What a RoadTrip!

[Stripeydog]

I have read that some of the eastern states aurion guys like to do "mountain runs" to get a better driving experience than the city start stop routine. I thought I would describe what a W.A. version is like since we dont have any mountains. I arrived back home today at lunchtime and went straight to the car wash to give her a thorough clean as the bug & wildlife count was substantial this time. I am now completely stuffed & sleep is calling me early tonight..

The CannonBall Run

A good friend of mine has to visit regional Bunnings stores in W.A. once a month as his business supplies them with building products & steel. I went with him in May & July, driving my ZR6 now deceased. When asked if I would go again I jumped at the chance to test out the new TRD properly.

TUESDAY 26th

0530am - Depart South Perth with 2 mates, many redbulls and a bag full of snacks heading east out of Perth.

1120am - Arrive Kalgoorlie Bunnings and grab some food.

12noon - Depart Kalgoorlie heading south.

0305pm - Arrive Esperance Bunnings.

0330pm - Depart Esperance heading west.

0745pm - Arrive Albany motel.

A big dinner and a few drinks is just what the doctor ordered.

WEDNESDAY 27th

0700am - Visit Albany Bunnings when doors open

0720am - Depart Albany for Perth

1145am - Arrive South Perth safely

Total distance travelled = 1915 kms

Average Fuel Consumption = 9.9L/100km

Total wildlife hit - 1 magpie, 1 goanna, 1 rabbit & alot of frogs.

Number of police cars (marked & unmarked) seen / Number of infringements - 3 marked 2 unmarked / zero fines!

All I can say is the aurion is a remarkable car in many different categories and not until you drive it on a decent journey can you appreciate just how good they are. I won't mention any numbers for the speedo but needless to say the TRD will get up & boogie in a flash and sit effortlessly at 2800-3000rpm all day.

Those 37 metre long road trains are not an issue when overtaking, the handling & response during long sweeping corners at speed is terrific & even in testing conditions (getting dark, spitting rain, roos rabbits birds frogs crossing) I felt completely confident at the wheel.

My link - Map of the Route

Whilst this roadtrip is exhausting due to the level of concentration you must maintain, having a car that is so comfortable & enjoyable to drive along with good tunes & a few mates makes it no trouble at all...

Anyone else got some stories of roadtrips they've done??

Cheers.

[Andrew357]

Sounds like you had a ball, the worst part for me would be cleaning the car...! Us eastern crew enjoy our mountain runs (which doesn't require a drive longer than 20-25minutes to get there here in Brisbane!) but I can imagine the longer drives being abit of fun as well.

I'd give you a story, but it's not much to tell. Brisbane to Singleton via the New England Highway. The Camry is a nice car to drive down there and the supercharger helps a bucketload when overtaking.

[DJKOR]

Good idea keeping speedo numbers off the post. CannonBall runs usually involve illegal activity and being a public forum, that is usually frowned upon. Just something to remember for anyone that chooses to reply. Keep it clean to keep it open.

Anyways, I don't really have much in terms of stories. Basically, I have somewhere to go... I drive there. That's about it really. But anyways, the biggest trips I've done in my Aurion:

Sam - Sportivo SX6:

Brisbane to Melbourne + return - Did this trip non-stop. Departed Brisbane around 8:00pm on 04/06/2009. Got booked at 9:20am on 05/06/2009 on the Goulburn Valley Freeway, Murchison East... for obvious reasons. Just for an idea, the place I got booked is 1500km from the starting point. Return trip was a little more lax. - Wildlife avoided: Multiple kangaroos. Wildlife hit: None

Brisbane to Canberra + return - Did this one non-stop as well. Travelled there for work. Ended up staying around Canberra for nearly a couple of months. Trip there is nothing to write about. Trip back was interesting. Had to drive back during the 2nd week onset of Glandular Fever. Drove back in one go and felt like I was going to die when I hit the bed on my return. - Wildlife avoided: Multiple kangaroos. Wildlife hit: A couple of bunnies

Brisbane to Hunter Valley + return - Just a trip for work. At the time, I was kinda wishing the trip would have lasted a bit longer. I guess after driving such long distances before, I was expecting a little more distance. Wildlife avoided: Multiple kangaroos. Wildlife hit: None

Brisbane to Dubbo... one way - This was originally meant to be Brisbane to Lorne, then Lorne to Adelaide, but those around here know the rest of that story. - Wildlife avoided: One kangaroo. Wildlife hit: None. Other things hit: A tree or two plus a lot of dirt

Aimee - TRD 3500SL

Adelaide to Brisbane -> one way - Well quite obviously, buying a car in Adelaide means I needed to get it back home to Brisbane. The simplest way... drive it home. So then began the 2056km journey home. I wasn't really up for doing that one in one go, so I broke it up into two. Drove from Adelaide to Gilgandra (1261km via the Barrier Highway) and then from Gilgandra back to Brisbane the next day. The trip to Gilgandra was something different. I've never really driven a highway like that (Barrier Highway) which has been so straight and just keeps on going and going for hundreds of kilometres. Needless to say, the open space and just the road itself, you perspective of speed changes quite a bit. Lets just say my TRD was revving quite a bit higher than usual in 6th gear. - Wildlife avoided: Multiple kangaroos, 4 emu, and a sheep. Wildlife hit: Crow. Bent the numberplate and the grill

Brisbane to Sydney + return - A drive of such distance never really phased me much before, but I must say, even driving to Sydney is starting to become a little tedious now. I think I need to take a break from the long drives. - Wildlife avoided: None. Wildlife hit: None

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General thoughts:

From all the trips I have done, comfort has been quite good. The ride quality could be a little smoother, but it's nothing rough. Sitting in the car for a full tank of fuel though does get a little wearing on your back though. I must say though, the fabric seats of my Sportivo were marginally better than the TRD seats for long drives.

