1997 Toyota Avalon Reviews, Pricing & Specs

I love this car. It's very reliable, had personality and is a nice place to be on long drives. It has plenty of power for overtaking and merging, or just when you're late to work. It has a velvety smooth transmission and the ride is as expected from a 90's Toyota Flagship Car. The exterior is kind of boring, but has been upgraded with a spoiler, chromed window pillars and white LEDs. Dec 12, 2012

The star ratings have been adjusted for the car's age, and previous usage. The previous usage included a lot of ownership by senior drivers, who only drove short distances. This resulted in accelerated wear on the transmission, which had to be rebuilt, and probably a partially clogged catalytic converter. Also, this created a sludge problem, as these cars have a high head temp, and short trips worsen sludge problems, and even if they were really changing the oil every 3000 miles, that's about a 9 month OCI. The engine was able to be saved, by removing the oil pan, valve covers, and running paint thinner through the engine, removing TONS of sludge. Synthetic oil is now used exclusively. So while the maintenance cost has been high, and it has had quite a bit of reliability issues, it really is doing well considering the circumstance, which would cause lot's of other cars to just give up the ghost. Fuel economy and power and interior noise are rated for when it is running properly, which is not right now, due to the catalytic converter back-pressure problem. When it is running properly, 30 MPG and 200 horsepower is what to expect. Handling and brakes ratings do consider the huge size of the car, even though they are pretty good for even a light car. Looks and style are very understated, which helps it to really take age gracefully. Price is the worst rating given, even though I got a very reasonable price for this one, as most other Avalons I looked at were considerably more expensive for year and condition.Dec 19, 2011

It wasn't the most beautiful car, but it did its job. Spacious enough for 6 passengers (or 5 Americans). Trunk held 2 12" subs in a box along with room for 2 large suitcases. V6 power with 25mpg, but had an oil sludging problem. On the track, the car experienced predictable understeer. Also, some brake fade after heavy, consistent braking. All in all, a good value and long life (130k miles at time of sale).Apr 17, 2008