Avalon gives you Lexus taste on a Toyota budget
When Lexus introduced the LS400 as a 1990 model, it changed the luxury-car market for good. For about $35,000, you got leather seats, a smooth 250-horsepower engine and plenty of room, with an overall length of 196.7 inches, a wheelbase of 110.8 inches.
Fast-forward to the all-new 2005 Toyota Avalon. For about $35,000, you get leather seats, a smooth 280-horsepower engine and plenty of room, with an overall length of 197.2 inches, and a wheelbase of 111 inches.
What’s the point? Well, this: A 2005 Lexus LS430 will cost you more than $60,000, if you get any options at all. If the 1990 Lexus LS400 was a standard-setter in size, performance, luxury and comfort, the 2005 Toyota Avalon ups that original Lexus by 30 horses, duplicates its size, and actually offers far more luxury and safety equipment than that Lexus did.
In fact -- and this may not please Lexus owners -- unless you are interested in the status the nameplate brings, I’m not sure why the 2005 Lexus LS430 is worth $23,000 more than this Toyota Avalon. The Lexus has a V-8 engine, but it has only 10 more horsepower than the Avalon’s V-6. And given the Avalon’s EPA-rated fuel mileage of 22 miles per gallon in the city and a healthy 31 mpg on the highway, that 10 horsepower seems pretty insignificant.
The Avalon was introduced in 1995, a rather generic-looking sedan that resembled an oversized Camry; appropriate, because that’s what it was. Toyota was going after the same market as Buick, Oldsmobile and Lincoln-Mercury. The Avalon even offered a front bench seat, a true tip of the hat to senior citizens.
Subsequent updates of the Avalon did not attempt to change its personality, or -- more accurately, perhaps -- give it a personality. As safe, roomy, comfortable transportation, it was a coveted used car, as savvy buyers soon realized no Avalon owner is likely to spend much time at the drag strip.
For 2005, though, Toyota decided that the brand’s flagship needed a little boost in self-esteem. New styling, while hardly groundbreaking, is certainly distinctive. The Avalon resembles an ES and GS Lexus more than it does a Camry.
The heart of the Avalon is a new 3.5-liter V-6 engine, mated to a five-speed automatic transmission. Toyota claims a 0-to-60 mph time of just 6.6 seconds, so this may be the first Avalon at home at the drag strip. It remains a full-sized car, though, and rear seat room is excellent, trunk space cavernous.
The Kentucky-built Avalon comes in four models: The base XL, the sportier Touring, the more deluxe XLS and the top-of-the-line Limited, which was the test car. The XL starts at $26,890, including shipping, and it’s pretty well-equipped, with air conditioning, anti-lock brakes, a good AM/FM stereo with CD and cassette player, alloy wheels, cruise control, and side and side-curtain air bags. All Avalons have that new V-6 engine and transmission.
The Limited starts at $33,540, and it’s loaded. Several options brought the test car up to $36,919, including a voice-activated, DVD-based navigation system for $1,900, and electronic-stability control with traction control for $650. You already get a JBL 12-speaker sound system with a six-disc CD changer, leather upholstery, a power rear sunshade, a power sunroof, big P215/55R-17 radials on alloy wheels and pretty much anything else you’d want. You’d have to take almost every option, including laser-operated cruise control, to exceed $40,000.
A Lexus ES330, equipped comparably with the test Avalon, would cost $36,785, a savings of maybe $150 over the Limited. And the Avalon is a lot more car.
The downside? Well, the Avalon isn’t that much fun to drive, but neither is the Lexus ES330 or even the LS430. These are all extremely competent cars, capable of above-average acceleration and crisp handling, but there’s not much sporty about them.
This is not a knock against the Avalon, as Toyota figures the light, moderately numb steering feel will suit its average customer, and it is probably correct. At least the Avalon looks right, and that’s a big step up from last year.
