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I am 57. I currently drive a 2001 TL but have had 2 Avalons in the past.
I did extensive test driving of both the TL and the Avalon. I loved both cars for different reasons. I finally opted for the Avalon because of the ride, room, reliability and reputation. I kept both cars for a weekend and drove each as I would in my normal everyday driving. I loved the styling of the TL and some of the features such as the moving side mirrors when you put it in reverse, The Navi with a great XM interface and the memory seats.
I spent about 3 hours yesterday and 3 hours today in an 04' TL, all highway, while sitting in the passenger seat. If you plan on having a passenger with you often you may want to look at this carefully. I found the seat to be not very comfortable. While riding along I was able to carefully look over the interior (ebony) after just over 11,000 miles. In my opinion it seemed to look more worn than I would have expected. I did not notice any butt prints, dings in the aluminum trim strips, sagging headliner or any rattles or vibrations.
In my situational requirements I think I made the right choice in ordering an Avalon. If you have been driving a Lexus I think you will find the TL ride very harsh , but a hell of a lot more fun. I will be very interested in hearing your thoughts
I work for a plant that supplies seats for a Toyota plant. My father works for Toyota. I was able to take some advanteage of some supplier and employee discount perks. $26,720 before taxes and other fees. Not bad, huh?
The sense of luxury in this thing is way beyound my expectations. I was actually thinking "dude, how did I deserve this?!" Of course, it's not that hard to get used to a good thing.
The Touring rides a little harder than my 03, though. Obviously, that's the whole point of "Touring" - sporty and more tuned to the roads.
You know, TMMK plant in Georgetown, KY is planning to spit out almost 3 times more than they did the 03 or 04 models. WIth the new styling, values and volumes, there will be more younger owners very soon!!
I paid 50% less than what I had been paying for the 500SEL series of Mercedes.
I wish they would make a hardtop convertible.
Glad to hear you love your Avalon. My wife and I are in our early 40s, but have no children - so tend toward driving activities of people who don't have kids at home anymore.
Our (my) other car is a 2000 Mercedes C-Class. Our new Avalon XL that we are waiting on is going to be my wife's, but truth is I may perfer it to the Mercedes! What prompted us to replace her Ford Contour with a new Avalon was my Toyota pickup that has over 210,0000 miles on it. Also the track record of Cressidas that are still driving around places like Florida and California with 200k and 300k miles on them.
I have every reason to believe our new car is going to rival or exceed our Mercedes in levels of reliabilty, comfort, and service. We still love our MB too, as it has different characteristics such as the Kompressor (supercharger) way of supplying power. It's like having children - one's not necessarily better then teh other, both have their unique characteristics and talents!
We're hoping the Avalon lasts us until we retire and beyond. With excellent maintenance there's no reason it shouldn't, especially with the track record of most Cressidas.
It would indeed be nice if Toyota made a hardtop convertible! I look forward to your sharing your Avalon experiences, especially in light of your MB ownership. Once our Avalon XL comes in, I will be posting observations and responding more to others.
- Paul
Recently I bought a Avalon XLS 03. It has a small patch of a triangle size below the Rear doors (by the side of the wheels)on both sides. The dealer says that it is a factory setting.
Is this true?
Thanks
Anbus
Recently I bought a Avalon XLS 03. It has a small patch of a triangle size below the Rear doors (by the side of the wheels)on both sides. The dealer says that it is a factory setting. "
I have no clue what you are refering to. Can you post us a picture?
MikeS.
So, yes, it is normal and there for a reason.
Ken
What sold me and my wife on the 2005 Avalon was they finally put automatic climate control in the basic (XL) model. Finally we didn't have to pay $5,000 for the XLS to get the option. Once I found that out, I wanted to test drive one. We now have 750 miles on our 2005 Avalon XL, and we love it!
My wife and I are 41 and 43, no kids, so why such a big car? One reason is our parents love the back seat, also it has a great ride and tons of power. And the gas mileage is awesome! I can't wait to make a "pilgimage" to visit the Georgetown, Kentucky plant and see where our baby was built. My barber tells me that he has a relative who is the metallurgist in charge of welding there - pretty cool, he must have been responsible for the welds on our Avalon. Who knew! :shades:
Thanks for your help!
Ken
Is the small oval hole you're talking about close to the bottom edge of the door??
Thanks for your help!!
I spent one year researching new cars and test drove around 30 vehicles before deciding on the Avalon. I started my search test driving all the Lexus models, but the Avalon won out.
I had been a loyal Buick guy for the past 25 years, but the fact that the Avy is 100% American built, and came equipped with options important to me, made my cross over to Toyota an easy decision.
Now, someone up here in the Pacific Northwest should start a 2005 Avalon club. Lunch at Dick's anyone?
Hope this helps.
Ken
Thanks so much for your help!
Can you get it with the moonroof?
Ken
We toured the Georgetown plant about 5 or 6 years ago, and it's one of the best manufacturing tours I've ever been on. One of the things I love to do is go on factory tours -- especially cars, but have toured manufacturing tours for pretzels, guitars, crayons, cigarettes... I highly recommend the Georgetown tour. You ride on trams and get to see fairly close up. I was most impressed with how many of the workers are on chairs that travel along with the car and allow the employee to maneuver easily around and within the car. I think the seats were an employee innovation. I remember the doors following the car body as the body goes down the assembly line.
We didn't own any Toyota cars when we toured...now we own two. We're planning to take the tour again.
Debi
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Anybody finding the 2006 models for less than sticker?
What is your actual gas mileage on the 2005 models, close to epa or more?
