Toyota Avalon reviews

2011 Toyota Avalon Interior Features

The Toyota Avalon's dashboard and much of its cabin have been redesigned for 2011, and it adds a couple of new standard features. The unique sliding doors that used to cover Avalon's audio and climate control switches are gone, replaced by a more conventional array of buttons that are visible all the time. Nonetheless, the full-size Avalon still delivers one of Toyota's best interior packages.

In a nutshell, the interior is perfectly appropriate to this sedan's general character. It contributes to Avalon's serene ambience and, from the functional perspective, it's top-notch. The cabin is quiet, well-crafted and more than spacious, and we'd rank it at the top of its class.

There may not be a vehicle anywhere that's easier to climb into or out of than the Toyota Avalon. Its door openings are large, and the side doors have three stop positions rather than the typical two. That makes it easier for people of all sizes and strengths to get the doors to catch. The step-in height is low, yet the seat bottoms are fairly high, so the drop down or thrust up is short for averaged size drivers and passengers.

Once inside, occupants are greeted with a finish that's warm and pleasing. Our test car had a two-tone cabin, with black around the tops of the doors and dash, and an ivory color below. It reminded us of much more expensive cars. There are still a couple of trim pieces to demonstrate that the Avalon is not an extra-expensive luxury car but fewer than ever. The steering wheel in the Limited has wood-leather trim, like an $80,000 European car. The simulated wood trim now has a matte, oiled look, rather than the glossy stuff Toyota favored for years. If it doesn't look exactly like wood, it's genuinely attractive. Even the painted plastic pieces and chrome rings around the gauges and knobs are improved. The fit of the various parts and panels is impeccable.

The front seats are large enough to accommodate oversize folk, but not so expansive that they make petite occupants feel uncomfortable or unsupported. The seats are fairly flat and soft, but the relative flatness makes then easy to slide into, and there's enough strategic bolstering to keep lower backs and backsides from becoming numb within a half hour or so. Overall, we loved them. They'll adjust for a wide range of drivers, and the controls offer an excellent compromise between adequate adjustment and too many things to fiddle with. The Avalon Limited features a fan in the seat cushion and seatback that blows air through the perforated leather trim to improve comfort.

The steering wheel tilts and telescopes manually through a wide range. The side-mirror adjustor is on the dash to the left of the steering column, and nearly all drivers will be able to reach the switch and set the mirrors with back, shoulders and head settled into the normal driving position. The steering wheel has redundant buttons for climate and voice activation on the right spoke, and phone and audio on the left, and these too are an excellent compromise: Big and easy to find, but not confusing. Cruise-control settings get a separate stalk on the right side of the wheel. These work much better than the Mercedes-Benz stalk-mounted cruise control, which is too easily confused for the turn signals.

The window switches are placed perfectly on the driver's door armrest, so when the left forearm lies flat, they the switches are right at the fingertips. Wipers and lights follow Toyota's familiar pattern, with the light switch on the left, turn-signal stalk and wipers on the right. The moonroof switch is overhead, with garage-door buttons in the rearview mirror. Everything is positioned just as we like it.

The 2011 Avalon's new dashboard is clean and straightforward, but not overly simplistic in its aesthetic appeal. Its so-called Optitron gauges are large, back-lit with soft white and easy to read through smoked lenses. The switches are a bit more centralized than previously, and collected under a large LCD information display square in the center of the dash. The display offers a wide range of information, like inside temperature settings, outside temperature, date and fuel range, in large, easy-to-read script. It's not adversely affected by glaring sunlight.

The primary temperature, air flow and fan adjustment controls are huge, located below the screen. They operate with a firm, steady action, and they're nearly impossible to miss when the driver reaches a hand from the steering wheel. A six-CD changer is standard in the Avalon, and for 2011 so are Bluetooth wireless connectivity and XM satellite radio hardware. The upgrade JBL audio package delivers 660 watts of output. It sounds fantastic, though we could certainly live with the standard stereo.

