an Olde to the most reliable unappreciated appliance of the last 20 years

The Toyota avalon. You'r easily capable of 400k miles of quiet luxury wrapped in a boring vanilla shell. You're one of the last over built and engineered models to show a brand's capability to the market opposed to being dumbed down by bean counters to have an acceptable service life. And your incredible space, comfort and reliability is now available for sub challenge price.

http://baltimore.craigslist.org/cto/4803268345.html

So I salute you Toyota avalon. For being possibly the most boring least capable challenge contender, that would be to most comfortable to drive home in and the most appreciated by neighbors.

I actually kindof like these.

I'm considering one as a stealth nevo luxo-barge daily. I'm not sure if I'd hate myself for going vanilla or if I'd love it and find myself brilliant for making the move

I got a speeding ticket in my father in law's Avalon once.

In reply to Nick_Comstock:

I'm incredibly impressed that you were noticed

In reply to captdownshift:

It was Virginia.

They are embarrassingly nice appliances despite the loss of soul that comes with their ownership. Every bit the quality of the comparative Lexus.

In reply to Nick_Comstock:Are you sure it didn't have a radar detector hidden somewhere?

I fell asleep 1/2 way through looking at the first picture....

I was just perusing craigslist the other day and saw one of these for similar money but it only had 130k miles. I sometimes day dream about a luxo barge like a Lincoln Towncar or similar for super cheap. I think a nice older Avalon would be far superior. My Grandma has a 2013 Avalon and it's stellar.

When I saw the title, I thought for sure you were going:

My sister has one. 2 deer, a bad driver, and 3 boys still couldn't kill that thing. One heck of a car.

In reply to Rupert:

Nope, no detector, just going six over the posted limit. My FIL had just told me to watch my speed through that town. After the trooper wrote the ticket I asked how he knew, he said he had just gotten a ticket there the week before in the same spot.

I actually liked driving the car. Very comfortable.

My daughter bought one brand new one and loved it. She sold it to a guy I work with and he drove a couple of years, until his son totaled it. He went out and bought another one.

The Japanese Buick.

Not my words, but that of R&T or C&D (can't remember which) when it was introduced.

My 97 Avalon has 226k miles and counting. Japanese Buick indeed.

No? Maybe?

[URL=http://s265.photobucket.com/user/derekrichardson/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image-96.jpg.html][/URL]

Ever since I saw that one in FL (craigslist) with 900,000 miles on it I've been weirdly in like with these cars. Late 90's was about the last of the really high quality Japanese stuff. I liken this car to an early 80's Mercedes. But without the unnecessary complexity.

I like these cars.

My mom has a 2013 or 14 Avalon. It's not a bad car to drive around. MUCH sportier than the earlier modesl (esp. suspsension). And of course with 270hp it's quicker than a lot of the cars at the challenge :)

Yes, they were the Japenese Buick Park Avenues of their day, but completely unbreakable. My FIL has one. We just borrowed it a few weekends ago when we flew home to PA to visit. While I very much appreciated him saving us a lot of money from rental car expenses, I damn near needed to buy dramamine to drive it. Talk about floaty, wallowing marshmallow. I forget what year his is, early '00s I believe.

2 years newer, about the same miles, no sunroof, higher asking price. The only time these have entered my thought process at all is to laugh at the way the exhaust system is designed to hang off the bottom of the car so that it always looks as though it is falling off. I suppose they did it that way for NVH concerns, but it looks ghetto. Maybe something that is only noticeable if you are behind one in a low car, but I've despised Avalons and Camrys for years because of this. I always think that whomever designed the exhaust for those cars should've been fired or maybe they are a distance relative (grand-nephew of a 3rd cousin or something) of Eiji Toyoda.

kazoospec wrote: When I saw the title, I thought for sure you were going:

My mind went in this direction:

My Mom had an Avalon that she absolutely loved. It think it was an 02--- with the weird dashboard. She still misses her "cloud machine". She had a wreck in it, and the body shop did shoddy repairs--- the car was never the same. It's a shame, as she'd still be driving that thing. She liked it much more than the Azera she has now.

Those Avalon back seats are HUGE--- and the JBL stereo system rocks pretty darn well. Great long-distance mile-eater!

T.J. wrote: The only time these have entered my thought process at all is to laugh at the way the exhaust system is designed to hang off the bottom of the car so that it always looks as though it is falling off.

Nearly all Toyotas between 1995 and well, now look like that.

In reply to Duke:

I know it and it irks/bemuses me almost every time I leave the house.