Reviewed: 2017 Toyota Avalon Hybrid

 

There are certain cars I look forward to driving all year long. Sometimes they’re tiny and sometimes they’re huge. This year, there was one car in particular that I’ve been looking forward to more than any other: the 2017 Toyota Avalon Hybrid.

The Avalon may seem like a strange car to be enamored with- especially for a writer who regularly encounters high-dollar exotics from Mercedes, Porsche, and Nissan at his day job- but hear me out. For starters, the Toyota Avalon is a seriously nice car. It’s big, roomy, soft, and rides like your grandmother’s old Buick Roadmaster in the best possible way. The Avalon is a land yacht in a time when every car is trying to be a BMW. Beyond that, though, it’s probably the biggest, roomiest, softest, land yachtiest car you can buy today … and it doesn’t saddle you with a luxury nameplate, either.

That’s right. I’m arguing that having a “fashionable” badge like Audi on the nose of the car would actually detract from the experience of driving the 2017 Toyota Avalon. That’s because those badges, fairly or not, say something about the person behind the wheel. They’re fashion statements. They say to the world that you think four plastic rings on the nose of a car is worth a 10-20% markup over what is, mechanically, a virtually identical VW.

Toyota, though? Toyota is beige. It’s a badge that’s so mainstream it hurts. It’s camouflage, in other words. You could be anyone in a Toyota- and you could be a very comfortable anyone in a Toyota Avalon.

That should be enough blatant rear-end affection for Toyota to get me on the Avalon list for 2018, don’t you think? Before we sign off, though, I do want to share a few more thoughts about the latest take on Toyota’s big four-door.

2017 Toyota Avalon Hybrid | About the Car

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  Still looks like a catfish …
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  Lexus level interior features …
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  Serious rear-seat legroom …
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  Entry-luxe hybrid power plant …
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  Econobox level fuel economy …

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The car still looks like a catfish. Don’t get me wrong, the 2017 Toyota Avalon is a much better automotive catfish than an Audi A7 or Mercedes-Benz CLA-class, in my opinion, but it’s there. That’s OK, though- the textured metal on the dashboard’s touchable surface more than makes up for any aesthetic complaints by being super fun to touch. The contrast-colored seats in this tester also looked great. Although, I was worried, as my daughter is a bit of a kicky toddler. I needn’t have worried, though- the Toyota Avalon is just big enough that she can’t reach back of the front seats without a serious effort. Enough of an effort, apparently, to make kicking the back of daddy’s seat a chore.

Score another one for the Avalon.

Finally, this is a green car blog, so it should be noted that the Avalon continues Toyota’s history of delivering excellent MPG numbers while in my care. In the case of the Avalon, I fell a bit short of the car’s claimed 40 city / 39 highway. I credit that more to the car’s willingness to quietly hum along at almost 90 MPH with the same sort of calm my Civic exhibits at 50. Which, you know- again: it’s a really nice car.

Hyundai Ioniq Most Efficient Electric Car Says EPA

The EPA last week announced that the new Hyundai Ioniq battery electric car has been given an MPGe rating of 136. That is higher than the rating awarded to the BMW i3 (124 MPGe), the Chevrolet Volt (119MPGe) and Spark EV (119MPGe), the Volkswagen e-Golf (116MPGe), and Tesla Model S 60D (104MPGe). What is MPGe? For those who were absent in class that day, here’s a refresher from Wikipedia:

“Miles per gallon gasoline equivalent is a measure of the average distance traveled per unit of energy consumed. MPGe is used by the United States Environmental Protection Agency to compare energy consumption of alternative fuel vehicles, plug-in electric vehicles, and other advanced technology vehicles with the fuel economy of conventional internal combustion vehicles expressed as miles per US gallon.

“The MPGe metric was introduced in November 2010 by EPA in the Monroney sticker of the Nissan Leaf electric car and the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid. The ratings are based on EPA’s formula, in which 33.7 kilowatt-hours (121 megajoules) of electricity is equivalent to one gallon of gasoline, and the energy consumption of each vehicle during EPA’s five standard drive cycle tests simulating varying driving conditions. All new cars and light-duty trucks sold in the U.S. are required to have this label showing the EPA’s estimate of fuel economy of the vehicle.”

