2013-2018 Toyota Avalon Buyer’s Guide - Reliability & Common Problems

the 2013 to 2018 Toyota Avalon the fourth generation in this buyer guide video I am going to first of all cover what this car is some basic specs and then I'm going to go into the various model year changes and how it sort of stacks up against the other Avalon Generations then we can get into the various issues that you can run into with these cars along with some resources you can use the current Avalon market and then we can include all right let's get started here as you may or may not know the Avalon is no longer in production 2022 marked the last model year and now the Toyota Crown has taken this vehicle's place however in the used car market I've tested a lot of cars and I really like this generation of the Avalon I think they did a great job I genuinely had nothing to complain about with the way this car drove I love the handling I love the ride quality it was quiet stable the engine and transmission that was on point I mean it was a fabulous driving product I did notice that the Interior Space was a bit cheap a little chintzy almost like a Chrysler product I've noticed and this seems to be a common complaint that others have had as well and of course I will get into that a little bit later but outside of that this generation 2013 to 2018 this Avalon drives almost the same as a fifth generation 2019 to 2022 Avalon on paper the 2019 seems Superior in every way and it is superior just in a subtle way the 2019s I've noticed it's just slightly more quieter slightly more comfortable but outside of that handling even the way these cars pull it's about the same and the 2019 avalance the fifth generation has more horsepower more torque it utilizes a 8-speed automatic transmission but regardless of all that the 2013 to 2018 Avalon still pulls the exact same as the 2019s and up so I just thought I would clear that up and another thing I wanted to clear up is the fourth generation Avalon rides on the K platform the 2019 and up it rides on the TNG K or the global K architecture so that's the big difference between the fourth and the fifth generation as well regarding the architecture that it's built upon and a lot of people like to say oh these cars they're all the same the Camry the Avalon the es it's all the same thing and that is misinformation and people who say that they're really misguiding potential consumers because none of these cars feel the same the Avalon feels and drives significantly better than the Camry along with the Lexus ES granted the Avalon and the es they're pretty close and as I already stated the fourth and the fifth generation are pretty close as well in the way that they drive but enough about the fifth generation let's cover the 2013 specs [Music] here the car was available as a hybrid I'm not going to be talking about that in this video I'm going to focus on the 3 1/2 L V6 model with 268 horsepower and 248 lbet of torque that's what the 2013 to 2018 generation had it was made into a six-speed automatic transmission came with front-wheel drive only it got 21 MPG in the city 31 on the highway you can absolutely use regular fuel car weighed about 3,400 lb had a28 coefficient of drag and if you want to read up and see some of these specs for yourself Edmonds has done a great job in documenting and maintaining the official specs of a lot of these used cars and I like the fact they also include the original MSRP for the time and in 2013 an Avalon costed about $31,000 that was the starting price of an XLE sedan and I will be referring back to that number when we talk about the current Avalon market and pricing and of course you had the various trims you had The XLE premium XLE touring and The Limited limited topped out at about $39,000 and these levels they changed uh between the model years and in 2019 the Avalon now started at about $335,000 so $5,000 increase from 2013 to 2019 these cars had a large trunk however one of the things I don't like about this generation Avalon is you cannot fold down the rear seats so yeah you have a large trunk but it would have been nice to fold down the rear seats granted none of the Lexus ES Generations allow you to fold down the rear seats seat as well and a lot of people say oh that's because there's a chassis brace that goes between the rear seats there are literal rear wheeel drive cars where you can fold down the rear seats they figured it out on a rear wheel drive car this luxury car they could have came up with a better solution because these cars are supposed to be practical and any type of chassis bracing they should have engineered it in a different way because sedans just need a folding rear seat especially a front-wheel drive one somehow in the 2019 though they did allow you to fold the rear seats in the Avalon just thought I would let you know about that anyway that's enough of the basic specs let's go through the various model year [Music] changes in 2013 the car was redesigned and was unveiled let me know your thoughts in the comment section below regarding how this car car looks I personally think it looks great you pull up in this nobody's really going to say that you pulled up in a 10-year-old car it still looks relatively fresh 2014 saw no real changes however 2015 this is the model year that I suggest most people to shop for 2015 and up and I'll talk more about that in the reliability section but in 2015 we get an XLE touring sport model and they made updates to the nTune infotainment system and paddle shifters are now standard across the board for every Avalon which is great because the Avalon does have a great six-speed automatic transmission it's very quick to respond and the paddle shifters are worth using in this car and also on the touring models in 2015 they have added blind spot monitoring and once again I am on the Edmonds website they do a great job in documenting the latest changes for each model year of every car in 2016 the touring model they now come with a sportun suspension however the Avalon rides amazing they did a great job in calibrating this car there is now a XLE plus model that sits between the base XLE and The XLE premium and they have now gotten rid of the touring sport model