Hyundai Azera vs. Nissan Maxima 3.5 SV vs. Toyota Avalon Limited

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Comparison:

Photo Finish: Round Two of Our Sub-Luxury-Liner Showdown

By Kim Reynolds | Photos By Michael Shaffer | From the April 2013 issue of Motor Trend  |  

Engine3.5L V6

Power268 hp / 248 lb-ft

TransmissionSemi-Automatic

Seats5 adults

MPG21 City / 31 Hwy

MSRP$ 30,990

OK, we're going to have to break a promise here. A while back we conducted an online elimination round for this comparison wherein we pitted Hyundai's Azera against Buick's LaCrosse and Lexus' ES 350, and stated that the winner (the Azera by a whisker) would subsequently confront the upcoming new Toyota Avalon and Lincoln MKZ. Seemed like a smart plan. And a near-genius one after we drove the new Avalon during our recent Car of the Year festivities. Avalons of yore required knocking back multi-shot espressos before taking the wheel to recall anything afterwards. But this one wowed us -- it was a car transformed. So much so that, awkward as it was, it seemed yards ahead of the also new Lexus ES 350. Everything appeared set. Except that our request to the Lincoln Motor Company for a MKZ test example was declined. Huh? Lincoln P.R. declared the MKZ must be compared with "premium brands," not mere hoi polloi Hyundais and Toyotas. But -- how to put this politely? -- doesn't the MKZ ride on the Ford Fusion's equally populist foundation? That didn't seem to impress them. So we asked for a Taurus. Ford's P.R. team responded that this also wouldn't be possible. OK, then. Four hours after we subsequently rang Nissan for an appropriate Maxima, its keys were slapped on our desk. That's confidence. Nissan's big sedan is now long in the tooth and short on burger-fed American room, but you've got to love the chutzpah of having "four-door sports car" decals on its side windows. So the trio of actors was finally cast: the Azera, our slightly nervous defending champ; the high-expectations Avalon; and last, a somewhat puzzled-why-it's-here Maxima. Our script would have them following a carbon copy reenactment of our previous comparison's route. (Joshuas and Logans the world over right now are texting: "Uh, dude, so what's a carbon copy?") With our automotive judgment caffeine-enhanced at a freeway-close Starbucks, Benson Kong, Mike Febbo, and I swept onto the 405 heading south for a 100-mile commuter cruise to San Diego and north again on Route 15 before embarking on Phase Two, a loopy spool of a road that ascends Mount Palomar's eastern slope. The minute I plopped into the Avalon, my mind flashed back many decades (imagine calendar pages being blown away in black-and-white movies) to endless junior high school pep rallies spent sitting on wooden gymnasium bleachers. "These seats feel like plywood," I walkie-talkied, while repositioning each cheek and twisting the adjustable little seat heater/cool-air ventilation knob to my liking. "Click -- Yeah, they're really terrible -- click," Febbo radioed back from his car. "What the heck is up with these seats?" I kept muttering while further twisting the knob. Hmm, might the ventilation system be stealing some vital cushioning? (They don't pay us automotive journalist wages to not put two and two together like this.) Curious, I later stopped by Toyota's nearby headquarters and asked to sit in a non-ventilated Avalon seat. It was no better. Worse yet, the back seats are somehow even harder than the fronts. Bewildering. Why build a car with an astonishing 39.2 inches of kick-back rear legroom (the Azera has 36.8 inches; the Maxima, a slim 34.6) and then install rump-numbing seat bottoms? At least the Avalon's aft quarters are otherwise limo-like. "Big points for the long back windows contributing to the executive sedan vibe," voiced Benson. By comparison, the Azera's front seats (also ventilated, with power-adjustable bottom-cushion lengths) accommodated all three of us with no major grumbles. The Maxima's (with manual length adjustment) are almost gratuitously plump, caked with squishy cushioning that suspends you in place as if you were encased in Jell-O. I wouldn't mind a couple of these in my living room. Soon we were traveling with the ambient traffic flow at an average speed of about 72 mph. Tickling their steering wheel angles around on-center revealed the Toyota's relaxed, feather-light effort to be just about perfect, while the Azera's ramps too quickly to a stiffness that gets tiring after a while. On the other hand, our highway ride measurements computed the Maxima's to be the smoothest (0.029 average g of vertical motion) with the Avalon second at 0.034 and the Azera at 0.037. Benson thought the Azera heaved less than the Avalon, but still "feels patchy over rougher surfaces." But that's nothing compared with the Toyota, which now can positively crash through its suspension on patchy pavement. This starchy new ride quality is going to startle some long-time Avalon adherents. For instance, there's this enthusiastic guy, who recently posted at motortrend.com's general forum: "Hi, folks, I just saw pics of [the Avalon, blah, blah, blah]. I hope they kept the car's well-isolated interior, as well as the float-on-clouds suspension." Sur-prise! Interior noise measurements at these speeds found the Avalon the quietest at 27.0 sones; the Azera second, at 27.7; and the Maxima third with 29.1. Now, even though this "sone" metric is a truer measure than the lame old dBA, even it can't inform us about the three-dimensional character of sound. For instance, in the Azera, you basically soak in a thin acoustic mist of white noise wind-hiss. The Avalon's otherwise general quiet is often punctuated by muted, but attention-grabbing, road thumps. The sound of passing cars and motorcycles manages to penetrate the Maxima's glazing from every direction, pulling some of your attention this way and that.

The Azera is double-take attractive in features and ride quality

Back to the driver's seats, Benson, Mike, and I critiqued the dash designs. Mike: "Frankly, I'm finding the Maxima's simple, old-school sculpting almost quaintly serene." Benson: "The Azera's presentation and layout remain my preferred choice. The materials might be a little less upscale than the Avalon's, but that's splitting hairs. However, the 7-inch touch-screen that appears massive on the Kia Rio seems a lot smaller in the Azera." I think the logic of the Hyundai's center stack has been positively pureed by styling goop. There's a giant volume knob, but it's paired with fingertip-tiny up/down tuning buttons. Why isn't the similarly big knob directly below it the tuner instead of the world's largest fan-speed control? (Every time I'd instinctively attempt to change the channel, I'd turn on the A/C full blast). And while Febbo was amused by the Avalon's home-stereo look, what's with its Buick homage of sun-reflecting, chrome-dipped dash trimmings? A ctually, the trick to judging the functionality of these things is to evaluate them at night when you can't see the styling at all.

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