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Acura TL vs. Toyota Avalon

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Comments

  • dzubadzuba Member Posts: 159
    Here in the Midwest (Chicago) I am hearing the Avalon does not come with Bluetooth..............do you have it and how does it work? What part of the Country?

    Additionally - does the NAV work well? I heard the car can not be moving if you want to input a destination?
    Thanks
  • niteoneniteone Member Posts: 41
    "Additionally - does the NAV work well? I heard the car can not be moving if you want to input a destination? "

    that's partially true....you can input some 'saved' destination's beforehand, and either go to them manually while driving, or 'speak' the desination number you want to go to....but, yes, while driving, no new, only previously saved destinations can be either entered or spoken, unless it's a gas station or some other poi.

    it's ok, but I do hate the fact my passenager can't use it either. There should be an override for this, but I can't seem to find it.
  • maximafanmaximafan Member Posts: 592
    I agree that these two cars are totally
    different cars, so I'm surprised also that
    they would be cross-shopped. The Avalon,
    for my tastes, it's not a bad looking car,
    Lexus-like interior, but it's a little too
    big for me. I don't think I could fit it
    in my single-car garage. I can barely fit
    my '02 Max in my garage. The TL would be
    more sport oriented, hence the rougher ride
    vs. the smoother ride on the Avalon. Both
    are nice cars, but I keep joking to my
    friends that the TL would fit in my little
    garage perfectly. Uhm!!!
  • joeolds3joeolds3 Member Posts: 8
    We drove the TL ,and xls and touring versions of the avalon. The TL won. The xls has too soft of suspension, end of story. The touring avalon has a nice firm suspension, drives well, and is roomy, but does not have a lot of the features that should be standard. (self dimming rear view mirror, homelink, heated seats, moonroof, you cant even get heated exterior mirrors on the touring level) By the time you add all the comparable options to a touring avalon you are at or above the sticker of a base TL with everything standard. The TL warranty is much better, and the TLs appear to hold their resale value better. But the bottom line is this: My wife said the avalon looked "stoggy" and made her feel like an "old lady", and the TL had a sportiness she liked.
  • bvdj84bvdj84 Member Posts: 1,724
    Yes, I agree, the Avalon is sorta an older looking car, it looks huge, and it really looks sorta like a buick inside as well. Weird dash. Now, it does look classy, and it is a nice looking car, but when compared to a TL, the TL seems more youthful and sporty. The interior is very sleek and up to date. It also offers Honda's famous suspension with great handling. It seems more in sync with a driver. The TL is going to add more fun to any drive, the Avalon seems like a really nice highway cruiser.

    I would totally pick a TL over the Avalon anyday, not that the Avalon is a bad car in any shape, I just feel like the Avalon is for an older adult, like the Toyota's version of a Buick.
  • necro1234necro1234 Member Posts: 23
    I'm by no means old (28 years) but when shopping for a comfortable vehicle for long road trips that had a bit of punch and reliability I couldn't turn my 2007 Avalon XLS down.
    I was very surprised by the acceleration and performance from such a large car, its got very soft comfortable suspension which of course does not lend to pushing it hard into corners.
    That said I am very surprised at just how well it handles when you force it into a corner, the car is so soft that it feels like you should back off, but once you used to it you can really swing it in quite hard, it gives pretty good feel through the wheel, seat and pedals of whats going on, so I have not had much trouble reading it.
    I have 25000 miles on mine so far and not 1 days worth of trouble, I don't expect to ever have any either (knock wood) if its taken care of as far as maintenance is concerned.

    The look is by no means sporty, I feel it looks very "elegant" in design.
    I don't quite know where the stereotype of "old people drive camrys" comes from with the latest styling that Toyota has come up with on those models, but to each their own I suppose.
    The car can certainly keep up with most vehicles on the road, a bit of a wolf in sheep clothing in my opinion.
    Always puts a smile on my face when some kiddie in his honda civic or the typical BMW driver (who all own the road supposedly) pull up next to the light and attempt to pull off and in front of the Avalon.
    My XLS does not have the TRAC system, but a clean pull off with a good hard stomp to the floor leads to their jaws dropping in shock and horror.
    Thats another thing. the transmission is awesome, it finds power at any speed, on any incline.
    The pedal is quite a sensitive beast and enjoys dropping gear and revving quite hard at the drop of a hat.

    I think each car is certainly in a class of its own, the TL is more of a refined sports car where the Avalon is built for absolute comfort with some good horses under the hood.
    A good short description of the Avalon would be that its "like driving a rocket propelled cloud".

    Cheers

    Sheldon
  • enbeuuenbeuu Member Posts: 4
    Drive-by-wire accelerator is a plus for me; for the first 4 months the Navigation system on TL was an expensive white elephant until another dealer explained it step-by-step; now I can't live without. Electric motor driven steering is very solid without hydraulic lag in its mechanism. will have had this automobile for one year in April and will make it a point to test an Avalon based upon the opinions here; does the Avalon have drive-by-wire accelerators?
    Last weekend tried the Ford lineup and the Taurus SHO's power curve impressed as well as it's audible exhaust "notes"; that said, there is something about the drive-by-wire system of throttle control that is still keeping the TL in my garage. The backup camera (that many cars have) is a plus, too.
    Had hoped that the new TLX would have been out later in 2013; dealer said that it will most likely be late 2014; the TLX will be built on the Accord ELX chassis; (has direct injection and 6 speed CVT) plus side view blind spot visual monitoring system and lane intrusion visual warning (necessary as the TL has a mean blind spot on each side). And completely re-designed "earth Dreams" V-6 that operates on regular gasoline, opposed to the Honda V-6 that requires premium; however, it does have 6 discrete speeds and is paddle shift controlled at will.
  • porter11porter11 Member Posts: 1
    Yes, the 2013 offers Bluetooth. The Entune app transfers everything from your phone to the car.
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