rev up your engines today I'm gonna talk about Toyota Avalon now this is
an old 1999 avalon xle a luxury car in it's time now toyota's first
luxury car in the United States was the toyota cressida they went from 1976 to
1992 the cressidas were on sale for a long time
Toyota's first big move into the luxury market my wife had one it was a great
car it was a classic luxury car rear-wheel drive had a straight
six-cylinder engine in it but after all those years it's seen it today and
Toyota decided to replace the Cressida with the Avalon a more modern design as
you can tell by looking under the hood they got rid of the straight 6 and put
a v6 in and yes this one is showing it's age plastic pipe to hold it up because those
struts are worn out they cost so much money who really cares you could put a
piece of wood or a plastic piece of pipe like this in your trunk to hold it up
why spend hundreds of dollars just fixing those stupid pneumatic things
what a plastic piece works just as good now the v6 engine is smaller takes up
less space in the straight-6 puts all out more horsepower the original cross
it off with the straight six only had a hundred and ten horsepower while this 99
alvaon has 200 horsepower and the modern ones can have 310 horsepower so they got
a lot more zip instead of being rear-wheel drive it's now front-wheel
drive so it gets better gas mileage too now being a luxury car gas mileage wasn't
the forefront for these things anyway 24 25 miles a gallon on a highway which was
three to four more than the earlier cressid us that they took over from they
had almost twice the power to realize that 200 horsepower versus 110 yeah a
lot more power to get twice as much power and get a little bit better gas
mileage that still was something itself and of course it's highway rating in the city
you're gonna get into teens there generally you'll get 17 or less you do
stop-and-go driving all the time now if you jump to 2020 the Toyota Avalon
hybrid that gets 43 miles a gallon in town that's a completely different
machine and these older engine like in this 99 they were simpler
they had a timing belt in them and they were normal engines they didn't have all
that variable valve timing stuff that the modern ones do because from 2005 to
2016 these avalons they're v6 engine and a problem with the variable valve
timing system where they would leak engine oil all over the place I had a
customer have an engine blown the customer it all leaked all over the
place so that's something if you're looking at a used one in those years you
want a mechanic like me check out that variable valve timing
system closely if it is leaking it has a problem yeah you wouldn't buy the car
then that's a known problem with the 2005 to the 2016 Avalons they had a 3.5
liter v6 that did have problems with oil leaking it wasn't such a perfect ffix so
actually the older ones like this have more solid engines lasted longer now yeah
the struts don't hold up the hood anymore and you see a few dings here and
there pieces that are coming loose but 6,000 miles on it this thing still runs
like a clock and the interior hey the lungs are still in decent shape not bad
for a 21 year old car and it's just a hot Texas Sun all the time now my wife's
Cressida was a great car but the leather was poorly made and the seats cracked
all over the leather ripped open and I had to go get some New Zealand sheep
covers now they're really good seat covers made out of real wool they were
very comfortable but still you took them off there's giant crevices in the
leather we're all cracked open now as with any luxury car these things
ride like a dream I got spacious trunks and that's an
older car so it doesn't have a remote for the trunk you just turn the key now
you can see my customer has all kinds of stuff from here and it keeps going back
you can show me even more if he wanted no if you are thinking about buying a
used avalon here's something else to check though check the power steering
fluid cuz they're notorious for getting leaking power steering racks and a check
that jack up the car then started up and turn the wheel all the way to the left
then going on in the world alright here you can see the rack this is the boot
it's a dust boot squeeze it look around see if there's power steering
fluid coming out if it's leaking that means that the rack inside is leaking
it's started again to turn the wheel the other way and check the other side check
the other end it's dry too so this one isn't leaking now realize that that
rubber bellows boot is just a dust shield
if you squeeze that in fluid leaks out it doesn't mean that it needs just the
new dust shield means it needs a new rack because that keeps dirt and dust
from getting inside and ruining the actual seal that's inside the rack if
the racks leaking you got to replace the whole steering rack generally cost you
well over a thousand bucks on this thing so if you're looking at a used one you
want to check that first now this 99 has a four-speed automatic they are pretty
much bulletproof I've never actually seen one of these things break and I've
seen them with four hundred and fifty thousand miles on it
they're very dependable cars basically the Toyota version of Lexus of course
it's the same company they wanted to have a luxury Toyota so when they
stopped making across at us two years later they came out with the Avalons
none of the modern ones they're not giving them away they start at
$36,000 and even this one back in 1999 it was about $27,000 they weren't giving
them away they cost the reasonable a lot of money but at least you're getting
quality for your money and if you're buying a used one like this and the
steering rack isn't leaking and the variable valve timing on the engine
isn't leaking of course on this at one cuz it doesn't even have a variable
valve timing thought if you get in the 2005 or above they all have variable
valve timing the nose you do want a mechanic check that system closely to
make sure it wasn't leaking oil know even if you don't baby your old used
cars what are these avalons can still keep
going and going now you know the truth about Toyota Avalon
how they can be a great used car if you just check out a few things before you
buy them, so if you never want to miss another one
of my new car repair videos remember to ring that Bell