The other day, someone pointed out that restoring a 1966 Mustang in 1996 is like restoring a 1996 Mustang today, and it broke my brain a little. The 1990s were a long time ago, and that’s starting to show its face in some of the cars that are inconspicuous nostalgia bait. It seems wild that Toyota once felt the need to compete with Buick, but three decades ago, full-size sedans were still a thing. Seeking to replace the rear-wheel-drive Cressida with something substantially roomier, Toyota took the wildly successful new-for-1992 XV10 Camry and stretched it like taffy to create the original Avalon.
Overall length was only up by two inches, but Toyota managed a four-inch wheelbase stretch that went a long way to improving cabin space. The result was the roomiest Japanese six-passenger car of 1995, marrying golden-era Toyota build quality with nearly the interior volume you’d expect from a Dodge Intrepid or Buick LeSabre. Something spacious that could go the distance.
Understandably, when a 1996 Avalon XL appeared for sale on Bring A Trailer, it piqued my interest. It wasn’t that long ago when there was serious debate on whether Japanese cars could become classics, and here’s a fairly normal Toyota on a fancy internet car auction platform. One look at the photos reveals why: other than a mirror scuff from where it likely just tagged a stationary object, this Avalon is squeaky-clean.
While white paint on many 1990s cars didn’t enjoy the best reputation, this Avalon gleams despite residing in the Sunshine State. From the gold pinstriping to the factory hubcaps to the interior-protecting window tint, this thing’s remarkably clean for a 30-year-old everyday car. Forget breaking out the rotary buffer – a little touch-up paint and this thing’s ready for Radwood.
Under the hood, the 192-horsepower three-liter V6 looks remarkably tidy, with just some pitting on the front bank valve cover and surface corrosion on a piece of plumbing as the only flies in the ointment. More importantly, the strut towers look to be in solid condition, and general engine bay dirt is minimal. The only unknown is when the timing belt was last done, if ever. Probably a job worth knocking out sooner rather than later.
Inside, the rich velour upholstery barely looks broken-in, the carpets look almost factory-fresh, and even the flimsy little factory cup holders are all there. Likewise, the dash pad isn’t cracked, the urethane steering wheel still looks appetizingly chewable, and everything from the pillar trims to the carpets is just incredibly beige. Between the color scheme and the bench front seat, they don’t make cars like this anymore. In some ways, that’s a shame, because there’s a lesson to be learned here.
Despite the lack of a leather-wrapped steering wheel or synthetic leather seats, the cabin of this Avalon doesn’t look cheap. There’s a luxurious depth and texture to the cloth carried from the seats to the door cards, while the tight-grained, well-padded vinyl-wrapped dashboard with its satin sheen almost looks a bit more expensive than injection-molded soft-touch plastics. Then there are the floor mats, with carpet pile deep enough to lose small items in. Sumptuous, so long as you aren’t a dropped bobby pin hoping to be found.
What do all of those things have in common? You simply won’t find them in most mainstream cars today. While reasonably smooth vinyl-wrapped dashboards are slowly making a return in some segments, most floor mats feel comparatively low-density, and velour’s nowhere to be found. That last point’s a shame because even though velour contains synthetic fibers, there are things it simply does better than synthetic leather. It’s reasonably cool in the summer heat, nice and warm in the winter, and almost grips like Alcantara.
Fortunately, if you miss these features, you can just buy a first-generation Avalon and keep it forever. The three-liter 1MZ-FE V6 is a reasonably durable engine, so long as you replace the timing belt on schedule and perform frequent oil changes, the body electronics are hammer-and-nail-simple compared to those in a modern car, and even the four-speed automatic transmission has a reputation for holding up well. At 66,000 miles, this Avalon is only starting its life. That’s probably why someone paid $6,500 for it.
Top graphic image: Bring A Trailer
Some may decry it as the height of automotive boredom, but IMO $6,500. is a good price for that car: it’s a LOT of usable car for the money, and barring acts of God, it’ll likely outlive any middle-aged buyer given a modicum of regular maintenance. I paid exactly the same price for an ’89 Volvo 240 wagon with manual and AC in mechanically good but cosmetically only fair condition last year, and AFAICT, that was also a good price: neither the buyer nor seller have cause for regret. But let’s be honest, that Avalon will run as long as the Volvo will, and the Avalon driver will be safer and more comfortable, and get much better MPG.
