2013 Toyota Avalon Hybrid Full Test Review

Yes, but the pricing of the Avalon HV and HiHy is such that upgrading is almost a no brainer, and with dealer lots of each likely next door, what do you think will get the better sales pitch?

 

You are older - not that camry does not skew old - and want a V6 smooth large car.

That is not the demographic that says, I want to save gas on my commute. Now maybe something will change, but that doesn't seem to be the one that will "upgrade" from V6 to hybrid. I don't think most would even consider an avalon an upgrade to a camry although it is more expensive. So the camry hybrid is $2K less than a camry v6, and the avalon hybrid is $2K more than a v6. The relative difference is something over $4K for a group of buyers that did not choose to pay extra from the Lexus that is a lot of change.

I was talking demographics

Large cars are a shrinking segment that mainly goes to those that have owned large cars in the past. Younger drivers choose SUVs or Luxury cars when there need is for the large. That makes a luxury SUV or Large car - Lexus Rxh or Lexus ESh a much better demographic choice than the avalon. I can understand the idea that toyota is starting to put hybrds everywhere, but I can't see many avalons selling at that price. It is $8K more than a similarly equiped camry XLE hybrid, and only $3K less than a better equiped Lexus ESh. If I were throwing darts I would think I would see many times more EShs and camry hybrids in the retirement community than the avalon hybrid.

When you watch the segments, people are shifting from Large cars to midsize and Large SUVs to mid size and small.

 

59.8 decibels? Damn!

I just measured my Prius yesterday morning and thought the road was slightly wet I measured between 72db and 78db. This was on new asphalt and new grooved concrete at 65mph. I'd say 80% of the noise was wind.

 

ES300h and ES350 probably have older demographic than Avalon and ES300h gets 25% of the sales, despite being 4k more expensive on average than similar Avalon.

Based on your thoughts, it shouldnt have happened.

Also, Camry hybrid XLE with less equipment than base Avalon still costs 32k. You cant compare base vs base when base Avalon has leather seats. So difference between similary equipped Avalon and Camry is only 4k, and still you get more equipment in Avalon, more luxury, bigger car, more refined etc.

Again, I have no idea how many do they plan to sell, but 20%-25% of them being hybrids is no brainer.

And you will see that in monthly sales, just like you see it for ES300h.

 

Huh.
The Avalon has the oldest demographic in toyota. It is over 60 yo. If you don't know, don't pretend to.

Well, see you in a year. I would expect much less than a quarter of avalon buyers to go hybrid, unless the number of avalons sold is very small.

 

Austin, why do you always try to be the smartest one? Just makes you sound not so smart sometimes, i suggest you stick to things you know better than sales .

see what current Avalon drivers think about their option:
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/311-4th-generation-2013/430286-gas-hybrid-why-did-you-buy.html

5/5 said they will get the hybrid.

We might see it this december or not... since it seems they currently have no inventory of 2013 Hybrid.

I dont understand why would you root for their hybrids not to sell well.. it is just weird.

 

A lot of the people driving hybrids around her are older women and men.

 

No doubt about that, but are they spending nearly $40K when something very similar is out there for much less.

Upgrading from a 4 cyclinder to a hybrid in a camry makes a lot of sense, better mileage, quieter engine, more power. Maybe this avalon will crack a younger demographic. But at least I thought boomers and older generations were buying it because it was a better buick. A reliable large car with a fairly powerful engine, that really is built for comfort not speed.

How about this we check a year from now, early months can be prone to lack of dealer stock. I do want hybrid sales to go up. You would know that if you actually read my posts. I just don't get this car at this price point.

Don't get me wrong I expect it to outsell the Lexus LSh and GSh, but not to be a very big contributor.

 

the hycam is pretty quiet. i wonder how many decibals? i don't notice the prius being noisy unless i'm coming from the hycam.

 

what does the lexus es h get for mpg's, how big is it and what is the decibal rating? maybe they made this avalon too good!

 

The Avalon's low volume, but it's no big deal for Toyota to put HSD into it since it's just a ponced-up Camry.

HSD helps attract younger buyers, helps CAFE ratings, helps sales when gas prices spike, helps with image, helps with advertising.

No-brainer.

 

When your first car was a Renault and your second a '65 Ford Falcon you like a bit of plush and she came from an Acura of the transmission blows up vintage. 2011 Avalon

Mine were a Volvo PV544 and then an Alfa Spider Veloce. I also spent 37 years inside operating systems so I guess I'm a techie. I moved from a Porsche Boxster and Honda CRV to a Prius V three. Fun for the gadgets and I like being able to drive 500 miles on a tank of gas.

We fit the demographics just perfectly.

Do either of these make perfect economic sense for us to buy/own? No. So what...we like em and we can.

 

Hey bisco, I'm not trying to talk you out of the Avalon hybrid. The Lex hybrid gets the same 40/39/40 epa mpg. It is shorter with about the same interior space but trunk shrinks in the hybrid to 12 cu ft instead of 14 cu ft for the Avalon hybrid. Avalon is made in america, Lexus in Japan if that matters. Don't know the db. No way to really know how well they used the space or how quiet without a test drive. Normally Lexus does better than its numbers indicate.

+1

Thanks. Agree that it isn't a hard decision for toyota. I thought people were talking about it being a no brainier for people to pick the the hybrid over the v6.

 

The Avalon is made in the same Georgetown KY plant has the Camry hybrid. I remember in the last visit they were so happy to start up the Venza production yet I couldn't figure out why they didn't do the Avalon hybrid first.

Bob Wilson

 

ES300h is 30% of ES sales, at around 1400-1500 per month.

If Avalon sells in similar numbers overall, it will likely sell similar hybrids numbers... is that a lot for you?

I still dont understand why you dont understand that 0-60 in 7.2s and 40 MPG is appealing to everyone, but ok.

I will just pull up my past history with these things - back in April I said that Toyota will sell well over 1,000,000 hybrids in 2012 and you said no way jose.... so ending result will be around 1,400,000+ for 2012 .

 

Actually people who are men and women is a small demographic, I think you meant men or women. <G>

 

Good point! I do live close to San Francisco, however.

 

Toyota Counting on Younger Buyers, Livery Business to Meet Avalon Sales Goal | Sales &amp; Marketing content from WardsAuto

Some cool numbers here. Toyota projects 14K hybrids out of 70K avalons. This is up from around 30K a year recently for the outgoing model. It is hoping that the new model drops the median age to 55 yo from 65 yo. I wish them luck. It will be easier to recover that market share, which they had about 5 years ago than make the demographic drop that much.

Trying to pull up a review to see how well they will do, I hit on this from the last remake

Toyota Avalon - First Drive Review - Car Reviews - Car and Driver

Motor trend seems to like the new one though

2013 Toyota Avalon Limited First Test - Motor Trend