Feeling the Aurion

[e240]

Bored at work, so...Thanks for Reading..

Feeling the Aurion

The Aurion is touted by Toyota as being economical yet a powerful and advanced for an Aussie 6 with technology inspired from F1 racing. "Aurion V6 is changing the rules of the Big 6 game for good. ".

In person, the Aurion actually looks good but it cannot shake off its Camry underpinings. Well, actually, the new Commodore also looks very good, much better, infact than the Aurion. So why the Aurion? Well, its a Toyota - A reputation for building boring cars that last forever, well, almost forever. To me, the Aurion is really my first large car ever. I was very impressed - I could fit 4 16 inch wheel with 205/45 tyres in the trunk without having to fold down the seats - I once even used it to tow my Civic around but failure to manouver the trailer properly and subsequently knocking down a pole/pillar scarred me for life on towing.

The Aurion was chosen when wife and me were searching for a suitable family car (for baby). We looked at several cars from Subaru's to Honda's but nothing really appealed to us until we saw the Aurion. For some strange reason, all the Toyota sales person kept trying to sell me a corolla, and one even discouraged me from the Aurion, telling me I would be more suited to a Camry! I mean, WTF? Is it the way I look? Nerdy and "looks like he can't drive so better sell him a less powerful car"? Interestingly, when I tried getting test drives with the 6MPS, 3MPS and WRX, all the salesmen gave me the "I don't trust your driving" look and a couple actually even tried to deny me the test drive. Worst was the Honda up at Hornsby where the salesmen wouldn't even talk to me about the CTR and went thats probably not your type of car. WTF?

Best and deserving mention would be VW and Peugot up in Waitara with the Peugot salesman throwing me the key and going "knock yourself out". Unfortunately, the 206 GTi was a little out of my requirements.

Ok, I digress abit. In short, the wife and my both liked the look of the Aurion and we settled for a demonstrator (SX6) that came with the right colour and the right price.

Impressions on the road is that, it is quite a powerful torquey car. The 6th speed Auto gearbox is quite a gem for what it is. Other than some squeaks from the dash which was ractified, it was a good sized spacious car that was comfortable and yet had sufficient power for the occasional boot. Hard into turns and it does understeer abit, but thats to be expected from this class of car. It is a very large car afterall. Combined with some "advanced driving" techniques, the understeer can be controlled and can be quite quick around sweeping corners. A plus for it is that it is pretty stable and controllable at or going past the limit. Lift off oversteer is quite controllable especially when the electronics kick in.

My only complaint (if it can be called a complaint at all) is that traction control cannot be simply switched off with a press of the button - but thats no biggie an issue because for most parts, you wouldn't want to switch that off for the street anyway. Well, maybe I have another - the engine sounds rattly during cold starts but this improves as the engine warms up.

Does the fact that its an Auto or being FWD bother me? No. I bought the car specifically because it was an Auto (and 6 speeds at that) and FWD. If you wanted a Rear wheel drive "sports" car or have illusions of being a race driver, this car is probably not for you, try Lexus, Holdens or Fords.

So...being a Sedan with a performance aspect being touted to mom and pop with illusions of being race drivers, how does it perform on the track? I don't know so I took it down to the Wakefield Park circuit to have a fang and find out.

The car is complete and utterly bog stock, right down to the tyres and brakes. Driving out onto the circuit for the first time was a very interesting experience. Until now, the only car's I've actually driven on the circuit is my Raw Raw Civic and the previously written about FD2R. This was just...quiet. Quiet..and smooth...and comfortable. It soaked up the bumps on Wakefield very nicely indeed. At speeds down the main straight, the car never felt floaty and was actually quite stable on the entry to the kink. The weight of the car though posed an issue for the stock brakes.

Late braking was a big no as the speed just did not bleed off. Infact, late braking overheated the brakes to a point that by the 3rd session out, the pedal was hitting the floor for turn 2, the fish hook and turn 10. This made it necessary for me to start braking earlier to get to the appropriate speed for the turn. Got it wrong and the heavy front started plowing (as you can see in the accompanying Video). Driving a car like this on the track literally forced you to be smooth. It took a while for me to adjust from the Civic to the Aurion.

