danja

I can't believe how little respect some of you clearly have for other peoples' property. It's not bloody rocket science - it's not his property, it's someone else's, they told him they don't want him ripping bits off it, therefore he shouldn't. I can't believe anyone would have their head far enough up their own ****s not to follow that line of reasoning. I'm done. I've just lost a little bit more faith in the human race. Good job fellas - hope you're proud. PS. @1stKill, you can still be charged with theft even if the victim is your dad, the only difference is that in most peoples' cases their dad is less likely to press charges, and more likely to beat you upside the head instead.

Does that mean I can come over to Mt Druitt and steal the badges off your car because I want to?

The Punto can be a decent car, so long as you don't get the 1.2L version. Hired one last time I was in the UK, and it was such a gutless little POS it could barely manage 70mph on the highways (110km/h), and even then the gears (manual) were so short it was doing 4500rpm. Turned out my cousin had the 1.8L version, which actually has enough poke to make the car worth while. ;) @OP, the Prius is your dad's car, so his rules apply. Show some respect for his property and don't go sneaking behind his back pulling badges off his car when he's specifically told you not too - it's a poor show of character, and it's also likely to affect the resale value of the car. When you pay for your own car you can do what you like to it, till then just be grateful you've been allowed to drive a brand new car for free. If I was in his shoes and found out I'd be making you pay to have the badges put back, and you certainly wouldn't be driving that car again!

That's pretty weak, $290 just to put new fluid in there. Even if they did a proper flush including the torque converter it'd still be a high price to pay; if it doesn't even include the filter (strainer) that's just woeful. $160 is probably right, it was years ago I think I paid $120, but I'm pretty sure that included the filter. The cost of any parts the used varies from car to car, and fluid (better fluid costs more) will affect the price too.

Righto, yes, we're on the same page now :) Red will fare better than black, but not as well as silver. Any flat colour will show imperfections more obviously than a metallic.

As I mentioned, more and more factory gear is becoming iridium/platimum for the extended service intervals, and you can buy aftermarket long-life iridium plugs for close to what you'll pay for genuine, but usually it'll still be more expensive. You'll then find that Bosch/NGK/etc have a whole lineup of products, most of which are iridium/platinum, but some of them they'll charge 4 times the price for and claim they are "performance" or have other dubious advantages over their cheaper equivalents. Example: $20 a pop: http://www.bosch.com.au/content/language1/html/5684.htm $6 a pop: http://www.bosch.com.au/content/language1/html/5681.htm You won't tell the difference between them on the road though, nor will you tell the difference from genuine, except genuine are often a little cheaper again.

Definitely stock plugs, they will be the cheapest and the most effective. There is no magic in "performance" plugs, and any gains you get will just be a placebo (which is rarely enough to offset the hole in your wallet). If the magic plugs really gave you +10 Power then you can bet your left nut (or lady equivalent) that they would be standard equipment. Manufacturers try damn hard to milk every last bit of efficiency out of their engines, mostly in the name of fuel economy, and if a simple plug could do it, they would. Iridium/platinum plugs are increasingly becoming standard equipment, along with synthetic oils, not because they give any performance increase, but because they allow longer service intervals (Iridium plugs can last well over 100,000kms before they wear out, compared to about 30,000kms for standard plugs). If you want to buy Super4's or Iridium IX's at $25 a pop, be my guest, you won't break your engine or anything, but know you could have gotten exactly the same effect for about 1/4 of the price by getting genuine. Also your mechanic is less likely to snigger at you when you take your car in for it's next service.

Do you mean wax every 3 months? I wouldn't make polishing a regular item, as it's essentially a destructive process, like a very fine sandpaper. The more you do it, the more you strip you clear coat and eventually you won't have any left. Polishing should be done on an as-needed basis; regular washing and keeping a layer of wax on there will go a long way to helping keep that clear coat in tip-top condition. As for paint protection, the consensus seems to be that it is in fact just wax which they apply pre-delivery the same as you and I would, except they charge you $1200 for the privilege Regarding paint curing time, as you've said the car has been sitting around painted for quite a while before you ever get to drive it, applying some wax won't hurt it at all. I'd stop short of polishing perhaps (not that it should need it), but waxing when done properly really isn't tough on the paintwork - you can even apply it by hand if you want. It really won't hurt anything.

Depends what you're after I suppose. If you just want the lowered look, then $2.5k is pretty steep and you can certainly get the same for much cheaper, but for a quality suspension setup, it's not that outrageous. If you look at what a set of Bilstein shocks, front and rear sways, and decent progressive rate springs to match, by the time you get that fitted you'll be lucky to get much change out of $3k.

We do?! Nobody mentioned that to me!

If you can't see far enough ahead using regular lights, that tells me you probably need either 1) glasses; or 2) to slow down.

If you put in the work to keep you black car in top notch condition, then you can get away with it, but make no mistake, it's a lot of work. You'll want a full professional polish get all the scratches/swirls out of the clear coat, then a few layers of a high quality carnauba wax (ie several applications), topped up every month or so. Of course when you wash you need to be meticulous about using the 2 bucket method and have adequate lubrication and don't introduce more scratches. Black looks awesome when it's in showroom condition, it just deteriorates very quickly and visibly if you don't look after it (and it's hard to look after). Silver, by comparison, is not the most exciting colour ever, but has good resale qualities (looks consistent, hides damage, appeals to lots of people). Just depends on your priorities really.

Seriously, how could they not make a red TRD Aurion?! It's the fastest colour ffs!!

I ordered mine at the end of January, so there must be quite a backlog. The dealer reckons it's mainly on Levin ZR models, Conquests and Ascents are apparently easier to get hold of. I chose graphite (dark metallic grey). Silver would have been my next choice I think.

I don't know anything about the Aurion specifically, but often cars will have a "premium" audio package as an option, which usually involves speakers with a higher power handling (usually with some free-air subwoofers), and an external amplifier to drive them. It's possible your model has the regular package, which are in almost all cases driven directly from the head unit.