First round of large sedan test drives - Toyota Avalon and Hyundai Genesis

I've test driven half of the cars on my large sedan test list, the 2014 Toyota Avalon and 2015 Hyundai Genesis.  I test drove the Avalon two weekends ago and drove the Genesis this past weekend.  My plan is to do the Hyundai Azera and Kia Cadenza next weekend.  Here are my thoughts on them.

I'll do a blog post after each round of test drives with my impressions of the vehicles.

2014 Toyota Avalon

For the most part, I liked it.  It's a bit longer and wider than my 2000 Avalon, but didn't feel quite as big while driving (felt more like a mid size car).  The engine is more powerful than the old Avalon (268 hp vs 210 hp) and accelerates quite a bit faster (6.4 seconds to 60 vs 8.7 in the old one).  It also gets better gas mileage, at 21/31, vs the old Avalon's 19/27.  Quite comfortable ride--the suspension soaked up all the minor imperfections of the road, and I was directly able to compare the ride in the Avalon, Mabel (1998 Corolla), Harvey (Meggie's new Mazda 3), and Alaina's 2007 Corolla over the same route--big bumps are a bit harsh, but anything smaller than that is smoothed over.  Especially on the highway, it takes a lot of the vibration out of the road.  There's not much road noise at all, but there is a bit of wind noise around the mirrors.  The interior feels upscale, although the nav/dashboard control thingy would take some getting used to.  Nice level of amenities--leather, heated and cooled seats, sunroof, upgraded sound system, nav, etc.  The car felt effortless under all types of driving--I did city driving and then a loop on the highway--no strain or unevenness when accelerating, cruising, or doing stop and go.  The seats are quite comfy and there's a ton of leg and hip room, front and back, although there's zero side bolstering on the seats, so I slid around when I went around a full curve.  The car also has a massive trunk.  Very good visibility all the way around--that's something I'm very leery about, as when I drove Harvey a few weeks ago, I noticed that the high and angled belt line results in limited rear visibility; not a problem with the Avalon.

The only downsides that I noticed are pretty minor.  The two cupholders in the center console are small and don't have the adjustable prongs on the inside. The sunroof is just a single sunroof, while the other large sedans on my list (Kia Cadenza, Hyundai Azera, and Hyundai Genesis) all have panoramic sunroofs. I looooooove panoramic roofs, so that's a ding against the Avalon.

Overall, I liked it.  I'd give it a solid A and will keep it on my list to review again later on in the search process.

2015 Hyundai Genesis

I liked it, I really liked it.  I think the exterior looks the best of any of the large sedans on my list, hands down (on a side note, I think the ranking then goes Avalon>Azera>Cadenza).  Hyundai used the 2015 redesign to take the Genesis further upmarket, and it shows.  It looks and feels very nice on the inside, a full tier above the Avalon.  There is quite a bit of room front and back, and the seats are fantastic, with plenty of padding in all the right places and good bolstering on the sides--I didn't have the sliding problem going around curves that I did with the Avalon.  It has a more staid console design than the Avalon, which is just fine with me.  The controls seemed to be in logical places for the most part, which I was looking for after the Avalon test drive when I had to hunt for some of the controls.  Even higher level of amenities than the Avalon--along with the heated/cooled seats and nav, the leather seemed higher quality and the sound system sounded better (not a knock against the Avalon's sound system, just that this one sounded even better).  To top it off...literally...the Genesis has a massive panoramic sunroof, which I LOVE.  In terms of functional storage space, there is plenty of storage space up front, and one of the two cup holders in the console is larger, while the smaller one has the adjustable prongs on the inside.  That's a step up from the Avalon, which had two small ones. It also has a huge trunk (slightly smaller than the Avalon's, though).

As far as driving goes, I was very impressed.  The car is QUIET.  Very good soundproofing all around--we were stopped at a stop light and a maintenance crew was using weed eaters on the median next to the car and it was just a minor background noise, not distracting at all.  No wind or road noise, which is an improvement on the Avalon, which had some wind noise.  The car is very poised, steering without any drama and its suspension soaks up all the bumps we drove over.  The acceleration was quite good, both in town and on the highway--it effortlessly and quickly accelerated from about 20-70 on the on ramp to the highway.

I originally wanted to look at the AWD version of the Genesis, but it gets terrible gas mileage, at 16/25.  The RWD I drove gets better mileage at 19/29.  The Avalon's 21/31 is better, but 19/29 is acceptable (my only standard for fuel economy is that it must be better than my old Avalon's 19/27).  Given that the Genesis has 311 hp and ~4100 pounds vs the Avalon's 268 hp and ~3500 pounds, the gas mileage difference is understandable.

I'd give the Genesis an A+.

Verdict

Not having to worry about price, I'd take the Genesis over the Avalon.  I think the looks, performance, and features are better than the Avalon's, though it's not a slam dunk by any means.  However, more or less optioned the same, the Genesis is about $4000 more than the Avalon.  If I lease, it should still be in my budget, but purchasing would knock the Genesis out of my range, since purchasing runs about $100-200 more a month than leasing does.