The engine was smooth although the sound was faint due to the insulation in the cabin. The engine infact, never missed a beat and performed consistently for every lap. Channeling the power to the wheels was the 6 speed auto box. Though it came with a "manual" shift, it does not behave like a true manual. You see, shifting down to 4th simply meant that the autobox would limit itself to the 4th gear, but it was still free to shift between 1,2 and 3 as appropriate. This itself wasn't a bad thing and I'll explain why in a bit. The Auto box will still bounce off the rev limiter in 4th unlike some other boxes that will override and upshift.

Now, in regards to the ability to free shift between gears even though the max gera limit is set, there is actually not much difference in speed to timing in using the manual gear shift to shift or letting the auto gear box shift. With the Accelerator on the floor, the auto box will still shift at redline. I found the best strategy is to actually leave the drive in the tallest gear that you will use for the circuit and just let the autobox do its job. in the case of Wakefield, this would be the 4th gear.

Doing that allows you just just focus on driving the car with hardly any detriment to lap times. The only time you might want to downshift is if you wanted to make use of its limited engine brake to haul up the car. So for Wakefield, I only shifted between 3rd and 4th.

The biggest hinderance to driving quickly on the track is the Traction Control. It literally slows the car down on every corner. Switch it off and you actually have a pretty pleasant car to drive. Actually, I don't see an issue driving with Traction control off even on normal streets. Whether understeering or simply plowing off the circuit...The car is actually very predictable and very stable. There was never the wild swings of the rear end just a gentle recoverable slide. The only thing is that Toyota made it difficult with its many steps to switching off traction control.

To some extent, driving the Aurion on the circuit was, boring. The understeer, the brakes, traction control, lack of grip...blah blah...etc. but take the agression down a notch and put yourself on some touring route through the mountains, it is a pleasant car to drive. You could slap on some sways bars and suspensions to make it handle better, some better tyres, improve the brakes - but seriously, why bother? Why would you do that to a family car and risk your child growing up with brain damage from being bounced up and down in their seat through hard sussys?

In its stock form, you might not be able to really chuck the car around the twisties but that was never the intended purpose of the car. It was meant for families to go on long driving holidays in relative comfort and still allow the hen pecked father to have some fun with the loud pedal.

The Aurion pulled a quickest of 1:17.8 @ Wakefield. This is how it looks on the circuit:

http://www.vimeo.com/2521800

In contrast, this is a 1:09 Lap of Wakefield in the Toda Performance/MFactory Civic

Lastly, please try to ignore the music in the 1st video...I forgot and left the radio on.

** Thanks to the various photographers at the Circuit Club Day for the excellent pictures

[Madrox]

nice write up.

from the video i am really impressed with how the aurion handled itself.

it really opened my eyes up to it.

well done mate.

[ELEGNT]

top writeup e240!!

u really pushed taht aurion pretty hard hey...i dont no how u can concerntrate with the music that loud. even if im driving quick on the street i have to turn my radio off or else i start doing and not driving haha

WOW fast civic btw :o

[DJKOR]

Sweet as. Nice work there and a good writeup. From the video, it makes the track look so peaceful. I really want to take mine to the track, only because I want to get that out of my system; experience it in this car so to speak.

[Keisari]

Nice write-up!

The bits in the first video where the whole car starts shaking and resonating when you're attacking a couple of those corners aggressively, is that the traction control or just the camera?

edit: your hot laps in the second video were ferocious.

Edited December 17, 2008 by Keisari

[e240]

Thanks All. Just writing for the hell of it.

I really want to take mine to the track, only because I want to get that out of my system; experience it in this car so to speak.

You should. At that track day, one guy drove his MR2 down from Brisbane. You should try too...LOL.

The bits in the first video where the whole car starts shaking and resonating when you're attacking a couple of those corners aggressively, is that the traction control or just the camera?

Traction control at that time was switched off. That was more a front end plow - understeering so to speak.

It happens when you suddenly come off the brakes and make a turn at the same time. The combination of unloading the front suspension and turning causes the front to struggle for grip hence you get the push. A little throttle would've helped but the auto box was abit slow in getting the power down.

