Overview & Reviews

For 2014, the Toyota Avalon is essentially unchanged other than minor adjustments to standard feature content.

• Exceptional fuel economy for a large sedan
• Large trunk.
• Upscale and quiet interior with roomy seating front and rear

• Brakes can feel grabby during light braking efforts
• Cumbersome setup process for Entune.

User Reviews:

Showing 1 through 10 of 21.00

• 

  Uncomfortable Drivers Seat - 2014 Toyota Avalon Hybrid
  By Kadena - July 15 - 2:59 pm

  I have a 2014 Avalon Hybrid XLE Touring. The drivers seat is too firm and not enough padding for me. I took the car to a reputible upholstery shop and had additional foam padding added to the drivers seat. It is very comfortable now. I have had no problems with this car at all. The ride is very smooth and quiet. It handles good. I intend to keep it for a long time.

• 

  2014 Avalon Hybrid - Caveat Emptor - 2014 Toyota Avalon Hybrid
  By avalon_owner - May 24 - 7:40 pm

  Theres a lot to like about this car, but dont buy one. I test drove it, and thought the ride was a little stiff, but acceptable. Ive been driving it for a month now, and each day the harshness of the ride becomes more annoying. Every rut, crack and bump on the road is telegraphed through the chassis. Youll hear every road imperfection and feel it in your feet on the floor and through the seat. On a rough road, youll be thrown around like a rag doll. The longer you ride in it, the more horrible it becomes. Toyota at least owes us an apology for the terrible suspension. But they really owe us a recall and repair of this abomination.

• 

  Very Uncomfortable Seats. Stay Away! - 2014 Toyota Avalon Hybrid
  By Richard Hastings - April 15 - 12:46 am

  This is supposed to be a luxury car and I bought it thinking it was. After a few hours from leaving the dealership I started having back and sciatic pain. None of my other cars cause this problem including a Mini-Cooper, a Mercedes, and 2 old British Sports cars! This car is nearly un-drivable for me as-is and I dread long drives in it. Luxury car my butt! I am extremely disappointed in Toyota. I have had several others and was a loyal customer. Review Update: I could never get comfortable in the seats and I traded the car in for a Lincoln. Were very happy now.

• 

  Incredible value - 2014 Toyota Avalon Hybrid
  By Scott Campbell - September 1 - 12:32 am

  Im too obsessed with value to buy new when there are so many great-quality used cars out there traded in by the perfectionists who have to have new, or perfect, or both. I gave a test drive to a barely-used 2014 loaded ES 300h and a similarly almost-new 2014 Avalon Limited Hybrid, loaded with the technology package, the Qi wireless charger, and a few other goodies. While I love the look and the ride of both sedans, I almost went for the Lexus but in the end chose the Avalon. Why? Two basic reasons: 1) The cars I drove were virtually identical, but $5,000 more for the Japanese-built version (with identical basic engineering) just didnt make add up to $5,000 more in value, 2) I preferred the ease of use in the Avalons touchscreen interface to the point and click operation of the Lexus. While I might acclimate to the joystick, my shotgun passengers might not. I dont love the stock tires on the Avalon (Bridgestone Turanza; they grip fine but seem to transmit excessive road noise) but a new set of tires can easily remedy that. After 2,000 miles of use, including an 800 mile road trip, I am completely in love with the cars ability to provide a quiet, very comfortable, composed ride with sure handling and minimal sound intrusion into the cabin, and it has delivered an astounding 41.4 mpg according to the cars computer (yes, yes, I know from previous experience that Toyota tunes them about 2 mpg high . . . nevertheless, even 39 mpg is unreal for a car with this curb weight). The Toyota Entune interaction with my iPhone, Bluetooth and such apps as Pandora are all relatively easy to learn . . . and I am my fifties, not my twenties. I also find the capacitive controls for the climate control and other systems easy to use and not a nuisance as others have noted. It isnt perfect: 1) despite the paint protection film, the car only has 14,000 miles and the paint has a few small but deep road wounds down to the bare metal that I need to have addressed; 2) you cant input a new address to the nav system while the car is in gear --maybe with voice command i could do so?), and 3) road noise is minimal, but not coffin-quiet. But hey, come one . . . I didnt pay 60 grand for an LS 460, I bought a used Toyota. For my money, I think I got one hell of a value--very satisfied customer here.

• 

  Beauty - 2014 Toyota Avalon Hybrid
  By Jackie Stratton - August 31 - 12:33 pm

• 

  An Avalon fan - 2014 Toyota Avalon Hybrid
  By Gene Amerson - May 2 - 4:25 pm

• 

  2 months and 3,500 miles - 2014 Toyota Avalon Hybrid
  By mynewavalon - December 26 - 7:07 am

  Over all we love this car. Roomy sedan front and back with lux finishes. The trunk is smaller than non- hybrid big sedans but very respectable. Actual mileage /per gallon is truly impressive. Our friends with Lexus are envious. The chrome bezel on the dash is a negative when the sunlight hits it just right. Toyota could easily fix that. This car does not offer the softest ride on a bad road, as has been noted. However, we are city drivers with fairly frequent extended long distance freeway trips. Not an issue.