and those are your changes in 2016 in 2017 they made all of the safety Sense Technology standard across the board for every Avalon that used to only be optional on The Limited top trim now all the safety Tech is standard in 2017 and that includes adaptive cruise control a lane departure warning and an intervention system we also get forward Collision warning automatic pre-collision braking and automatic highbeam headlight control 2018 was the last model year of the fourth generation Avalon and there was no new changes however 2015 and up those are going to be your most reliable model years to choose from so that is my introduction to to the fourth generation Avalon so you can be accustomed to what this is it's their Flagship sedan that sits above the Camry and it feels nothing like a Camry it drives a lot better and it looks better as well provides ample space for everyone sitting inside of it I think it's a great daily driver that can be had for 20 grand and under and clean ones you know 25,000 and under with that established let's go ahead and let's talk about the reliability and some resources that you can use to research whatever car that you are interested [Music] in as always my go-to number one resource is going to be nhtsa.gov this website will give you four sections of information you have the complaint section the recalls the investigations and the manufacturer Communications also known as as tsbs or technical service bulletins this is going to be issues that the manufacturer themselves find with their own product in this case when you enter in a 2013 Toyota Avalon into this website you're going to find 479 tsbs however don't be alarmed most of this it's not really issues per se you're going to see a lot of redundancy and also some frivolous things like them updating like you know the proper oil to use or wording in a document so in this instance the manufacturer communication section is not that useful but you come to the complaint section there are 150 complaints for a 2013 Avalon and at first I was really concerned when I saw this because we are seeing some major issues with this car like engine troubles transmission issues electrical steering you name it at first I really thought wow this car is trash but fortunately when I looked up the 2015s and up they had nowhere near the same level of issue so that's good yeah we can't deny it I mean people have had cylinder head gasket issues electrical problems with their headlight Transmissions that were just feeling jerky and unrefined and one really concerning thing was water building up in the trunk area and others experiencing some type of musty old water smells building up in their vehicle and one individual that experienced this it was in a hybrid version of the Avalon and this is a big concern because that's where like the battery packs are and they clearly did not want their battery pack to malfunction cuz that's going to cost several thousands of dollars if that goes wrong so I've noticed with this generation as fine of a product as it is to drive there's definitely some quality issues I noticed this when I just saddened the car in the Interior Space it really lacked that robust solidity that the low lower class Vehicles like the Camry typically have the Camry isn't laid out as nice it doesn't feel as plush or as luxurious as the Avalon but it feels solid it feels well built whereas this Avalon just felt very chintzy and cheap feeling on the inside but it had nice plush seats and that leather or pleather material was pretty much shrouding every square inch of the cabin so it gave it a nice cozy feel to it but that leather quality was very poor a lot of people report that the Interior Space was really deteriorating including that pleather material so that wasn't cool but yeah clearly the engine and the transmission those were some major issues that a lot of people complained about with the 2013 and 2014 model years in 2015 a lot of that had been cleared up there's only like 48 complaints and none of it is too crazy for the most part but some people were still experiencing uh some transmission issues even in 2015 but just not as Comm commonly and the manufacturer Communications that is far less as well with the 2015s and up so that's a good thing you don't have to completely write this vehicle off but I just wanted to leave you with that nhtsa a phenomenal resource for you to do research [Music] with C complaints.com that's another great website it actually takes the same information from nhtsa but they compile it in an easy to understand format and they also include the crash test results for that time and a 2013 Avalon was actually a iihs top safety pick so that's a great thing and that's one of the reasons why I wanted to focus on this generation it's because it's far safer than the previous avalan a lot of people told me in the comments on how great of a car the previous avalan were that's great but older vehicles they are just horrible in a crash test and even this 2013 Avalon that is a 10-year-old crash test result they have really made these tests extremely strict nowadays and I'm sure all of these Avalons would just fail if they gone through the same test but whatever it's reasonably safe you shouldn't have an issue putting a family in here and they show you a bar graph on car complaints.com on which model years have the least amount of issues and once again they also show you the problems that owners have had another thing is the paint peeling that's a common issue with pretty much this generation of the Avalon and before and some HVAC problems where some of the hoses got clogged that was actually TSB finally you can also use the forums that's a great resource where people document their experiences and and any issues that they have with the car of course when you come here you're going to see all the people that have 800,00 th000 miles on their car without any issues and that's true you know you can't deny that but I just don't like the way some of those people act like they are the rule and not the exception like just because they had a great experience that does not mean every other Avalon owner has to have that same excellent experience but as we see here you know