That Video wasn't exactly the smoothest driving, was having problems with my video cam and that was the only video I had. It was taken early on and was still trying things out with the car. Later vids got a bit smoother as you had to do everything early in the car to give the equipment time to catch up.

[Cappuccino]

Great time... if you like shot me a pm with your email address and i can send you some pics still need to go through all 1800 of my pics from that day sorry i never came up to say hello was way to busy taking pics and need to be back in sydney by about 4:00.

Watching from the sideline looks like there was a lot of body roll and also coming in to turn 2 when you were hard on the brakes looked like you were about to do a stoppy lol but in saying that look like it did very wheel for a family barge. Personally i wouldnt own one but that just me Aurion is a great looking car just doesnt suit what i would want in a family barge cause me personally im rwd fan and prefer to handle oversteer on a family barge rather then understeer. Pitty about the shocking stock brake pads though! How funny was the stock Rav 4 out there hunting down Type Rs heheh that was a good laugh!

Also congrats on the 1:17s is a great time looks like a need to pull my finger at in get the Cappuccino back there!

DJKOR if you ever get a chance get your butt to a circuit (driving in straighlines are boring :P) You will learn so much about your car and yourself as a driver. Nothing beats the thrill of driving on the track or closed roads. Also make you realise even more it just isnt worth doing stupid **** on the street. Im actually really looking forward to the CC days in 09 just gotta get my **** in to get fix the leaks on the Cappuccino and crack the 1:20 mark which will be possible now i got some RE001s best time was 1:20.09 on **** Perelli Dragons (crap cheap street tyre)

Okay i think I have rambled on abit now! I will try and post some pics for the Aurion on Friday! or over the weekend!

[e240]

Thanks all...

heehee...

I know this is a toyota forum and all, anyone wants to see my writeup on the Japanese Civic Type R? :-p

[sc400]

hope that you don't need warranty any time soon

a big wig at toyota may have to a photo of the car and number plate

it was a good day, the wind was a litte breezy

[e240]

You just joined to tell me that? LOL...

Phhht....

hope that you don't need warranty any time soon

a big wig at toyota may have to a photo of the car and number plate

it was a good day, the wind was a litte breezy

Edited December 18, 2008 by e240

[Cappuccino]

hope that you don't need warranty any time soon

a big wig at toyota may have to a photo of the car and number plate

it was a good day, the wind was a litte breezy

e240 no one know who he is quite like the stig....nor was the persons plates displayed...so how many mustard colour aurion are they?

[sc400]

i was there taking photo's of the cars and over heard 4 or 5 people chatting about "hope that you got a photo of the number plate and car so that if he ever needs a warranty claim"

i don't care what people do with their cars, they could purchase the car from a dealer and as they are leaving do a massive burnout.

on a serious note. people have had their photo, video taken, posted on the internet, forums etc

police and dealerships have been searching the internet, forums for dangerous activities to catch people to prosicute and void warranty :(

it was good to see the aurion do as well as it did, i thought that the soarer could have went quicker

Edited December 19, 2008 by sc400

[e240]

Well, I hear you, what can one do eh? I'm going to enjoy my car the way I want to enjoy my car.

I'd be flattered if a Toyota big wig reads this and make comments. All I've seen so far in alot of reviews are just talk about how well it performs, never proven or tested. Anyway, overall, the Aurion performed very well - and I for one am glad I made the choice with the Aurion.

As for driving on the circuit - well, we all know the risks involved ya. The car though wasn't trashed but just driven as hard as it would allow around the circuit. It was prepped with new Transmission and Engine oils. I had temperature gauges (Water, Engine, Trans) installed to keep things in Check.

Finally, I loathe to think that Toyota would so lack the confidence that their engines cannot take abit of hard driving.

i was there taking photo's of the cars and over heard 4 or 5 people chatting about "hope that you got a photo of the number plate and car so that if he ever needs a warranty claim"

i don't care what people do with their cars, they could purchase the car from a dealer and as they are leaving do a massive burnout.

on a serious note. people have had their photo, video taken, posted on the internet, forums etc

police and dealerships have been searching the internet, forums for dangerous activities to catch people to prosicute and void warranty :(

it was good to see the aurion do as well as it did, i thought that the soarer could have went quicker

Edited December 19, 2008 by e240