An Autumn-esque Adventure in the 2016 Toyota Avalon

While Florida was bracing for Hurricane Hermine, I was helping to liberate a 2016 Toyota Avalon from the path of the storm.  That weekend, I had an event to photograph for one of our automotive clients in Cincinnati, and so we journeyed north with this deep-maroon Toyota Avalaon from Avis to photograph while on our adventure.  Our mission was to capture autumn themed photos.  But what do you do when you need fall photos and fall has yet to arrive?  Take advantage of dusk and dawn – where the sunlight takes on a golden hew and gives even bright green trees a touch of autumn glint.  I’ll let you be the judge of the results.

So, what was it like to put 2,000 miles on a 2016 Toyota Avalon?  To be honest, it was a bit of a mixed bag – especially when you consider that it’s Toyota’s flagship sedan.  As with all Avis cars, the Avalon was nicely equipped, with extras such as a big infotainment display, dual heated seats, rear ventilation, and a sports package, complete with paddle shifters.  Add to that, it was comfortable, smooth, roomy, stylish, and had surprising performance for a car that seems to have been typecast with the ever-dreaded “old person car” moniker.

But there were a few frustrations on the drive as well – most notably the smart phone-based navigation solution that proved anything but…  Unlike Apple Car Play, which our last Avis car, the 2016 Chevy Corvette sported, Toyota employs a third party app called Scout GPS.  Not only did the app fail to connect about 60% of the time – even when it did connect, the navigation information was minimal.  The app offers only turn by turn information, but without standard options like a browsable map (or any map at all – aside from one static map that shows your entire route, reminiscent of the old systems you could used to track your progress on an airliner), lane assistance, or the ability to download offline content.  This proved a big headache – especially in rural areas where our cell signal was often non-existent – but the connectivity issues between the car and the app were just as frustrating.  Beyond my tech frustrations, the fuel economy was also only okay – with highway mileage struggling to get above 31 mpg.  All in all, the car was just that – okay.  There were many nice features, but several issues you just wouldn’t expect from a can in 2016.  In my estimation, Toyota’s attempt to make the Avalon a performance car, a luxury car, and a tech-savvy car, all while keeping it affordable, resulted in a car that doesn’t quite hit the mark in any of those categories.  But then again, if you’re looking for a car that checks off all those boxes with excellence, the price tag’s going to be quite a bit higher.

As always, please feel free to download as many photos as you like – we have sized the photos to 1080P HD wallpaper, perfect for your desktop, laptop, tablet or TV – and if you enjoy our photos, please share this blog with your friends and help us get the word out!

Looking to have a car, fleet or collection photographed? Feel free to peruse the automotive section of our website: pro.deremerstudios.com/automotive_aviation.html
Please note all photos on this site are the copyrighted property of Deremer Studios LLC unless otherwise noted.  We share many of our photos for use as personal desktop wallpaper, but any other uses, including but not limited to printing, modifying, and any commercial use are strictly prohibited without prior written consent.
Up the River with Avis – Exploring Ohio with the Toyota Avalon

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