98 Toyota Avalon XL

DAJames

DAJames

Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Messages
36
Location
Fredericksburg, VA
Car(s)
1998 Toyota Avalon XL
I have currently owned and driven a 98 Toyota Avalon for 2 years. For a 19 year old, I really couldn't be driving a better car. I've inherited it after 10 years of use, so I can't complain about the price. Odometer reads at 99600 and it is a brilliantly reliable car.

The responsibility of maintenance, upkeep and everything else has fallen on me so I plan on gathering a great deal of knowledge about all of this from these forums. I am also looking at Subaru's for my first new car. :)

Here are some pics of the beauty :lol::
http://img37.imageshack.**/img37/4913/avalon2j.jpg

http://img189.imageshack.**/img189/1753/avalon1.jpg

http://img43.imageshack.**/img43/4020/avalon3.jpg
 
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Hey its a Lexus! Oh wait it's not, no wait it is, no wait it's not. OMG I CANT CHOOSE!!! Congrats on your first set of wheels I know its not the most exciting car in the world but if you learn to drive this fast you can kill [yourself] in just about anything else :D
 
Edited with proof of ownership.

My thread got locked last time because I was a moron and didn't see that my post had to be approved. I'm still learning my way around here. :)
 
So...when did you come to the conclusion that you hate cars? :p
 
NecroJoe said:
So...when did you come to the conclusion that you hate cars? :p
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Oh, I dunno. After all, it's not what you drive, it's how you drive it. And the best bit with an Avalon is that they are practically indestructible.

Thanks for sharing, OP! :D
 
Um, no, Avalons are not indestructible. In fact, they're actually a little more fragile than the parent Camry. That said, it's not in bad shape. Most of those died off not too long ago, so it's interesting to see one still running around.
 
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Spectre said:
Um, no, Avalons are not indestructible. In fact, they're actually a little more fragile than the parent Camry.
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Oh wait .. that's right ... the US Market Avalons are made in the USA. My bad! :oops:

Still, compared with much of the 'domestic' rubbish, something that's slightly more fragile than a Camry could be considered to be relatively indestructible, no?
 
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tone76 said:
Oh wait .. that's right ... the US Market Avalons are made in the USA. My bad! :oops:

Still, compared with much of the 'domestic' rubbish, something that's slightly more fragile than a Camry could be considered to be relatively indestructible, no?
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Not really - all Avalons, except those intended for RHD markets from 2000-2005, are/were made in Kentucky. But the country of assembly wasn't the problem, especially since most of the parts for the RHD cars came from the same suppliers.

The first problem was the powertrain. It had the sludgetastic 1MZ-FE V6, the one that got Toyota into quite a lot of hot water. It's not great when your liquid oil suddenly gels in your engine..

The next problem was the suspension. They literally just stretched the Camry chassis and slapped new struts on it. What they didn't do was reinforce the upper strut mounts and since the parent Camry can already have problems with those as it is, the heavier Avalon has even more problems in that department. As in, oops, the suspension collapsed.

It also had the same transaxle as the lighter parent Camry and the extra weight didn't help at all. Transmission problems are very common.
 
Ugh... :p

We got it here as basically a handmedown, it didn't exactly set the market alight. But hey... car is a car I suppose.
 
Spectre said:
Um, no, Avalons are not indestructible. In fact, they're actually a little more fragile than the parent Camry. That said, it's not in bad shape. Most of those died off not too long ago, so it's interesting to see one still running around.
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Took this thing out the other day on some pretty rough roads with snow residue, and somehow the suspension and chassis didn't break on me. :)


I actually prefer this generation of Avalons to the current one. The current ones have an absolutely ugly rear end and it just looks like a cow in general. This is so much tidier in my opionion.
 
Spectre said:
Not really - all Avalons, except those intended for RHD markets from 2000-2005, are/were made in Kentucky.
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But Jeremy congratulated the fat men from Kentucky about the Corvette!

American build quality is hit or miss, it's pretty fantastic.
 
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