Looking to buy used Aurion

[Zandri]

Hi, I've been cruising the forums for the last few days researching the Aurion. I'm in the market for a used car after my old one was written-off in a nasty accident (no thanks to the pure inattention of another driver ). I used to drive an old '89 Honda Prelude, which I owned for 8 years, old yes, but absolutely bulletproof in terms of reliability!

These days I'm after something a little more convenient (larger, 4 door sedan, more of a family car). I started my search reading up on the new BA/BF series falcons, I've always liked the look of them. But after much reading the general build quality and problems with these cars has left a very sour taste in my mouth. I'm fully aware reading owners points of view on online forums can lead to a skewed or bias view of the car. But there are just far too many people reporting the same faults over and over again, never fixed in subsequent models either. If they were reporting random faults in different areas of the car I wouldn't feel so bad, as the ford user base is pretty large, but they all tend to report the same 5-10 issues [brake shudder - poor quality rotors, real main seal leaks, no dedicated auto trans intercooler risk of radiator fluid leaking into automatic transmission, handbrake that just fails to work after adjustment, dodgy seat rail that creak and come loose, door actuators failing on a couple of year old car, poor paint quality on some colours/batches, etc, etc]

So not wanting to spend a bunch of money on a newish used car and have to correct design deficencies & problems due to under-engeineering/cost-cutting the Falcon was scratched off my list of possibilities.

So here I am, I really like the look of the Toyota Aurion, nice size, nice features, a little pricey, but Toyota always have a good name for reliability. I intend on keeping the car for many years until it dies, I'm not one that upgrades for the sake of upgrading or just for something new. Reading through the forums the issues you guys have had with the Aurion have been relatively few & minor compared to the Falcon (dash rattles, etc). But onto the real reason for my post, I have a couple of questions:

I'm looking at an '07 Sportivo SX6, generally what is the general going price for one thats done 40-50k km's from a dealer, around $24-25k?

Are there any things in particular I should be looking at / inspecting on the Aurion when looking over a particular car?

Cheers,

Edited June 17, 2009 by Zandri

[1stKill]

Hi, I've been cruising the forums for the last few days researching the Aurion. I'm in the market for a used car after my old one was written-off in a nasty accident (no thanks to the pure inattention of another driver ). I used to drive an old '89 Honda Prelude, old but absolutely bulletproof in terms of reliability!

These days I'm after something a little more convenient (larger, 4 door sedan, more of a family car). I started my search reading up on the new BA/BF series falcons, I've always liked the look of them. But after much reading the general build quality and problems with these cars has left a very sour taste in my mouth. I'm fully aware reading owners points of view on online forums can lead to a skewed or bias view of the car. But there are just far too many people reporting the same faults over and over again, never fixed in subsequent models either. If they were reporting random faults in different areas of the car I wouldn't feel so bad, as the ford user base is pretty large, but they all tend to report the same 5-10 issues [brake shudder - poor quality rotors, real main seal leaks, no dedicated auto trans intercooler risk of radiator fluid leaking into automatic transmission, handbrake that just fails to work after adjustment, dodgy seat rail that creak and come loose, door actuators failing on a couple of year old car, poor paint quality on some colours/batches, etc, etc]

So not wanting to spend a bunch of money on a newish used car and have to correct design deficencies & problems due to under-engeineering/cost-cutting the Falcon was scratched off my list of possibilities.

So here I am, I really like the look of the Toyota Aurion, nice size, nice features, a little pricey, but Toyota always have a good name for reliability. Reading through the forums the issues you guys have had with the Aurion have been relatively few & minor compared to the Falcon (dash rattles, etc). But onto the real reason for my post, I have a couple of questions:

I'm looking at an '07 Sportivo SX6, generally what is the general going price for one thats done 40-50k km's from a dealer, around $24-25k?

Are there any things in particular I should be looking at / inspecting on the Aurion when looking over a particular car?

Cheers,

Welcome to the club mate...

i owned a BA XR6 when they were 1st released,biggest pile of sh!t i've every owned,good choice in steering clear of this lemon..

yep the Aurions are a little dearer than holden & ford,but the build quality and finish is way ahead of these 2 brands and it's got more grunt and no glaring defects.

07 SX6 50km's on the clock for 25k,i think this would be at the top end of the price range,ya should be able to do a little better,maybe at an auction or an ex Govt car...

i got my 08 ATX 6200km's for $19000 so the bargains are out there...

anyway good luck with the purchase hope it all goes to plan....

[Zandri]

Welcome to the club mate...

i owned a BA XR6 when they were 1st released,biggest pile of sh!t i've every owned,good choice in steering clear of this lemon..

yep the Aurions are a little dearer than holden & ford,but the build quality and finish is way ahead of these 2 brands and it's got more grunt and no glaring defects.

07 SX6 50km's on the clock for 25k,i think this would be at the top end of the price range,ya should be able to do a little better,maybe at an auction or an ex Govt car...

i got my 08 ATX 6200km's for $19000 so the bargains are out there...

anyway good luck with the purchase hope it all goes to plan....

Cheers, thanks.

I'm not in any huge urgency to seal a deal, we've got a second car, so I do have time to hunt out a car in good condition and hopefully at a good price. Though there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of SX6's in SA for sale, particularly in my preferred colour.

