2011 Toyota Avalon Fullsize Car Review & Performance

The Toyota Avalon's calling card certainly isn't flashy looks. On the other hand, its styling is appropriately staid and elegant, and anything but offensive. The shape comes across as exactly what it is: a wrapping for the exceptionally comfortable, spacious cabin inside. In that sense, it recalls some stately European sedans of the 1950s and '60s.

Toyota has re-styled the full-size Avalon for 2011, though the changes are hardly dramatic. It requires fairly thorough inspection to realize that the Avalon has changed at all. The differences lie in details. Avalon's proportions and profile haven't changed a bit.

Nor have any of its dimensions, by more than a fraction of inch. Overall, the Avalon is eight inches longer than Toyota's top-selling Camry sedan. By most exterior dimensions, it's roughly the same size as the Ford Taurus, Chevrolet Impala, and Chrysler 300. Compared to European luxury sedans, it's larger than the mid-size Mercedes E-Class, but smaller than the full-size S-Class sedan.

The revised look for 2011 starts with a slightly wider grille connecting the headlight clusters with bolder, heavier chrome slats and trim. The lights apply the so-called light-pipe design, which creates the impression of illuminated tubes at night. The fog lights are now surrounded by a chrome garnish and more closely integrated in the air intake below the bumper.

Compared its predecessor, the 2011 Avalon has thicker, more obvious chrome strips around its side windows, and slightly smaller, more sculpted side mirrors. There's a thick strip of chrome at the bottom of the doors, above more prominently contoured side sills.

The taillights have been reshaped for 2011 to reduce turbulence at the rear. Indeed, many of the styling details are optimized to limit wind noise inside the car, including the shape of the windshield pillars and the placement of wipers under the hood line.

Subtle details distinguish Avalon Limited from the standard car. Its wheels have 10 thin spokes rather than five thicker ones, and its door handles are chrome rather than painted. The Limited's headlight clusters feature high-intensity discharge low beams, and its side mirrors have LED puddle lights underneath. These are essentially invisible until the doors are unlocked with the key fob, at which point the puddle lights dump a swath of light on the pavement underneath the front doors.

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. Th?Toyoere 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.

There's isn't much about the Toyota Avalon that we don't like. Some driving enthusiasts might say it's too vanilla, but there's a certain excitement in Avalon's overall competence, and it's a car we look forward to driving. It's pleasant to drive in all circumstances, and never aggravating. The value of that last point should not be underestimated because we see many luxury cars nowadays that are aggravating.

For 2011, the Avalon has been mildly re-styled and updated inside. None of the changes alter its driving dynamics, though there is one operational benefit. Slight improvements to this big sedan's aerodynamic efficiency raise its already impressive EPA fuel economy ratings by 1 mpg, city and highway.

Driving the Avalon truly is a tranquil experience. This sedan approaches serene, but it isn't numbing in a way that allows a driver to forget he or she is operating a motor vehicle. There's a linear, consistent feel to its controls, and it doesn't come across as sloppy.

The Avalon's powertrain provides the foundation for its impressively smooth operation. On paper, its 3.5-liter V6 engine might seem a bit small for a fairly large, heavy car. In fact, the Avalon can be almost peppy, and it certainly isn't underpowered. Its secret is two-fold.

For starters, its dual overhead-cam V6 generates an adequate 268 horsepower and 248 pound-feet of torque. And thanks to variable valve timing and a dual-stage variable intake manifold, the power isn't the least bit peaky. It flows smoothly and evenly from idle to the engine's redline, whether you're accelerating casually from a stop sign or flooring the gas pedal to merge onto a crowded freeway.

The second contributor is Avalon's well-tuned 6-speed automatic transmission. This transmission uses a unique mounting system designed to minimize the transfer of shift-shock into the Avalon's cabin. It does an excellent job tapping the horsepower available, and it almost always knows the best time to shift, whether it's up or down. The shifts are reasonably quick, but they're also exceptionally smooth, even at full throttle. Light-throttle upshifts are barely noticeable. The top gear is a tall overdrive, so the Avalon cruises in relaxed fashion on the freeway, with the engine spinning quietly at relatively low speed.

