Lexus ESh vs Avalon limited?

[ImcLoud]

So I want to buy my wife a new car, she will only drive Hybrids, lol and I tried to talk her into a lexus 600h but she went out of her way to say 23mpg was insulting and she wouldn't drive it... Keep in mind she drives a loaded down 2013 rubicon when ever its snowing or there is snow in sight or forecast, so most of our winter and that gets 15mpg, lol....

BUT ANYWAY it makes her feel better to drive her prius when weather permits... I brought up the hybrid camry and she said it what ever she got would need to get at least 40mpg... SO the Hyrbid avalon fits the bill...

I went with a friend of mine tonight to the dealer ship I deal with {we have lots of toyotas} and they gave me a price of $38K for this avalon H that has every single option you can think of.. All the factory options like phone charging mat, power rear sun shade {yes this sun shade moves up and down the window with a button}, power roof, heated and cooled seats front and back, leather and wood, ect, plus the remote starter, paint protector panels, locking lugs, tinted windows, floor mats, ect ect ect The mod and option list is checked in every single spot, its even a pay paint color... The sticker price is $48,270 so that should show you how many options it has since the max msrp on the website is $44K... Anyway its a nice car...

So we leave the car lot and my Jon says "lets stop in lexus".. So its 3 miles up the road and I had no where to be so we stopped in... I have never dealt with this company before {not lexus that particular dealer}, I asked if they had any es hybrids and they had 3, seems like there are not as many options and the car is $47K they will deal a little bit, seems like I can get it for around $42K...

My wifes trade current car would be moved onto the business and used as parts chaser or I'll figure out something for it until it dies, it has 60K miles on it and they seem to be good for $200K+ so I don't see the point in trading it in, they will give me around $12K for it, and I know the cars history, its dealer maintained {only one of my vehicles I don't let the guys change the oil in since toyota only charges $12, it costs me more than that in labor, lol}, plus I just had a bunch of work done to it, the dealer did the 60K mile service then I did new tires, brakes, belts, hoses, and a brand new optima accessory battery, I bought all the parts and had my mechanic do the work so it cost under $600 for the battery, all the brake pads, 4 hoses, a belt, coolant, and new tires!!! That is so cheap I was shocked, I figured the battery would be $400 alone...


So what would you do, avalon hybrid or lexus hybrid , they are about the same car, the lexus has more wood in the interior, the avalon has more options and more gadgets.. They look almost identical... I didnt drive the lexus but I was told the drive the exact same too... same drive line... I am not one to care about how the brand makes me look, so I could care less if the car says lexus or toyota, and my wife feels the same way {actually she is worse than me, she used to say she was embarrassed to drive my BMW because she felt like people thought she was trying to prove something? I don't know, but she can have any car in the world, if she said she wanted a Tesla S I would get one delivered tomorrow morning, but she doesn't like fancy cars... I think she would like either the lexus or the toyota since lexus isnt really considered one of the "expensive" cars, its like an Acura or Infinity, middle of the road luxury...

 

[Irvrobinson]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......snort

Oh, excuse me, this thread put me to sleep! [rubs eyes]

It sounds like the Avalon is the better choice.

 

[Irvrobinson]

On second thought, tell your wife the other Irv says a Porsche 911 GT3 would be a far better choice.

 

[ImcLoud]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......snort

Oh, excuse me, this thread put me to sleep! [rubs eyes]

It sounds like the Avalon is the better choice.

It will have pics soon... just didn't get to that part yet, have to figure out which way to go first... I am leaning towards the avalon, resale value seems to be in the favor of the lexus, but its hard to tell...

As far as the porche... she would want the 911 Turbo S, at least that one gets 25mpg, I think the gt3 is under 20mpg, although the gt3 is $50K cheaper than the S that will buy a lot of gas...

 

[Irvrobinson]

I fell asleep, Irv, because the cars you were discussing are so boring I couldn't stay awake!

The Turbo S is nice too, and has a back seat for the kids, or you when you're misbehaving.

 

[ImcLoud]

I fell asleep, Irv, because the cars you were discussing are so boring I couldn't stay awake!

