Exceptional car, very good value

WOW! I am very pleasantly surprised. I have been a car nut since I was five years old and my grandfather gave me a piece of an old t-shirt to help him wipe the wax off his big, black 55 cadillac.I grew up to become a BMW salesman. I love cars,all kinds of cars. A bad car is still the result of hard work by hundreds of people: designers, assembly line workers, parts manufacturers,dealers, salesmen, technicians, and laborers. But a GREAT car is a like a fine cut diamond. One can admire the facets from many angles. I really think the Avalon is a diamond that toyota has left hidden in the rough. Anyone looking at the Lexus LS 400 might do better to put the extra 20,000 dollars into a new bass boat or a Fidelity Magellan Fund.
I was looking for a safe, reliable car for my parents' 75th Birthday. They have had two camry's in a row and they liked them both. I asked them to wait for the 2002 Camry to come out. It was the first completely new camry in 10 years. Toyota is spending 200 million dollars to introduce the car to the world. I took my Dad for a test drive and he didn't fit! I couldn't believe it. He is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 200 lbs. but even with the seat back and down all the way, the tilt function of the steering wheel at the most upright position kept hitting him right above the kneecaps. i tried several models and had the same problem. So, i thought of trying an avalon.
The Avalon is 4 inches longer than a camry and was completely redone for the 2000 model year. We got in the car and it was love at first sight. The dashboard is a combination of futuristic spaceship, and clean, classic, lexus like lines. We looked at the XL and XLS models. the base stereo was very nice, but for a few hundred more, you can step up to a JBL sound system with 7 or 8 speakers including a subwoofer. It sounds as good to this audiophile,as the Bose, or Lexus/Nakamichi sound systems. The AM/FM/CD/tapedeck combo has something for everyone.If you like music, this is an option worth having.The antenna is part of the window. Having lost two antennas to partially closed garage door, and an errant tree branch in a friend's driveway, I can appreciate toyota "sweating" that particular detail.
The seats can be had in comfortable cloth, or sumptuous leather. The car comes in a range of 8 colors that all look nice. I like the metallic finish personally. We found a beautiful silver, with dark grey cloth XL, but i wanted traction control for my parents, which is only available on the XLS. (I once drove a Lexus SC400 that belonged to a friend of mine. I was very familiar with the car and the windy road i was cruising down. It was late at night in the middle of winter, and as I whipped around a tight turn in the road, I crossed over an unseen patch of black ice, and the left rear wheel caught just the sliver of the ice patch and the car started sliding leftward in a skid on the ice. I was heading right towards a big stone well in a neighbors yard when the traction control kicked in.Instinctively, I cut the wheel to opposite lock, the ABS worked, the car caught traction and we spurted forward to safety. I have been a BIG believer in traction control ever since). There are side air bags on both models, but NO head curtain side air bag restraints like the new camry and lexus ES300.
The back seat is palatial, with seating for 3 six footers, plenty of head room and leg room. The trunk is large, with a flat floor and low overhang, so it is easy to lift packages or groceries into the trunk. The CD stacker option is worth it to have six CD's in the dash, instead of taking up the glove box, or taking space from the trunk.
The controls are intuitive and easy to learn. On the XLS model, the center controls are lifted straight out of the Lexus parts pin. The higher trim car has dual heating and A/C controls. Mom can set it at 78 and forget it and dad can have it a cool 70 degrees. the system automatically controls the inside temperature for BOTH passenger and driver, a VERY nice feature. Toyota claims that the average Avalon buyer is a 57 year old male that would also shop a cadillac or buick. I think that the big dials and buttons, and soothing green background with clear LED graphics and very legible controls make it easy for the driver to adjust the heat, A/C, and stereo controls without taking his eye off the road. There are some options that i think my parents will really like over time. One is the his and hers seat memory. My dad can get in and hit button #1 and the seat moves back and the rearview mirrors adjust to his comfort level. My mom can hit button #2 and the mirrors and seat revert to her preferred settings.
The ride is very smooth, but the car does not wallow over bumps or road irregularities. It is easy to park, the steering might be a bit overboosted for us BMW types, but for the target market, i think it works just fine. The windshield is big, broad and fairly steeply raked. With a wind co-efficient of .028, the car cuts a pretty slippery profile.
The car will scoot from 0 to 60 in about 8 seconds flat, so there is plenty of punch from the venerable Toyota V6. The engine is so quiet at idle that you need to pump the gas pedal to see the tachomeeter jump and let you know that the engine is turned on. Yet, the 4 wheel anti=lock disc brakes will haul the car down from 60 to 0 in about 120 feet, close to BMW 540i territory. The avalon has thicker glass, more sound insulation, and higher quality switch gear than the camry. It is bigger inside than than the Lexus ES 300.
We are still in the first week of ownership, and under the "ether" of having a new car, but I have driven dozens of makes and models in 30 years of driving, and this is one of the "best bang for the buck" cars i have ever driven!
If you like toyota quality and reliability, but love the luxury of a lexus, take a test drive in a 2002 Avalon. It is my bet that you will NOT be disappointed!