When we were shopping for our new car, my husband fell in love with the Avalon and wanted one really badly. He only wanted to spend the amount we paid for our Camry though so every now and then he still wishes he had the interior space of the Avalon.

I remind him that the gas mileage would be worse on the Avalon and am wondering just how much more gas the '07 Avalon uses than the '07Camry. He is very happy with the gas mileage on the Camry LE 4 cyl. that we bought. On a recent trip we got 34 mph. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/gitara.gif)

Unfortunately, I haven't found a huge difference in the gas milage. A suburban instead of the mini van we bought would have only cost us about $800 extra per year. But we don't drive and extreme amount.

Whether or not the high gas milage is worth it depends on how many miles you typically put on the car each year.

We do an average amount of driving I think. It's usually not more than 15,000 per year. When we bought our Camry gas was still at $3.00 per gallon and threatening to go up. We are retired and on a limited income so really didn't want it to cost us too much to operate. We're really happy with the mileage were getting on the Camry.

I think he is happy with the comfort of the Camry too. He wouldn't part with the extra money it would have taken to get the Avalon even though he still wishes he could have.
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With those limited incomes, I know that every penny can count. We are a one income household and I've learned to squeeze those pennies from where ever I have to.

I'm willing to bet that the amount you saved on the car FAR outweighed anything you might have saved on gas.

Yes, I know you are right, even with the added leather seats and heated lumbar, it was much better for our budget to purchase the Camry. Now we can still afford to drive it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I've never understood why the leather seats cost more (I mean other than the obvious that they actually cost more). I just feel that cloth is more family friendly. There is nothing worse than sliding into a car with leather seats that has been sitting in the sun with shorts on. I would think that it would be a turn off for most buyers - but I know it isn't.