When I got to the parking lot after the Christmas Carol the night was a thick curtain but the gleaming neon in the parking lot of the hotel shone on the expensive cars that were closely parked there. Something else was equally obvious. My test car for the night, the Toyota Avalon, seemed to fit in rather snugly into that scene.
THE DIMENSIONS: L 4,976 x W 1,850 x H 1,435 mm, Wheelbase: 2870 mm, Boot space: 456 L
THE SPECS: 3.5 L V6 engine, 298 hp @6600, 356 Nm @4700 rpm, 8 speed automatic gearbox, 17 and 18 inch alloy wheels
THE HIGHLIGHTS: Advanced Driver Assistance package, Euro 4 emissions, 10 airbags, Wireless charging
THE PRICE: AED 144,900 and AED 164,900
THE UPSIDE: Fuel efficiency, Advanced safety features as standard, Ample power, Balanced handling
THE FLIPSIDE: Some rivals have more space, Dash looks staid, door armrest could be wider
The Design
I think the reason for that is: Toyota has displayed unusual restraint in the new design changes in the Avalon. Even as the labour of fresh design shows on the sprawling grille in front – it reminded me of sand dunes settled in layers after a breezy night – the design of the 2019 Avalon will have wider appeal. Even those who prefer understated design won’t dislike it. The rear lamps extend to both extremes and look like one seamless strip but, actually, the central part doesn’t light up. The rear gets a sort of lip spoiler too, while the white lights are tucked away into the lamp unit’s underside. The dual exhausts have a wide, hexagonal look and fit nicely onto the lower bumpers. These and the 20-spoke alloys that thickly populate the 18” wheels add to the premium look.
The grille is imposing and inspiring at once – in this video hear and see what ateliers and specialist lifestyle designers have to say about the Avalon’s large grille. The lustre of the new paintwork stands out in some intriguing colours – my test car was a pearly white. The design theme and the restrain continues inside too, except for perhaps the dashboard where layers of materials classily laid out reminds one of fossilized rock formations.
Cabin and control
Underneath the grandeur, the sober attitude of the new Avalon is evident in the design of the 7” multi information display and the 9” navigation multimedia screen on the console, with the main functions neatly stacked on either side of the screen. The air-conditioning vents in the middle are neatly integrated into the dashboard console just below the monitor. Where the dashboard meets the tunnel console, there is a niche for wireless charging. My phone added 1% every two minutes. Fast enough. Connectivity using mobile was simple enough.
The premium leather in my test car is in Cognac colour and looks coarse like camel leather but feels very comfortable. The wood in the 2019 Avalon cabin is real – Sapele wood picked from Yamaha, the music maker, whose processing gave the wood the flexibility that the Avalon designers wanted.
The Drive
The Avalon cabin is driver-oriented with visibility aplenty. The slender A-pillar is placed further ahead and the rear window too doesn’t compromise on the view behind though it’s sloping. In addition, the Limited has Head Up Display in addition to what is available in the SE+.
Avalon presents three modes of driving – Eco, Normal and Sport. What the Eco mode did for the earth wasn’t that obvious but you could anyway override it with the accelerator. The Eco mode of course reduces the air-conditioning efficiency but you won’t really feel the heat with the super-efficient Toyota AC. The Sport mode keeps the rpm levels up, and thanks to the 8-speed no-fuss transmission, the mode gets exciting without hiccups.
If the vast improvements in the Camry gained many unlikely fans earlier this year, the Avalon drive should repeat history. The length and largeness doesn’t spoil the fun. In fact, Toyota Avalon is almost half a foot less in length than the Chevrolet Impala, another worthy contender in the category, yet has a wheelbase longer by more than 4 cm. While I could still sense body roll, the car was surprisingly sprightly for one that weighs 1690 kg and has a gross weight of up to 2415 kg!
