The key to improving the Avalon? Pretend it's a Hyundai!

[MinisterofDOOM]

Ahhh, the Toyota Avalon. Conceived as an answer for large American sedans in the early 1990s. It was a big comfortable boat, in the vein of '90s Buicks. It was NOT a luxury car, but it was comfortable. It had bench seats and seating for six with a column-shifted automatic. It was wide with lots of room for actual adults occupants and a big trunk. It came with a V6 engine and was '90s-Toyota dependable. Its styling happened to be Mazda-esque which didn't hurt. Pretty good combo.

Unfortunately, the 2nd gen Avalon was the first of many steps in the wrong direction. The bland styling was traded for Lexuslike inflated-compact proportions and looks (the car looks cartoonishly wide in the same way the first couple GS generations did). The car retained some nice geezer-appeal, with easy-to-read gauges and lots of room. Sadly, Toyota's sub-par MZ engine didn't come close to the refinement or power of the sixes found in big GM offerings like Boneville and LeSabre.

The third gen went from midly ugly to offensively hideous. The price had also climbed to near-Acura levels of nosense (easily crossing the $40k mark, putting it up against the likes of the Northstar-powered DeVille). Third-gens got the brand new 2GR V6 which was a very welcome improvement after the rasping grinding "oops I forgot to add oil about eight thousand miles ago" feel of the older 1- and 3MZ powered models. The third-gen lost the front bench seat, which probably no one cared about anymore, but by this time it had still managed to secure itself as The New Buick, and THE SIGNATURE GEEZERMOBILE. Plenty of them were modified with simcon tops, and you could get them with all sorts of nauseating SeVille-alike addons like gold everydamnwhere and white wall tires because it's not 2000somethingorother but actually 1948.

Anyway, the point of all this is THIS:
The Avalon went from being a big comfy cruiser to a generic geezermobile that even my 84 year old grandpa wouldn't go near.

So Toyota made a big stink about improving the model for the 4th gen. It was going to be exciting and sporty and a bunch of stuff no Toyota since the MRS has ever dreamed of being. And the styling was going to attract younger buyers. Because having stolen the most dependable set of loyal repeat-buyers from Buick apparently wasn't good enough.

So what'd Toyota do to affect all of this change? Simple: They built a really big Hyundai Sonata.



Maybe we'll get lucky and the next-gen Corolla will be an Elantra copycat?

[Jesda]

We had a low-mileage (91k) dark blue 2003 Avalon that sat on the lot for six months. It had a space ship dashboard that likely borrowed some inspiration from the Lincoln Mark VIII.



People who buy used Toyotas -love- a bargain and I kept getting lowballed by foreigners until someone finally came in and paid a reasonable price for it. We ended up making just a few hundred dollars. Makes me wonder how the hell book values for these cars are so high?!?

I will say that I the Avalon was more enjoyable to drive than the Lexus LS430. The LS was too numb and overly refined, not so much like driving a waterbed but more like being in an isolation chamber. The Avalon's steering was decent too, at least compared to the Lesabre and Hyundai XG, allowing some of the V6's vibrations to come through in a good way.

Handling was a bit sloppy but at least the ride was nice. The Toyota Avalon is the kind of car I'd be happy to rent but would probably never buy.


---

This new generation has the face of a Chrysler Concorde that ate a Hyundai Sonata. I don't understand Toyota's "styling" and never will.

[skydragoness]

Hell, at this rate I gather next year Buick will release a front engine RWD convertible to compete with the Miata since Toyota is the new Buick/Oldsmobile now. :P

[Jesda]

Hell, at this rate I gather next year Buick will release a front engine RWD convertible to compete with the Miata since Toyota is the new Buick/Oldsmobile now. :P

It almost happened. ALMOST.



http://www.caranddriver.com/news/velite ... k-car-news

Before the recession and GM's bankruptcy, the Velite was going to be a four-seat vert sharing a platform with the Camaro and Commodore.

[mechanicalmoron]

Ehh geezermobiles (the kind that LITERALLY feel like boats) are great fun.

As long as they belong to somebody else, and you're only borrowing them.

Especially driving them over train tracks without slowing down, and not feeling anything, except a bit of guilt for the shocks.

[MinisterofDOOM]

This is true. The problem with these Avalons is the same problem all other Toyota offerings face: it does what it does and doesn't care to do any more than that. Where the DeVille is hugely roomy with a refined V8 and unkillable build quality, and the overpriced RL at least pretends to be rolling in tech, the Avalon is just a big Camry. It's big. It floats. That's it. It doesn't DO anything. Well, other than making my eyes hurt.

So yeah, there's nothing wrong with it. But that's sort of what's wrong with it. Playing it safe is always deadly in the long run. Do I need to quote the God Emperor on the dangers of defensive mediocrity again?

Anyway, this thread is now about badass Buicks. Because Jesda.


Car and Driver rendering of the 2015 Buick Grand National. I PRAY the real thing looks that good (and has the same quantity of fender portholes).

http://www.caranddriver.com/news/velite ... k-car-news

Before the recession and GM's bankruptcy, the Velite was going to be a four-seat vert sharing a platform with the Camaro and Commodore.

I wonder if Buick has the balls to try this with Alpha?

[Jesda]

Rumor has it that Buick will get a version of the Opel Cascada, a front-drive convertible that will compete with the Sebring, VW Eos, and Audi A4 Cabrio.

[MinisterofDOOM]

It LOOKS like an EOS, too. Do not want.

Rule#13 from MoD's Cardinal Rules of Automobile Styling:
Hood and windshield rake should never ever ever ever ever ever ever be the same unless you're designing a mid-engine minivan or a bus.