The numbers don’t tell the whole story. According to the numbers my GS has just as much room and that’s laughable. When you sit in the cars in person, the LSL has significantly more room, and the 7 and S don’t really feel any bigger.

I just had an ES loaner yesterday...

never sat in an Es
so cant compare

in the 2019 ES thread they (Lexus NA executive) specifically mentioned that 2019 is most legroom of sedans for them. He even mentioned “it has more room than our LS”


hope you are right

Saw my first Avalon model along side other Toyota models. Previously I saw it at the auto show and roped off and secluded with nothing else nextto it for reference. Saw three models, two limited models and the sport model. This was at a Toyota dealer.

Good:
Overall, looks good. The front end looks much better in person than in pics. I would argue it looks better than most Lexus spindle models and it looks better than the current Toyota Camry models.

It’s definitely lower than the previous Avalon which was parked next to it. Hard to believe how it is to be honest.

The rear end sculpting of the lights looks fantastic and premium. I noticed it at the auto show and in person it looks better when you see the rear lights next to the previous Avalon.

Limited rear exhaust looks pretty nice

I did not sit inside, the cars were in the lot out back and I was just passing through to see what was out. The interior looks good and the seats look interesting with all the scattered holes in the leather. Back seat looks good with the back seat room.

The bad:

Car looks smaller than what one thinks of when you think Avalon.

The sport model has Hankook tires while on the limited was Hankook. Never seen Hankooks on premium priced cars, always though Hyundai’s carried those tires as well as VK. Although some Toyotas I have seen with Toyo.

The rear quad exhaust on the sport looks really stupid.

Back to the interiors, from the window looking inside, the interior looks questionable in its design. Not sure I like the center console display as some people refer to it as a ski ramp.

Conclusion: this is absolutely NOT what one expects when they think Avalon of the past. It has taken a complete different direction from its past. Once referred to as the “Japanese Buick”, it is clear Toyota is trying to take a path on its own with this car. I don’t even think it’s a competitor of the current Buick LaCrosse as it seems that much different.

If there were ever a time where I could say “this might be the last Avalon” then this is it. Parked next to a Camry and the older Avalon, it’s almost kind of pointless as the size is so close to the Camry and the engines are identical. I can see the business case for the ES but not sure the Avalon. Also, the Canadian sticker was $48K which is just eye popping IMO.

Note: I didn’t drive or sit inside as time was limited and I didn’t want to go through the whole process of everything and I just wanted to drive by and quickly eat my lunch and go. There were none in the showroom.

$44k isn’t that much anymore. My Highlander was $52k. At a Toyota dealer, you can spend well over $40k on an Avalon, Tundra, Tacoma, Sienna, Highlander, Land Cruiser, 4Runner, and Sequoia.

Last two gen Avalons and Camrys were different in size and it was more pronounced. They both now just seem to be midsized.

So to follow up to the exterior. We did get a chance to sit inside the new Avalon today at Toyota in Rochester. This would of been a US spec and a limited model.

Overall, the interior is OK. There are some nice materials here and there and then there are some questionable material there and here. I would say the questionable materials outweigh the ncie materials. The worst offender is the parts underneath the infotainment screen which is similar to the spray painted dash parts in the 2007 Tundra.

The interior also has the feeling of a lot of bits and parts vs large design elements. Seems like there are all kinds of little parts added here and there.

Some of the good, it is spacious and the infotainment screen or ski ramp is much much better in person than in pictures. Also, it is angled towards the driver which seems to be hard to see in pictures

I really like Toyota, but I am gonna give the interior a thumbs down as for us it did not seem to match the expectations of the price point of the vehicle. The overwhelming feeling was that this interior was not the original interior and perhaps Toyota had modified the interior from the original design.


I am not sure the price as there was no sticker but I am assuming it was the fully loaded all in vehicle.

I'm going to respect your opinion here, and not make any negative remarks on it....but I will also point out that when I criticized some of the flimsy interior parts of the 2013-2015 Avalon (before the much-better 2016 interior re-fresh and suspension adjustments), you repeatedly berated me for it. Now you yourself seem to be less-than-totally-thrilled with the new Avalon's interior. Apples and Oranges? Maybe so, since we're talking about essentially two different generations of the same car...but, IMO, the basic principle is the same.