Toyota’s top Avalon gets TRD hot-rod touches
GILBERT’S GARAGE JOHN GILBERT Blacked-out grille adds definite sporty flair to 2020 Toyota Avalon TRD. Photos by John Gilbert. All right, we can appreciate Toyota’s efforts to lift up some previouslyboring sedans and give them a dose of performance, such as the Camry, Corolla, and even a couple of Lexus sedans, and we can celebrate the company’s producing some advanced platforms and even new engines as well as major alterations in its hybrid systems. Throughout the corporate wide renovations, though, we could all take comfort in knowing there will always be an Avalon. The Avalon has always been an interesting sedan, a stretched version of the popular Camry midsize car, but always loaded up with luxury features. In its lifetime, I always had the theory that since Toyota spun off Lexus as
DuluthReader.com
a separate brand for luxury versions of various Toyotas, the company’s preferred progression for customers was to start off with a Corolla, and after a couple of them, move up to a midsize Camry, and after a couple of them, move on into the Lexus brand for something a little more expressive. Along the way, however, some Toyota customers who loved their mainstream Camrys, decided it might be a bit pretentious to have the neighbors drive by and see a Lexus in their driveway. For those folks, the Avalon was the perfect vehicle. Longer and roomier than the Camry, and with a lot of Lexus-like creature features, the Avalon was there for them, at the top of the Toyota car list. So we can excuse Toyota for allowing
the Avalon to remain constant, naturally tweaking it here and there with interior plushness and upgrading the exterior design now and then. But new chairman Akio Toyoda needn’t include the Avalon in the performance swath covering some of the other models. And then a new 2020 Avalon was delivered to my house in Duluth, Minnesota, and to my surprise, bordering on shock, I found the stunning red – Supersonic Red, thank you – Avalon had the letters “TRD” emblazoned on the rear deck. TRD stands for Toyota Racing Division, and it gained its popularity for creating some pretty incredible offroad versions of Toyota’s Tundra and Tacoma pickup trucks. When Toyota
Rear features dual exhausts and subtle TRD emblem. August 20, 2020 45