I’m not sure how much buying on BaT adds to the price of the car for the buyer, but I doubt that it’s enough to make this Avalon a no-go for anyone with sense.
The white on beige is meh, but honestly, I’d happily deal for the price. Well bought, and wish it were mine. 🙂
This beige velor is the ultimate in luxury if you ask me. Far nicer than any plastic crap and I prefer it even over leather. Leather gets hot in the summer, cold in the winter. Not as bad as vinyl, but still annoying. The beige is just nice — feels warms and inviting.
The interior pics of this Avalon makes me think strongly of Lexus LC500 with it’s tan interior. But this is on a normal car. Very nice.
BRING BACK THE BEIGE AND VELOR!
I was car shopping last year, and I really like brown interiors right now for their conservative warmth. One of the automakers has an artificial leather that is halfway between tan and brown. I think they call it ‘caramel’. My spouse called it ‘diarrhea’. She is not a crass person. The description is apt.
Velour and otherwise nice textile seats are so much more luxurious than leather. Regular car seat leather is boring and kinda unpleasent.
This is a good car, no doubt, but it looks a little too much like a marshmallow. I prefer the next generation.
Change those wheels to larger, wider, period-appropriate ones from another Toyota, put some meatier tires with spacers just wide enough to eliminate the hovercraft look and this is a pretty good looking car. In some respects it looks better than contemporary Lexus.
$6500 was a good price for a very fancy stretched Camry. The dealership must have made a lowball offer on it to sell it that cheap. It will be good for at least another 250,000 comfortable and fairly efficient miles.
It was detailed to make it look this nice, though. The steam cleaner marks are evident on the carpets.
1mzfe are pretty indestructible. they also came on the highlander and rx300 at the time. those 90s cloth seats are also quite hardy.
These are one of the most indestructible cars ever made. My mom had one, sold it to my brother, who did nothing to it unless I strongly suggested, meaning super late and random oil changes, etc. Still made it past 350,000 before he sold it to someone else.
Fifteen years ago I had a friend with an almost identical Avalon, but with nearly 400,000 miles on it. Shockingly, the interior had held up to the miles without any tears and with seats that were still supportive and comfy. The only indication of the mileage was some cracking on the dash and a steering wheel needing the sewn-on leatherette cover I helped install. I never thought much of the Avalon until I experienced his, but now I get it.
Nice. Wool seats please.
How is a Pendleton Edition Subaru not a thing?
Or an Airstream
I knew so many good old guys that drove those. Nice to see one still in the condition they had them in. I still see them but probably on their 8th owner trashed but still chugging along. Such a solid comfortable car. $6500 seems like a decent price for a fairly low mile clean one. You would be into a Japanese equivalent import for that.
oooooooooooo a front bench seat 😀
I miss velour seats from the 90s. Heck I miss Japanese cars from the 90s.
Avalon was a Camry for Steve and Barbara, who were approaching retirement and thought the Lexus ES was “too vulgar” for the Elks Lodge parking lot. Toyota even named it after the downtown picture palace where they met.
Wasn’t velour easier to tear than the cloth used for the seats on a similar model year 4Runner?
If you’re thinking of that burlap tweed type material, lower trims of the 4Runner had it, mid/upper trims had velour much like this. I don’t think there was much durability penalty. The tweed seats seemed to wear worse, as it waspaired with vinyl on the seat sides, and the stitching between the two materials seems to be a failure point.
Don’t fear the velour.
The velour seats in my Legacy had over 270k on them and looked like new minus some abrasion on the outer bolster piping.
When new, the concensus was that Toyota had built a better Buick than GM had in decades. A luxury car for those who did not need a badge.
They certainly all drove like Buicks. Vaguely nautical.
I miss good cloth seats, though I much prefer the tweed that VW was fond of to velour.
One word: plaid.
Good plaids are excellent! Now you are making me miss my GTI Sport. Sigh. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid to sell that car.
