Beep Beep

lol there actually made in Australia :) No way!?! If that's the case, then I think either China Made stuff has had an exponential quality improvement to be comparable to Australian Made stuff, or Australian Made stuff has made a similarly spectacular decline to be even comparable to China Made.........? If it's Australian made, it doesn't seem very HQ. It feels comparable to generics from China (minus the Aurion wording of course) which you can buy on eBay for a few bucks. It'd be surprising if it's true, and a bit disappointing too. It's getting so hard to find quality stuff nowadays.... BB.

I negotiated with the sales manager at New Town Toyota and got a genuine bootliner + genuine Aurion front and rear floor mats for $155.00. I also bought a extra set of genuine floormats because I knew they were going to wear out before I replaced the vehicle in about 3 years time. This was only an extra $36.80 after haggling hard and dovetailing it onto the bootliner & mats package. It probably costs Toyota less than 15 bucks to get these mats made in China anyway...... Cheers, BB

Heh heh.... Personally, I prefer to use the term "spirited driving"........ I don't speed LOL BB

Hi Ozelady, 1. Are you sure you've posted into the right forum? 2. Have you tried using the radio in multiple locations and have the same problem? I'm just wondering if it's just poor signal strength where you are thus the hissing and crackling noises from your radio. 3. Was this problem encountered when you first bought the car? If not, have you tried driving the car to a location where you know the radio worked perfectly before, and seeing whether it crackles and hisses now? If it does hiss and crackle, then you can eliminate poor radio signal as the culprit. 4. You may have a bad earth or voltage leak somewhere thus causing interference to the radio. You might want to ask an auto electrician to check this for you (or a mate who is pretty good with auto electrics). Do you have any accessories/aftermarket mods? EG. HID's etc? These can cause interference problems if not earthed or connected securely. Dirty power can cause all sorts of troubles and a crackling radio may be the least of your worries. Cheers, BB

Lee's right. For factory shocks to fail at 48,000km, it's pretty lousy even IF they were worked hard. If they are indeed factory shocks, I'd go straight to a toyota dealer, get them to check it out and then have them replaced under the remaining new car warranty.

As a general rule, cars with monocoque frames are more likely to be written off in moderate/severe impacts because of the way they are constructed. Compared to similar sized cars with a separate chassis and body bolted on top, monocoques are much lighter and yet are equal in structural strength, if not greater. The downside of the monocoque is because of the way loads are distributed throughout the whole frame, strong impact loads end up being distributed throughout the frame (as designed), and catastrophic failure is usually seen in areas away from the impact zone. This makes it far too hard to repair, and it would never be possible (or at least too hard to) return the chassis back to it's original strength and integrity. In other words, the monocoque chassis is friggin awesome for deflecting the crash energy AROUND the occupants, but the downside is if the crash energy is high enough, you get multiple catastrophic failures distributed all around you (hence the twisting and warped doors etc). This then makes it no longer feasible to repair. I think in this instance the car did exactly what it was designed to do; Protect the occupants. Cheers, BB

Hi woodworm, Have you tried eliminating the obvious culprits i.e. :- Is the suspension "stock" i.e. factory springs and NOT aftermarket ones put on by the previous owner? Factory springs tend to be a compromise and usually provides the most compliant ride. Tyres generally are much of a muchness for the size you're talking about. Just need to ensure they are between 32 and 36 PSI cold pressure (34 and 38 PSI if your tyres are warmed up). Is the ride just as bouncy if you've loaded up the car ( 5 passengers or heaps of weight in the boot)? Apart from that, you must have really sucky roads where you live. Can't do much about that unfortunately. Having said that though, mine rides very well on the roads, very smooth and compliant suspension, even on really uneven roads and corrugations. Other forum members should be able to provide you with more possible explanations........ Cheers, BB

Heh heh... the other (more likely?) scenario is that the pull left issue DID exist and it WAS a design fault. It was just never acknowledged in public, and the design was quitely fixed and integrated into the build process for MY?? onwards........ That way, Toyota could then simply say, "Problem? What problem? There's nothing about this issue on our system....... It must be random DRIVER error." Conspiracy theory, or fact? Cheers, Chief Inspector BB PS. Michael Jackson is NOT dead. He faked his death to move to Fiji and is happily running a successful Karaoke bar/Restaurant.

