Gadgetory

this is the 2014 toyota avalon limited it's the top of the line and it's Toyota's largest sedan this side of the Lexus divide now previously the big Avalon tattoo a bit unfairly deal with the reputation as an old people car but let me tell you this 2014 model is anything but your grandma should end let's hop behind the wheel of this limited model pretty close to the top of the line and check attack here in the capital we've got nice materials in this Toyota Avalon that are not exactly Lexus quality but you'd be splitting hair is telling them between this and an entry-level Lexus yes we've got nice leather with real stitching we've got wood sort of a brushed metal feeling and some nice chrome trim you got a nice variety of shapes and textures that makes this dashboard a really interesting thing to look at here in the main touch area we've got capacitive buttons not really a big fan of capacitive buttons but these do have these interesting little cutouts that add some haptic feedback when you touch them so that you're sure that you're touching the right area there's also a nice little beep on some of them to let you know a little bit of extra confirmation here in the center of the dashboard we've got our LCD display and that's where you're going to interact with Toyota Entune system under the apps tab we're gonna have access to things like Bing search the ability to make a reservation at a restaurant with open table we've seen all this before in previous Toyota vehicles we've also got a full range of audio sources including USB and iPod connectivity Bluetooth variety of streaming in hands-free calling and satellite radio we've also got navigation in this version of it and by popping under the mat menu we see that we've got a nice two-dimensional map it's not a three-dimensional map you're not gonna get any building or terrain data like you would in an Audi or BMW but it's fast and it gets the job done now on the limited version down here you're gonna get another color LCD that's going to control and correspond with your climate control systems and le and xle models you're just gonna get a monochrome display here and one more cool feature in this version is the optional wireless charging station keye wireless station down here and that's actually going to work with dozens of key wireless Android and Windows phones basically what happens is when you have a compatible phone you put it on the pad right here you get that little light and your phone starts charging that's really cool if you're an iPhone user you can buy a case that's gonna add compatibility to that but generally speaking you're looking for only about a dozen phones on the market that support that but we're gonna start seeing more and more in the future unless you're getting the hybrid version of the avilon there is only one engine option available that's Toyota's 2 gr 3.5 liter v6 engine that's gonna give you about 268 horsepower 248 pound-feet of torque and I've prepared two there six-speed automatic transmission there are no surprises here this is a workhorse engine that Toyota puts under the hood of pretty much everything that they make but that doesn't mean that the performance isn't pretty good this vehicles actually does a very good job maybe it's the tuning of the transmission maybe it's the flatness of the torque curve but it does give you a really good acceleration and fuel economy is not bad either 21 City 31 highway 25 combined frankly I've driven this and I've driven the Lexus ES and I really have to wonder why would you even upgrade to the Lexus yes I mean there are a couple of creature comforts that you can't get in this car but pretty much everything that you need to be comfortable and to enjoy this vehicle on a day to day basis is right here at the Toyota level one thing that really surprised me about this grandma sedan is that JBL synthesis audio system it is surprisingly bass heavy like tuned for rap music shake the windows bass heavy I didn't really expect to see that in the Avalon but it is really good to hear it the 6-speed automatic transmission is actually pretty good as automatics go you do have a sport program for that and a manual shift program and you can use your paddle shifters to manually select your gears you'll probably never do that unless you just need a little bit more oomph for a pass what you better off doing is accessing one of the three different drive modes down here on the center console we've got the normal drive mode which is the default tune the Avalon is pretty responsive in that mode the Eco mode actually adjust the throttle response the transmission program and even the climate control system to make the entire vehicle just a little bit more efficient you lose a little bit of responsiveness in doing so now the Avalon does have a sport mode it's gonna sharpen up the throttle response make the engine feel a little bit more responsive the transmission a little bit more willing to downshift and to stay in lower gears when you're driving but this isn't a sports car you don't want to go whipping around corners really quickly in this car because your phone's gonna slide off of the wireless charger and the suspense is not really set up for that it can take a corner but it doesn't really seem like it wants to again comfort is the name of the game here now this 2014 Toyota Avalon limited pretty close to the top of the line as I fix so it's gonna start at 39 650 pretty close to $40,000 we've also got seventeen hundred and fifty dollars in our technology package it's gonna add our lane guidance and our radar based cruise control we've also got two hundred bucks for that key wireless charger that I thought was very cool but maybe it's not gonna work with your phone add in destination charges and a couple more eyes and then that brings you to our F if the price of forty two thousand six hundred and thirty five bucks now for that price you're pretty much getting almost Alexis and if the lexus ES is a budget alternative to the German competitors this right here is a steel