That’s still my take on the Avalon as the apotheosis of the 2000-2005 Buick LeSabre. A coworker had one because he wanted more shoulder room than a Camry.
The Zap Brannigan edition.
That’s what wraps are for,
My high school girlfriend had a 96 Avalon.
I do not wonder at all why automakers ditched velour.
I’d bitch about the touchscreen head unit, but the backup camera is a nice addition. I’d maybe try to find a set of 16″ BBS wheels (gold centers, of course) and definitely fix the droopy headliner, but other than that it’s perfect.
The thing about ’90s cars is that you don’t really need a backup camera, because you can usually see out of them just fine. I prefer the ones that use the rearview mirror as the display though.
Yes, looking back-and-forth sucks
I didn’t realize what a pain in the ass it was to have a key that you have to use to unlock the doors and start the car. Fumbling around in my purse for a key is a thing of the past with proximity keys.
Ladies of a certain age remember being taught to get your key ready while still in the store, not by opening your purse in the parking lot. You might have laced your keys in between your fingers, just in case you needed a weapon.
This is the car that seriously casts the entire business case for all of Lexus into a questioning light. If you can have this, why bother with the Lexus for thousands more?
Because with Lexus you get free loaners, free coffee, and that sweet “I own a Lexus” feeling that can’t be had at the Toyota store.
My mom briefly worked at a mitsu dealership. They had a popcorn machine on the floor and it absolutely blew my mind.
Oh yeah, they should have put it on a table or countertop!
The Jeep dealership by me has essentially a small free convenience store inside. Slushies, soda, coffee, chips, etc. It’s crazy.
That’s cuz jeep people spend a lot of time in the service dept.
Really you’re buying unlimited snacks, the car is just a bonus.
…and in gas stations.
I used to work for an old guy who drove an Avalon, his boss drove the Lexus, he once shouted at her in the parking garage “that’s a nice expensive Avalon you’ve got there” as we rolled past.
Yes and…Avalon was a special case. It was a fancy Toyota. As was/is Lexus. While there was nothing wrong with the Avalon, it’s a surprise that it existed. Maybe for certain folks (local officials, school principals) that don’t want to raise eyebrows driving a “luxury” car.
Until quite recently, anything sold as a Lexus was just a Toyota just about everywhere else in the world. Americans are a gullible lot who will pay more for a name.
Thank goodness the rest of humanity isn’t gullible!!
Americans are a special sort of special. Sort of an inverse Lake Woebegon these days – seems like most are below average. Or at least, the average is really, really low.
And I’m assuming that you are one of the lucky ones who are above average.
I wouldn’t call it luck. I have always figured I would be a whole lot happier if I was a whole lot dumber. Dumb people generally seem like very happy sorts. Not much ever bothers them.
Curious then that anxiety is so high if everyone is dumb as you claim.
It’s helpful to define large swaths of a population as dumb in order to search for a final solution to deal with them.
No need, humanity is globally final solutioning itself just fine. I really could not care less, never had any interest in breeding. Did my part for Mother Nature that way. 30ish more years and I won’t give a shit what happens on this planet, because I won’t be on it anymore.
The best thing that could happen to this planet is a legit plague. Would be a much nicer place with about 80% fewer humans. If I end up on the losing end of that, oh well, I’ve had a decent run.
“Americans are a gullible lot who will pay more for a name”
Weird you’d use this to insult a car brand with generally low deprecation and high quality sold for less than most comparable luxury brands.
To me, this gullibility is 95% of why German luxury marques are successful here.
Lexus are fine cars. They just generally aren’t all that interesting to me, and I find it sad that to appeal to Americans they had to give them a made up name. The Germans did not need to do that. Nor did the Japanese for most other markets. That says more about Americans than it does the cars. I also find it hilarious that Americans think German cars that were literally sold as taxis in other markets were “luxury cars”. I don’t find anything particularly luxurious about my BMWs, they are just nicely built cars that drive properly.
German cars jumped the shark a long time ago – they aren’t what they once were for sure. Lexus are just what they always have been fancy Toyotas. Emphasis on Toyota for better and for worse.
