Toyota Avalon
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71 Toyota Avalon Consumer Reviews and Complaints
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My 2013 Avalon has about 66,000 miles. We are experiencing interior issues, the headliner is falling down, the middle console is cracked, the rims for cup holders are peeling off and the foil on the dashboard that we thought was chrome is also coming off. Service department and Toyota are not going to fix. We have owned multiple Toyota's since 1977 and this may be our last.
I financed a 2011 Toyota Avalon. All the paint is peeling off of the roof. TOYOTA HAS THOUSANDS OF COMPLAINTS OF THE SAME ISSUES AND WILL NOT DO ANYTHING. There are strength in numbers. Toyota can't own up to their responsibility to fix this for the consumer. STOP BUYING TOYOTAS! Found out Toyota several years back, found a cheaper company to do paint and now the consumer gets to pay for it while Toyota sits back as a billion dollar company!
I didnt have that much experience with the 2006 Avalon until I went to buy the car. I loved the size of the car, and the price. It was easy to make a appointment so that I was in and out of dealership as quickly as possible. I also like the mileage on the car and the services that were offered free. I was able to get it financed quickly without problems. It even had original floor mats that were not used and it only had one owner. Also, the vehicle is the right size and it has a huge trunk for when I travel out of town.
Had this 2006 Toyota Avalon since it had less than 75 miles on it and the only issue we have had with it was I failed to take it in for a recall and an oil tube broke. My fault. The other issue was a broken trunk spring, other than that it has been nothing but oil changes, tires and routine maintenance. It has been a great car.
Toyota Avalon Hybrid - outstanding comfort, appearance, safety, and performance. Gas mileage is amazing up to 500 miles on a fill up. The rear seats are as comfortable as the front seats and with the same controls.
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Car is very reliable and economical to drive. The trunk space is unbelievable. After driving a BMW, Jaguar and Lexus, I am convinced the Avalon is a great value.
We bought the Avalon in 2004. It has been our "over the road" (long distance) car since; occasionally used around town, but not much. Only routine maintenance, no major repair. Very roomy, comfortable, handles beautifully on highway. Best car we have ever owned.
Near 200,000 miles and still runs strong. The only things this Toyota Avalon has needed to date are tires and brakes (pads). If I could afford this year's model I would buy one again before most others. It has been a great car with plenty of room and runs better than most V8s.
I have a 1998 Toyota Avalon. A great car! Only thing I need is a new radio. Very quiet ride and good mpg. Has 195,000 miles on it. Had the engine cleaned and runs great!
Toyota Avalon 2006 is an excellent choice. It's built on a Lexus platform. It's the best car I've owned and still going strong at 123,000 miles. Highly recommend an Avalon.
Riding in the rear right hand seat of my girlfriend's parents 2017 Toyota Avalon we rounded a sharp corner. I grabbed the grab handle and it dislodged, hitting me In the face, scratching my glasses and leaving me with a black eye. The handle was attached with cheap clips rather than bolts like most cars.
I purchased my 2015 Toyota Avalon new in 2015. I am more than happy with the car. It came with Toyota Cares free maintenance for two years and the dealership I purchased from extended this free maintenance for four years. My car has yet to have any issues. It now has 27,000 miles on it. I know friends who purchased new cars at the same time and their cars have been in the garage several times for issues. The Avalon is comfortable, roomy, powerful, and has a super large trunk. I have driven the Toyota Camry before this model but I will be buying the Avalon in the future. I love this car!
My wife drives this car 90% of the time without a passenger. She puts her purse on the passenger seat and the seat moves so much the contents of her purse rattle and when you encounter rough roads the seat back rattles at the base. I rode in 4 different Avalon's and the all have this condition, maybe not as bad as my wife's but it is there. I you go to but one of these cars, make sure no one is in the passenger seat and watch how much the seat back moves. It will move over an inch from side to side. The long term effects of this are unknown. The dealer and regional tech line informed me "this in inherent to the Avalon" and do not have any repair actions to remedy this condition. Buyer Beware. I am looking for a replacement for our top of the line 2016 Avalon Limited.
