donnot

Great choice! Definitely not worth going for the PS4’s - have them on my golf and although they’re a great performance tyre, the trade-off is road noise (even with a well-insulated cabin). Primacy’s are significantly quieter and still have more than enough grip.

Had my Aurion and dad’s Kluger done for free by the dealer last year - just called the dealer and booked in.

I had a similar experience - 3 hours quoted labour from Bridgestone, so around $550 all up. They significantly underquoted the labour - probably took them double that. Was apparently a lot of corrosion.

Can't say I noticed this in my Aurion, but my first car (an '09 Grand Vitara) had quite a strong smell as you're describing when slamming my foot down (for a measly 11s 0-100). Filled up with 91 in the GV vs 98 in the Aurion though, so that could have made a difference (sulfur levels).

There are a few dyno sheets available if you search for the 2GR (V6) Camry in the US and the Y-pipe modification that show slight power gains. I spent many hours trying to find mods for more power, but there isn't much outside of a couple % here or there max (without going down the expensive SC route).

Claims seem to be anything from "no change" to "huge difference". I honestly couldn't notice a difference, unfortunately. Was expecting something - a placebo if anything. Though, if you can do it yourself, it's probably worth a try/to experiment.

I tried the Y-pipe modification when I had my '09 Aurion (see below) as well as an intake ($120ish from Amazon US), but in all honesty, could barely tell the difference (in contrast to what others were saying). Sounded great though, and others have shown dyno gains from the Y-pipe. The only real way for noticeable gains is to go for a turbo/supercharger setup - might as well buy the TRD Aurion at that point. Not really the right chassis to put more power through imo.

I’d recommend staying away from those cheapies - I bought a 5 pack a year or so ago and 3 of them flickered out of the box. The others lasted less than a week before also flickering - have seen them installed on a lot of cars and they have the same issue sadly.

Definitely a great (and often overlooked) car. I still miss aspects of mine after moving to a GTI (the engine sound, comfort and reliability). The Aurion didn't have many of the 'major' issues that come with the (more expensive) Falcons/Commodores like timing chains, diff bushings, transmission milkshake etc. I used to think the water pump going at 150000km was poor, but a looot (probably more than not) of Golf owners see theirs leaking at 40000km's. I can smell coolant from mine everytime I get out of the car and apparently that's normal 😆.

Hardly worth it for the cost unfortunately - I was in the same spot a few months back - looking for more power but there isn’t an easy way. I’ve come to the conclusion after a couple of cruises/driving in general and spending a few 000 on suspension upgrades, tyres, exhaust etc that you aren’t really going to be able to use the extra power 😄 (which is why I’m unfortunately selling mine 😞 ).

Interesting... I do drive my car hard-ish at times but average 11.5-12l/100 with not much highway mileage (for reference) on 98. When I got the car, the previous owner did the terrible “recommended” 15k interval (slightly more often thankfully), so it was a bit dark initially but fine after a couple of changes - letting the engine get to full operating temp then instantly draining and pouring a couple-hundred ml of fresh oil through. Much less thorough than your method though 😁

Good to hear there isn’t any visible sludge! I’ve found that the colour of the oil changes greatly between brands (of fully-synthetic 5W-30 oil). Parents’ Kluger did 10000km on the Valvoline Synpower and was only a light gold colour. Used Castrol Magnatec for the next change which was looking the same after only 4000km. Nulon was somewhat in-between these two - closer to the Synpower. Probably need to get some samples for proper testing to get an idea of the actual condition of the oil :/. I’ve only used Magnatec (early on) and Nulon (now) in my car for 3500-4000km intervals). The Nulon turns a light-medium golden colour after then, so I’m interested to see how yours looks.

Looks great - I have the 2/32GB version with a painfully slow CPU, so hopefully that's a bit faster! If you have an Android phone that supports Android Auto, I'd definitely recommend using Headunit Reloaded: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?hl=en&id=gb.xxy.hr . Don't need any fancy adapters - just a USB cable to your phone for full Android Auto. I used it for a few months before switching to iOS. As for Google Play login issues - try and keep the unit booted up and connected to WiFi for a good 1/2 hour. It may be running an old version of Google Play/Google Play Services, and will automatically download/update them in the background.

Fitment was really easy - took me around an hour including removing the old intake. I followed the guide for the K&N 8611TS here (for the US Camry 2GR V6) - only needed to buy some 4mm vacuum caps for the switching valve and some metal for mounting it to the frame (to give it some more rigidity). I know there were one or two vacuum hoses I had to reconnect but I didn't really look into the specifics (just followed the guide) 😕 - I wish I could give more info. Can't remember if I posted a photo of it installed a while back, so here's one from straight after install (before properly tightening everything): https://imgur.com/a/EBFAbTS I don't think I have the balls to drop the rear mufflers 😆 trying not to draw too much more attention.

Yet another update 😁. Going to keep the exhaust for now - doesn't really bother me anymore. Switched out the filter on the intake for the larger one that was included in the kit (managed to just squeeze it in) and placed a water repellent sock over it. Went out last night and gave it a couple of launches - complete axle tramp from 1st gear that I've never had since getting the RE003's which was nice, but could be due to the colder conditions/road. Definitely felt more pull on the kickdown from 60-100 vs before the Y-pipe and it sounds glorious with the intake/exhaust (mainly intake noise). The intakes are back down to $138 for the red and $140 for the blue. Even with the plastic cover on, IAT's are very good and the area that the filter's located in stays quite cool. I bought a couple of these filter socks as I noticed a small amount of water making it to the filter - they took a couple of weeks to arrive with EMS shipping (~$10 for 2x shipped) and they fit perfectly. (Attached a couple more videos, one in the tunnel and a 2nd gear pull @ ~80-90% throttle. Louder in person (especially the tunnel video) 😄 the microphone is clipping a bit. (Don't normally drive to near redline but just for the sake of a couple of demo videos). Pmoye0025-1.m4v Dgbfe9004-1.m4v