As global Japanese automotive giant Toyota started to sell their products around the world, so they developed a vast and complex range of cars, with individual markets only ever seeing a relatively small sub-set of the total set of offerings. To make matters even more confusing the same model would sometimes be offered under different model names in different markets, a practice which became increasingly common in the 1980s and 1990s once certain model names had become established locally. Inevitably there has been considerable overlap between many of the models offered, so each market has had to choose the ones which they think will best appeal to local tastes. This has been especially true for the higher end models. The car under review here, the Avalon, comes in this category. It’s not a name that will be familiar to Europeans, as the model has never been offered in the UK or indeed Continental European markets, but it has been used by Toyota for their largest saloon offering in North America for almost 40 years now. Fitting it in with Toyota’s tradition of naming their sedans after variants of the word for “crown” in various languages (Crown, Corona, Camry, Corolla), types of crowns (Tiara), or other aspects of royalty, the Avalon is named after the legendary island of Arthurian legend (as opposed to an island off the coast of California). The first generation Avalon was launched at the Chicago Auto Show in February 1994, as a replacement for the rear wheel drive Cressida which had been discontinued a couple of years earlier. Built in the US at the Georgetown, Kentucky plant, where all subsequent versions have also been built, the Avalon was presented as a front wheel drive full-sized sedan which would sit at the top of the saloon car range for Toyota not just in North America, but also in South Korea, China, the Middle East and, for a while, where it was locally assembled, Australia. It has, at times, overlapped with the Camry V6 and Lexus ES models, sharing their platform, but in recent years, it has been endowed with an extended wheelbase to position it as a true range-topper in the full-sized segment, whereas the Camry is still classified as a mid-sized car. The fifth and still current generation of the Avalon was launched at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2018, with US market sales starting in May of that year. It is built on the GA-K platform shared with the XZ10 series Lexus ES. Unlike the smaller and hugely popular Camry and Corolla, which still sell in vast numbers even though they are now coming under market pressure from crossover models such as the RAV4 and Highlander, the Avalon has never found massive sales success, as its own market sector was one of the first to shrink in favour of the more versatile crossover type, so whereas the first couple of generations of Avalon had quite a number of market rivals, this one has ended up almost in a class of its own, with only really the long-running Chrysler 300 left in the same market segment. Accordingly, it was not perhaps a surprise when Toyota announced in August 2021 that US market sales of the model would cease at the end of the 2022 model year. There were a lot of the fourth generation model in the Hertz US fleet when that car was first introduced, and another large batch were bought towards the end of the model’s production, but it has taken until late 2021 for the fifth generation car to appear at all. A large batch of 2021 and 2022 model year cars do seem to have been purchased, so if you book a Luxury Sedan in the US, the chances are, currently, this is the model you are most likely to receive. Accordingly, that has made sourcing one as a test car relatively easy, with my chance to do so coming in Arizona when several of them were parked up in the President’s Circle area at the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport, awaiting their next drivers on a day which was still blighted by a storm system which had drenched the city the day before. I selected one in an attractive burgundy colour that Toyota call Supersonic Red, to sample for a day. Its predecessor had been notable for being a spacious and very comfortable car that had pretty much zero charisma and driving fun, despite Toyota’s attempt to try to inject something to make the model appeal to a younger demographic. They have tried to do the same with this generation car. Have they succeeded?

The Avalon comes as standard with a 3.5 litre V6 which puts out a healthy 301 bhp, ample to give the car a feeling of urgency once out on the road. It sounds good, too, there being something very pleasing about a nice V6 unit. Generally, noise levels are low, and the over-ridding impression of this car is one of smoothness and refinement, but in fact if you press the accelerator wanting something that will accelerate strongly, this Toyota will oblige. The Avalon felt urgent in picking up speed at any point in the rev range, with the standard 8 speed automatic transmission making particularly smooth selections of the right ratio. Thanks to the poor weather, I did not go as far as I usually would in a day, covering just 105 miles. The Avalon needed 3.6 gallons to refill it before handing back. That works out at an impressive 29.16 mpg US, or 34.58 mpg Imperial, though it has to be observed that the car was not worked that hard in those 105 miles. Even so, this has to count as a good result.

The Avalon does not pretend to be sporty, at least not in the lesser trim versions, and indeed, it is not. Not in the slightest. It is easy to drive and very relaxing, but you would never really call it fun. There is some feel to the steering, but on the whole, the set-up still felt over-assisted to me, making the car easy to manoeuvre but with little in the way of sensation as to what the steered wheels would do whilst out on the open road. At least the car still felt secure in the wet, though. Whilst the handling will keep everyone safe, you would never go and seek out the interesting route home with this car. Better to revel in the smooth ride, which makes this the sort of car you would feel very comfortable in for hours on end. There were no evident issues with the brakes. Visibility is about as good, or not, as you get on modern saloon cars. There is a Blind Spot Warning system which was useful and a Lane Departure Warning and Lane Keep Assist system which was just annoying.