That site doesn't have the Aurion. The Aurion may be similar to the Camry, but I can assure you... the manuals are different. Maybe someone from this site would be generous or patient enough to scan the manual (all 10,000,000 pages of it) as a PDF and post it on here.... unless there's a copyright issue involved. I don't see how there would be though because the manual is only useful to people who actually OWN an aurion........ Cheers, BB

I think it's more likely this would resolve any "vibrations" coming through the steering wheel rather than the pull left issue. Thinking about it logically, it makes sense to me that differing tyre pressures explains the existence of this issue (assuming your alignment was good in the first place). Supposing that the front left tyre was UNDER inflated and the front right tyre pressure was significantly higher than the left, it would be reasonable to conclude that the front right tyre would have significantly less rolling resistance than the front left. This translates to something akin to "drag" on the left side of the car which means the front left tyre tends to be harder to roll, and can't match the front right's easier rolling. The result of this is a rotationary force acting on the vehicle, hence the "pull left" effect. This effect is magnified due to the camber of our roads. This also explains why, if the converse were to be true, we don't notice the "Pull right" effect as it's counter balanced by the camber of the road. Furthermore, this also explains why if you're going at low speed, this pull left effect isn't as pronounced. This is because the force is small but constant, and its effect is cumulative over a long distance at higher speeds rather than over very short distances at slow speeds. Hmmm... .food for thought.. .perhaps it's not a Toyota design fault after all???? Nah.. that'd suck because it'd be too boring an answer.. It's ALWAYS the manufacturer's fault. :P Seifer, I would hazard a guess that while doing the servicing, the Techs would've checked and topped up your tyre pressures too. Cheers, BB

I agree with you BB..i got the wheel alignment done, regularly check my air pressures and found that the car hardly pulls to left..and like i have mentioned earlier, when i drive the car on a dead flat road it drives straight no pulls and if i drive wrong side of a road which has left angle, it pulls to right. Thats what Toyota told me to do when i asked them about this. They asked me to go and see if the car pulls to right on a road with right angle..and if it does that means its balanced and its doing the right thing..but if it is pulling to the left on a road with right angle then you need to look in to it..i drove my friend's VE Commodore recently and found it does the same..so i think its just normal for the car to do it and the Aurion happens to be one of those cars that are sensitive to the roads.. :) Hey Vijith555, Did you find that your fuel economy improved too? I found a significant improvement (of about 1 to 2 L/100km better) once I pumped the tyres up and had wheel alignment/Balancing done. . Cheers, BB

Just to update that I took it in and mentioned the problem. The guy said he would take a look but as it was booked for the 1000k checkup they would not be doing a full service. I haven't been able to take it for a good run, and maybe it is just my imagination, but it does seem to be a bit better. I told them I would monitor it and raise the issue again at the next service if there is still a problem. Daxta, Mine was pulling to the left from when I took delivery. I then checked the tyre pressures and found that they were all between 28 & 30 PSI (So much for dealer Delivery checks ) . After pumping them up to 38 PSI (HOT tyre pressures - For COLD tyre pressures this should drop to 35 - 36 PSI), the pull left issue was mostly resolved, and the car definitely holds a straight line better. NOTE :- Pressures described are for tyres and rims which came standard WITH the Presara. As a result of the above, what I've now noticed is that on a three laned roadway the car now pulls very slightly left when I'm on the left lane, tracks straight as an arrow when I'm in the middle lane and pulls very slightly right when I'm on the right lane. I suspect that it's just a design quirk that the steering mechanism on an Aurion is very sensitive to road camber. There's apparently a kit (which has been extensively discussed in this forum) which can fix alignment issues but FWIW, I don't think it's worth going for that, specially in my case where I change over to a new car every three years. The only way to tell if you have an alignment issue is if you can find somewhere where the surface is dead flat and test it out. If there's a salt pan near you, this might be the perfect place to test this (though the salt probably won't be too good for your car! LOL) Cheers, BB

Pittsy, Firstly, Welcome to the Forum. You'll find a wealth of info here and I'm sure it will be a valuable resource for answering any queries you might have about your Presara. You've done well in going through the FAQ's first to see if the solution to your query has already been covered in there before posting your query. If you're game enough to do a DIY reset instead of going to a dealer, have a look through the forum and I'm sure you'll find information and instructions on how to remove the head unit and center console, and try and reset the unit yourself. For your second query, the Presara rear window blind retracts for safety reasons when the transmission selector is set to Reverse, thus allowing maximum vision out towards the rear. You shouldn't be relying too much on the reversing camera, which you inevitably will if your rear window blind is up all the time. Vision out the back with the blinds up is very borderline at best. In addition, and I might be wrong on this, I think if a cop sees you reversing with this blind up you could possibly be booked for an infringement. I mean, seriously dude? How inconvenient is it to use your finger and push ONE button on the center console to get the blinds up again? Cheers, BB

Thanks Kroggie. I thought so....:D

Umm.... they shouldn't come on during the day. Mine were installed in such a way that they only came on if it's dark enough for park/fog lights to come on automatically.............

