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2005 Toyota Avalon Touring Edition

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Rob Rothwell
Performance, Refinement, Comfort and Value Define New Avalon

Want to fool your friends into believing you've spent big bucks on a prestigious luxury car without actually spending the big

The spacious Avalon is styled and developed to appeal specifically to the North American market. (Photo: Rob Rothwell, Canadian Auto Press)
bucks? Buy the all-new Toyota Avalon. Styled and developed to appeal specifically to the North American market, the Avalon is a spacious, refined four-door sedan with plenty of polished V6 punch under the hood. From a styling perspective, the new Avalon is light years ahead of its predecessor. Its bold, chrome-accented horizontal slat grille is far from anything I would expect Toyota to affix to the front of what has been throughout its ten-year run, a very staid, conservatively styled sedan. From its imposing grille rearward, the Avalon exhibits a high waistline, emphasized by a sharp horizontal crease. Overall, the sedan's moderate wedge shape is sleek, sporty and clean, thanks in part to a long hood/short rear deck configuration. From the rear, it mimics a number of impressive marques including, according to my eye, BMW. The Avalon's high performance twinned chrome exhaust ports definitely do not bespeak Toyota tradition.

What is, without doubt, in keeping with Toyota lore is the Avalon's impressive interior and exterior build quality.

In keeping with Toyota lore is the Avalon's impressive interior and exterior build quality. (Photo: Rob Rothwell, Canadian Auto Press)
Exterior body panels are accurately and tightly aligned. I doubt any mid-price, mass produced vehicle can exceed the slim, perfect gapping Toyota has engineered into the Avalon's body shell. As expected, doors open and close with a "whump" every bit as vault-like as anything in its class, whether assembled in Europe or elsewhere. Moving inside doesn't disappoint the finicky few either. I was not only impressed with the interior build quality, but also the quality of materials Toyota selected for the Avalon's tranquil cabin. No low-rent plastics or cheesy trim pieces anywhere.
Rob Rothwell
Rob Rothwell
Automotive expert
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