Austprodriver

Surprise, surprise. It didn't take long to run out of fingers and toes to count how many Camry dashboards were lifting around the windscreen defogger vents not long after I purchased mine brand new in April of 1993. The most common way of fixing the dash, as I've been told by numerous auto trimmers, is to take out the windscreen, and re-glue the dash. Once the new glue has been applied, there are weights placed across the entire length of the defogger vent. This has to sit for at least 10 hours odd, before everything can be reassembled, i.e, the defogger vents reinserted, and the windscreen refitted. This will cost around $150 to $200, and the problem should not reoccur. The warranty repair is to replace the dash, with better, lift prevention vents, and better dash sealing. However, Toyota Australia was very coy about letting people know about the dash problem, saying that it was not covered by warranty. I first mentioned the problem to my dealer (in the Morningside region of Brisbane) in Sept of 93, and they denied that there was any solution, warrantable or otherwise. Throughout the next 4 odd years, I noticed a considerable number of 93-95 model Camrys without the lifting problem. When I did a bit of research through a few Toyota service departments, there in fact, was a warranty on the dashboard, which went for a total of 4 years, irrespective of the manufacturers statutory warranty(2 years/50000km, at the time in 1993). I went back to my service department in Morningside, and they finally admitted that there was a warranty on the dash. Because the 4 year period was up, in 97, the claim was denied. I then told them that I will be calling my solicitor, and I will be taking them to task on warranty fraud. "It will now be a matter for the courts to decide," I said."Don't ever take a customer of 11 years for granted, or attempt to swindle me ever again. This will cost you, be assured." I received a call from the dealer principal, stating that the dealership would wear the cost of the replacement dashboard. He apologised for everything that happened. But, admittedly, things were never the same since.

I would assume that it's a different suspension tune, unique to the Gulf States. Toyota Australia had a unique suspension tune for Gulf States destined Camrys a long time ago, and, at that same time, they also had a firmer suspension tune for the New Zealand market too, courtesy of Chris Amon, a Kiwi ex Formula One driver, who tuned all the Toyotas for NZ, from 1984 until the pre 2002 Toyota Camry models. But you'll probably find that your Aurion will handle exceptionally well on sand and gravel roads, but at the expense of handling and high speed stability, compared to Aust and NZ spec models, which are both equally firmer. You'll also find that the Gulf States spec Aurion will also have more ground clearance.