Old Bill
I recently concluded my search for a new car and after countless hours of test driving and research, I chose the 2006 Avalon Touring with some of the limited upgrades. MSRP ended up around $33k. Now it is my understanding from dealers and customer forums that due to the demand for all avalons, dealers really don't have to come off their pricing and most will sell at sticker price. Here's a trick that i think is worth mentioning with regard to the avalons.
Sams club and Costco both offer negotiated deals with dealerships on almost all models of automobiles. I contacted the Costco auto program and they put me in touch with a participating dealer a couple of hours away. I received no haggle pricing over the phone of $950 over base invoice...about a $2200 savings. I then took that deal to my local dealer who I have been building a relationship with and asked them to see if they could beat it. Although they only took another $200 bucks off the invoice, I was pleased to almost get $2500 off MSRP. This allowed me to get the extras I wanted.
Happy Shopping and thanks to the costco auto program.
She is a 2006 Avalon XLS, Silver Pine Mica, Ivory Leather, Upgraded JBL Stereo, and all the trimmings. I have had her for about 2 weeks now, and I look forward to the drive to and from work... :P
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky (TMMK) is an amazing facility. The quality, engineering, and Team Dedication to produce the finest cars in America is alive and well there. We are proud to be a Toyota Business Partner, and enjoy a great relationship as a supplier to help build these cars. As mentioned in a previous post, anyone can arrange to have a tour of the Toyota Facilities. It is impressive. I tend to take it for granted, as I am there so much. All of you Avalon owners would enjoy seeing the birthplace of these great cars in Georgetown, Kentucky.
Dennis
Lexington, KY
Island Avy
Ol' Bill. I'm witch you, brother. Th'o that there thing-a bob in the dumper. What I wouldn't give to git back to crankin' em up from the radiator.
What part of TX you from? Hope old Rita was kind.
ROBERTU
I considered many alternatives (of various types) before choosing the Limited; a BMW X-3, Accord Hybrid, Prius, Acura TL, RS-330 Hybrid. My wife refuses to drive any SUV on principle. In short, I chose the Limited because it splits a lot of differences, not because I'm passionate about it. It's reasonably powerful, efficient, roomy, comfortable, and elegant without being showy and overpriced. I hope it's more solid that the '98. If I could change anything about it, I'd put a hybrid drive system in it. I sure hope that's in the planning stages. I'd gladly trade the HP for the fuel efficiency.
This is a good board. Folks are quite helpful.
It is a big car and does not handle like a BMW, but it rides much better, always a trade off. I have a 01 Porsche Boxster S and when I want fun I jump in that.
My wife drives a Acura Legend 92 with 47K miles, the Avalon is luxury compared.
It only cost me $4000 to leave the Lexus and get a new car, and with 7 air bags, I feel I at least have more safety then before.
I'm a car nut, and have had a Ferrari, real Cobra, many Vets and Porsches, and read all the car mags.The Avalon is so close to Lexus, same switchgear, 3,5 engine and muched shared equipment. I thought is was very good value for the money. My daughter has 04 BMW 525 with electrical glitches, great handling, but not worth the money IMHO.
I have the car a month with 3200 miles and not a problem. I do my own oil changes and noticed they did away with the metal filter and went the way of Porsche and BMW with a paper element that slips into the engine.
Bill , CT. -- PS, Great board for info.
Good luck.
How would you rate your 2006 Avalon compared to your old ones? I'm satisfied with mine but it is noiser than I expected to be. Especially with the wind noise at 75mph or so.
I am a little shocked at how often some of these Avalon Owners trade in their cars! I can't imagine keeping a car only two years! Depreciation would eat you up! When we were looking for cars, the combination of power, huge trunk, huge back seat, leather everything, quality of the parts and fit and finish sold me. This is my first Toyota but I did a lot of checking on Camry's and Avalons and they come highly recommended. One friend has a son who is a dealer mechanic at Toyota and he recommended the Avalon to his mom. High praise, since mechanics know which cars are reliable and which are problems. I also wanted a safe car, with traction and ABS and air bags and a solid body, which the Avalon is. I plan on replacing the stock struts with KYBS and I have added a K&M lifetime air filter. I am interested in any other owners of Avalons with long life. So far, I have seen three owners of 95 Avalons with over 250K! Thats a good sign. I plan on driving this car a long time. I have previously driven A Honda civic, Rabbit, Saturn, Mazda 626 and a lot of lesser cars. I think the Avalon is the perfect car for a family with big kids who need a lot of room in the back seat. My kids are cramped in all my other vehicles, not the Avalon.
A lot of my friends said I was crazy to buy a car that had 80K miles in two years...but I saved about 25K off what a new 2006 with the same features would cost. For 25K, I can live with the miles and a couple small spots I had to touch up the paint. I read a book called "drive it forever" and his main point was "ignore the miles, concentrate on the type of driving and the number of times the engine was started". Its cold starts that wear out engines, not freeway miles.
My only shock so far....the spark plugs are TEN BUCKS at the dealer. OUCH! For that price, they should be solid gold! But if they last as long as I am told they will, thats money well spent.
It's been the best car I've ever owned and prior to that I had a 1998 Buick Park Ave which was a complete waste of money and time. GM should get the hint that the garbage they put out there will NOT stand up to a Toyota. That's why you can run Toyota's into the 200-300K mile range. You would be lucky to get 100K out of any Buick without it draining your bank account.
This Avalon has more power, better MPG, and has 95% of the toys my Park Ave has.
I do miss the HUD, but I can get over that for a car that starts, runs, and drives the same it did the day before, every day.
Bottom line, an Avalon is the way to go if you’re looking for a full size that is going to last for years.