there's an individual he has a 2013 Avalon with the tech package he's had that for 10 years and put 88,000 Mi on it never had a single issue with it and that's great others have mentioned the pleather issues uh some of the Interior components coming apart but the good news is because this is a Toyota and not a Lexus parts cost should be a lot less you don't have that Lexus or that luxury cart tax with a Toyota Avalon but you're still getting pretty much the same almost Lexus ES levels of comfort and refinement when you go with an Avalon plus it's a very large car another owner has said that the six-speed transmission is smooth smooth and that's true and he's saying that the 8-speed automatic in the fifth generation Avalon has issues really the moral of the story is no car is perfect but at least with the Toyota products the issues are less common and if you're going to roll the dice on a car rolling the dice on one of these is going to be a better bet just be very careful with the super high mileage cars just about every car with high mileage is going to have some form of a oil consumption issue and you have no idea how some previous owners treat their cars one person's 10,000 Mi can be the equivalent of another person's 100,000 Mi some people are just trash at taking care of their cars the purpose of this is not to go through every last issue that you can run into I just want to let you know that there are issues and it's possible to run into them I mean we've seen some serious transmission and engine issues with certain model years and one other thing you can do for research is obviously use Google and for some of you you think that's obvious but but you would be surprised there's a lot of people in this world that act like Google doesn't even exist but all you have to do is type in Toyota Avalon problems and you have all sorts of articles that pop up like co-pilot search.com and motorbiscuit they all have articles documenting the various issues that some of these cars have and they also show you the best model years to purchase as I mentioned before with the fourth generation absolutely skip the 2013 and the 2014 and again they pretty much reiterate uh the same type of issues you know transmission problems a sudden unintended acceleration yeah that was a problem with the early Toyota cars as well as the fourth generation Avalon uh we have some engine misfires that was more so with the older avalance and the peeling paint that I already talked about so now that you have some resources and you know some of the various issues that these cars have let's go ahead and let's talk about the current Toyota Avalon market and [Music] pricing all right when looking at used cars I like to use cargurus.com because it's very easy to filter out the accident and the lemon history and the Salvage Title vehicles as well as the frame damage cars the reason why you should filter these cars out is because you have no idea how some of these body shops put these accident cars back together it'll never be back to that OEM spec so I would just rather not deal with that and also when you have a accident on your Carfax your car is going to be worth less when you go to trade it in so that's just something else to keep in mind now you have plenty of Avalons for under $5,000 uh with the early Generations granted those cars are also prone to issues and co-pilot search talked about how there were various model years to avoid like the' 05 the 06 the 07 08 2011 2013 and 2014 all those model years of the Avalon should be avoided but there's only like a th000 Avalons to choose from Once you filter out all of the accident cars and from 2013 to 2022 there's only 700 Avalons to choose from once again you have several under 10 ,000 with 2 300,000 m on it after all those resources and all those issues that I showed you it's going to be your call on whether those high mileage Avalons are going to be worth it to you or not but the relatively clean ones under 50,000 miles they're going for around $ 17 to $25,000 most of them being the 2013 and 2014 model years you filter by the 2015s and up now you're at $119,000 and up for clean exam samples with under 60,000 M on [Music] [Music] it you can also sort by certified pre-owned models but now you're going to be paying closer to 25 $27,000 and you're going to get a little warranty with the car but the other thing is when you get a certified pre-owned vehicle you will be getting better Finance rates and that really helps out with the used cars because I mean with a lot of used cars you can't even get financing anymore the banks are very strict now and if you do get financing even with perfect credit you can expect to pay like over 10% in interest right now on used car loans and as I've stated in other videos the way interest works on a car loan or a house mortgage is the banks always frontload the interest so in the beginning years of your loan you're primarily paying down the interest and not really paying the principle of the loan so you're making very little equity in the car in the first few years and that's why so many people end up underwater with their car loans and every time I bring that up people are like that's not true you just made that up it's like family you are one Google search away from seeing if I am capping or not all you have to do is Google if car loans have front-loaded interest and that's your answer it's almost as if people would rather me lie to them then tell them the truth it's the craziest thing it's like when you speak this truth you're like throwing a a wrench The Matrix you're discombobulating the minds of people when you speak this truth but it's got to be said it is the truth after all I mean it's in plain sight it's there if you Google it and find out the stuff for yourself but should you get a warranty with these cars that's going to be on you yeah we saw a lot of issues with the 2013 and 2014 model years and those are some serious issues you know engine misfires and transmission issues those things can literally bankrupt a person no doubt about it and I know people personally that have had Toyotas uh Camry's Corollas Etc with uh Transmissions that took a dump on them or engine issues yeah I've seen it