Paint started peeling just under 5 years old. Started on edge around the gas cap door. Next began a bubble between the windshield and the sunroof (now 10" diameter of peeled paint). There is a 4" long section of peeled paint by rear window on driver's side. Peeling is on both edges off roof panel and edges on each side of the body by the trunk lid. There is even peeling on the underside of the hood closest to the windshield of the car. This is clearly failed adhesion of paint to primer as described by two professional automotive painters that have looked at this first hand as well. Love the car, hate the paint that I paid extra for the White Diamond color. Poor rating reflects my opinion of the paint job only.
I had a 2002 Toyota Camry. That was the best riding car. I could ride through rain, sleet, and snow with it. Since my experience was good I wanted to stick with Toyota something that I was familiar with but wanted to buy a new car and upgrade. I upgraded to the Avalon. Worse mistake in the world. 2014 Avalon is the worse driving car, the radio and the sound system sucks. I will be getting rid of this car in a few months. Very disappointed.
I purchased new a 2013 Toyota. Have had difficulty removing bugs from front of car. Paint chips very easy. After less than 3 years and 36,00 miles, the bug mark penetrate the paint making it impossible to clean them off. I have a Ford F150 and a Cadillac SRX from which the bugs are very easily removed. Auto body repair rep said the fault is the quality of Toyota paint.
Purchased 3 weeks ago and not happy at all. I accept responsibility for buying this vehicle and getting caught up in the excitement of purchasing my very first brand new car at the age of 51. I expected luxury, which is what I specifically asked for when arriving at the dealership. The ride is rough. Can hear the road. The stereo system is generic at best and has to be turned all the way up to hear it over the road noise. Forget about using the stereo if the sunroof is open. The brakes are rough. I can feel them grind. I assumed I would be able to talk and text and not just use a preset quick response message.
My mistake again. I really thought this vehicle was supposed to be top of the line. The ride is stiff, but I can live with it. On the plus side, I do like blind spot option. Navigation is fine. Most of the time it's easier to just type on the screen vs repeating myself 5 times to the voice option, that ultimately won't understand me. A/C works well. Love the keyless entry and push button start. A bit disappointed that this vehicle has less options than other lower end brands on the market.
2008 Toyota Avalon - Pushing the start button while foot is on the brake doesn't always start the car, sometimes it can take 10 to 15 tries before starting. The dealer (where I purchased is and who has been the only one to service it) kept it for 24 hours and could only replicate the problem once. They said they ran full diagnostics and found nothing wrong. Well, this happens almost every day, every time I try to start it. I'm taking it back to the dealer again, and suggesting they check the brake to starter relay and the push button itself. I'm hesitant to go out of town being fearful it won't start at all. The car only has 38,000 miles on it and, until now has been great.
I've owned my Avalon Hybrid 2 years. I only have 17,000 miles, which is comprised of 12,000 on the all season radials and 5000 miles on the snow tires I bought separately. Both sets of front tires experienced premature wear to the entire tread surface, given the light mileage. It's not an alignment issue because the wear is uniform. Waiting to find out what would cause the same problem to 2 sets of tires. Wind noise with the driver's side window is awful unless I open another window.
I did a few reviews of the Avalon before purchasing and should've dug a little deeper. I bought into the hype that Toyotas are great in quality and wrongly assumed that their flagship would be top of the line. If I can steer even one person clear of my mistake then this review will be worth it, though having said that maybe I should at least wait until I can sell the car. First off, I own a 2015 Avalon Limited. I've had it less than 9 months and I am ready to get out of it ASAP. On first glance, the car looks nice, the professional reviews of it are glowing, and it has an upscale-looking interior. The engine is smooth and powerful. However, that's where the fun ends.
Shortly after purchase I noticed that if the radio is barely turned up I get an annoying buzz coming from the door panels. Three shop visits and two dealerships later, Toyota corporate's response is that "this is within normal spec" and their advice to me is to listen at lower levels and turn the bass all the way down. That is NOT an acceptable answer to me. Second, as other people have complained about on here, there are too many squeaks and rattles. I haven't even bothered complaining to the dealership about this issue, but as pointed out by others this is not acceptable in a car with an MSRP exceeding $40,000. The ride isn't too bad. A little stiff, but not too bad. However, the seats are very uncomfortable on long trips. I've driven budget rental cars that are less brutal to the back than this thing.
The latest development is a near stall right after the engine starts. It turns over fine, runs for a second, and then stutters and hesitates before recovering. I have not yet had time to bring it back to the dealership for a warranty repair, but I also do not have faith that they will fix it unless the engine completely dies. As for dealing with Toyota's customer service, it is the absolute worst. I work M-F 8-5:30 and I'm on the east coast. Toyota assigned my case regarding the buzzing sound to a case manager in California who works until 5:30.
