2011 Toyota Avalon Review

Kelsey: Hi, I’m Kelsey Mays for Cars.com. We’re at the Chicago Auto
Show. With me is the 2011 Toyota Avalon. It’s been substantially
restyled this year with a new face, new tail and updated interior.
We’re going to take you inside and out and show all the changes.

First off is the new nose. There’s a wider grille and it kind of flows
more into these headlights which look a lot like the Camaro is
actually with sort of accent and lenses on the middle. Honestly,
I’m not wild about it. I actually like the way the outgoing Avalon
look, the way with the bumper kind of float into the lower air dam.
This kind of looks bottom heavy here, it looks squatter like it’s
trying to be sportier and I’m not really sure that’s what the Avalon
is.

Cabin volume remains the same. The old Avalon had lots of hinge
doors over everything in the center and there was this frosted silver
plastic everywhere. I mean seriously, it was bad. This is much
better. There’s a more traditional layout around the center controls
and the climate controls have a nicer sort of brush finished with
their silver trim. I kind of wish that extended down here around the
gear shift because this is kind of shiny or silver down here. It’s
kind of what the old Avalon had a lot of. Plenty of room to spread
out, the armrest now extends forward and backward for shorter
drivers.

The Avalon’s v6 engine and six-speed automatic transmission
carry over but gas mileage is up one mile per gallon and EPA
ratings to 20 city 29 highway. It’s pretty impressive for a big car
like this and like all other 2011 Toyota’s. The Avalon will have a
break override system to mitigate unintended acceleration. That
said, Toyota has a lot lost ground to make up in terms of lost
costumer perception about quality. So in the 2011, Avalon hits
dealerships to spring. We’ll have to wait and see how much it can
help out on that front.

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