The Turbo S is nice too, and has a back seat for the kids, or you when you're misbehaving.

Irv you would have to cut me in half to fit in the front of that porche, getting me into the rear would take cutting me into quarters...

Porche does have a hybrid that is over 400hp and gets like 40mpg, I don't remember the model , but I seen it at the NY autoshow, my wife was with me and it was parked under a sign that said something like "pushing the limits starts by pushing this button" I remember thinking you are porche, you made a 400hp 40mpg vehicle, and thats the slogan? WTF, I can think of something better than that...

I wish my wife would like to drive something fun, I bought her a Honda S2000 a few years back, she drove it ONE SUMMER, and told me to get rid of it before winter came!!!! That car was fun, most women would kill for a little summer ride like that, she drove put 1200 miles on it... I got a crazy deal on it so only lost about $1500 giving it back to a different dealer in a sale {didn't trade because she didnt want another car}, but the s2000 was being cancelled and tough to find and they had someone looking for one and paid me all the money for it... Plus I had my mechanic add a cold air kit, exhaust system, and stereo system, so for me not to lose 10K on that car was a blessing!!!!

But anyway, yah she doesn't like flashy cars.. She always says she would rather have another diamond, lol than an expensive car... The girl is warped, but she says her diamonds are always worth what they are worth, cars are worthless after a while.. Makes no sense to me but I think she figures if she ever needs money she can call a broker and sell off some stones... I dont know, she is different for sure... My brother just bought a F-type convertible, its preowned has 11,000 miles on it and its a 2014, its a sexy little car, and my wife was all over it, loved it, took it for a ride, talked about it all day... So I said "you want that car, I'll buy it off of him" when he seen she liked it, knowing she doesn't usually act like that, he said I could have the car if she wanted it... she said "don't you dare, I just wanted your brother to feel good about his new car"...

 

[Irvrobinson]

I was just funning with you, Irv. For you, the Panamera would be the Porsche of choice. The CEO at the time of its design was a big guy like you, and wouldn't approve it unless he could sit in the back seat comfortably.

Seriously, I'm still thinking the Avalon sounds like a better deal.

 

[ImcLoud]

I was just funning with you, Irv. For you, the Panamera would be the Porsche of choice. The CEO at the time of its design was a big guy like you, and wouldn't approve it unless he could sit in the back seat comfortably.

Seriously, I'm still thinking the Avalon sounds like a better deal.

LOL, I seen the panerama but it seems like its not a porche to me... I am thinking the avalon is the way to go also...

 

[jinjuku]

I would see what the resale value looks like. I would also look to see if the extra features on the Avalon would make for a more comfortable driving experience.

I'm not a car person as I don't see the value when I currently put 4K a year on them. When my daughter starts school it will drop to 1.5K or less.

If you are going to sell at some point and the extra features aren't of benefit the Lexus may be a better buy.

 

[ImcLoud]

The resale values are hard to tell, the lexus sells for more but the lexus dealers wont come down as much on the price... I have to do a little shopping around..

This one sold for $32500 it is almost identical except the one I got a price on has all the dealership options like remote start, tinted windows, paint protectors, floor mats, that add up another 4K onto p of the msrp from toyota, plus this one on ebay has a dirty car fax, the front nd was hit, its shows pics of the damage before it was fixed...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toyota-Avalon-Avalon-Limited-Hybrid-2013-toyota-avalon-hybrid-limited-only-8-k-miles-demo-on-/171345247926?forcerrptr=true&hash=item27e4f8feb6&item=171345247926&pt=US_Cars_Trucks

there is only one other 2013 on there that has 20K miles and is similar it sold for $34,200.... SO the resale value seems to stand up pretty well, after a couple years and 20K miles any car is going to lose 20%, I figure 10% a year for the first 4 years, I haven't kept many cars longer than 4 years...

