Used 2019 Toyota Avalon Hybrid Consumer Reviews
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Technology and Comfort with Hybrid Efficiency
Californian, 07/05/2019
updated 07/08/2022
2019 Toyota Avalon Hybrid Limited 4dr Sedan (2.5L 4cyl gas/electric hybrid CVT)
27 of 27 people found this review helpful
When technology and comfort come together, you have a really great vehicle to drive. Fitting a car to drivers 6-1 and 5-3 is not easy, but the number of memorized adjustments that the Avalon Limited’s front seats, wheel, lumbar support, and mirrors have, make it easy. I would prefer another inch or so of headroom under the sunroof as having only an inch and a half feels a bit tight. The perforated leather upholstery with air blown through it on a warm afternoon is great to cool any hot spots that different sized drivers can develop. The seats heat up rapidly in cold weather too. On the highway this car is a dream. Following the advice I received on my test drive, I set the adaptive cruise control on 75 and glide down the highway. If traffic slows or stops, so does the car, and then it accelerates right back up to 75. When traffic is light the car gets 43mpg at a steady 75 and in heavier traffic it gets a rather amazing 47mpg. Around Southern California the hybrid gets an average of 46mpg. Considering its size this is amazing. Having had two conventional gas powered Avalons and a Lexus ES, this 2019 Limited Hybrid is the best of the bunch. It is longer, lower, and wider than my prior highway cruisers; however, the built-in safety equipment has spared me from any parking lot close calls. Gotta love the birds-eye 360 degree view camera display. Along with heads-up display projected onto the windshield, it’s more like the cockpit of a plane than a highway cruiser. You don’t have to look around the cabin to check on the status of any of the car’s main systems or settings as well as the posted speed limit or the next turn on the GPS. Technology wise it is amazing, but the tech does come at a price. There are over 1,000 pages of manuals that come with the car. After half a year, I have made it through about 700 pages. Although my car came with Apple Car Play, I was told that there will be a free download of Android Auto when it is available. In the meantime, any good cell phone working with the built-in Entune Premium system works quite well if you read the Entune manual. There is much more to many of the Entune systems than what you are presented with on the two main screens, driver and center console. Only items I would change would be equipping the 18" chrome wheels with a good set of Michelins and giving the front seats a bit more headroom. After driving this car for ten months, I don't notice the low headroom like I did initially and have to rate the driver comfort as excellent. UPDATE AT 18 MONTHS AND 20K MILES - The car continues to be my favorite having had two previous Avalons and a Lexus ES, but two future problems have appered. First I discovered that the factory installed maps are a May 2018 version and can only be updated by the dealer. As the car is in warranty, I will have this done at the 2 year service, but with all of the electronics and internet connectivity something as basic as maps should automatically update through the data link in the car. Like most hybrids the mileage has dropped 2 mpg with use but that was expected and will likely continue to drop as the traction battery slowly wears out. With all of the safety features, I have yet to hit or scrape anything. However the car does go into emergency stop mode as I squeeze it into my garage parking place that has a storage rack right in front of the car. Overall I give the car a 95% but suggest that the manufacturer fix the map issue and extend the warranty on the traction battery. UPDATE 28 MONTHS AND 30K MILES After battling with my local dealer and Toyota Corporate Customer Service, I was finally given an Entune update and new maps. The dealer appeared to have little knowledge of the Entune system requiring 2 overnight stays after the updating process failed. They claimed to have spent 12 hours on it each time it went in. Finally Toyota Corporate sent them, either electronically or physically a complete update that changed the display somewhat and updated the maps. Now my car GPS is about on a level with my 5 year old Garmin. The Avalon Limited continues to run flawlessly on the road and the mileage has settled into the 43/44 range. I really enjoy the cool air that can be sent through the perforated leather seats on warm humid days. UPDATE AT 40 MONTHS AND 42,000 MILES The Avalon continues to be the best car I have ever owned in spite of the poor performance of the advanced Entune integrated electronics/GPS that came with the car. I routinely get 46mpg on my regular trips to/from our second home in the foothills. Sadly, I understand that Toyota is planning to discontinue the Avalon at the end of the product run this year due to lagging sales. I believe that the Toyota execs who stayed with the Entune system of the last half dozen years need to look into the mirror, and they will see the Avalon's killers when they do. The car would sell a lot better, if they had a decent electronics (I am not talking about safety electronics, just the audio/video and GPS). I intend to keep my Avalon for another couple of years as long as it continues to perform as it has for the last almost 3 1/2 years, but when I get my next car will be forced to go back to a Lexus unless the Avalon is revived and will be open to other brands even though I have had a 7 straight vehicle run of Toyotas in my family.
