Roominess is one of the most impressive features of the Avalon. How much room? Oodles sums it up - in every direction. It's particularly noticeable in the backseat, where the legroom dimensions are close to the Intrepid's, and are more generous than in the Taurus or the Lumina.
Anticipating use by large families, Toyota offers a choice of 3-across front seating - the old standard American sedan configuration - or the more common front buckets.
Our test car had leather bucket seats with power-adjustable features, which make them not so common. In keeping with this big sedan's emphasis on sedate, comfortable motoring, the seats are roomy, with modest side support. Toyota doesn't expect Avalon drivers to be at-tacking mountain switchbacks, so keeping the driver centered behind the wheel isn't as important as making sure the driver is comfortable.
The dashboard layout will look familiar to Camry owners, though not identical. Control location is similar, and the analog instruments are easy to read at a glance. All in all, elements of interior fit-and-finish are typically Toyota - smooth, subdued and virtually flawless.
Standard XL comfort and convenience features include an AM/FM/cassette sound system, air conditioning, power windows and door locks, cruise control and a nifty anti-lockout feature that won't let you lock the car with the key in the ignition. XL prices start at $23,155.
The XLS starts at $27,085, and gives you a choice between the bench or buckets at no extra charge. Additional XLS standard features include a higher-grade sound system, automatic climate control, alloy wheels, leather-wrapped steering wheel, shift knob and a theft-deterrent system.
Our test car also included leather upholstery and a power moonroof, which lifted the total to $29,065.
If you add the ultra-premium sound system - with seven speakers and a 12-disc CD changer - and the mudguards, you can coax the total north of $30,000. That's where the current industry luxury-car borderline falls.
The Avalon's safety features rate as contemporary, including dual airbags, side impact protection that meets the '97 federal standards, 3-point seatbelts at both front and all three rear-seat positions, and front and rear head restraints.
Anti-lock brakes (ABS) were standard on our XLS test car, but they're optional on the XL. For a car of this quality and price, we think ABS should be standard on all models.
Because this new sedan outranks the Camry, we expected it to be smooth, quiet and competent. And it was. But we had a couple of surprises.
The first had to do with noise. Although the Avalon is supremely quiet up front, we found that a bit of tire noise was audible to rear-seat passengers. Not much noise, but any in a Toyota qualifies as a surprise.
The second surprise was a pleasant one. Although it's a bigger car, the Avalon provides distinctly better handling than the Camry. There's less resistance to quick steering maneuvers, and a greater sense of control in hard cornering.
The variable-assist power steering system delivers a slightly better sense of what the front wheels are doing, and the car's overall responsiveness makes it a pleasure to drive.
There are no surprises with the Avalon's ride quality, which is superb. In fact, some drivers might find it preferable to the Lexus GS 300, as well as the Intrepid and Bonneville.
Engine performance was what we had expected. This is one of the industry's better V6 engines - smooth, quiet and powerful. Because the Avalon weighs little more than a Camry and has four more horsepower, its acceleration is about the same, which is to say peppy.
You can get more muscle from the Bonneville's supercharged V6 or the Taurus 3.0-liter SHO V6, but we think the Avalon's performance will be more than satisfactory to most.
The same can be said for fuel economy, which we think is very good for a vehicle in this size class.