2020 Toyota Avalon TRD Drive Review: It's Still an Avalon
Toyota attempts to shed Avalon’s elderly image with racey-looking Avalon TRD, but have they done enough?
The Toyota Avalon is the brand’s full-size sedan, a step above the Camry. Avalon has long been synonymous with a serene, quiet, and utterly uninvolved driving experience, automotive Ambien, if you will. Thus, it should not surprise readers that the average age of a Toyota Avalon buyer is a spry 64 years old.
However, Toyota remains steadfast in its commitment to producing and selling as many sedans as possible despite the large market shift in buyer preference towards SUVs and crossovers. So the brand is attempting to really amp up the curb appeal of its family sedans with the help of its in-house tuning group, Toyota Racing Development. TRD badges have been affixed to the brand’s off-road-ready pickup trucks and track day-ready sports car for years now, and this is their first real shot at tuning the normally sedate Camry and Avalon sedans.
Thus, the Toyota Avalon TRD has been born, and it’s the sharpest and most aggressive Avalon ever created, something that is meant both figuratively and literally.
The Avalon TRD gets a bespoke aerodynamic package, adding a front lip spoiler, side skirt extensions, a rear diffuser and rear lip spoiler to the aesthetics. Walk too closely and those fangs on the front bumper will slice your ankles. With its chunky 19-inch TRD wheels, it certainly has more road presence than any Avalon before it.
Of course, this isn’t just an appearance package. Much like its Camry TRD cousin, the Avalon TRD has some performance hardware upgrades, as well. To prove the efficacy of these upgrades, Toyota opened up the infield of Texas Motor Speedway to let the cars stretch their legs. Interestingly, Toyota also brought along an Avalon Touring, the top of the line model geared towards luxury, for the sake of comparison.
Interestingly, after hopping into both cars back to back, it felt as if there had been a mix-up. The Avalon TRD initially felt sportier, with it’s louder TRD exhaust and firmer suspension, but it was the Avalon Touring that ultimately proved to be both quicker, and smoother around the autocross course.
Of course, approximately zero per cent of the 2,000 or so owners who will purchase an Avalon TRD will ever take their car to the autocross course, so it has to work in the real world.
The Avalon TRD has the same powertrain as the Avalon Touring, a 3.5-liter V6 with an 8-speed automatic transmission and front-wheel drive. The TRD performance exhaust apparently doesn’t add any actual performance, however, as the power figures of 301 horsepower and 267 lb-ft of torque remain unchanged. Still, the Avalon is a surprisingly quick car, capable of running from 0-60 in under six seconds.
The most notable change on the road is the TRD suspension upgrades. The stiffer, lower springs and retuned shock absorbers offer a firmer ride, and the larger sway bars, sized 27mm in diameter front and rear, notably reduce body roll even through the few gentle curves that exist on roads outside of Dallas. It’s not harsh, but it certainly is firmer than the contemporary Avalon Touring model.
ALSO SEE: 2020 Toyota Camry TRD Drive Review - Drive, Break, Fix, Repeat
While the Avalon TRD is an interesting, factory-tuned ride, it falls short when compared honestly against the Avalon Touring model. While the Avalon Touring has a $200 price premium, $43,455 vs $43,255 for the Avalon TRD, it’s much stronger list of standard features makes it the no-brainer choice.
Visually, both have LED headlights, LED tail lights, black exterior trim, and black 19-inch wheels. Amusingly, the Avalon Touring also has a bright, shiny exhaust system, with quad pipes to the TRD model’s dual outlets. Both have a acoustic noise-reducing windshield and side window glass, as well as high solar energy absorbing glass which keeps cabin temperatures lower. In a darker color, like black, the two models look equally attractive.
That cabin may not have the black and red motif of the TRD, but it still features black leather and alcantara throughout. And, amusingly, the Touring has heated rear seats, which the TRD does not, as well as heated and cooled front seats, the latter of which is also missing from the TRD model. Those cooled seats were worth their weight in gold in the brutal Texas summer heat. The Touring also gets the premium 14-speaker JBL audio system while the TRD has the standard 8-speed “Audio Plus” system.
However, there is one feature above all that differentiates the two models on the road, and gives the ultimate win to the Avalon Touring over the Avalon TRD, and it’s the TRD model’s calling card: the suspension. The Avalon Touring features and electronically-adjustable suspension system, with multiple settings. This allows it to go from plush, soft and comfortable to almost as firm as the TRD model, at the push of a button.
The Avalon TRD is an interesting idea, but, more than anything, it’s a showcase for how competent, capable and luxurious the Avalon is, as a whole. For basically the same money as the limited-production Avalon TRD buyers can opt for the Avalon Touring, instead, knowing with confidence that they have opted for the stronger, more well-rounded package for every day use.
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