Posts Tagged "Toyota"

It feels like we’ve seen the Toyota Avalon before, not only because it was previewed at the New York Auto Show earlier this year, but also because it incorporates so many industry-standard features.

It would be unkind to call it a clone of anything in particular and it actually manages to create its own personality, even if it is inoffensively handsome rather than truly memorable.

Toyota has wisely moved this car to the increasingly popular semi-coupe fastback end of the sedan spectrum and in doing so has infused it with shades of Audi A7 and a smidge of VW CC but has largely managed to make it all hang together in a way that many of its recent efforts have failed.

Some have criticized its DRG but actually the lower grille is less dominant at standing hight than the images suggest and it gives a genuinely distinctive nose. And while the proportions of the Avalon are hobbled by its FWD architecture, the surface resolution is very good – certainly better than any of the current Lexus models.

The interior is very similar in theme to the latest Lexus GS with a very strong horizontal orientation that is given driver focus not by wrapping the controls around him but by the creation of layers of controls all along the horizontal axis. Perceived quality is poor in parts with plenty of hard plastics but then its competitors are little better and are less inviting.

Overall it’s a surprisingly appealing package that feels more like a cut-price Lexus than a fancy Toyota.

By Owen Ready

It’s easy to forget in the burgeoning world of CUVs that Toyota’s original 1996 RAV4 effectively gave birth to the segment. It proved not only a huge sales success but also a massive inspiration to other manufacturers who scrambled to catch up.

Throughout its next two generations, the RAV4 eschewed the jacked-up, car-like, hatchback forms that many C-segment SUVs have taken on. It retained a softer, more leisure image and the distinctive spare wheel hung from the back door. It also sold well as a 3-door, to people who bought one instead of small coupes.

Generation four has just been unveiled here in LA and it’s all change for the RAV4’s personality. Gone is the distinctive style, the rear-door mounted spare wheel, the softer edged styling. In its place a generic amalgamation of SUV parts, that’s no more distinct than rival SUVs from Mazda, Hyundai and Mitsubishi to name but a few.

It’s easy to understand the company’s thinking. The RAV4 now aims at the sweet spot of the market and it’s got more of a formal, upmarket image. Presumably, the company hopes this will allow models higher in the range to compete with premium, German opposition.

Yet, despite the Germans being fairly weak in this segment and the fact Korean and other Japanese opposition show little in the way of innovation, the RAV4 is a luke-warm effort.

It’s well packaged with a thematically interesting interior, but the exterior form features surfacing and detail execution that’s sloppy at best. Perceived quality in the interior is poor enough to undermine the design theme thanks to hard plastics, sharp edges, cheap metal-look fillets that are oh-so-obviously plastic. And that’s before we get to one of the cheapest-feeling steering wheels we’ve ever held.

Sales of other products in the segment show that customers perhaps care less about this kind of stuff than we do. But for a nameplate that was so original and that has had so much personality in its back pocket, it’s a real shame to see Toyota going down the ‘me-too’ path with this car. In its static form, it brings nothing standout or original to a now very crowded class.

by Joe Simpson