Got that? The EPA assumes (and we all know about the word “assume,” don’t we?) that 33.7 kWh of electricity is equivalent to one gallon of gasoline. By that measure, if the Ioniq were a traditional car with an internal combustion engine, it could go 136 miles on one gallon of gas.

Here’s more from Korean website Dong-A. “Unlike ‘miles on a single charge’ that extends as the number of batteries with large capacity increases, the MPGe is an economic indicator that considers the cost of charge. The EPA estimated the yearly fuel cost of the Ioniq Electric at 500 dollars, the lowest among other competing vehicles.”

Putting all the technical jargon aside, what it comes down to is that the Ioniq electric car, which is coming to the US in the middle of 2017, is a very efficient machine. Unfortunately, it has a rather limited range of 124 miles. Popular perception is that an EV should have at least 200 miles of range before mainstream shoppers will even consider it.

That is a misconception, of course. Owners of gasoline powered cars don’t start every day with a full tank but owners of electric cars start every day with a fully charged battery — assuming they remember to plug in at night. The saving grace for the Hyundai offering is that it may cost significantly less than than cars with 200 miles or more of range.

Batteries are costly, so a smaller battery should result in a smaller price. Lots of people still vote with their wallets, so the Hyundai may be able to carve out a nice chunk of the EV market if it costs thousands less than competitors like the Nissan LEAF and Chevy Bolt. Hyundai has not yet released pricing information for the car.

Want a Chevy Bolt Outside of California and Oregon? Thanks For Your Patience

General Motors has made public relations hay with its 238-mile Chevy Bolt EV priced under $30,000 after federal credit, but buyers outside of Oregon and California will need patience.

According to GM media rep Michelle Malcho, the car will see a “slow flow” to the rest of the country in 2017, and the Wall Street Journal reports it will not be widely available before next spring.

As GM did with the Chevy Volt – which was made in part with an eye to satisfying regulators in California and states that follow its zero-emission rules – the Bolt is given priority in those markets, and for now it’s just the two states mentioned.

“We are focusing on this year getting the cars ready for customers … and doing it the right way,” said Malcho to the Wall Street Journal.

This refrain is a near echo of what was said of the 2016 Chevy Volt last October.

For that car Malcho cited customer satisfaction concerns for the Volt after some stumbling the first time around in 2011. Back then, cars were delayed, and dealers also were less than thrilled with limited or spotty allocations.

Also true, as GM winds down a finite supply of federal tax credits, that perk stands to stay intact longer as plug-in vehicles are sold at a less-than frenetic pace.

What’s more, getting the Bolt out the door this year to California and Oregon lets GM claim it beat Tesla’s Model 3 to market by as much as a year and a half. And, it qualified the car for product awards which it is now garnering.

Meanwhile buyers are sold on the idea of the yet-unvailable Bolt in other states. In California and Oregon, Darin Gesse, marketing product manager, has said they may get their cars “before Christmas” but no promises are made for any other markets.

If you’re interested, Gesse said the majority of orders to date in California and Oregon are for the upper Premier trim, and 90-percent have selected the $750 fast charging option. This option may not be retrofitted after the car has been configured and built. And, incidentally, an illuminated charge port is not yet available, but may be added by the dealer later.

All well and good, and notable also buyers before Dec. 31 may quickly recoup the federal tax credit. Meanwhile dealers in other states are taking lists of names on the car that has not been allocated yet.

We know of at least one reader who is having a Bolt shipped from California to the east coast just because he does not want to wait.

The Bolt bolts from 0-60 in 6.5 seconds, 0-30 in 2.9, and top speed is 93 mph for the 200-horsepower EV.

For those not so inclined, the carmaker knows demand is there, at least for first buyers, and plans are to continue getting them out the door into the next year.

WSJ