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

If you wife cares about the environment and looking for comfortable and safe sedan - you simply can't do any better than Tesla S
Both Avalon and Lesus ES are extremely boring cars. Hybrid is often meaningless, especially on highways - in fact due to additional weight it makes highway mileage worse

btw: Nothing holds value like Honda/Acura and Honda Accord has hybrid plug-in version which has highest MPG in it's class
Honda Accord - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But even without hybrid - Honda's excellent 4 cylinder vtec engines among the best in industry for efficiency

 

[ImcLoud]

If you wife cares about the environment and looking for comfortable and safe sedan - you simply can't do any better than Tesla S
Both Avalon and Lesus ES are extremely boring cars. Hybrid is often meaningless, especially on highways - in fact due to additional weight it makes highway mileage worse

btw: Nothing holds value like Honda/Acura and Honda Accord has hybrid plug-in version which has highest MPG in it's class
Honda Accord - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But even without hybrid - Honda's excellent 4 cylinder vtec engines among the best in industry for efficiency

A agree, I wanted to get her a tesla, she thinks its too flashy and it doesn't help our neighbor bought one {its sexy for sure} and it caught on fire shortly after he bought it, lol... So that nailed the tesla coffin up pretty tight...

The Honda's have had issues with their hybrids since day one, toyota hybrids have been solid since gen 2-3, even the gen1's go for 200K miles with out issue... I feel honda has gone down hill in recent years.... Out of all the hybrids it seems yoda has the best stuff.. The milage isn't as high as the honda, BUT I wont buy her something that I don't have good faith in. Toyota hasn't let me down, much....

As far as the hybrid goes, I want her to have a nice car, having her drive a prius kills me, not because its a toyota but because its a tiny roller skate... I don't even fit in the car!!! Literally, I can not get it in, I have to get lower than the car and put it on like a jacket, then once I am in, I can not drive it because my size 16 feet don't fit where the pedals are, I even tried taking off my shoes once time, she parked behind me and I had to move it, I ended up just putting it in neutral and pushing it onto the grass to get by, I can not drive it to save my life, I would have to remove the front seat and sit in the back...
So her having an avalon or ESh would at least give me the option of driving it when I needed to... The avalon with the gas engine and no hybrid gets around 20mpg less than the hybrid version, comparing the avalon with all the same options in hybrid and no hybrid is only a couple thousand dollars difference, she drives 100 miles per day {not a lot of highway on her trip} 4 days per week, so just using the 400 miles that she travels for work {never mind the other 3 days running the kids around to football and what ever else she has to do} the $1800 price difference between the hybrid and normal car is made up in the first year... Keep the car for 4 years and it made you $6000 plus paid for its larger initial investment... Now if you don't put a lot of miles on them, then its not really worth it... She obviously cares more about her foot print than the bottom dollar BUT I have to know it makes sense financially too...
Now if she wanted a proche it wouldn't have to make as much sense, because now it falls into toyland, and i think I would just be so surprised she would drive it I would just buy it...

 

[Matt34]

VW Passat TDI?

 

[Sheep]

LOL, I seen the panerama but it seems like its not a porche to me... I am thinking the avalon is the way to go also...

Drive it. It's a beast.

SheepStar

 

[Sheep]

A agree, I wanted to get her a tesla, she thinks its too flashy and it doesn't help our neighbor bought one {its sexy for sure} and it caught on fire shortly after he bought it, lol... So that nailed the tesla coffin up pretty tight...

The Honda's have had issues with their hybrids since day one, toyota hybrids have been solid since gen 2-3, even the gen1's go for 200K miles with out issue... I feel honda has gone down hill in recent years.... Out of all the hybrids it seems yoda has the best stuff.. The milage isn't as high as the honda, BUT I wont buy her something that I don't have good faith in. Toyota hasn't let me down, much....