Yeah, I see where you’re coming from on that. Useful elaboration, thanks.
Well, Lexus are now Toyota’s luxury brand in their native Japan, too. Only the Crown and Century (and Land Cruiser) continue as fancy Toyotas. Turns out people everywhere want something that makes them feel special.
Took them 20+ years to bother. And the fact that thier BEST products remain Toyotas speaks volumes to me.
If your product is good enough, it seems foolish to me to have to create a fake fancier brand to sell it to fools.
These were great cars, and certainly far better than any equivalent class GM cars. But my LS400 is in a different league than this Avalon.
But is the ES300?
Sort of. I don’t know this generation, but my ex has an ES350 and I had (thankfully, briefly) the same generation Camry, a loaded SE (last generation that were based on each other before the ES was based on the larger Avalon, even if they were all really based on the same thing). The Camry was horrifyingly bad to drive in every way and uncomfortable to boot. The “upgrade” leather power seats would have served the Spanish Inquisition well, and not the Monty Python version. The build, ride quality, materials, and comfort of the ES made it feel like it was at least 2 classes higher end. I had formerly dismissed them as rebadged Camrys for people who want a higher status badge, but after driving them nearly back to back, I would never have guessed they were largely the same car underneath.
“This is the car that seriously casts the entire business case for all of Lexus into a questioning light”
All of Lexus? As a GS350 owner I call immediate bullshit on that take. SC, IS, LS, and LC owners would as well.
In today’s world that’s an acceptable price, if you really dig on Avalons. There’s a BHPH lot near me selling a 2000 Sienna LE, with 160k miles, for $5000. Now that’s an insane price for a 26 year old minivan (it is quite clean I suppose): https://denver.craigslist.org/ctd/d/denver-2000-toyota-sienna-le/7923777389.html
That’s a clean van, it would easily bring 5k in my neck of the woods.
Yep. $5000 car today is essentially a $2000 car of 5 or 6 years ago
No matter to me if the buyer thinks it is collectible or if they want a good daily driver. This is a steal of a deal. Add a few thou for a timing belt/water pump service and maybe some tires, if all that hasn’t been done, and you have a car you can daily drive for 10-15 years for under ten grand. Well bought!
Yup, that was a great price for grandma’s car. Easily 10 to 20 years left in it.
Many years ago the automotive columnist for my city’s newspaper called this “The best Buick Toyota ever made.”
“Automotive columnist” and “city newspaper” are enough for us to know this was many years ago, sadly.
It’s now the Bezos newspaper, eyeroll. “Democracy dies in darkness” they say. The Op-Ed page is straight out of Fox News now. Thankfully I’m not paying for it, and I will let my Prime subscription lapse when its due in Oct.
For reasons I won’t get into, I recently downloaded my entire amazon purchase history dating back to 2008. Based on my spend, I can understand why it’s the most profitable company in the world.
The sheer amount of stuff that has come from Amazon for my new house is horrifying. But there is literally nowhere local to buy much of any of it, for any price.
This here. I hate it, but any time I try to go local, they likely don’t have what I’m looking for, it requires going to multiple stores, and costs 3 times the price. Paying a little more money for local, OK, but the price differences are often huge. Same with smaller websites, but then I also get hammered by daily spam from every new damn place I try. Unsubscribe, they come back, send them to junk mail, about half still get past the filter. I get spam from sites I haven’t ordered from in a decade or more, some of which aren’t the kinds of places one would expect to buy from often, like a place that sells fancy light fixtures.
Right. And whenever I embark on some dumb project (ie: making a detergent pump for the washer), i can either get all the random widgets like countdown relays for a couple bucks on amazon, or fire up my time machine and go to radio shack. I honestly don’t know where else I could go to find all the random parts
In Portland, ME I was lucky enough to have a little local electrical distributor that had a lot of the sort of stuff Rat Shack had for not unreasonable prices. But I have yet to find such a place in FL. There is probably one in Tampa, but that’s 2hrs away.
more and more often, some of the local brands I shop have Amazon storefronts or use Amazon for credit card processing and shipping.
You really can’t beat them for logistics. Cheaper and easier to just give them a cut and let them do those backend functions for you.