The Aurion is a nice car to take on a nice long drive with some good sights and sounds, but personally, I feel as if the Aurion is more at home when given a more windy trail with some nice tight corners to really get it working. I think that may just be me though. I guess it's one advantage to living close to some really nice mountain roads.

Some pictures taken along the way of my Aurion outside of QLD:

On a side note, unfortunately the timing of buying my TRD put me in Adelaide around the time there was this locust plague happening. I intentionally set off during the day to avoid as many bugs as possible, but I was given a rude shock:

[Waynen]

Love the idea of doing a cannon ball run. I lived in Exmouth for a few years( care of the Navy). and have done a few long runs myself.

I just got my 08 Aurion and I love it..

Cheers

Wayne

[Adamsy]

It's pretty awesome to see that Aurion owners take their cars on road trips to really test them and see what they can really do. Just goes to show not all Toyota's are white goods,

Paradigm, Scootataxi and I are lucky enough to have some of the best roads in the country on our door steps.

We’ve covered roads like the Lyell "highway", Mt Arrowsmith, Poatina, Tasman "highway" and St Marys pass

There’s some pictures on my gallery of our trips for those who are interested :)

[bush1e]

I just did a drive from Melbourne to Brisbane and back for Xmas. Took my wife and 4 month old (bub was fine, he loves the travel and handled it well. most people thought we were crazy to bring a bub)

Aurion ATX

Trip up was done in stages to meet up and travel with family (Sister and her family with young boys) in Canberra, so we had to put some stops in for her young uns

Melbourne to Canberra Boring trip, done it so many times, takes 6.5 hours and 55L of fuel. 660kms. Wildlife avoided: none. Its the hume highway, there is nothing for miles around. Wildlife hit: a whole lotta locusts.

Canberra to Port Macquarie (o'nite stop), then to Byron bay for family Picked up my old man, so we had 3 + bub in the car. Would have been fine except for the Christmas traffic. And water, water everywhere. Seriously, the east coast was knee deep. Wildflife hit: none, didn't see anything except rain on the windscreen

After this stayed with the folks a few days in Caboolture (between Brisbane and sunshine coast)

Coming home:

Brisbane to Dubbo. Great trip, left 5am and arrived 3pm, not christmas traffic and not one cop!! We did it on 31/12, so the cops must have been gearing up for the new years celebrations. The road all the way to Moree was pretty nasty due to the rain, lots of potholes and broken up road. Thankfully I only hit one pothole at speed (around 110km/hr) which bottomed out badly, but no apparent damage done. Cunninghams gap was only just open, but with no traffic I could really fly through the pass. Wifes knuckles are still a bit white. So much water in the country its unbelievable. Wildlife avoided: two emus and a few galahs. Wildlife hit: I think it was a budgie, missus thinks it was a pigeon. Only god really knows

Dubbo to Melbourne. Straight down the Newell, no cops again! Probably due to news years the night before. Much more interesting than the first part of the Newell. Wildlife avoided: 1 rabbit (not so much avoided as missed) and 1 feral cat. didnt see a single kangaroo, other than the ones 'sleeping' on the side of the road. Wildlife hit: none

Overall: The aurion was super comfortable to drive in all conditions on all roads, except for the big pull to the left which had me switching hands to stop my muscles getting tired from holding the wheel. I added up the fuel dockets and (nerd that I am) put them in a spreadsheet. If anyone is interested I can post it up when I get home, but basically I covered 4500 kms, spent $475 on petrol. If I had driven straight to Caboolture and back from Melbourne it would have cost me $385 bucks. I experimented with E10, regular unleaded and 95 premium, and found that regular was overall best. My econonmy for the trip was 8.9L/100kms if I include the tank of E10, or 8.2L/100kms if I don't. I really enjoyed the drive, had a blast and am planning a trip to Adelaide next month. So many good things to say about the Aurion after this trip, but in particular the ability to overtake road trains at speed, the stopping power and control, and the comfort levels (even in the ATX) were great for everyone in the car.

[Ronnyboy]

Sounds like both yourself and Stripeydog had an awesome time :)

I always enjoy driving long trips. I usually go from Sydney to Melbourne. This is when Cruise Control feature is worth every penny.

Also a numerous times to Orange and Dubbo from Sydney.

Aurions are pretty comfortable cars (along with Camrys and a few other Toyotas) to take on long trips...