Tofuboi

I would personally purchase an ex-rental so long as it passes all visual inspections and serviced according to schedule.

As a matter of fact, my Aurion IS an ex-rental. Heck, it was even flood damaged. Is now at 72,000km and has not skipped a beat.

I am fairly certain you can associate ex-rental with Fleet cars as they probably suffer the same treatment haha :D

My ZR6 was ex-Fleet and to be honest it only had two real issues which I was not entirely fussed over. One was the rear seat having a bit of scratching on it (leather scratch haha), and theres like two small stone chips which are easy to touch up when i can be bothered. That's it, I've had it since 30,000km and its just ticking over to 60,000km now. No major issues to report!

So in my opinion, I reckon you'd have no issue providing it has the nessisary checks done prior and as other people have said, it has all log books and has been given the OK by a dealer etc.

well like I said before, i'd prefer the bolte as a good location as 1. ive never been under it, just on it usually 2-3 times a week :P and 2. its not a PITA to get to.

Getting back on topic after debating tyres,

Iam going to protest for the Tofuboi man to get his kick **** ride lowered and iam going to rally it

AUR30N

HAHAHA fair enough :P

I was just checking out the first post again. I reckon a shoot under the bolte bridge would be pretty cool. Crown parking complex is a real annoyance in general. (I hate it haha.)

Also the Sunday 16th is fine for me too, all go! :D

"Michaelweare", "Yoda" & "1stkill" might also be interested in getting something from Thailand, do check with them and perhaps you can organise a group buy.. :)

Yeah I definately want to get my hands on some of the eyelids after seeing them on DJKOR's car, they're really nice! :) I wouldn't mind the grill too actually.

Lookin really good Andy! I must see this when its done! :)

I'm so gutted I couldn't get my hands on these :( They look REALLY nice!

Don't feel bad. They will break up your black and gold theme you have going. That's why I didn't opt for these. For me they will sit out of place with the black and red.

good point...

I didn't think of that!

I'm so gutted I couldn't get my hands on these :( They look REALLY nice!

DJKOR said I should make a Members Ride thread about my Aurion so here it is!

The 2007 Toyota Aurion Sportivo ZR6, picked up in September/October 2008 with about 30,000km on the clock. It was an ex-Fleet car so initially I was worried but since it was from a Toyota Dealer I somehow knew that it was going to be allright, and boy was it allright! :) Once I took delivery of the car I kind of promised myself that I would not attempt the modify the car in any way.... Yeah that didn't work! Haha.

The first modification I ever did on the car was DJKOR's intake mods and I also went and spent some money and bought a K&N Panel Filter. Sure it doesn't have much of a difference from then to now but you can kind of hear a bit of an intake sound where you couldn't before...Interesting!

Then various other mods came up and one hit the top of my list very quickly after the TOCAU Melbourne Annual Meet this year in June. The car rolled a bit haha, so I bought a bunch of gear from Ultra Racing and got it all installed. Now it handles remarkably better than before! :) But the tyres were starting to give up, especially with 50,000km on them! I would too!

Week after week I kept looking at different tyres to get for the stock rims when my parents decided to buy a brand new 2009 Toyota Camry Altise in Wildfire! It looks fantastic but they wanted alloys instead of the caps they got now. So Dad made a deal with me. He said, "I'll buy you a new set of wheels and tyres, if you give the aurion wheels to us for the camry." Well of course I said yes straight away! New wheels, hooray. But that all changed when they rocked up with a new set of alloys on the car already the next day! Dad said to me in the end, "I'll still buy the wheels for you anyway." Woots! :)

So the day came and I chose the wheels I wanted, a set of 18" PDW NOVA's wrapped in Pirelli tyres and I am extremely happy with it!

I have a few more things I want to do with the car before I stop completely.

- Install DBA 4000 Series Rotors to the front and probably the rear sometime in the future!

- Design a full exhaust system that won't break the ECU or make it cry. :P

- Probably modify the suspension just enough to bring the car down about an inch or so. (The new wheels make it just that smidge higher in looks.)

- Touch up the chips that are in the paintwork, there is a few there!

- HID upgrade kit!

I'd probably do alot of this when I come up to QLD next, look out DJKOR! I'm coming to you for help haha.

Now that you mention this.

My Sportivo ZR6 may be suffering the same fate, just a few weeks after having the rear window seals changed for the same reason (leaking water into boot).

When I'm driving when tis raining, I hear water gushing down the drivers side pillar (B pillar or whatever it is, the one thats in the middle of the car on the sides). I thought it was normal but I might get it checked out now.

Thanks for the heads up!

Well seeings this is open slather now I'd love to come along! Day meet would be preferable for me, just cos I gotta get back to Bendigo. Although it's an easier trip now that it's all freeway.

Will be nice to see everyone again and people that weren't able to make it to the TOCAU annual meet in June.

I'd love for you to come to the meet, considering we still haven't got that photo of our two cars together yet haha. :P

oh and sorry tofuboi for the thread hijack!!

Same from me as well Nathan. You should start a nice clean Members Ride thread where you just focus on the car so you don't get massive hijacks.