I have explained in my approximately 15 calls that this time frame is unacceptable to me and that I need them to assign my case to someone who works later hours, but they refuse and only tell me "it's documented." That seems to be all they do, "document." Basically, if you're looking at the Avalon you probably have expectations on what a $40k flagship model car should be. This is NOT it. You would do much better by shopping and purchasing something else as there are cars costing much less that are much better in terms of both quality and customer care.
$43k new car (we worked out a cash offer, but still could have went $7,000 less without navigation) with 10 miles and with 2 year outdated navigation system. Talk about frustrating trying to get local addresses inputted or through voice. It is so stupid it can't even find the address I'm sitting in front of. Paid cash, so dealer doesn't care about updating it to make us happy. Yet, the Navigation system accounts for $7,000 of the car's price tag. What a Joke Toyota!! So called hot qi-charging system: the pad is too small for ANY Samsung galaxy phone, and won't charge through the thinnest case on my phone yet all my other wireless pads at home work with my phone AND my partner's Otterbox on hers.
Quiet car?? Not! The road noise coming through the rear deck panel makes it hard to enjoy the inside JBL system. Most American made cars have a cover in the trunk that covers and protects the rear speakers from luggage damage AND reduces the road noise the trunk delivers, AND increases the quality of the sound system. Not in the Avalon! No Access to a live power outlet when car is off. Miss that from last car. (Most cars have them to keep the iPads and game systems charged for use.) Can't charge a phone while parked at a business so I can have a charged phone upon return to vehicle. No, I have to go without a phone because the dumb qi-charging system doesn't work and the usb is only rated a 1.0 output, not enough to charge a smartphone.
I miss my Altima that had everything and worked perfectly... Now I'm regretting getting the Avalon because road trips will be a joke. Why have a $7,000 navigation system in a car and have to rely on my phone's google maps for direction??? And not have a decent way to keep the phone charged using the maps for hours; the phone gets hot, the battery charging shuts down and I get to destination and have to beg for power from the business I enter... So this is my review for the new car we bought 10 days ago. And it has created more hassles than relieved. Oh, the dang cup holders only hold a 12 ounce can. No more taking my cup of coffee with me on the road. No more 24 oz soda bottle that I have used for years... And can't get over 14.7 mpg with mostly highway travel, so far...
Purchased a 2014 Avalon program car. I had have numerous issue with creaking noise coming from what sounds like behind the rear seats. Dealer said it was the sunroof liner. Replaced it twice, car still creaks. Took it back said they put some kind of foam sealant In the back, car still creaks, I don't know what to do. I have had 2 other Avalons never had this type of problem. The noise is driving me crazy. Going to have to take off from work to take it again this week. I am considering calling the attorney general office or local TV station for help.
I have a 2008 Toyota Avalon limited and it is one of the best cars I have ever used. It has 187,000 miles on it and only thing done to it was new battery and windshield wipers!! And this car has not been treated nice. I have taken it through fields and I drive 8 miles of gravel a day and I go full trouble all the time!! Still like brand new!! Everything works in it!! Even the dynamic cruise that most cars are just getting today!! Have hit a ratcoon going 60 that came up to license plate did nothing. Neighbor did that with ford taurus and did over $4,000 in damage!!!
This is a very tough well built car!! And I would recommend this car any day to anyone!! And for all the other complaints on this site every car might have a problem but you don't know how good you have it, if you have an Avalon because for instance where I live on average there are about 4 issues before 50,000 miles on all GMs and this is not a lie!! My dad's pickup has had 16 things done to it under warranty not even to 80,000 miles and my car has gone through more than that pickup (no joke)!! He is going to tundra! I hope this helps!!
Three times now, our 2000 Toyota Avalon has started by itself while it was locked with no one in the car and no key in the ignition. The flashers come on and all the lights in the inside display flash. When key is inserted in the ignition and turned into the OFF position, the car shuts off. However, when key is removed, restarts. It takes several tries to get the engine to shut off and stay off. Any idea how or why this could be happening?
