Too plush for its own good?
Toyota has peeled the wrap off the all-new 2019 Avalon saloon, and with it, says that they’re going to be pursuing a new design direction, that will offer more luxury and more technology hand-in-hand. Built on Toyota’s new Global Architecture (TNGA), the Avalon promises to be a better, smarter drive too.
The TNGA underpinnings means that the Avalon can make use of the very latest powertrains from the marque. There will be a 3.5-litre V6 petrol motor, or a hybrid powertrain. Front wheel drive is the only setup available with the Avalon, though transmission duties are handled by an eight-speed automatic for the V6 version, while the hybrid variants make do with a CVT (though that does offer six simulated ratios). Both models get paddle-shifters for… reasons.
Toyota’s pulling out the big guns with the fifth iteration of the Avalon, trying to get the sharper, better-looking car to drive as well as it (thinks it) looks. To that end, higher-end Touring models will get adaptive dampers as standard, utilising four G-sensors situated in each corner of the car to feed it data, allowing the dampers to adjust themselves in just 20-milliseconds to one of as many as 650-levels of damping firmness. If you find that all a bit much, standard models will get a simpler multi-link rear suspension setup, while ‘sporty’ XSE cars gain to that stiffer stabiliser bars and less forgiving springs.
The exterior of the Avalon has more than a whiff of Lexus sophistication about it, utilising complex surfacing and sharp angles to give the Avalon greater presence than the outgoing car. To our eyes, we reckon that the designers from Toyota may have also taken a stroll around an Audi showroom as there are some design details that bear more than a passing resemblance to some of Ingolstadt’s models. Those headlights for example look suspiciously like those from an Audi TT, while the rear lights look so much like the Audi A7 Sportback’s new arrangement that we’re sure the designer of that particular element is feeling a little fidgety as we draw attention to it.
Anyway. The hint of Lexus on the outside turns into a stench when you get inside, but perhaps in the best possible way. Real wood, complex stitching, and swathes of leather adorn the cabin of the plushest Avalon variants (with features getting picked off the lower down the range you get). A floating 9-inch infotainment screen is at least standard, as is the 7-inch display that resides between analogue dials ahead of the driver.
Top-end models like Limited and Touring variants also gain a 10-inch colour heads-up display on the windscreen too. Sound comes from 8-speakers as standard, though again, Touring and Limited variants get a 14-speaker JBL system that will please all.
Another perk of using Toyota’s newest model architecture is that it’s far easier to integrate active safety systems into them. To that end, the Avalon will be made available as standard with Toyota Safety Sense P. Safety Sense P incorporates things like native cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, lane-departure warning, and pre-collision warning, though it’s unclear if autonomous emergency will be available.
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