Road Test Reprise: '07 Toyota Avalon

A few months ago I was given the opportunity to test-drive the 2007 Toyota Avalon for a week.
My Bride and I took it on a weekend trip to Central Texas, during which we put the car through the kind of paces you and I would normally expect: keeping up with traffic on the highway, trying not to get hit by drunks, and dealing with the stop and go routine in the smaller towns along the way.

The Avalon performed flawlessly, and we were sorry to turn it back in after only a week.

This weekend we had another shot at the '07 Avalon, and this is where my job sometimes becomes dangerous. The warning signs are when other members of the family begin to bond with the automobile. (The last time this happened, when I tested a Scion Xb, my son capped off the weekend by buying a Scion Tc.)

My wife has taken command of the Avalon this weekend. You know it’s serious when she moves all three purses from one car to another, along with sunglasses and make up accoutrements. Her vehicle was relegated to the off-site parking garage, and she directed the comings and goings of the Avalon all weekend long.

Can’t say I blame her.
The second time around with this vehicle has been delightful. The Avalon’s silky-smooth 8-speed automatic transmission is married to a 3.5-litre V-6. It is sleek, silent and agile, and shatters the old convention that Toyota’s are austere getabouts for the proletariat classes.

The Limited edition of the Avalon seems limitless—with plush leather seats, a voice-command navigation system, and specially-coated glass to resisted solar radiation.

The Avalon is also a fine rebuttal that Toyota is a foreign-made car: This model was conceived, designed, and engineered in Newport Beach, California, and assembled at Toyota's production facility in Georgetown, Kentucky.
It's made in America, baby!

My Bride fell in love with the pearly paint.
I was impressed that this luxurious Toyota looks great, drives crisply, and still gets 30mph.
She wants to buy it.
The very car I am testing, complete with 8,900-miles on it.
This is a year-old car, and it’s still exciting to drive.

Can’t wait for the ‘08’s to hit the street.
Hope my bride can.