Competitors to Aurion Sportivo?

[MIKHALE]

It's interesting when people talk about the Competitors to the Aurion Sportivo that it usually ends up being the Commodore SV6 and the Falcon XR6.

Interesting because before I bought my 2010 SX6 I never really considered either of those cars, but was looking more to the Honda Accord Euro / Mazda 6 and wishing they had a little more power to exploit their great chassis dynamics.

I wanted Quality, Reliability with an injection of Sporty and Affordability thrown in for free!

Not too Big, not too Small - just Right....the SX6 fitted the bill for me perfectly.

I'm interested to know what your 2 Competitor Cars to the Aurion Sportivo would be?

Edited December 11, 2016 by MIKHALE

[mg85]

Closest car to the SX6 would be 3.5L V6 Honda Accord (not the 4cyl Euro) in my book. Hondas have a good reputation maybe some paint issues but very reliable if serviced.

I think the SV6 and XR6 are in a different category.

The Mazda does not come close with its 4 cyl. Got a nice look though ay.

Comparing apple with apples is a bit hard but looking at it say specked as follows, front wheel drive, 6 cyl, Jap manufacturer, similar price to SX6 narrows things a bit.

So its the Honda Accord for me as the closest competitor. 

[KAA]

I agree..it was between Honda and Toyota when we bought our Presara...very close but in the end I feel the best chosen..been a dream to own

KAA

[DeafDave76]

Alright as far as I recall... Now yes Holden's SV6 and Ford's XR6 are in similar specs but their category were large where Toyota Aurion and Honda Accord both were medium large category

Honda Accord with its V6 and FWD is the Toyota Aurion's direct competitor.  Both have different levels of specs but the main difference was Honda only had 2 specs (can't remember what they were called) where Aurion had: ATX, Touring, Sportivo SX6, Prodigy, Sportivo ZR6 and Presara. That's 6 specs compared to Honda's 2. Price wise: on different levels. The ATX, Touring, Sportivo SX6 were aimed for budget where Prodigy, Sportivo ZR6 and Presara were aimed for people with money to burn! Honda's 2 specs were not aimed at budget at all. Both were priced above in the Sportivo ZR6 and Presara area.

As for other V6's in same size wise as Honda Accord and Toyota Aurion, it was actually VW Passat and Chrysler 200C. I also remember another V6 and it was Mitsubishi 380 before its demise (to this day I still lament the loss of it as it allows more choices to pick. Ex owned Magna). 

Although I had to laugh a few years back when Ford Mondeo came out and annouced the competition was against Aurion until they realized the error and changed it to Camry. 

As OP mentioned, the Mazda 6 and Honda Accord Euro (which is no longer on sale here) both are 4 cyl engines but are direct competition to Toyota Camry. Camry's direct competitors are actually:

Ford Mondeo (now with new engines, one of them a potent 177kw. Have yet to test drive this one. One of the 3 to have wagon form)

Mazda 6 (now with SkyActiv engines. Have yet to test drive those. One of the 3 to have wagon form)

Honda Accord (the 4 cyl engine one that effectively replaces the Euro)

Skoda Octovia (the RS version could give Aurion a run for its money. One of the 3 to have wagon form)

VW Jetta

Holden Malibu (although I know it is discontinued but there is another one coming soon)

Suzuki Kizashi (recently got a turbo engine but still isn't powerful enough)

KIA Optima (non turbo ones. Turbo ones would be closer to Aurion area)

Hyundai Sonata (known as i40)

Um i think that's it.

[LordBug]

Gotta say, after writing my TRD off recently, I was left scratching my head as to what to look at going for with my payout.
If I had found a g6e for the right price & kms I would've probably jumped on that as a kinda diagonal step upwards. Would've strongly considered a recent model Mazda 6 if the prices weren't still recent model prices. Did consider a BMW which was a similar size, model escapes me though.
Happily though, I ended up with a Sportivo from the same year as the TRD. Only 77k on the clock, and with a number of luxury features that I didn't have in the TRD. I miss the extra poke of the supercharger, and the bucket seats, but otherwise absolutely love this car :)

[robboszr6]

I've spent some time driving a 07 Honda Euro limited edition what a great car, it feels more up market and better quality than my ZR6, even got under the car double wishbone suspension at the front with some aluminum arms front and back, very nice dash with a proper trip computer sports seats really hold you, i am really impressed with Honda Euro it feels very sporty to drive and in my opinion rate it as the better car.

The Aurion feel's cheap and plain inside compared to the Honda, Aurion got a great engine that's it. Only if i had my time again

 

[Buff Hamster]

I would pick the new Kia Optima GT over an Aurion. Lose a tiny bit of performance but gain so much refinement and equipment.

I use to be a Toyota man but they are starting to fall behind. Hence why I moved to Kia

If you want outright performance but don't care about quality then go XR6 Turbo.

Edited December 13, 2016 by Buff Hamster

[campbeam]

3 hours ago, Buff Hamster said:

I would pick the new Kia Optima GT over an Aurion

Maybe over a Camry. I have yet to move to Kia because I am not a new/recent model car buyer.

After reading a review of the Kia, I then went to the review of the Subaru Liberty 3.6R. Now that vehicle is more of a direct competitor to the Aurion.

However, total costs of ownership is still a major factor along with reliability, performance and ready availability of spare parts for DIY maintenance.

[ZZT86]

4 hours ago, Buff Hamster said:

I would pick the new Kia Optima GT over an Aurion. Lose a tiny bit of performance but gain so much refinement and equipment

You're saying that a Kia is more refined than an Aurion mechanically or just interior bling ? Then there's dependability which you must consider.

[Buff Hamster]

6 minutes ago, ZZT86 said:

You're saying that a Kia is more refined than an Aurion mechanically or just interior bling ? Then there's dependability which you must consider.

I'm talking about interior and ride quality. The 3.5L V6 is imo a better engine because of the power output and smoothness to it. Kia offers 7 years warranty, so far no problems after owning the cars for 6 months.

Yes the Aurion is faster 0-100 but you have to ask yourself this question. How often do you redline it to the speed limit in real world driving? I owned an Aurion for 8 years and there isn't much power at low rpm so I had to rev it a bit. The Optima GT made city driving easier because of all the amount of torque available at low rpm because it's a turbo engine.

Edited December 13, 2016 by Buff Hamster

[ZZT86]

It's great to see Kia/Hyundai improving but I would still regard them as inferior in the reliability & mechanical refinement stakes, Toyota engineering is usually brilliant. It's pretty hard to beat a Toyota/Lexus !

Edited December 21, 2016 by ZZT86

[DeafDave76]

I had all but forgotten about Subaru Liberty! It is cos they don't do much sales lately (the POS facelift 2-3 models back before the current facelift did hurt the sales). Yes the servicing costs are a big factor in why Liberty sales are so down. KIA however while improving, still lags behind Camry in sales for medium category. But that will all be over soon if the rumours about the KIA GT is true.

Come to think of it, I have noticed a bit of downtread when it comes to medium to large category cos everyone has jumped aboard the SUV bandwagon. Example is this link: 

http://www.caradvice.com.au/504292/november-2016-vfacts-new-vehicle-sales-numbers-winners-and-losers-detailed/

I have to admit while I am not surprised by Holden Commodore still the leader of large car sales, the biggest surprise is the number of Aurions vs Falcons. There are people out there choosing to buy Aurions over Falcons. Traditionally it's usually Commodore, Falcon and Aurion last. This time it is different and yes it is just for November. I haven't got the faintest what the year to date is yet!