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I have posted here before. I may be finalizing a deal on a new, 2006 Avalon XL in the Blizzard White. The price seems fair. However, I have read the threads about the Avalon having build quality issues. Should I purchase? I am coming from a Honda, which is very reliable. Any comments are appreciated. Thanks.
Based on others' experiences here I would say quality of the Avalon is far from "bulletproof", however we both feel the build qulaity and mechanical integrity is better then the 2000 Mercedes C-Class we just sold. I would have liked to have bought an E-Class or Lexus, but can't justify an extra $30k. With the Avalon I feel we got the same quality of drivetrain, which is all I wanted anyway. I sure miss that MB solidness and heavy feel though, nothing compares to it, if that's what you want. Guess one can't have everything. Besides, where would you put it? :-)
My personal opinion is the mechanics of the Toyota seem to be engineered to exacting and efficient tolerances than other manufacturers autos. In my line of work I rent a different car almost every other week - so get to do more than my fair share of comparing.
- P.
fredv1 - The vehicle is a Pearl White XL with the c/d changer, alarm and mats. It does not have all of the bells and whistles, nor do I want all of them. I am not interested in leather, sunroof, and nav.
are they talking about the cv joint.I have not seen this as
a major problem on the posts,I don't remember reading of a
cataytic converter problem,the oil leaks I read about were
repaired.I'm not sure what "vehicle drifting " is.The
rattling,bad shifting,and valve train noise seems to be on
a small percentage of cars.
Just ran across your extremely well documented backup sensor installation guide and have a question. Please explain how and where you ran your buzzer wire from the trunk into the passenger compartment. I raised the rear seat bottom but couldn't locate any place to drill into the trunk. How did you locate the right spot so as not to hit any vital parts and which side did you drill from?
Thanks much for the information. Your help on this has been invaluable.
Dandydon
http://www.latimes.com/classified/automotive/highway1/la-hy-avalon16mar16,1,9232- 0.st- ory
I have the oil changed every 3 months at the dealer. No meachanical problems, no rattles, nothing negative.
Regards----dan
I get equal or better mileage in my Av than many of my friends do in much smaller 'economy' cars. And yet, the Av will outrun most anything on the road. Remarkable combination of power and economy unmatched in the industry (my apologies to Accord Hybrid owners), and a technological triumph for Toyota engineering - even if we do have to live with a tranny that seems to always want to be in a gear or two too high.
Our my area, brands that include ethanol are usually several cents per gallon lower in price, which compensates for the reduced mileage.
Milage over 8089 miles: 30.9mpg. (miles covered div by gals used, and yes, I converted the liters to gals) Not much city driving in that . All 85 or 87 oct except one half tank when the hightest was the same price I had been paying for reg. Yes, I said 85 oct. Either Wy or Mt has that on the pump. No pinging, no hesitations, no nothing except a sore posterior.
The seat is definitely not as comfortable as was my Volvo S80. First night at the motel I mentioned to my traveling companion that I didn't think it was as comf as the Volvo. He agreed, said he didn't want to bring it up because I might think he was knocking my wifes car. And yes, I've taken 7 and 8 day trips in the Volvo.
Have no other complaints about the Aval. Does still pull slightly to the right (unless you have a 40 mph xwind from the rt, then for some 'strange reason' it pulls left).
Plenty of pickup. At one time, I felt the need to floor it to pass two campers at once, was doing 105 when I got pass them and looked at the needle.
And you can get a cracked windshield going to Ak., in my case, before I got out of Texas!!!!. Talked to insur. co today. The lady said she had never heard of a 'sound deading windshield'.
On one leg,(strong tailwind and outside temp around 64) the mpg read out was 34.9, but the last day with a very strong headwind plus high outside temp, the read out was 25.4
One other thing. All speeds were at or maybe 5plus to the posted speed limits (gen 65-70 in Can and 70 -75 in US) The speed control causes it to down shift entirely too soon and often twice(2 gears) whereas if I clicked it off, I could just apply gas and keep the speed up without downshifting. Going downhill, the speed control seems to use engine for braking whereas out of speed control it seems to feel as freewheeling has set in.
My observations.
John D
http://pressroom.toyota.com/Releases/View?id=TYT2006060141005
Notwithstanding the decline for May, Avalon sales are up 13.6% for the calendar year to date, so it's still doing very well.
