standard" but apparently isn't so.
Especially an automatic wherein the engineers have adopted the scheme proposed by Sierra Research back in 99 that allows the overall fuel economy to improve by 9.8%.
My guess would be that for mostly city driving the number of shifts per mile is increased by at least a factor of three. Lots of extra, additional wear on those clutches provided something wasn't done to "protect the drive train".
The few "sticks" I have driven acted, reacted, just as if there was a mechanical connection. So any problem lies NOT with the DBW of itsself, but what the design engineers decide to do with it to "protect the drive train".
2006 Hyundai Azera 4-DR w/SAB
NHTSA Releases New Crash Test and Rollover Ratings
The engine hesitation is still terrible.
The engine valve noise is still there and I wonder why my 2002 xls was so quiet that you wondered if the engine was running.
The fronts seats are like setting on leather covered wood.
The rattles in the dash and rear headboard are annoying.
The navigation system is a joke. period,almost unusable.
The tire noise is very loud except on the best of new roads.
so there,
Al
TexasRed
Second: I sat in a 2007 Camry at Miller Toyota in Manassas last week, dutifully followed the prompts on the navigation screen, inputting my address, zip code, etc.,and TWICE was rewarded with "...there is no such address on that street..." Strange, isn't it, how a VERY expensive navigation system can't seem to locate the house I've lived in for 18 years, in a community of hundreds of houses, just 10 miles from the dealership? No wonder there are gripes about Toyota's Nav system !!
Is "intelligentsystems" the manufacturer or the shop that installed it?
We're all interested -- just need more info. Thanks!
I hope you find something you like better soon and I'm sorry you ended up with a lemon. I, honestly, have had NONE of the problems you describe except that the NAV controller is fussy and the voice recognition is comical.
Best of luck finding a car you love as much as I do my Avalon.
Tom
I have examined the variable-resistor/potentiometer housing that the gas pedal is attached to, to see if there is any external pot screw adjustment that adjusts either the minimum voltage resistance or physically adjusts the pedal position - either of which may reduce or eliminate this lag. All I see are a couple of recessed square aluminum caps on the left of the housing which look difficult to remove without damaging them. Do you know whether such an adjustment exists, perhaps under the caps? I don't want to remove the entire assembly unless I have to.
I compared the Avalon's DBW system with our new Pilot. The Pilot uses a regular cable that runs into the engine compartment into the variable-resistor module and it has a regular cable adjustment to take up any slack so the vr responds instantly to gas pedal movement. It seems a better system than the Avalon's and is certainly more maintainable. I am hoping there is an adjustment on the Av.
Thanks!!!
Jeez.
Basically if you buy a car that you're not completely in love with that marriage will surely end in divorce....
I would also argue with the "church quiet" (not "quite") and "superb build" (not suberb) comments. This car is as noisy as my wife's Suburban and I have numerous rattles.
I have no problems with the firm seats, but I am only 5'11" and I hit my head on the roof. Also, the steering wheel does not telescope out enough.
Finally, in my opinion, the Avalon rides no better than the 325i I traded on it. I wish I still had that car, it was superior in every way.
Also, I get 28 mpg in my every day driving which is about 130 miles highway and 20 miles city. Around town is more like 16-18 mpg.
All in all, I wish I had purchased another BMW or possibly the certified LS430 I looked at for LESS MONEY and much, much better service.
If you don't have problems with your Av, be pleased that you are fortunate - it doesn't mean they don't exist, but don't condemn others who have been unfortunate to get a problematic one. Not everyone can afford to dump a new car even if they wish they could, and if you do ever have a problem you will find that Toyota isn't on your side...
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I looked at both cars along with the G35, 3 series, Maxima and I went with the Avalon. I commute an hour one way to work, so comfort was the supreme consideration. Also, the service costs on the G35 were rediculous ($300 for 15k, $600 for 30K according to dealer). The 3 series and the G35 just weren't comfy enough and I hit my head on the headliner in the Maxima. So, I got the limited with NAV, laser cruise, and VSC and traction control. Couldn't be happier. 30-31 mpg highway, 26-28 mpg in rush hour traffic commute.