The information screen itself is bigger than before for 2011, and the optional navigation system has an updated database. Hard buttons are used for audio functions to the left of screen, and more buttons for navigation and information to the right. There are also easy-to-find radial knobs for volume and tuning. In all, it's a good combination of mechanical buttons and touch-screen operation. The Avalon's interface lets the driver work a complex range of systems with minimal diversion of attention or concentration. Other manufacturers could learn a thing or two here.

The seat-warmer switches, and those for seat cooling on the Limited, are easy to find, right behind the gear selector on the center console. They're rheostat-type dials with fully variable range, rather than the typical two- or three-stage heat adjustment in most cars. The Limited also comes standard with a rear glass sunshade, operated by the driver. The shade lowers automatically if it's up when the driver engages Reverse, then lifts again when the driver selects Drive.

The Avalon is loaded with interior storage, and the center console design is excellent. There are three compartments around the shift lever, covered by touch-release doors. One exposes the cupholders, which are deep and fitted with little drink-securing levers. Another is at the bottom of the center stack, with a rubber mat to keep glasses, phone or whatever is placed inside from sliding. The third has a little pullout rack that will hold a phone or MP3 player.

The main box to the rear of the console is thickly padded, and the lid slides fore and aft to adjust as an armrest. Its height matches the armrests on the doors precisely. Inside, there's enough room for a handbag, a removable felt-lined tray with coin slots, a power point and auxiliary audio connections. The Avalon's door pockets are large, too. They don't have any lining material to keep items like phones, glasses or CD cases from sliding easily on the hard plastic, but we love how they swing open like a folder to allow an easy reach inside. The glove box has three or four times more volume than the owner's manual occupies, with little dampers that keep the door from just falling open.

The feeling of space, not to mention comfort, carries through to the back seat. Three adults will do quite well here. There's more leg room than in many taxis, and a 5-foot, 8-inch passenger could turn his hand sideways above his head without hitting the headliner. Even the middle space is wide enough, and soft enough, for an evening on the town. The floor is flat all the way across.

The Avalon's rear occupants get some nice perks, too. The seatbacks recline with a range comparable to a coach-class airline seat. Any recline feature is a rarity, even in sedans costing twice are much. There are individual reading lights overhead, and big air vents on the back of the center console. The lights are bright enough to read, without overly distracting the driver, and the vents can be directed or switched off completely.

The faux leather on the rear-door armrests is soft and feels rich. Stretchy pockets on the front seatbacks hold a small stack of magazines or a paperback. The rear door pockets are tiny, and they don't fold open like those in front. There's a shallow storage bin in the drop-down center armrest that will hold a tablet computer. There are also a couple of cup stabilization points in the armrest, but they are reliable cupholders only if there is a hand helping hold the cup.

The biggest gripe? Coat hooks, of all things. They should be further forward, toward the center pillars, where a shirt or even a dress hung on a hanger might drape freely in the space between the front and rear seats. As it is, the hooks are almost back to the seatbacks, where the dry cleaning bunches up and gets caught between the seat bottom and the door.

The trunk is another one of Avalon's relative weaknesses, though it probably isn't enough to offset this sedan's many strengths. With 14.4 cubic feet of space, the trunk is smaller than that in many similarly sized competitors. There's still decent room for luggage, and lift-over height is fairly low. Yet the Avalon's trunk is hampered by its basic shape, with a load area that's long but relatively narrow. Much of the available space stretches forward toward the rear seatback, under the rear glass and shelf.

The trunk lid raises itself once you open it with the remote key fob, something many trunk lids don't do, but the opening is smaller than that on other cars in the Avalon's class. And the locking pass-through into the cabin doesn't make a lot of sense. The hole through the seat is maybe five inches square, so you can't fit more than a couple of two-by-fours through it or a set of skis.

On the positive side, the trunk is as nicely finished as the cabin, with smooth carpeting. A standard, removable cargo net hangs within easy reach across the trunk opening to keep items such as plastic grocery bags from dumping or sliding around during transport. There's also a plastic bin to one side that might keep a partially empty jug of washer fluid or cleaning supplies leak-contained and relatively secure in normal driving.