I can't agree with you more. My sunroof rattles above my head, there is a clunking sound coming from the steering column. Also a small rattle coming from passenger side dash area. Sent it to the dealer, and got the proverbial "wall job". People say we are nit picking. To them I say "How dare you!" When one spends 30+K on a car, it should be flawless. Mechanically the car is great, but as other people have stated, how many times are you going to return to the dealer with rattle problems. I drove 3 Ford Crown Vic's for 12 years and they were tight and quiet. I would not buy another Toyota. There are too many other things out there to buy. Toyota better watch out because the Korean vehicles are getting better and better!
Thanks for the "hot tip", Laura and billyg!
havalongavalon
havalongavalon
Unfortunately n0v8or has not participated again in this board since Dec 7 2005. This is most unfortunate since he was a fantastic contributor. Perhaps he took a break from what had become a heavy request load for him; I hope he's fine and will return eventually.
In the meantime, although I don't recall how n0v8or routed his buzzer wire into the cabin, maybe it will help you to know that there is one convenient rectangular hole through the sheet metal, about 1" x 1/2". I showed pics of my own installation in post #5550. I installed the buzzer inside the trunk, very close to this hole and the sound carries very well into the cabin. Now, more than a year later, this Awell system continues to work perfectly. It surely saved my rear bumper from several dents and scrapes -- don't have any yet, although I had some really close encounters!.
havalongavalon
I just discovered this post and have missed your deadline. If you need an additional person to talk to the magazine, I am willing to help. My frustration is with Toyota's denial of transmission hesitation problems with the '06 Avalon. Took my car to dealer for fix, left a clear description of the problem, and called Toyota Tech Support to discuss before I took car in. In an obviously well cooordinated effort between Toyota Tech Support and dealer, both denied the problem exists. Dealer delayed returning car to me with the excuse that he had to write up paperwork. He used the time to call Toyota Tech Support to notify them he was returning car without repair. Toyota rep called me before I could back out of parking place at dealer. Rep says NO ONE had ever complained about the transmission problem to Toyota.
Toyota has now completed a short block engine replacement on my vehicle and the engine now runs smoothly and quietly. However, they completely dodged the transmission issues and the numerous rattles. Both still exist as before. The only pluses to date are that I am no longer asked when Toyota started making diesels and my MPG is up by 1.5 on average.
Toyota quality!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060501/FREE/60501002/1024/L- - - - -ATESTNEWS
Kevin, glad they fixed the engine noise for you. They had told me that mine was normal even though it sounded like a Mercedes 300D. My neigbor also commented that he didn't know Toyota made a diesel when he heard the Av clattering in my driveway. What exactly did Toyota say was wrong that they had to replace the short-block? Thats pretty extensive surgery.
Thank you for the reply. I had read your post at #5550 earlier and made a copy of both yours and n0v8or's. In fact, I did tape the buzzer by the shelf opening as you suggested, but could not hear a sound inside the car. Perhaps it's a design difference between the XLS and the Limited. I did note that my car has some sort of electronic device mounted there, fed by a cable coming out of the hole. More likely, it's a function of my poor hearing. In any event, the warning system I bought includes a small digital and LED display to indicate the distance and direction of the object behind. The buzzer is built into this unit. Thus, I need to run a cable from the trunk up to the back shelf where I plan to mount the unit.
By the way, I seem to recall you or n0v8or mentioning that you would move the outboard sensors closer together if you had it to do over again. If that was you, how would you reposition them?
Again, thanks very much for taking the time to be so helpful to all of us.
Dandydon
The other thing to consider is the high probability that with you in control you actually accelerate, unconsciously, prior to reaching the incline in the roadbed to avoid the decline in roadspeed you can see would be upcoming otherwise.
Since the cruise control cannot "see" it can only react after the fact, once roadspeed actually begins to decline.
A good middle ground is to use cruise control but give it an "edge" by manually disabling O/D as you approach an incline wherein you're relatively sure an "automatic" downshift will result otherwise.
That's the method I use but the major problem I have is remembering to re-enable O/D at the crest.
They have yet to tell me what the issue with the engine was. A field tech came to the dealership and listened to it and advised that there was some type if problem with cylinder #4 (middle facing the front of the car) and advised they were not interested in tearing the engine down. They did the short block replacement and the offending block was crated and sent back to Toyota engineering. They swore I would be informed when they found the problem but I'm not going to hold my breath (blues not a good color for me). The reason that was bounced around among the service techs was a casting problem with the block. They did provide me a 6 yr/100,000 mile powertrain warranty to cover any further issues.