That's ok guys I know you mean well haha. I will create a members ride thread methinks :) thanks to those who appreciate the car for what it is.

oh and sorry tofuboi for the thread hijack!!

Same from me as well Nathan. You should start a nice clean Members Ride thread where you just focus on the car so you don't get massive hijacks.

That's ok guys I know you mean well haha. I will create a members ride thread methinks :) thanks to those who appreciate the car for what it is.

Well I can safely say that I an greatful for the Tyres chosen. It happened to rain last night and I started to think about the quality of the pirelli in the wet. Well it was really good which I was truely happy with!

On the subject of brakes aswell, I need to get these DBA rotors on stat! Current ones are a bit hosed. :(

oooo 16th august eh....

That does clash with a large event that I'm a part of the organisational group of, but I'm sure I can just leave saturday night. (it goes over the entire weekend :P)

Shouldnt be a worry! :D

the only thing ive wanted outta this car is that its comfy, luxurious, looks good and has some poke... so far its ticking all those boxes ;)

its toyota, mate. not bmw or mercedes, not even lexus. Girls dont care how it looks.

Hit and a miss.

Wow it seems my thread has turned into a bit of a 'Battle of the tyres' here.

There was a few factors that I went through before going with what I did. Basically I was asked a simple question.

"How do you drive your car?"

I answered.

"Pretty casually but every so often a spirited run will be in the mix."

He responded, "Pirelli."

So thats pretty much what I did, I also did some investigation in terms of what tyres would be most suited to the rim I chose aswell. Now I don't know because they're brand new wether they hold the road really well, but it is definately an improvement over the Michelins. Then again the Michelins had 50,000km on them so it IS hard to compare. But I've already come into a scenario where I've had to stop suddenly. (Sunday night, had some silly driver that ran a red and I was coming through in front of me as I was about to enter the intersection. I slammed the anchors down and I felt like my face was going to rip off. With the Michellins I would have definately felt the ABS smashing whats left of my stock rotors (as it always does as the rotors are ruined.), but it was smooth, and it stopped on its own accord. On that note, I am really happy with my purchase.

Oh, and here's something interesting.

I know of at least ten females that have been in cars like BMW's or Mercedes' and what not, I've had them in my Sportivo ZR6 aswell, guess what they would prefer.

"The Sportivo."

'nuff said.

;)

They look absolutely stunning!

Me wanty haha.

Wheels look sleek mate. Are they black with machined face?

Yeah, i wanted the black to suit the whole black and gold theme i got going :P

You want your extra Aurion, you got it. :)

I'll jump in as the 2nd aurion haha. Just remember I'm in but dependant on dates, so the sooner I know the better. Can't wait! :)

Man my Aurion looks huge in comparison. I still miss my Camry.

Don't lie. :P

Anyhow I've owned a couple of Toyotas in my lifetime.

My very first Toyota (And my Very first car) was...

1986 AE82 Toyota Corolla CSX Hatch in Red

That car was absolutely awesome, it was the car that i bought, with my money and everyone knows that feeling.....Until you almost roll it on the first day you're on your P plates :P (oops!) The car went on and on and on forever, no matter how much you gave it, and that's why I loved it! Had this car for over three years however I moved onto driving a Ford (eww) for a while since I needed a bigger car for work at the time!

The next Toyota I owned was the infamous Possessed 2007 ZRE152R Toyota Corolla Levin ZR Hatch in Black!

This car was great too! It felt new and really cool and thats why I liked it so much! But about 3,000km in it developed a itty bitty problem which took a few months to figure out, after much hustle and bustle. I was given a replacement vehicle by the lovely people at TMCA and to this day (dispite the car being traded in now for something bigger) I am still thankful for all the hard work they put in and being able to put up with my whinging and other things hahaha. :) The 2nd vehicle was a 2008 build so a bit younger aged and also had a bit of stuff done to it over the time I had it. I installed a $5,000+ sound system into it and also a cat-back exhaust. It saw trips as far as Queensland and back, it was a great car and a good companion! But the need for a bigger car came up again and it was sad to see it go.

So that brings me onto my third and current Toyota!

My 2007 GSV40R Toyota Aurion Sportivo ZR6 in Aurora Gold!

I took one look at this car and went, "This is the one!" Upon spotting it I absolutely fell in love with her! I remember the day I sorted it all out too. Took the Black ZR in for its Service, it wasnt quite finished when i had arrived so i looked in the yard and found the Aurion. Holy crap I was so impressed with it I valued the Levin in that day and signed all the papers for it hahaha. But yeah, it was still sad to see the Levin ZR go again. At the moment its had Ultra Racing gear fitted, new rims as of yesterday and a K&N Panel filter for it. Soon to have more stuff, but thats what I've owned so far! :D

Well it seems I gave in on the wheel debate. Saturday morning I took delivery of a set of PDW NOVA 18x8 wheels which were wrapped with Pirelli tyres 235/40R18 and I must say, it looks good with the Aurora gold!

