Topic: Test Drive: 2014 Toyota Avalon

[Autos_Editor]

Toyota has made huge changes to its senior-citizen-moving-vessel Avalon, and has made it a desirable large sedan.

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[hemusbull]

The car is more attractive than Corolla/Camry IMO...Toyota changes the demography of it's customer when Honda struggles.

[inco]

Very good looking car now and sure to attract a lot more interest. Lexus ES350 will be the biggest competition I suspect.

[Snowman]

Huge improvement in styling over the previous generation.

[WRX_Pilot]

The whale shark mouth strikes again.

Ooh, and touch sensitive controls!   

[Northernridge]

To the extent that autos'ca, it's advertisers and it's owners would like the patronage of well-to-do older Canadian car shoppers, this is a hopelessly derogatory and pathetic article. Imagine taking the same tone with any other vocal minority. The review of the car is fine enough but squaring off against seniors is amateurish.

Hey wealthy Canadian seniors with immense buying power and allure for advertisers, this is not the place for you to look for information on cars.

Hey autos.ca, try harder.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

There’s normal drive mode, Sport mode and an ECO mode which makes this car simply hemorrhoidal to drive because everything gets overwhelmingly syrupy.



I think this line needs a rewrite.

I don't have an issue with the opinions, just the phrasing.

[canuckystan]

Worst line in a car review ever. 

If you want to wax poetic, please write fiction and leave it out of the car reviews.

There’s normal drive mode, Sport mode and an ECO mode which makes this car simply hemorrhoidal to drive because everything gets overwhelmingly syrupy.



Needs rewrite.

[JacobBlack]

What would you guys prefer? That Tom had written:
"Toyota's new Avalon has an engine with three modes. It was previously bought mostly by retirees, and Toyota has tried to change that with new styling and new features. It is a very good car. This one is brown. The end."?

Tom brings some good insights, some humour and a little bit of flare to his reviews. He also has added context, in this case very valid context about the intended market, and the actual market for this car.

As his editor, I support him. 

[whaddaiknow]

There’s normal drive mode, Sport mode and an ECO mode which makes this car simply hemorrhoidal to drive because everything gets overwhelmingly syrupy.

I test drove the car. In Normal/Eco mode, the steering is vague in spirited cornering but in Sport mode, it is acceptable if not exactly sporty providing sufficient feedback to know what's going on at the contact patch. It's no bimmer, but I disagree with the choice of words by the author.

[whaddaiknow]

What would you guys prefer? That Tom had written:
"Toyota's new Avalon has an engine with three modes. It was previously bought mostly by retirees, and Toyota has tried to change that with new styling and new features. It is a very good car. This one is brown. The end."?

Tom brings some good insights, some humour and a little bit of flare to his reviews. He also has added context, in this case very valid context about the intended market, and the actual market for this car.

As his editor, I support him.

Wait a few years and re-read it from another person's perspective. Humour it is not.

[Wildsau]

To the extent that autos'ca, it's advertisers and it's owners would like the patronage of well-to-do older Canadian car shoppers, this is a hopelessly derogatory and pathetic article. Imagine taking the same tone with any other vocal minority. The review of the car is fine enough but squaring off against seniors is amateurish.

Hey wealthy Canadian seniors with immense buying power and allure for advertisers, this is not the place for you to look for information on cars.

Hey autos.ca, try harder.

Ouch. Hopelessly derogatory, pathetic and amateurish. That's pretty all-encompassing. I went back and re-read my "squaring off against seniors" rant. The only ageist references I made was that the Avalon emulates your grandfather's Buick and the diaper/mushroom huntin' crack. I wouldn't exactly call that squaring off against a minority, but each to his own, I suppose. Sorry if you took offense to those references.

The median age of Toyota Avalon drivers is 67. There's no denying that older people have been the key buyers for this model, and Toyota is clearly trying to reduce that median age by a few years.

[pcsp]

Had a hard New Year's Eve people? I found the review quite decent - informative and, at times, humourous. Kudos to Toyota for offering a car to a specific segment (neither I or the author are in the segment), at a very reasonable price without the need to play the ludicrous options game. This car checks all the boxes for buyers in this specific luxury car segment. I think paddle shifters manual mode is a great feature. Some manual control of the transmission is very useful over and above simply to pretend you or the car are sporty.

