- sedan 148,507
- Middletown, OH
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- autoshopper.com
- sedan 148,507 gasoline silver automatic
2003 toyota avalon review this car review is specific to this model, not the actual vehicle for sale. Big car comfort with electronic safety and sophistication. introductiontoyota avalon is a large, comfortable sedan with tight handling and a flawless ride. It has plenty of power and excellent brakes. Electronic wizardry and a well-developed chassis make it an easy car to handle in hazardous road conditions. When equipped with the available front bench seat, it can transport six passengers in typical toyota comfort and quiet serenity. revised front and rear styling give the 2003 avalon a more road-gripping look. For passenger comfort and convenience, an air filtration system and sunvisors with extensions are now standard. For 2003, avalon is safer than ever, with multi-stage front airbags and iso-fix child-restraint tethers. . lineuptoyota avalon is available in two trim levels, xl and xls. Both use toyota's silky-smooth 3. 0-liter v6. This engine produces 210 horsepower with 220 pounds-feet of torque. Avalon is front-wheel drive. xl comes with front bucket seats 25,845) or a front bench seat 26,665). Xl models come fully equipped with side air bags, dual-zone air conditioning, air filtration system, power windows, door locks and mirrors, sunvisors with extensions, and a 120-watt am/fm stereo with cassette and cd players. the more luxurious xls model reverses the pricing with the bench seat version 30,305) being less expensive than the same vehicle with bucket seats 30,405). Xls models add automatic climate control, a driver information display (compass, trip computer, outside temperature and calendar functions), fog lights, aluminum alloy wheels, remote keyless entry, and a leather-wrapped steering wheel. leather upholstery is optional. . walkaroundsome might say that the toyota avalon is not eye-catching. That isn't to say it's unattractive; it looks like a toyota sedan. Its best features are electronic and mechanical. The wing-shaped halogen headlights and wide grille with vertical rails provide a slightly toothy, smiley-face look. An air dam under the molded front bumper provides a subtle racy touch, and the optional flowing trapezoidal fog lamps are needed to complete the facial aesthetics. . interioravalon is a roomy car with plenty of shoulder space. We found the front seat easy to get into and out of. High window sills, the trend nowadays, make the chamber feel deep. Carrying long, narrow objects is made easier as the rear center seat has a pass-through that opens up to the trunk. we tested an xls model. Its interior sports ample doses of burled walnut, good, simple switchgear, and solid-feeling control stalks. There's even a leather boot on the column-shift lever, a nice touch. Also included are soothing electro-chromatic mirrors that self-adjust to reduce glare, and an easy-to-adjust dual climate-control system providing independent settings for driver and passenger. the list of interior features is long. The data system is housed in a big rectangular window in the center of the instrument panel. The feel of the leather, the doses of walnut, the big recessed instrument panel, and especially the inside shape of the c-pillars, all make the avalon interior reminiscent of a cadillac seville. That shouldn't be surprising, as the toyota avalon was designed and built in the usa, and a veteran of gm's large-car division led its development team. . driving impressiontoyota avalon is smooth and quiet with extremely low levels of noise, vibration, and harshness. All we could hear on a rainy day was a creaking in the windshield wipers, like an old screen door opening and closing, opening and closing. the ride is flawless. Handling via rack-and-pinion steering is tight, even direct. While some label this as 'no character,' we think 'purity' is a better call. The chassis can be felt lightly rising and falling over undulations, but that's not a flaw, it's a soft balance appropriate to the car. the michelin 205/60r16 tires were impressive in the wet. We could see the water, we could hear it, but we couldn't feel it. We hit a shallow double pothole. We heard a light thump, but scarcely felt it. We drove over a washboard-unpaved road. We felt it, but not much. then we got a little daring in the wet, blasting through a long curve on a two-lane road, heavy on the throttle at 65 mph. Something faster, smarter and more sensitive than us was doing all the tricky work. we mashed the brake pedal as hard and fast as we could. Excellent anti-lock brakes said, 'no problem. Because we were full on the pedal, brake assist wasn't triggered. We never felt them, they were so smooth. we saved the most exotic technology for last: vehicle skid control (vsc). It's a lexus hand-me-down, remaining innovative as it moves along from $50,000 cars to $30,000 cars. It's only available on the xls, but for only $650, it's a real deal. Using throttle intervention or applying individual wheel braking, vsc makes the appropriate adjustment in grip. We heard the vsc warning ding that says, 'whoa bucko!' simultaneously the orange traction-control light came on, and we felt the car magically bite and come back into position. Vsc had cut the throttle and hit the abs brakes on all but the outside rear wheel. It's toyota's flagship sedan. . model lineupxl with front bucket seats 25,845), with front bench seat 26,665); xls with front bench seat 30,305), with front bucket seats 30,405). assembled ingeorgetown, kentucky. options as testedpackage 895) includes heated front seats, jbl premium stereo with 6-disc in-dash cd changer, 205/60r16 tires, aluminum wheels, power seats with driver seat memory, leather upholstery. model testedxls 30,405).
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