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.

Nice one :) Still another 4-6 weeks or so till mine gets here :( Those Kappa wheels do look good, but I actually think the stock alloys look pretty good too - I'm not going to bother changing mine.

The most valuable thing I learned from working at a car wash for a while was never to buy a black car - they show every little scratch. Silver is the best colour in that regard, and they stay clean looking the longest, metallics generally hide scratches and dirt better.

You answered your own question there. When your car is running, the engine heats up obviously, 10 minutes is enough to get it up to full operating temperature. When it stops, it cools down and pretty much any car will make sounds (to varying degrees) as hot metal contracts. The exhaust system runs the full length of the car and has several sections which join together, this could explain why the sounds seem to come from all over - also sound bounces off hard surfaces like the road and through metal, which can often make it hard to tell exactly where a noise is really coming from. It's perfectly normal and nothing at all to be worried about :)

I've been running Magnatec 10W40 in my Commodore for a while now, and I'd swear by it (as do many others) for the LS1 engine. Before than I'd tried Nulon 10W30 and Mobil 1 10W30 in it, my preference is cleanly for the Magnatec, both for price and quality. My experience with various cars has been that different engines seem to "prefer" different oils, so try a few and find one that "feels" good to you. At the end of the day any brand-name oil will do the job just fine, the rest is mostly in your head, so don't be afraid to shop around thinking you'll break your engine or something. You'll also find that different forums have weird little pet hates for oils and brands in general - perhaps here it's Magnatec, somewhere else will be Mobil 1, somewhere else will swear on their mum's tits that Shell Helix makes your wheels fall off. It's all bunk and hearsay really. Everyone like Royal Purple however, but I think that's because no one is prepared to admit they just spent $200 on an oil change which is no better than one done for $40 :P Edit: Incidentally, the primary advantage to synthetic oils is that they allow for longer service intervals (ie. time between changes). For a street car they aren't offering any extra protection as such, so don't think that an oil is ***** just because it's not fully synthetic. Generally you'll hear it's not good to mix synthetic and non-synthetic without a flush, but aside from that as long as the viscosity is correct, and you adjust the recommended service interval accordingly there shouldn't be a problem.

The engine oil used is often listed in the owners manual, and sometimes somewhere in the engine bay (the brand and type - eg Mobil 1, not just the weight - eg 10W30). Other oils you'd either need the shop manual or alternatively a call to the dealership service department will probably give you the answers you want.

That's quite unfortunate, and I'm sorry for your loss - though as others have alluded too at least I only mean your car when I say that. I have to be honest, that pretty much looks to be a guaranteed write-off, and even if you did repair it, after that kind of damage it would never be the same car to drive. To your credit, you're able to identify and admit where you were at fault in this incident, and hopefully if nothing else there is a good lesson in this experience. For those who don't already know, don't swerve for wildlife - brake, and if you can't avoid an impact, take it head on. Hopefully insurance will pay up without any major hassle, and you can close off this chapter of your motoring life, keep all the fond memories of this car, and look forward to the next chapter, whatever that may be. Ultimately, like women, cars cost you a lot and tend to come and go, but you have different experiences with each and take away some memories of the times you had together. All the best for the future.

$120 is about what you'll pay for a transmission shop to do a "standard" transmission service, which is changing the fluid and a new filter. Generally the torque converter will retain a litre or two of fluid, and you'll need to pay for a flush if you want the whole lot done, but if you're getting it done every year or two you should be fine unless you're doing mega-kms. YMMV regarding price, but in my experience that's a good ball-park figure to work off. I can't speak for a dealer, though it probably would be more - can't say I've ever found a dealership service department I'd describe as cheap, can't hurt to ask though. If you're mechanically inclined they usually aren't terribly hard to do yourself, and you can probably save a few bucks that way. Edit: Unless you did something very silly like put the wrong fluid in, or forget to fill it up at all and drive around, I can't forsee any real issues with DIY. They only way they'd probably know is if they had reason to drain the fluid, and saw it was new, and even then it would be bizarre to say "Hey your gearbox fluid is too new so we're voiding your warranty"?! If you're concerned you could query it with Toyota. Another edit: In case anyone wants a bit more convincing, here is a comparison of some new and some used (after about 75,000km) transmission fluid (from a manual box actually, but it runs ATF fluid). No prizes for guessing which is which.. yes they were both the same colour at one point.

Transmission servicing must be one of the most neglected areas of vehicle maintenance - out of sight and out of mind for most people I guess. Don't skimp on it guys, for about $120 every 12-18 months, you'd be crazy not to do it, especially on an auto box. I've seen more auto boxes than I care to count die simply because they had 4 or 5 year old fluid in them. To compound the problem, more and more transmissions are being specified as "sealed for life" so they don't even get a mention in the factory maintenance schedule. I've seen more than a few of these make it just out of warranty and die on their ****s. A rebuilding or replacing a dead box will usually cost you anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000 depending on the model. Change your fluid - it's really is worth it!

Lol, I'm not going to try and defend NSW drivers, that's what they call "a sisyphean challenge". Could be worse though, they could be SA drivers

If you mean me, I've said my piece, either people take it on board - or they don't. :P Just don't get me started on rear fog lights...