[Wildsau]

Haha! I didn't catch that somebody would also relate my "hemorrhoidal" joke as a slight on our beloved seniors. 100% not how it was intended. It was intended to relay a pain-in-the-a$$ sensation of driving a car whose throttle response has become so syrupy that it's no longer enjoyable to drive - for me.

Just to clarify where I was going with that - now if you don't like the wording, that's a different story altogether. Although I wouldn't accuse someone of using the word "hemorrhoidal" of waxing poetic. 

Regardless, thanks for the feedback, people. I appreciate it, good or bad. Just please don't take my review as an attack or squaring off against our seniors. It was never that.

Have a great day and keep your stick on the ice.

[Northernridge]

What would you guys prefer? That Tom had written:
"Toyota's new Avalon has an engine with three modes. It was previously bought mostly by retirees, and Toyota has tried to change that with new styling and new features. It is a very good car. This one is brown. The end."?

Tom brings some good insights, some humour and a little bit of flare to his reviews. He also has added context, in this case very valid context about the intended market, and the actual market for this car.

As his editor, I support him.

I'd prefer a modicum of thought and respect for the people who actually might buy the cars that you review. This is a (the?) major problem with autos.ca reviews. The journalists tend to review the car exclusively from their own personal frequency and make little effort to even contemplate the automotive needs of someone different than themselves.

I understand that it can be a stretch to write a review for someone from a different demographic, but you can avoid being condescending.

This issue (obvious disconnect with actual buyers) appears most frequently in truck and expensive (esp. luxury) car reviews.

And Jacob, do you really think that older car buyers shopping for a new sedan who end up reading today's Avalon review on autos.ca will feel understood and well-served?

[WRX_Pilot]

Is this certain folks' first time on the internet?  I think you're being dramatic.  Everyone gets picked on  Next time a 'bro' truck gets made fun of, I think the young here should all get up in arms.

[JRM]

I'm a senior and I was a bit ticked off at the diaper reference.  I may be over 65, but I'm in better shape and health than many if not most people half my age.  How many 33 year olds can cycle for several hours and cover 80 kms. of hilly and rough terrain that one wouldn't take a SUV over or Xcountry ski for four hours or more without stopping.  I thought so.  You see, age is only a number.  And for the record, I wouldn't buy a Camry let alone an Avalon.  There are so many better handlng and steering cars out there. Once you go European, you'll never go back, except maybe to a Mazda in a $$ crunch.

[Snowman]

I'm a senior and I was a bit ticked off at the diaper reference.  I may be over 65, but I'm in better shape and health than many if not most people half my age.  How many 33 year olds can cycle for several hours and cover 80 kms. of hilly and rough terrain that one wouldn't take a SUV over or Xcountry ski for four hours or more without stopping.  I thought so.  You see, age is only a number.  And for the record, I wouldn't buy a Camry let alone an Avalon.  There are so many better handlng and steering cars out there. Once you go European, you'll never go back, except maybe to a Mazda in a $$ crunch.

  Well said. Plus we older folk have all the money so  to the punks 

[Oldsguy]

Perhaps I made a mistake reading these comments before reading the actual article. But if it wasn't for this reaction I wouldn't have read the article at all.

My take: the "diaper" reference is offensive and unnecessary. But it is the topper to an article that is all wrong in tone to begin with. A car like the Avalon needs to be reviewed in the context of its target market. This author reviews it like the standard of the world is a Mazda 3 and everything else needs to be measured against that. Having a smooth ride is not a bad thing for many. A bit of brake nosedive and lean in corners is an acceptable trade-off for them. They don't care about paddle shifters. But the entire article has an attitude that is derogatory to anyone who might like this type of car. It is oddly written too; much of it seems like the author sat in the car with a notepad, looked around, and made a list of things that caught his eye. There is no rhythm, no theme (other than the sour tone towards the potential buyer), nothing clever or engaging that I would expect from a professional writer.

It really does get tiresome around here whenever a car comes along that doesn't fit the preconceptions of the editors.

The unfortunate response of Mr. Black perhaps is indicative of the relative immaturity of the editors here now.

[tpl]

As one of those 'well to do older Canadians'  I didn't read the article until this thread got to this point.  Why not?  Everybody ( i.e me) just knows that the Avalon, like the Camry is an old man's car and I am not into buying an old mans car yet ( if ever).    So I read it just now and I didn't find anything to offend me... but I still would not consider buying the Avalon.

But I do see Oldsguy, JRM and NorthernRidge's point, no need for cracks about seniors or anyone else in a car review.