So given a situation cruising at 70 on the highway and approaching a long enough grade that speed would naturally decrease to 50 (foot off the gas), from a FE standpoint I'm better off letting gravity have the 20 mph - than allowing the cruise (or my own foot) maintain the 70 I started from. Keeping engine revs up (downshifts) while it may make for a quicker and more fuel efficient resumption of speed will nonetheless cost at the gas pump.
Participants in competitive FE events will regularly 'coast' up and down hills even to the point of disengaging the engine altogether. Obviously not a terribly safe way to drive on any populated road, but the point remains - you can maximize economy with an educated foot better then you can with a cruise control setting.
For me, the slightly higher fuel mileage is not worth the pain. I'll take the 29 mpg or so I average with my laser-assisted cruise control, and avoid all the discomfort.
Max
If I drove at 65+ all the time, I doubt I would do better than 30 mpg. My 1970 Pontiac Bonneville which had about the same interior space and a 455 cu in. V8, averaged half that on the highway. Of course, that was 1969 technology. Although rated brake HP was about 275, 0 to 60 time was 10.0, versus the Avy's 6 plus change.
I've heard it said that the average car of today has more computing power than the first lunar module. In the words of Carly Simon, "these are the good old days!"
- p
Well said! This sums up my opinion of the 2005 Avalon (XL) after one year of ownership.
- p
Wouldn't it be nice if there was a fuel efficient cruise contrrol mode? If us humans are smart enough to figure it out, why can't we program a computer to use the same algorithm we have (consciously or unconsciously) in our heads? :confuse:
- p
Very cool though that they cared enough to take the block back for analysis. Sure would like to be there during their dismantling and testing - neat discovering cause and effect and using that to make things even better!
- p
Drag, or the force required to push the car through the air is a the Drag coefficient ( probably not to bad for the Avy, much better than a high,boxy SUV)and speed SQUARED.
In other words, if you double your speed your drag quadruples. If you go from 55mph to 70 , your drag increses approx 60%, therefore significantly affecting gas mileage.
I have a new 06 Limited in Blizzard White that I'm very happy with so far (-except for the cocka-mamie DVD nav system, where it's very darn difficult to program a simple destination -but that's another story for another day).
What is Bluetooth you may ask? In case you might not know, Bluetooth is a small, limited range network that allows you to connect your cell phone wirelessly to another device like a headset or to cars with a Bluetooth enabled radio,- if so equipped. You may have seen people walking around malls with an ear/headset device, seemingly talking to the air. Pretty cool actually.
This post is concerning a very neat Bluetooth device, model HCC-210, a hands free car kit, made by Anycom. They make a speaker & reciever system about the size of a deck of cards that I have mounted on my sunvisor via a clip. It is battery operated, (I'm still on my original Alkaline AA batteries. I did not use the supplied batteries yet. It does come with a set of re-chargable Ni-Mh AA batteries, a charger plus a 12 volt cable for direct use!).
So, when I enter my car, I turn it on and my cell phone automatically connects with the unit. If my cell phone rings, I push a green lit button on the unit and I can listen & talk clearly without having to use my hands. It's full duplex and believe me that's important -as it performs really great!
To dial out, I use my cell phone to dial out, but once connected, I put my phone down and can drive safely. When finished talking, I hit the red lit button on the unit and that's it!
I do recommend that you should run a Google search for this product -if you're ultimately interested. I purchased mine from Buy.com. It lists for about $100 but I got mine for $62! -plus shipping.
I have no connection with this products company or it's distributors. I'm simply sharing with you what Toyota should have offered in its "flagship" car to begin with. I understand Bluetooth is now available as a factory option finally, but for us without this option, this is a very cool and handy alternative.
The bad news is that it seems to be out of stock, at the moment at least. I wanted to purchase another one for my other car, a Solara convertible. As you may guess, it will work in any car so long as you have a phone that is Bluetooth enabled.
I'm very pleased with mine and use it everyday!
:shades:
-Pete in Sarasota FL
thank you for pointing out that
Perhaps it's a design difference between the XLS and the Limited. I did note that my car has some sort of electronic device mounted there, fed by a cable coming out of the hole.
This nicely explains why the rectangular hole is there!
In any event, the warning system I bought includes a small digital and LED display to indicate the distance and direction of the object behind. The buzzer is built into this unit. Thus, I need to run a cable from the trunk up to the back shelf where I plan to mount the unit.
