Find out how the all-new 2019 Toyota Avalon large sedan handles the open road.
TranscriptJAMES RISWICK: Greetings from Solana Beach, California, just out side of San Diego. This is the all new 2019 Toyota Avalon. And there are four different trim levels. There's XLE and Limited, and then there's the XSE and this, the Touring model.
Now, the first two are the premium models. And the latter two are the sport ones. But all of them in fact have different suspension tuning, ranging from more comfortable to more (BRITISH ACCENT) sporty.
Now, this Touring one-- although it has sport tune shocks, just like the XSE, this has adaptive variable dampers. So it can always change itself depending on current road conditions. It can also alter whether you're in Normal, Sport, Sport Plus, which are special to the Touring.
Now, like just about anything with an adjustable suspension, that means that the firmness of the ride does differ depending on your setting. But surprisingly, this car actually is on the firm side for ride, which is surprising for a Toyota Avalon. It does feel more buttoned down.
And in fact, I'm guessing that on less than a perfect pavement [BUMP] like that, people aren't going to like this. And by people, I mean the traditional Avalon buyer, which at 64 years old is in fact a little older than the average full-size sedan buyer. So the point of this is to be (BRITISH ACCENT) sportier. It is to be more dynamic, more fun to drive, to cater to a younger buyer.
Did they succeed? Well, this car does have surprisingly good handling for a large sedan. It is certainly a more involving car than the last Avalon, and certainly what you have come to expect from Toyota after all these years. So it is yet another Toyota that is upping the fun-to-drive factor.
In fact, one of the things that I find surprising is the steering is actually kind of on the heavier effort side. I think people, if you like driving, are going to like the change here.
Now, I have not driven the other versions yet. So it'll be interesting to see if that carries on from one version to another. But at least in terms of the Touring, this is a much better Avalon to drive.
Now, all of them have the same 3.5 liter V6 shared with the Toyota Camry. Makes 301 horsepower. Front-wheel drive only. There is also a hybrid model that gets up to around 45 miles per gallon combined.
That's excellent. And interestingly enough, for this version the hybrid's only $1,000 more than the comparable V6 model, which means that it's not going to take you a very long time to repay that price premium with fuel savings alone. So if you're more interested in fuel economy than power, that hybrid is going to make a lot more sense.
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