Actually.... Genuine products are made to rip everyone off, but make them feel better while being ripped off knowing that it's a Toyota endorsed GENUINE product. IN other words, being GENUINELY ripped off. It sucks even more if you're being ripped off, and you're buying generic aftermarket "fell off the back of a truck" stuff. :P However, what I AM curious about is if it's genuine toyota accessories, installed by a toyota trained technician in a toyota dealership's workshop.... does the new car warranty cover this accessory and installation for the duration of the new car warranty too? Logic dictates that it would.... but logic doesn't necessarily takes priority when it comes to warranty issues. Hmmmmm..... Cheers, BB

Have to agree with all previous posters re: portable GPS. The Toyota GPS that came with my Presara isn't too crash hot. My Garmin Nuvi 1450 kicks its a$$ by 100 miles. Has WAY more features, and better, more detailed maps and information, real time traffic updates AND it has advanced lane guidance to boot!!! Oh and lifetime updates for maps too. I know which one I'll be relying on when I go on long trips...... and it sure ain't the inbuilt GPS in the car.. SAVE the $4,000 and buy yourself a top of the range portable GPS. Then spend the rest of the money on something else like upgrading the sound system or in car DVD/DTV system.......:D Cheers, BB

Oh God. I would seriously consider slitting my wrists if they did that. Imagine doing a mountain run in a CVT Aurion and it would sound something like this (just a little deeper): What bout LED daytime running lights? Active Cruise control? Those would be additional features I wouldn't mind having.... AND..... an ON/OFF switch for VSC. There are times when you just DON'T want traction control..... *Sigh*

LOL!! thanks a lot.. you just made me choke on my coffee. Haha!!!

Yeah? Well, I know one of the Janitors who works in Altona and he tells me they've integrated an expresso machine into the B pillar..... and they've done away with Drive by Wire..... it's now Drive by thought. Just think where you wanna go, and off it goes. :P

Actually, I heard the 2011 Aurion will have an engine change. Midway through 2011 the 2GR-FE V6 will be replaced by............................................ . . . . (Drum Roll) . . A SuperCharged, mutant GERBIL doped up on steroids. Seriously though... might be good if Toyota can see someway to shoehorn a CVT transmission to replace the current 6 speed.... Oh.. and MORE power never really hurt anyone either.....

Time to take your centre console off again. The box works fine without it, so don't ask me how it works. I am yet to figure that one out. It sorta looks like some sort of lever control for vents.........? BB

You might not want to know the "best Km's to a tank or 100Km/L" but I think it's important to look at any additional info provided in appropriate context. To me, averages don't really mean much unless assessed and viewed in context by considering the surrounding factors and conditions under which these averages were derived. Fuel Used : Vortex 98 (Caltex) or Shell PULP 95 (V-Power 98 doesn't seem to be available in Perth :( ) Kilometres per Tank: Based on 70 L tank capacity and calculated using AVERAGE fuel consumption figures to date gives minimum 643 km achievable from 70L tank. Based on 70 L tank capacity and calculated using BEST fuel consumption figures to date gives minimum 957 km achievable from 70L tank. Based on 70 L tank capacity and calculated using WORST fuel consumption figures to date gives minimum 567 km achievable from 70L tank. Average per 100km : Figures calculated from ACTUAL fuel & tripmeter/odometer logs. 10.89 L/100km (Average of ALL trips taken) 7.31 L/100km (Best) 12.35 L/100km (Worst) Type of Driving this is based on : Mix of CBD/Peak hour Traffic in/out of Perth and long uninterrupted high speed country runs to the South West region of WA. Consumption once spiked to 26.9 L/100km (according to trip computer) as a result of near gridlock on St George's Tce. A/C Climate control was set to 21 Deg C, and it was very warm 37++ Deg C outside though. Best run was 7.31 L/100km from Perth to Margaret River asnd back. Mostly flat roads though with some hilly windy sections on Caves Rd near MR. Realistically, considering the vehicle specs, I personally think it would be quite reasonable if fuel consumption falls anywhere between just under 9L/100km and 11 L/100km. There are far too many factors which will affect your fuel consumption. However, I would be concerned if fuel consumption were to consistently remain above 13 - 14 L/100km without a logical explanation (eg. lead footedness, carrying a heavy load, towing a trailer etc.) Cheers, BB

Hi mysterious2506, I presume you mean the area you're referring to is in the instrument cluster which indicates the position of your transmission selector. Being a 2008 Model, have you considered trying to lodge a claim under the remaining new car warranty or has this run out? If it is still under warranty, try going to a toyota dealer and complain about it and pester them to fix it. It's pretty p*ss poor if a 2 year old car blows core instrument cluster lighting so quickly..... Cheers, BB

Wow..... sounds like a lot of money spent for negligible benefit.........?