Well I like it anyway and that's what counts! :D

It does stick to the road alot better now with the wider tyres and better tread, road noise has dropped a bit too over the stock Michellins (which were the original tyres that came with the car back in 2007! Not bad considering the cars done 58,000km...

Next on the list is to source out some heat proof rubber that will go around my lower strut brace, it's vibrating up against the exhaust when you accelerate full tilt. Not cool! Or i'll just do what DJKOR said, "Time to get a new exhaust." :P

After that i'll be getting my DBA 4000 Series rotors fitted and some better pads, DJKOR has the same rotors I beleive and is pleased so i'll be doing that.

Finally last thing is definately going to be something that will bring the car down about an inch or two. That would make the car really streamlined I reckon, but I don't want to go all out with adjustable suspension kits etc, at least not yet!

So yeah, that's my car as it stands! Definately love it! :D

This was actually yesterday but I was out all day and had no time to post here.

I bought a new set of rims for the Aurion. Yep... Just 18 inch. 18x8 PDW NOVA's with Pirelli Tyres (not sure on model have to check.) 235/40R18 i beleive, so thats a little wider than normal. They look really nice but ive had no time to take photos yet. So I'm going out now to do that! Also I had heat resistant stuff attached to my lower front strut brace to prevent knocking at full accel, does wonders! :D Still going to try and get a modified exhaust system perfected that doesnt fail. :P

Other than that, today I'm going to put some fuel in her as she needs it after the trip to Blackwood and back and then give her a wash she deserves now that she has shiny new rims and a dirty body... :P haha

I hope you didn't really mean a torque wrench. I wouldn't suggest using that to accurately torque up nuts and bolts again.

Nah I didnt use a torque wrench, just took a very long time to get the nuts off haha.

So as most of you know I purchased all the Aurion Ultra Racing strut braces. That is the rear sway bar, and the upper and lower strut braces. DJKOR has only the rear sway and upper brace.

Here's the fun part.

INSTALLATION:

Upper Strut Brace was easy. Once I had a torque wrench powerful enough to undo the "holy crap these are glued on tight" bolts from the strut towers on the front. I installed the brace and reapplied the nuts on the towers. This alone I noticed a small improvement on the front end stability. The car wasn't really leaning into the corner as such it was getting more flat.

The next weekend I took the car to a mates and we had a crack at installing the rear sway bar and the front lower brace. The rear sway bar was a bit of a issue as the exhaust mountings kept getting in the way... I didnt do this part as well, I couldn't get under the car even knowing it was jacked up. Plus we didnt really take the wheels off which made more fun. :P But we got there in the end and gave it a test run with just that installed and the front upper brace, we had a knocking sound from the rear drivers side. Aha! We forgot to tighten one of the bolts! Once we did that it was all sweet and onto the next part...

The Lower Front Brace..... *queue demonic evil music here*

This brace was the biggest pain in the rear end ever! We got the entire car up on stands and shuffled underneath. We eventually got the two front nuts off where we needed so we could attach the front part of the brace, but the other two points were further back and were to attach to two of the longest bolts I have ever seen!!!! These bolts were nearly 50cm a peice! After finally getting them out and moving the brace into place, for some reason things just would not line up! We spent a total of four hours on this brace alone! Eventually we got it into place and the big bolts were back in where they should have been.

TESTING:

Well testing was sure fun, I have a semi-hilly road near my place where I took it for a blast! (no one really drives down it anymore, and I know why :P) The car was cornering pretty darn flat in comparison to when all of it was taken off, so there was definately an improvement! However something was amiss. I stopped the car and waited... Down went the right pedal and I took off. But wait, I'm hearing a odd scrape/vibration sound when im at full acceleration in 1st gear!

Initially I thought it was the front brace scraping on the road, but I found that out when i went over a bump I could normally travel over rather quickly, yep. It bottomed out, whoops! Forgot that the car will feel lower now because the brace sticks out like a sore thumb if you look at it from the right angle. :P Anyhow that aside, I had my car taken in to my Toyota Dealer to fix a water leakage issue (turned out to be the window seal all along, its fixed now :D) and I asked them nicely to ensure all the bits were fasted properly, they popped the car up on the hoist and low and behold. There was some white paint on the exhaust! Oh no, you gotta be kidding me? I thought to myself...

The lower brace is hitting the exhaust when the engine turns under full power, causing it to rub and vibrate against it!

THE SOLUTION:

Well DJKOR summed this up in one sentance.

"Time to get a new exhaust! :P"

Yep, looks like it! Time to get something fabricated, which means I'll probably start my exhaust experimentation again, horay for all Aurion owners! haha.

THE CONCLUSION:

Well overall I reckon this was a great buy, exhaust issue or not. Next on the list is my DBA rotors and probably some new tyres, since im still on the first set! Anyone thinking of getting the ultra racing gear, I would recommend it. :)

I had the exact same Hayman Reese 1600kg towbar and complete wireup with a seperate computer (which is required), and all up it cost about $550, including tow bar and computer thing. I thought that wasn't too bad considering I was quoted almost double that from Toyota themselves. :P