As far as the hybrid goes, I want her to have a nice car, having her drive a prius kills me, not because its a toyota but because its a tiny roller skate... I don't even fit in the car!!! Literally, I can not get it in, I have to get lower than the car and put it on like a jacket, then once I am in, I can not drive it because my size 16 feet don't fit where the pedals are, I even tried taking off my shoes once time, she parked behind me and I had to move it, I ended up just putting it in neutral and pushing it onto the grass to get by, I can not drive it to save my life, I would have to remove the front seat and sit in the back...
So her having an avalon or ESh would at least give me the option of driving it when I needed to... The avalon with the gas engine and no hybrid gets around 20mpg less than the hybrid version, comparing the avalon with all the same options in hybrid and no hybrid is only a couple thousand dollars difference, she drives 100 miles per day {not a lot of highway on her trip} 4 days per week, so just using the 400 miles that she travels for work {never mind the other 3 days running the kids around to football and what ever else she has to do} the $1800 price difference between the hybrid and normal car is made up in the first year... Keep the car for 4 years and it made you $6000 plus paid for its larger initial investment... Now if you don't put a lot of miles on them, then its not really worth it... She obviously cares more about her foot print than the bottom dollar BUT I have to know it makes sense financially too...
Now if she wanted a proche it wouldn't have to make as much sense, because now it falls into toyland, and i think I would just be so surprised she would drive it I would just buy it...

Toyota is number 1 when it comes to Hybrids. Honda's hybrids were not as good in the past, but the new CR-Z (2014 and up) and the new Accord are solid.

SheepStar

 

[billy p]

Nothing much to add here expect my Camry Hybrid does better on hwy than city....so I would hardly say its meaningless stat. For the record I average 5.5L per 100/km. Or in laymens terms on my recent road trip I covered about 2800km and it cost me ~$220.00 and that included lots of city driving.

Bill...

 

[ImcLoud]

Nothing much to add here expect my Camry Hybrid does better on hwy than city....so I would hardly say its meaningless stat. For the record I average 5.5L per 100/km. Or in laymens terms on my recent road trip I covered about 2800km and it cost me ~$220.00 and that included lots of city driving.

Bill...

I know the camry gets a little better mpg than the avalon, but what are you getting average mpg? 40? My wifes prius was rated at 50 and gets around 60, I have heard some people average 37 with the avalon and some say they avg 45.. I know it depends on the driver and the roads, but the more info I get the better...

 

[billy p]

Quick math...I'd say about 40mpg and that's on the conservative side. ~4 litres would be equal to 1 US gal....fwiw...gas here is about $1.32/litre. Including tolls, customs delay and 2 unexpected traffic accidents one which included a 3 hr delay on I-90...I'd say it gets great gas mileage. I did test drive a Prius but preferred the room and comfort of the larger vechile. Since it was mention in a earlier post I do like the Tesla or my personal favorte...if money were on object...LS600-H. From your two choices I'd go with the Lexus...although both brands hold their value extremely well.

Test drive both...I'd say...

 

[Adam]

My 2010 Ford Fusion hybrid averages ~42-45 mpg, depending on the season (lots of A/C in the summer), mixed highway and city driving. That's better than the ratings. The newer ones are supposed to do even better. That said, I don't drive in snow. Ever.

Granted, the Fusion isn't as luxurious...but if she doesn't want anything flashy.

 

[ImcLoud]

From your two choices I'd go with the Lexus...although both brands hold their value extremely well.

Test drive both...I'd say...

I have compared them both and they are almost identical, the lexus has fancier wood grains and looks like they styled it after the camry, the avalon seems to be just as nice..

My 2010 Ford Fusion hybrid averages ~42-45 mpg, depending on the season (lots of A/C in the summer), mixed highway and city driving. That's better than the ratings. The newer ones are supposed to do even better. That said, I don't drive in snow. Ever.

Granted, the Fusion isn't as luxurious...but if she doesn't want anything flashy.

How has the service been on the ford, I am kind of reluctant to buy ford since we had some bad luck with them in the past... I know the ford and toyota hybrids are similar I feel really comfortable with the toyotas, You hear the stories of 580K mile son the original, driveline and battery and can't help be feel confident about the longevity of their system.....

I want her to have a car that I can drive if shes parked behind me or I really have to, I can not get into her prius and on the occasion I did squeeze in there my feet didnt fit where the pedals are I had to go barefoot... The Avalon has room in it and I can get in there pretty easy, still need to go head first but I can get it with out getting stuck or breaking any of the interior pieces.. I had a Ferrari that I would forget my self and jump in because it was a convertible and I was constantly breaking the center console, I fixed it twice and it was broken when I sold the car. I also have ripped the turn signal lever out of the jeep and broke a couple battery chargers off in the cigarette lighter hole with my knee in my truck..