Now in possession of a 2004 Toyota Avalon
 

My sister is going off to boot camp and will be putting me in charge of her car for the indefinite future. She has a 2004 Toyota Avalon, which has a 3.0L V6, weighs ~4500lbs, and a 4 speed automatic. It looks like this:

http://cimg.carsforsale.com/279891/1...C0471653_1.jpg

I attached my bluetooth OBD scanner and we did some driving through town in 5 oclock traffic, and I was incredibly surprised to find that (with her driving, not even that conservatively) we averaged 32MPG with the AC on in stop and go conditions. It's rated for 19 city / 22 combined / 27 HWY. I'll have a chance to see the highway mileage next week when I drop her off.

If I get some more pictures, is it possible I could have some help calculating the frontal area? Wiki says it has a Cd of ~0.28.

The first thing I'm going to do is fill the tires up to max sidewall and block off the obnoxiously large upper grill. I'd like to keep it outwardly stock-looking with hopes that she may leave any modifications I do when and if I give it back. Any thoughts? Anyone on here have experience with this particular car?

I had a 97 Avalon prior to my 2002 Infiniti Q45.
The best I ever got was 27mpg.....butthat was before I joined this forum!!!
raise the psi
IF you have to buy tires, upsize
and coast in neutral with the engine on.
Oh, yeah and get a gauge. (see signature link)

Same here with the 500 pound lighter 02' Lexus ES300 (EPA 18 city/27 hwy). 3.0 V6/5 speed auto & the best I ever got was 28 on flat terrain. Not sure how a 4500 pound Avalon could attain those numbers w/o somewhat extreme hypermiling??

Admittedly it was a small sample, less than 20 miles total, and I pulled it from the Torque app on my phone. I'll be collecting some better data in the coming weeks.

Can I trust a Bluetooth OBD scanner + Torque for reliable data?

That Avalon is a very nice car & pretty much bulletproof. A friend has the same Avalon & even with constant abuse it still runs great.

Yes. Torque gets it's data from the same source as scangauge, ultraguage, the ecu. No issues with my bluetooth scanner and torque app so far and I got the $11 dollar shipped cheap one from ebay. A user review of it on here states pretty much the same.

Nice car btw :)

I certainly drove 'easy' to get that 27mpg on the road. And I don't think the 97 weight that much.
To me, upsizing tires (if needed) by at least 5% overall diameter could be a home run.

also, I got 217,000 before I sold it to buy the 02 q45. It was a very solid car.

Wow, that is a heavy car. I didn't realize just how heavy they are.
And its not even a wagon, its a sedan!

Sell it and buy her a 4cyl Toyota Echo.

V6 = not very fuel efficient.
4550 pounds = not very fuel efficient.

Good luck with this one :)

Not an option, unfortunately, though that is what I told her when she first got it. Has to due with family politics, rich grandmother involved (she's the favored one).

I tried to put her in a first-gen Insight, which would have actually put money in her pocket as the trade-in value of this car is still close to $10,000 with the miles it has.

Did you create a new profile for this car with Torque? Are all the settings correct? It seems very odd that she is 5mpg above the EPA highway number with the AC on in stop and go traffic without any hypermiling.

But, if that car is getting that gas mileage, good for you!