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Lexus luxury at a Toyota price
Jirrera, 11/23/2018
updated 11/26/2019
2019 Toyota Avalon Hybrid Limited 4dr Sedan (2.5L 4cyl gas/electric hybrid CVT)
54 of 57 people found this review helpful
I love this car the more I drive it. At first it felt a little too big compared to my 2012 Camry Hybrid, when I bought the Limited Hybrid in July 2018, but I’m over that. The Avalon handles beautifully on winding, hilly interstates and I love and now trust the safety features like dynamic cruise and 360 degree cameras. The Lane Departure Assistence, however is very inconsistent. The collision avoidance has stopped at least three fender-benders in parking lots. Gas mileage has dropped (as is typical for current battery technology in cold weather) from a high of 43.6 mpg all-around, down to 41.3. I admit, I drive fast and not as economically as I could. One serious issue however, I found a puddle of gas under the car one morning (the tank hadn’t just been filled). I re-tightened the cap and the drip seemed to stop. Taking it back to the dealer they checked the entire fuel system and all fifteen internal computers but couldn’t find any leaks/error codes. Also I now have a faint yellow line from the filler door down to the wheel well where gas apparently ate through the Blizzard Pearl clear coat. Interior-wise the JBL sound system is simply the best I’ve ever experienced in any car. As an audio engineer, I find the bass amazingly present without over powering or masking the highs — and this is with the system set to factory defaults. The tweeters directly behind the front seats enhance the surround effect without sounding artificially compressed or otherwise processed. The only annoyance is on several occasions the navigation/entertainment touch screen has locked up. Only restarting the car fully restores it. I assume this is simply a software flaw that will be patched when enough other owners complain — as with Toyota adding Android Auto support. Finally, beware parking curbs with this Avalon. The bumper is particularly low in the front. UPDATE 1 year later: All of the above positive driving experience remains true. However, still no Android Auto support. The above fuel leak turned out to be a factory recall issue for a defective gas filler tube and cap. The dealer replaced both at no charge and I've not experienced any leaks since. They also repainted the rear quarter panel so the yellow drip stripe is gone. Then, my Bluetooth mic stopped working and it turned out the issue was not the mic, but actually the entire Telematics unit which the dealer replaced at no charge -- which also resolved the above NAV/entertainment screen lockups. Finally, I had noticed a new creaking sound in the steering wheel when making left turns. (How's that for specific?) After much diagnosis and experimental repairs, the issue was determined to be a damaged bearing in the steering column, which again, the dealer replaced at no charge. I still love the car, chalking all these repair issues up to my ignoring the axiom that one should never purchase the first model year of any car after a redesign. The good news is I've gotten to be friends and appreciate the honest professionalism of Andrew Bartlett, service manager at Toyota of Murfreesboro. He's become the willing equivalent of a 12-step program sponsor. He gave me his cell number and I can call him any time!
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Wow, 44mpg and technology from tomorrow
JimS, 11/16/2018
updated 11/21/2022
2019 Toyota Avalon Hybrid Limited 4dr Sedan (2.5L 4cyl gas/electric hybrid CVT)
37 of 39 people found this review helpful
Just updated from a 2009 Limited to the hybrid limited w/ safety package, this is an amazing vehicle and a pleasure to drive. For low profile tires it rides well, but not like my older Avalon. And a bit more noise from the engine reving and tires but okay and the sound system is like home theatre. But what really sets this apart from my old car is the technology to make driving as safe as it can be these days. The hud display on the window is my new friend, the dynamic cruise works great and hope not to test the front and rear emergency braking. Time will tell how reliable all this tech will be but I’m loving it right now. The only issue is the height of the car, which makes getting in and out more awkward and have hit my head a couple times. Other issue is interior windows get a hazy film after several days when new. Hope it disappears like my sore neck from having to use my eyes as blindside and backup cameras on my previous Avalon.
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Can’t fill up
RickyD, 10/20/2018
2019 Toyota Avalon Hybrid Limited 4dr Sedan (2.5L 4cyl gas/electric hybrid CVT)
46 of 49 people found this review helpful
With only 2000 mi on the new Avalon, I have a fuel problem!!! I can’t get gas in the fuel tank, sounds crazy but when you are hundreds of mi from home and low on gas it’s a BIG problem! When I try to fill the car today the fill tube filled up to the cap very quickly (seconds), then it burped a bunch of gas out of the fill tube. the vent line then started to bubble with more fuel in my face. No matter what speed I tried to add gas the problem persisted. It took 30 mins to add 3 gals of fuel so that we could get back home.. 3 gals got us a little above 1/2 tank.. love the car but would like to be able to add a little gas once in a while when i’m Getting a little low.
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So far not too bad!!!
Bob, 09/25/2018
updated 04/12/2019
2019 Toyota Avalon Hybrid Limited 4dr Sedan (2.5L 4cyl gas/electric hybrid CVT)
32 of 34 people found this review helpful
We have had this car for only two weeks. There are some very nice things about this car......great fuel economy, very nice interior, many safety features, nice handling, larger trunk capacity with rear folding seats, nice speakers, and fairly quiet ride. We like the Advanced Safety Package which offers a birds eye view of parking situations. We have yet to test Entune and Apple Car Play to give any comments on that. This car seems a little lower than some previous models. I feel there is a need for more interior storage. Maybe the glove box could be bigger. Maybe there could be some more storage in the front center console by the driver's and passenger's legs. Maybe the center console storage could be larger. So far, this seems like a nice, comfortable, fuel efficient car with a lot of great safety features. There is a lot of technology on this car and time will tell if it is reliable. I had an earlier review when the car was really new to me. I would like to add a few things. We recently got 45.2 mpg on a highway road trip....which is outstanding for such a large car. There are however, a few things that Toyota could improve upon. The front seat console often becomes uncomfortable because it can hit the driver's right leg or the passenger's left leg in the knee area. The square edge of that console becomes annoying. A redesign or more padding on the console could solve this problem. I recently experienced riding in the back seat with two other average sized adults. This was for a short fifteen minute trip. It is really cramped back there for three, even on a short trip. Two people should be fine. This car sits lower and you must be careful when exiting or entering to not hit your head. You eventually get used to it. Also, since the car is closer to the ground, you must be very careful when opening the door to not hit the curb or another obstacle. I'm telling you this because I have done that. So....some of these issues are probably caused by trying to improve aerodynamics...and to correct them would surely decrease MPG. 45.2 mpg is great and this is an overall great car in spite of the things I mentioned.
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