Toyota Avalon reviews

1999 Toyota Avalon Driving Impressions

Until the Avalon, the words Toyota and luxury didn't go together: Toyota and quality, Toyota and value, Toyota and performance, sure. But not Toyota and luxury. Luxury was Lexus territory. So the first impression from behind the wheel is one of delight, because this is indeed a luxury car. It rides and feels like a luxury car and by any yardstick, it's all there.

Luxury car buyers typically aren't looking for blinding acceleration, but they do want to move with authority and the Avalon meets that requirement. With 200 horsepower, it provides good acceleration from a standing start and offers plenty of power for merging and passing. The transmission shifts are smooth-even at full throttle.

When it settles down for quiet cruising, the Avalon feels like a luxury car. The ride is comfortable. Avalon owes its smooth ride and balanced handling to a long wheelbase, independent MacPherson strut front suspension and independent dual-link rear suspension, gas-filled shock absorbers and front and rear stabilizer bars.

Toyota's hard work on noise abatement has resulted in a quiet driving experience and the suspension keeps road irregularities from invading your privacy. The power-assisted rack-and-pinion steering makes it easy to work through parking lots, yet has just enough effort for good road feel.

The seats provide good support and there's enough bucket in the buckets to keep you from moving around in corners. There is reasonable room in the rear, so you shouldn't feel guilty about putting good friends back there.

Fickle Connecticut weather allowed us to test the Avalon in just about every driving condition imaginable: dry, wet, wet with leaves, snow, snow turning to slush and back to dry. For many people, front-wheel drive has changed their confidence in inclement weather. Add traction control and some drivers begin to take slippery conditions for granted. Traction control works well, reduces the effect of human error and inspires confidence. But, as with anti-lock brakes, drivers should not let technology replace sensible driving technique. The laws of physics still apply.

When the traction control system detects even the slightest loss of traction, it instantly reduces torque to the slipping wheel. Without traction control, it is up to the driver to let up on the gas until traction is returned.

We activated the system several times, sometimes on purpose, sometimes when we applied too much power on a slippery road. Each time, power was instantly reduced and control was regained. No matter how much throttle is used, the system will only apply the amount of power that the front wheels can accept without spinning. So forward progress is still drastically limited in extremely slippery conditions.