I just went to my garage to have a look and noticed for the first time that when the trunk is open, the trunk light shines faintly through the center brake light housing inside the cabin. This suggests that there is a good size hole between the trunk light housing below the deck and the brake light housing above the deck, through which you may be able to pass the wires for your device. To get the wires all the way into the cabin you could drill a hole through the plastic housing that covers the brake light. This is probably easiest if you drill up from the trunk side, as the rear glass is so steep and the space becomes so narrow above the shelf.
By the way, I seem to recall you or n0v8or mentioning that you would move the outboard sensors closer together if you had it to do over again. If that was you, how would you reposition them?
It wasn't me. I really like the fact that my outboard sensors also sense proximity to lateral objects (within 2 feet or so). I find this feature very useful when backing into a narrow space between two cars, or close to columns. I prefer to hear a few extra beeps if I'm getting too close to lateral objects, than to have no information about lateral proximity.
Again, thanks very much for taking the time to be so helpful to all of us.
Hey, it's my pleasure and my thanks to you as well, Dandydon. I continue to learn from these exchanges!
havalongavalon
Wouldn't it be nice if there was a fuel efficient cruise control mode? If us humans are smart enough to figure it out, why can't we program a computer to use the same algorithm we have (consciously or unconsciously) in our heads?
It would be nice, and it should be possible. As wwest suggested, human-like control would also require vision to anticipate impending changes in slope before we reach hills and adjust our acceleration.
But a simpler way to improve fuel efficiency might be to relax the range over which the speed is controlled. Right now the Avalon speed is controlled to within +/- 1 or 1.5 MPH and this forces frequent adjustments in engine/transmission output.
If the allowed speed range is increased to say, +/- 5 or maybe 10 MPH, the performance could be closer to what we do "manually" when we allow the speed to increase going down a hill and capture gravitational energy that helps the car climb the next hill. Tight cruise control defeats these natural oscillations by forcing the engine to interfere, this is why cruise uses more gas.
It should be simple to provide options for the range over we want the speed to be controlled, such as +/- 1, 2, 5 or 10 MPH.
Something to post in the Wish List for 2007 Avalon, I suppose?
havalongavalon
Obviously allowing the speed to decay as you go up the incline would affect FE in a positive way.
NWBLIZZARD
Like other users on this forum, I have the reported hesitation problem, rattles and loud ticking engine and they have been reported to Toyota. However, given the postings by other forum members, my guess is that we are in the minority ( again, an unknown percentage ).
You also use "bad engine" in your question. Although subjective, I don't believe I could define the problems I've experienced as a "bad engine". Yes, I'm disappointed with the diesel sounding noise, but I don't believe I have a "bad engine".
Perhaps the easiest approach would be for you to query the folks on the RAV4 forum and take a RAV4 out for an extended test drive.
Good luck.....dan
Avalon sales were down last month. I'd guess the new Camry and ES350 were mostly responsible, plus some people may be waiting for the 2007 model, presumably with a new transmission and mp3-capable audio system.
Some new owners of the new Camry are also reporting transmission problems. If they're anything more than isolated, the word will quickly get out and sales will decline.
Step 1 is to remove the black plastic filler panel that covers the gap between the factory grill and the radiator. It is held in place by 6 fasteners. The fasteners have a removable center pin which you must pry up. I found the easiest way to do this was to use a very small jeweler’s screwdriver, the kind that often comes in a set of 5 or 6 in a small plastic box at the hardware stores.
After you gain access to the factory grill, it is easy to remove – two bolts and a plastic fastener - the next step instructs you to cut off four plastic bumper tabs at the bottom of the grill opening. Turns out there are actually six tabs down there and you only should remove the four center ones.
The instruction sheet shows the tabs being cut off with a small circular saw blade, perhaps like you might have with a Dremel tool. You might, but I didn’t, so I used a very sharp wood chisel and hammer. A little scary at first, but it worked OK.
Once you clear away the opening, the new grill is held in place by two metal brackets at the top and two L-brackets which clamp to the lip at the bottom edge of the grill opening. I thought I was home free at this point and proceeded to close up shop. But when I tried to put my hand in under the front of the hood to pull the opening lever, I found that the gap between the grill top and the hood bottom was too narrow to allow it. The solution was to start over again, loosen everything up and push down on the grill so that it was at the very bottom of the opening. Things went fine after that, but it would have been nice if the instructions had mentioned the need to do it.
My wife raised the question of whether the new grill might block too much of the airflow and cause an overheating problem in the summer, so I decided to measure the number of vertical inches of free space in both grills. Surprisingly, the billet grill provides nearly twice as much opening space as the factory model and it looks great!
Hope some of this helps.
Dandydon