I wish I could state that the 2013 Toyota Avalon is as solid as my 2005 Lexus RX 330 or the 2007 Mercury Mariner that I bought for my daughter. Alas, the Avalon has a bunch of annoying creaks and rattles - in the steering column and in the retracting rear window sunshade. Also both the fog lights popped in the first six months of ownership (on Bay Area highways), and since they cost around $350 each to replace at the dealership, I decided not to reward them for selling me a product that has cost me more service trips that my last 4 new cars put together. Definitely would not recommend the car. I see they have changed the fog lights substantially in the newer model which may be OK for new owner but old loyal owners who took a risk on the new model are left high and dry. I could be forking out $700 on the fog lights every year.
Issues I've complained about for year to Toyota only to find out now Toyota was aware of them all along there were recalls & service bulletin. That should have covered my Toyota Issue. The recall for steering column was on 2005. Mine is a early model 2006 with the exact same safety issue. The resolve for me is that Toyota fix the vehicle and not try and hold me responsible for half the cost as the are now doing. My car has been cared for only by Toyota service since the day it was purchase from Toyota new in 2006. The District Manager for Toyota Bruce ** made the call not to honor this safety issue.
2003 Avalon XLS, 114000 miles - started with stains on the garage floor, then needed to add 1/2 quart at a time of Motor Oil. A Toyota loyal family, never had problems with Tercel, 4 Camrys, Sienna & presently a Lexus RX 350 & this oil-leaking Avalon. Shame on the manufacturer, destroyed the trust of ours and many others. Remember the Avalon 2005 model onwards brought down the Toyota to its knees, had to pay billions in fines on continued denial of an uncontrolled acceleration, causing many deaths of people who trusted Toyota.
We, like others, paid extra upfront when buying Toyotas hoping such problems are not seen. But alas the GREED of these multinationals cutting costs on quality, does not serve their customers nor themselves. SHAME on you Toyota - you will continue to make millions, treading over the common people who spend thousands repairing your manufacturing faults. Remember that ill-gotten wealth will not serve you well.
In the beginning I would like to say to whomever is interested in buying this car should read this review and consider others reviews since they all turn out to be true! Most of them were preference based complaints but there were some regarding some mechanical issues which I will mention again in more detail I'm just glad that I didn't buy Cadi XTS or Lacrosse which I was considering, but reviews gave me a night mares and right now I'm sure that they would turn out to be true: losing power, electric problems and so on.
I know that long reviews scare people off, but if you buying this $36000 car, you should invest few minutes. Let me start from that I'm a previous owner of VW CC and most of my comparisons will be to that car. I just purchased 2014 Avalon Turing version used with under 10.000 miles. The biggest issue for me and from most of the reviewers is that the whole interior (meaning door panels, dashboard in my car especially rear doors and behind passenger seats) squeaks which is unacceptable for this type of car. It is a squeaking noise in the city on tiny potholes, big ones, bumps and highway joints. Barely noticeable during the day because of the outside ambient noise, with occasional louder squeaks here and there. But at night it is impossible to drive without music on- it drive me crazy!
So far I asked two car service drivers and they confirm this with smile on the faces. I guess that's what happen your/the cars are being assembled by union workers in US or this time Japanese engineers not calibrated suspension system- which is another flow in this car. It is very hard, almost like my previous car VW CC, but give you NO handling control. It is not a stiff car by all means, but you just feel all bumps with a dull sound. I always thought hard suspension comes with stiff car and great handling power, like CC, but this car broke that rule- forget about coming out of the ramp on to the highway with greater speed than on the speed signs- it literally slips out.
Sometimes when I read some professional reviews "new 2013 Avalon, great handling etc..." my blood is boiling! What are they comparing it to... what car did they drive before... I guess all those commercial review are like news- nothing is true! They saying that it should be a highway cruising car, but for average guy like me (6'-0" in height) when my seat is pulled back at around 80% my legs are slightly bend and steering wheel is pulled back all the way, BUT my hands are almost all the way stretch out! It is impossible to drive like this from over a ½ H! I can move my seat in but then my legs are not comfortable. Bottom line the telescopic steering wheel doesn't pull out far enough.
Huge car like this and 6'-0" tall passenger can't pull out the front passenger seat far enough, so he can fully stretch his legs, even though there is ton of space behind the seat. Once again small sporty VW CC you could easily stretch your legs and if you wanted to touch the bottom, you even had to slightly slide down! So again what kind of cruising car is that!