In the Avalon, for the second time after the Camry Grande, I appreciated the 3.5 L V6 engine and the 8-speed transmission that smoothly delivers 298 horsepower and 356 Nm torque. Built on the new Toyota New Global Architecture, the Avalon handles well and yet isn’t a car that displays an overload of enthusiasm. The result could be seen in the fuel economy I achieved during my mixed drive. Clocking approx. 8.5 km/L deserves a pat on the boot for a full-size car!
Toyota Safety Sense as Standard
There is a host of driver assistance features in the Avalon, which brings us to the most notable aspect of the Avalon 2019. This totally differentiates the flagship of Toyota from the popular Camry with the same engine and gearbox. The defining fact about Avalon as a value proposition is this: The Toyota Safety Sense package is available in both the trims – SE+ and Limited. This bundles up features like Rear view camera with guidelines, Blind Spot Monitor, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Pre-Collision System (PCS), Dynamic Radar Cruise Control (DRCC), Lane Departure Alert (LDA), and Automatic High Beam (AHB) and 10 SRS airbags including front, knees, side and curtain. The Head Up Display is available only in the Limited trim.
Thanks to the Radar based safety features, the Avalon not only visually screams “BRAKE!” if you are too close to the car in front but also brakes for you if you are slow to react. Likewise, if you are found drfiting into the next lane, you’re slowly brought back. Now, the commendable aspect of this intervention is that it is done quite gently, not leaving you shaken, stirred or deprived of your decision-making state of mind.
The advanced driver assistance package is usually available in the upper trim of expensive premium cars while Toyota has exemplarily made it standard, defining the Avalon as its flagship notwithstanding what the trim level is! Notably, the 2019 Avalon is made in the USA, where much of these come as a norm.
Family Drive
The Avalon is spacious – it is a full size sedan – with seats that seem to be contoured to keep your body snugly fitting with good lumbar support. The Limited comes with a more premium leather than the SE+ and the seats are air-conditioned or ventilated. The cubbyhole under the central armrest is spacious but the same can’t be said about the armrest below the left window, which is a tad too narrow for easily placing your hand. The boot is reasonably large at 456 L, which can take a couple of large suitcases and a couple of cabin bags.
A few things I found as minor irritants in an otherwise all-boxes-ticked sedan was that opening the boot using the remote seemed to be whimsical. So I had to unlock it from inside before I got it open. The second was the stingy armrest. Speaking about cost saving, there is some hard plastic and some polyurethane on the tunnel console and its sides – doesn’t really matter because these are places reached only by a test driver’s probing hand!
The music system is perhaps one of the biggest differentiators between the variants – while the SE+ gets an 8-speaker system, the Limited (my test car) had a 14-speaker JBL system.
Avalon Vs Impala at a glance
Considering the comfort and value they offer, Toyota Avalon and Chevrolet Impala are head-to-head rivals. Here is how their size and shape add up. The Impala is 3.6 cm longer with a 3.3 cm longer wheelbase. The Avalon is lighter at 1615 kg while the Impala has 1723 kg kerb weight. Boot space also is larger in the Impala by a good 76 L. Actually, the Impala’s cavernous boot must be one of the largest in town. In offering a steady, powerful and satisfying drive both leave it to individual taste but again, the Avalon impresses with the feature packed base trim.
SE+ Vs. Limited
Perhaps the most relevant doubt would be what to buy – the SE+ or the Limited? The difference between the two is AED 20,000. What you get for this difference is premium leather seats, memory function for seat and steering adjustments, lumbar support for front passenger, ventilated seats, head up display, JBL Audio system with 14 speakers as against 8 speakers, an extra inch of alloy wheel charm at 18”, rear spoiler and adaptive headlamps. That sounds like enough to dish out twenty grand!
The essential Toyota Avalon 2019
At AED 145,000, the Toyota Avalon has everything a sensible buyer needs – who is looking for a fair amount of power, commendable fuel savings, space to stretch out and a comprehensive bundle of electronic safety support. The new Avalon not only proves worthy of being the flagship of the Toyota range but also sets an example to premium cars in providing one’s money’s worth.