We tested the transmission's manual shift feature on a curving river road, tapping the sequential shift lever between second and third and keeping the engine spinning near its redline. In such circumstances, the Avalon can be something like a sports sedan, because the V6 is happy to run at high rpm. There's enough torque to create a bit of torque steer when you floor it from a slow speed, manifesting itself as a slight tug on the steering wheel. In the Avalon, it's nothing that will disturb the typical driver, but it's enough to let that driver know that there's a strong engine under the hood.

The Avalon will accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in less than eight seconds and, while that's no longer sports car performance, it's anything but lethargic, especially in a large car that carries five people and their luggage with lots of room to breathe inside. Or one with the Avalon's mileage ratings.

Delivering 20 mpg city and 29 highway, according to the federal government, the Avalon's fuel economy is impressive for a sedan its size. Those figures are among the best in class, and better than the ratings for many smaller, mid-size V6 sedans, including the Chevrolet Malibu, Ford Fusion and Nissan Altima. They equal the ratings for Toyota's smaller Camry sedan.

Mileage ratings or lively acceleration aside, the Avalon is built primarily for comfort, and that's obvious in its suspension settings. The ride is silky smooth in nearly all circumstances, and rarely does a road shock ruffle the occupants. The softly tuned suspension means Avalon can lean noticeably when taking turns aggressively.

Still, this body sway is progressively controlled, and the Avalon doesn't feel mushy or disconnected. Its steering is on the light side, but it responds directly to movement of the wheel. We'd call the Avalon cushy but good. It holds its line nicely when driven reasonably quickly through a series of curves, whether the road surface is smooth or bumpy. A sharp lane change or a deep jab on the brake pedal won't scare the dickens out of its driver.

The brakes are strong enough to stop the Avalon with authority. The pedal feels a little softer than we'd like, but it's linear in operation and it makes it easy for the driver to smoothly apply the stopping force. The well-managed anti-lock brake system keeps Avalon on an even keel during panic stops.

The Avalon is up to whatever the typical driver might encounter or dish out. Yet its trademark remains the peaceful stillness inside. At a stoplight in the city, the hubbub outside the Avalon sounds like a muted purr to its driver and passengers. At 75 mph on the expressway, about the only sound is a soft crack from the tires as they slap over pavement joints, and 15 percent volume with some soft music will take care of that. The Avalon is exceptionally smooth, too, especially for its price. At freeway speeds, there's less vibration through the steering column, seat bottoms or floorboards than one feels in some luxury cars that cost $30,000 more.

The 2011 Toyota Avalon lineup has been streamlined, with just two thoroughly equipped models. Both come with a 268-horsepower, 3.5-liter V6 and 6-speed automatic transmission.

The Avalon ($32,595) comes standard with leather upholstery, a full complement of power accessories and features such as full-power front seats, dual-zone climate control with cabin air filter, audio and climate controls on the steering wheel, a power moonroof, auto-dimming rearview mirror with compass and Homelink universal transceiver, fog lights and 17-inch alloy wheels. The audio system has nine speakers, a six-CD changer, XM satellite radio receiver, a USB connector and Bluetooth wireless connectivity. Options include heated front seats ($440), memory seats with heating and cooling ($1,020), and premium, 660-watt JBL Synthesis audio ($900) with 12 speakers. The Navigation System with JBL Audio ($2,350) uses a 4CD changer and includes a rearview camera. Dealer installed options include remote start.

Avalon Limited ($35,835) adds a proximity key with pushbutton start, HID headlamps, a wood-and-leather-trimmed shift knob and steering wheel, rain-sensing windshield wipers and a power sunshade for the rear glass. Options for the Limited are limited to a touch-screen navigation system with voice control ($1,450) and rearview camera; and special paint colors ($220).

Safety features on all Avalons include front-impact airbags, a driver's knee airbag, seat-mounted side-impact airbags for front passengers, side-curtain head-protection airbags for outboard passengers front and rear and active front seat headrests, which are intended to cradle the head more effectively in a rear impact and limit whiplash injuries. Active safety features include Vehicle Stability Control (VSC), anti-lock brakes (ABS) with electronic brake-force distribution (EBD) and Brake Assist, and a tire pressure monitor. The optional rearview camera included with the navigation system can help the driver spot a child or pedestrian when backing up and we recommend getting it.