and I've also seen uh my master technician that has two benzes with over 300,000 Mi on it car ownership is random it's unpredictable and this is why no other car journalist bothers to cover this stuff because all it does is get people in their feelings and it's a totally unpredictable thing and when you bring up the topic of warranties well that can be a disaster as well some of the big warranties like endurance people have had trash experiences with them you search on Reddit you see all kinds of horror stories of how endurance never pays out on any of their claims there was an individual that needed a whole engine replacement and they found a loophole to not cover that I mean that is a serious repair the gentleman needs a whole engine and endurance literally just said no you can't have it so I can see why people are hesitant when it comes to car warranties the manufacturer ones like when you buy a certified pre-owned Toyota or any other certified pre-owned car that's going to be a legitimate warranty they always pay out that's not an issue I've had one aftermarket warranty that did great and actually paid out every time it was on my 2010 Acura TSX that I bought back in 2016 I paid $2,000 for that warranty it was the hendrik auto guard Platinum warranty I'm not sure if hendri or if that warranty is available Nationwide because hendrik is this big conglomerate chain of dealerships in the Southeast area of the United States I'm not sure if that warranty is available to everyone but they did pay out every time I paid two grand for the warranty but I had over double that in repairs pop up on that me little Honda that everyone said was super reliable yeah that warranty paid out handsomely and also if you are going to go down the warranty route make sure it is a pro-rated warranty meaning if you decide to cancel it in the future you get a pro-rated amount or a portion of that warranty money back that you didn't use so I sold the car in 2 years the warranty lasted for 4 years so I had 2 years of unused coverage I got $11,000 back for that portion of the warranty I didn't use so not only did they pay out over $44,000 in repairs but I got $1,000 back after I sold the car again no idea if Hendrick warranties are available Nationwide and again that was like 8 years ago maybe the hendrik auto Guard warranty sucks now I have no idea yeah it's tough used car ownership is tough and unpredictable and financing also sucks and I'm guessing most people are not sophisticated enough or trust the process of infinite banking where you use whole life insurance policies especially engineered and designed whole life insurance policies not the garbage that sold at State farmer all state I'm guessing most people are not utilizing that to purchase cars because most people probably don't have the capital to fund one of those policies because it's almost like paying cash for a car so that's a method that's really reserved for the ultra wealthy most people just rely on traditional financing systems and as I mentioned before a traditional finance loan on a used car really sucks and this generation of the Avalon is not a cheap car maybe with 100 120,000 Mi these Avalons go for around $115,000 but again not super cheap but it is a good car so with all that established let's go ahead and let's [Music] [Music] conclude all right that's my detailed look at the Avalon I talked about the spe X the original MSRP you know which was 30 grand and now you're paying 15 to 25,000 in the used car market that's the other thing used car prices are super inflated so that's something to keep in mind avoid the first model years of any car we saw some serious engine and transmission issues 2015 and up those are the avalan you should focus in on fortunately it is a Toyota it's not Al Lexus so Parts should be cheaper you can of course use websites like Rock Auto .c to purchase aftermarket parts for your vehicle if you so need it Toyotas are pretty easy to work on so perhaps you can work on the car yourself that's that's one good thing car takes regular fuel that helps the fuel economy is decent the car drives perfectly however the interior is very cheap that tends to deteriorate on people I covered some various resources that you can use to do your research like nhtsa the forums car complaints.com just using Google to find articles like co-pilot search.com and motorbiscuit Edmonds does a fantastic job in documenting the original spec sheets and the original pricing of used cars along with how much the options costed back when these cars were new that's another cool thing that Edmonds does they document all of that and I talked briefly about warranties I mean yeah a lot of the aftermarket companies are trash uh if you buy a certified pre-owned Toyota or certified pre-owned version of any other car that's good the original manufacturer warranties are great that will cover you I had a good experience with the hendrik auto Guard warranty but again I'm not sure if that's available Nationwide companies like endurance they seem to have a bad R A lot of people on Reddit they were complaining about that and how endurance warranties wouldn't pay out on the various claims but the good news is a lot of people in the forums they've had a good experience with the Avalon no real issues and if you are a Toyota Avalon owner let me know your thoughts in the comment section below and how well your car has held up for you and if you have some type of an aftermarket warranty that has paid out or you've had a good experience with leave that in the comments below that'll be a huge help but thank you so much for watching this video take care and goodbye

Channel: Meyn Motor Group

Views: 16,664

Keywords: Meyn Motor Group, Main Motor Group, Mein Motor Group, Toyota Avalon Buyer's Guide, Toyota Avalon Review, 2013 Toyota Avalon, 2014 Toyota Avalon, 2015 Toyota Avalon, 2016 Toyota Avalon, 2017 Toyota Avalon, 2018 Toyota Avalon, Toyota Avalon XLE, Toyota Avalon XLE Premium, Toyota Avalon XLE Touring, Toyota Avalon Limited, Toyota Avalon Problems, Toyota Avalon Issues, Toyota Avalon Reliability, Meyn Motor Group Toyota

Id: nPXaNntIqIg

Length: 27min 16sec (1636 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 16 2023