Toyota have clearly made an effort with the dash to come up with something that bit different and distinctive, but I am not entirely sure about the end result, as it comprises a number of odd sharp shapes which don’t really work together as a cohesive design. There is no doubting the quality of the materials, though, with plenty of leather, some dark matt wood and some good quality plastics that are generally soft to the touch. There is a leather-wrapped wheel, but this was not particularly nice to the touch. The instrument cluster comprises two large dials for speedometer and rev counter with smaller insets for fuel level and water temperature. There is a central 7” TFT driver information and trip computer display area between the main dials. There seemed to be an awful lot of warnings associated with so-called safety features which were a bit irksome. There are the usual pair of column stalks, with an auto function for the lights, but not the wipers. There are plenty of buttons on the steering wheel boss for audio repeater and cruise control functions. The centre of the dash contains the 9” infotainment touchscreen which is angled towards the driver, and mounted as high as it can be. This delivers the Entune system used across the Toyota range. Like many Toyota models I’ve experienced in rental car fleets, although there is a selection option for navigation, when you press it, you are advised that the feature is only available if you connect through your phone. There is standard XM satellite radio, with sound delivered through 8-speakers as well as support for Apple Car Play and, newly added for 2021, Android Auto and thankfully, Toyota have retained a number of buttons, positioned on either side of the screen, so the system is easier to use than some set-ups these days. Beneath this unit are buttons for the dual zone automated climate control.  After the slightly odd touch pads of the previous generation Avalon, this version of the car has reverted to individual buttons for the system.

Seat upholstery in the Avalon is a synthetic leather which does a pretty good job in persuading you it might just be the real thing.  Front seat adjustment is all electric and the seats have heating elements incorporated, which was actually quite welcome given the miserable weather on the day I had the Avalon. They proved very comfortable. There is a wide range of adjustment, so drivers of all sizes should be able to get the driving position that suits them.

The rear passenger compartment is very spacious with plenty of leg room, even if the front seats are set well back. There is enough width for three adults to sit here, and headroom should not be a problem, either, despite the slightly sloping roofline. There is a drop-down central armrest, with cup holders in the upper surface and there are 2 USB ports here. Oddments can be taken care of with door bins and pockets in the back of the front seats.

There is also a very sizeable boot, which is long, wide and deep, with good access from the opening . If you need even more space, then the rear seat backrests are split asymmetrically and drop down to create a much longer load platform, though this is not completely flat, there being quite a step up to the area over the rear seats. Inside the passenger compartment there is a good sized glovebox, pockets on the doors, a deep recess in front of the gearlever and an armrest cubby which should meet the needs of most people.

The 2021 Toyota Avalon comes in five trims: XLE, Limited, Touring, XSE Night Shade and TRD. Standard equipment includes a 301 bhp 3.5-litre V6 engine, an eight-speed automatic transmission and front-wheel drive. New for 2021 is an all-wheel drive model, but this does not get the same V6 engine, slightly surprisingly, but rather has to make to with the 205 bhp 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine unit from the Camry instead. Toyota also offer a Hybrid version. The entry-level XLE trim has plenty of standard safety and infotainment features and should suit most people’s needs. If you want all-wheel drive, you’ll need to look for either an XLE or a Limited trim. The base XLE is available with both powertrain setups. It comes as standard with synthetic leather upholstery, heated front seats, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, a 9-inch touch screen, a 7-inch TFT driver information display, an eight-speaker stereo system, Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, Amazon Alexa, Bluetooth, five USB ports, satellite radio, HD Radio, a Wi-Fi hot spot, heated power outside mirrors, dual-zone automatic climate control, proximity keyless entry and push-button start. Standard active safety features included forward collision warning, pedestrian detection, forward automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane-departure warning, lane-keep assist, a rearview camera, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert and LED automatic high-beam headlights. The Limited is also available with both powertrains. This trim adds heated and ventilated leather-trimmed front seats, heated rear seats, a moonroof, a head-up display, ambient lighting, navigation and wireless device charging. The Touring trim gains synthetic leather and suede upholstery, exterior black accents on the grille and rear spoiler, a sport exhaust and active noise control. The Touring can only be found with the V6 engine and front-wheel drive. The XSE Night Shade trim has everything you’ll find in the base XLE trim, plus synthetic leather and suede upholstery, a moonroof, wireless device charging and exterior black accents for the window trim, antenna and door handles. The top-tier TRD trim comes with the Limited trim’s features plus TRD accents to the rear spoiler, badging, exhaust and floor mats. It also features synthetic leather and suede upholstery and red accents on the seat belts, steering wheel, badging, floor mats and headrests.

No question, the Avalon is a competent car, which excels in being spacious and comfortable, as well as generously equipped even in the entry level XLE trim. and being a Toyota, no doubt reliable and a great ownership proposition. But, truth be told, once you look past the vast and rather brash looking grille, this one is no more exciting than its predecessors, and the fact that Toyota’s rather token efforts to make it more sporty at least in appearance with the TRD version and the Nightshade edition trim have made no discernible difference to sales shows that unlocking greater sales volume and appealing to a younger demographic in a market where such customers want either a premium badge (which is where Lexus comes in) and/or a crossover body style make the continued development of the model ever harder to justify. So whilst the Avalon will continue for the Chinese market for the foreseeable, its disappearance from the US range is not really a surprise, and it joins rivals such as the Ford Taurus, Buick LaCrosse, Nissan Maxima and Kia Cadenza, consigned to history. With current supply issues still affecting the rental car fleets, I can well imagine that the Avalon will be on offer there for some time to come, and if you are looking for a large comfortable sedan, this one will hit the spot very nicely, but if you want something a bit more exciting to drive, may I suggest that you seek out the Chrysler 300 or the sportier Dodge Charger as a car you might just enjoy driving that bit more.