• 

  Great car - 2014 Toyota Avalon Hybrid
  By rob260 - December 5 - 3:56 am

  Ive had the 2014 Avalon XLE Touring Hybrid for about three weeks now. Im really enjoying the vehicle so far. The fuel efficiency has been as advertised for the first 1000 miles. Ive done a mixture of highway and city driving and have been averaging just below 39 mpg according to infotainment system. This vehicle fit my needs perfectly. I needed a daily driver that was really fuel efficient but had the space I needed to haul kids and sports equipment on the weekends. Check and check for this Avalon. Its pretty impressive to have a large sedan get this fuel efficiency and provide a large trunk and rear passenger space. The hybrid option was a no brainer for me.

• 

  Mixed review - 2014 Toyota Avalon Hybrid
  By S S - September 20 - 4:33 am

  Having been a Toyota owner now since the late 90s I unfortunately have to say that things have been going down hill as far as my experience with Toyota and this Avalon. I have had more little issues come with this car than the total of all my other Toyotas. So Ill start with the issues. 1) The tires, Bridgestone Turanzas are by far the worst tires Ive ever had. I finally got rid of them at 17k. Increasingly noisy, poor traction, very harsh ride, like stones. I test drove an Avalon with the Michelins on it and they were much better. My car was located and I had no idea these poor quality tires existed until driving this care for a few weeks. I replaced them with Pirelli P7s and they are much better tires on this car. 2) The headliner started falling down around the rear of the sunroof. The dealer attempted the first fix from Toyota and succeeded in getting fingerprints all over the headliner. This is not to be confused with the headliners falling down near the rear window on the 2013s, this is another issue. The second time I took it back Toyota had come up with another fix and it worked, and the dealer succeeded in getting finger prints all over the headliner and complained about having to clean them off because the tech had used gloves and he couldnt have done it? Well at least that defect if finally fixed. 3) The chrome trim at the bottom of the rear passenger drivers side window started lifting up. You can push it down, but it comes back up if you raise the window. The dealer said theyd call when they get the replacement, havent heard in over a month. Ill need to remind them. 4) The vinyl on the armrest is cracking on a corner. Toyota uses vinyl all over on these leather interiors FYI. The cracking is occurring on a sharp wrap around surface where you dont even touch it. The vinyl material surface is flaking off. Others on the TN website are reporting the same issue but much worse in some cases. Toyota did replace the armrest under warranty. 5) The radio just dies in AM or FM mode. You can move from station to station (as if in mute) but no sound. If you stop the car and re-start its fine. And of course the dealer is unable to help since it only does it once in a while. So thats my list of issues at 20,000 miles. The negatives you will want to make sure you are OK with on these cars 1) Harsh ride, better tires help but Toyota seems to think people want a car that rides harsh and handles so-so instead of a car that rides nice and handles so-so. 2) The seats are pretty firm and as time goes on you feel like you are riding on the seat frames. Poor design for comfort. 3) The power lumbar is very poor, the adjustment is very limited and its hard to find a comfortable position. My 2012 Camry was much better. 4) The NAV unit is absolutely horrible. Unfortunately Toyota sticks you with this NAV and mediocre stereo. The NAV updates are near $200 and only available once a year. If you ask the dealer, they dont seem to know much about it. I use my iPhone most of the time its much more intuitive, roads are updated constantly, and the GUI is much simpler. 5) The Entune firmware is like something from the early 2000s. Its horribly slow, and the Bluetooth setup needs to be re-paired every now and then since it gets messed up. Toyota has really fallen behind with this firmware, the apps are ancient and my iPhone blows it away, yet my iPhone cant interface with the display. There is all these harassing screen warnings that I eventually figured out to disable for the most part, but I now rarely use it since its so dated compared to phone apps. Most people I know with Toyotas rarely use their NAVs or Entune, if ever. So the likes 1) MPG, MPG, MPG incredible. For a full size car its hard to believe you can get 40-45mpg with a little finessing and attention to mpg increasing techniques. 2) The drivetrain is great. The Toyota Hybrid Drive System is flawless so far and the transitions between Electric and ICE drive is hard to notice. The ECVT transmission has no shift points and is smooth as butter. The drive power delivery is quiet and smooth. 3) I like the brakes, they have a balanced amout of effort stopping power. 4) Steering is precise and well balanced as far as effort and road feel for a car this size. The steering wheel design is also great. Very comfortable. 5) The exterior is attractive IMO as is the interior. Great aesthetic design again IMO. So the bottom line is the 2014 Toyota Avalon Hybrid Touring is a very nice looking car inside and out with an excellent proven Hybrid drive train that delivers excellent MPG for a car this size. Where it falls down is the harsh ride, firm seat bottoms, poor interior quality material (vinyl), and some pesky quality fails at 20k.

• 

  The Best Review Ever - 2014 Toyota Avalon Hybrid
  By Curnow - March 2 - 3:31 pm

  Comfort, size, economy, all exactly what I wanted!