The govt. auctions are definitely an option, this was how I was looking at purchasing the Falcon, so I'll be keeping my eye out.

So far I've just been looking at ticket prices, haven't tried talking any of the dealers down to see how far they'll go. Thought I'd get a feel for what to expect for you guys first before butting heads with the dealers.

Cheers,

[Ingres]

It might cost a little more, but the difference is not much if you intend to drive it for years. In return, you get reliability which to me is critical. When you are working, you can't afford all the dramas happening to your car, take time off, fix the car and such, and all these add up to the cost and man hours wasted on it. So turn out you might not spend more afterall.

You had your Honda prelude for 8 years, which you might pay a higher price for it in comparison to Ford or Holden, but in your comments i am pretty sure you are happy with the reliability of the car. Honda and Toyota are well-known for their reliability, Toyota still outperforms GM and Ford and heads the pack when it comes to the big boys (in terms of their whole operation from revenue to quality production etc) while Honda being a much smaller player still pretty much dominate the niche market they operate in (their margin is one of the highest in the auto industry).

Holden and Ford do look nice, but do you want to hear this from your colleagues "Why are you taking bus to work again??", and looking through this forum you can see how well Aurion can be dress up and plus the reliability with the Toyota Brand, you have a winner.

Just my 2 cents opinion..

[DJKOR]

The Aurion really is a good car to consider. It's main issues are mainly just to do with the plastics on the inside of the car. Rattles and creaks kind of get in the way of some. I just zone out.

In terms of any serious issues, I've been listening in on the American Toyota Nation forums and have heard a lot about a potential issue with the 2GR-FE that wasn't resolved until some time in 2008 I think.

ATTN: All 2GR-FE V6 OWNERS!!! BEWARE!!!

It's to do with the VVT-i oil line. One part of it is a rubber hose with a clamp at the end that is said to cause a pinhole in the hose from vibration which can then result in a pretty nasty leak. I myself haven't heard of any cases here, but the clocks are ticking I guess. It's said to happen between 45k to 65k miles (72k to 104k kms). The end result looks like this:

Please wait a few seconds for Video to Load!

If you car is still under warranty though, it will be covered. I'm pretty much right on 70,000km right now, so I'm going to be keeping an eye out. I would probably buy the part for myself and fit it, but the procedure seems to be a bit tight. I'm not too sure how I'd cram my hand in there. That may be for the 05 Avalon, but if you look at the 2GR-FE in the 07 Aurion, you will find the same rubber hose. If the problem has been resolved, it would be replaced will an all metal part.

[ToyotaNuts]

We are in the same boat here Zandri but i'm in Sydney. Anyone here want to sell their Aurion? :)

[Zandri]

It might cost a little more, but the difference is not much if you intend to drive it for years. In return, you get reliability which to me is critical. When you are working, you can't afford all the dramas happening to your car, take time off, fix the car and such, and all these add up to the cost and man hours wasted on it. So turn out you might not spend more afterall.

You had your Honda prelude for 8 years, which you might pay a higher price for it in comparison to Ford or Holden, but in your comments i am pretty sure you are happy with the reliability of the car. Honda and Toyota are well-known for their reliability, Toyota still outperforms GM and Ford and heads the pack when it comes to the big boys (in terms of their whole operation from revenue to quality production etc) while Honda being a much smaller player still pretty much dominate the niche market they operate in (their margin is one of the highest in the auto industry).

Couldn't agree more, many years ago I was happy to tinker and fix things, but these days I just want something that works. Don't really have time for things to be out of action awaiting fixing. Besides I'm an engineer by profession, I get to tinker all day at work :)

Never had anything fail on the Honda apart from general wear and tear (clutch master cylinder & high pressure hydrolic hose), rest was routine maintenance as expected (timing belts, etc). I did have it serviced every 5000km (honda's old recommendations) so it was well looked after. So overall exceptionally happy with it and Honda Accord was one of the possible cars on my list.

In terms of any serious issues, I've been listening in on the American Toyota Nation forums and have heard a lot about a potential issue with the 2GR-FE that wasn't resolved until some time in 2008 I think.

... snip (video) ...

If you car is still under warranty though, it will be covered. I'm pretty much right on 70,000km right now, so I'm going to be keeping an eye out. I would probably buy the part for myself and fit it, but the procedure seems to be a bit tight. I'm not too sure how I'd cram my hand in there. That may be for the 05 Avalon, but if you look at the 2GR-FE in the 07 Aurion, you will find the same rubber hose. If the problem has been resolved, it would be replaced will an all metal part.

I did come across a report of this issue on this forum whilsr reading through the 40'odd pages here, but from memory it was fairly well dismissed as being rectified (fix applied during next service type arrangement?) - I could very well be wrong and I'll do some more research on this.

Thanks for the video, it's an aweful sight though seeing an engine effectively lose its life-blood like that.

I suspect any warranty I have on the car will expire by the time it reaches that period, I don't rack up a hell of a lot of km's in a year. I may well investigate getting it fixed prior to warranty expiration or funding it myself. Better to be safe then sorry. Not sure how much extended warranty would cover either.

[Zandri]

We are in the same boat here Zandri but i'm in Sydney. Anyone here want to sell their Aurion? :)

:) I very much hate used car shopping, I especially hate the fact it was thrust upon me after the accident - I had no idea of what car I wanted as a replacement. Wasn't prepared at all.