Another thing that bother me is that the car is loud inside, meaning that is not isolating the sound well. It applies to all: traffic outside the car, while driving on the highway: tire noise, wind noise. And the most during the rain and snow: everything that come out of the tires you can hear like its coming inside. I remember that back when I had Dodge Neon!
Brakes are not responsible at all, you have to press the brake pedal half way through for the car to start braking. It is something that you can get use to quickly get use to.
Sound system! It is a disaster and I have Touring version with premium sound with 9 speakers. First off, sound cheap. I don't know how else to describe it. And then it sound like it's coming out only from one speaker which is located in the front dashboard. I tried to balance it to the back but it's not helping much. Then the basses- cheap bass sound! Plus you can't use it fully because then all the car squeaks, like wrong installed aftermarket system.
Fuel economy: I got exactly 25 MPG highway and on-board computer showed 23.4 MPG. I drove 95% highway between 70-80 MPH on my 169.4 mile long skiing trip. 5% being off the exit to the slope and back on clean road no traffic. I used the same Shell gas station in which I put in 6.776 gal of regular. I didn't confirm the city driving yet. So far computer shows sometimes 14, sometimes 18. Once again those are not just my complaints based on my wishes or what I would imagine the perfect car to be. Those are just simple things that I noticed as a driver transferring from simple firm like VW and simple model like CC that offered all of this.
SMALL Things. Like trunk is 6" shorter inside than my VW CC. I noticed that at the dealership when I was putting my umbrella from my old car. But is wider and I guess the devoted that space for the interior. Sun glass holder, it was designed by someone, but they never put physical glasses in it! They fall of when you open the tray and it is hard to put them in. You have to assist them with your hand to close it. It has a lot of space inside but it is just too shallow.
Glove box so small. Almost no space in the front doors pockets, forget about putting even squished plastic bottle. Behind the seat packets, so shallow- it was so hard to add some leather to make them deeper, so you can actually used them! Middle compartment between front seats short, but deep. Which is useless because you can't stack up pens & etc on top of each other. Should be divided with two separate trays like other cars. Car key SO CHEAP looking. You would be ashamed to put it on the bar table. Come on for 36 grands you could invest few more bucks to design something modern, looks like those aftermarket alarms that I use to install to my old car!
When the fuel is on the reserve, it doesn't show how many miles to empty just "please refuel." I hate that. Center red stop light bounces out of the rear window and at night look like it's blinking in your rear mirror each time you press brake. USB doesn't distinguish the Folders in which your music is located. It picks all the music files at once and list it alphabetically. Another thing to consider, that doesn't bother me, but I saw some complaints, that right AC vent corner which is too pointy can injure your knee while you entering the car. Especially if you are smaller and the seat is pulled in. That corner is too low, exactly at the level of your bended knee when entering the vehicle.
Please note that I'm not usually of high expectations but those are just comparisons base on the simple brand like VW and Avalon is like the Signature model for Toyota and you would expect just little more not much less. There are some CONS- I'm not totally pessimistic:
You can turn off DRL! Finally I hated that in my VW. The car has big interior and it feels that way when you seat in it. I like the design of the dashboard- it's like the architectural student project: surface overlapping the surface- looks mature and modern. It has that longitudinal design and give you that visual openness inside the car and lightness.
Interior materials- I would say close to high end, no cheap plastics. Back up camera and automatic tilting exterior mirrors- I just wish they would be dimmed. Seats comfortable so far for me- I saw a lot of complaints that they are too hard. Pass through to the trunk: you can fit 3 pair of skins. The engine is powerful, doesn't choke and doesn't think too much when you press the gas pedal. The car feels very light when you drive it.
I recently purchased a 2009 Toyota Avalon used with 47,000 miles on it. When I test drove it at the dealer, it performed flawlessly. I've had it now for 1 week and it has developed a loud knocking sound in the engine when it is cold. Knock lasts for about 5 minutes and then the engine sounds fine. Does anyone have any insight to this problem and should I be concerned that the engine will have issues soon?
I have a 2007 Toyota Avalon, my mother in law has a 2006 Toyota Avalon. Both have cracked dashes. Both are kept under a garage and in excellent condition and low mileage. According to Toyota it is our responsibility to have them fixed. Via the Internet I have come across many others with the same problem. Why is there not a recall on these cracked dashes?
Toyota Avalon Company Information
- Company Name:
- Toyota Avalon
- Website:
- www.toyota.com