Nunga_08

$10 to enter in an Autobarn Sound Off; there should be locations on the website. I can't imagine yours getting over 135dB anyway; you've just got the one 10" sub with 500RMS haven't you?

You need an SPL testing meter if you want to see how loud your stereo is; there's a cheap one selling for $270 on MEA, but it only measures up to 150dB. 151dB is huge; my stereo was silly loud and it only peaked just over 140; a whole league behind.

Wow, 5000km on a three year old car! I do that distance in about 7 weeks. Off topic I know but you've already been answered to :)

Well, my Gen4 had front discs replaced around 150,000km, and now at 210,000 needs a front wheel bearing replaced, though that can just be attributed to general wear and tear. The front discs warped a bit and had been machined smooth once or twice, but I'm not sure if that's a recurring problem in all Camrys. Most six cylinder Camrys are prone to pinging as well (told by a mate's father who I think heads the servicing of Toyota Vic). But I mean at 210,000km the car's still running well and still gets economy close to 10L/100km (V6).

Check signature. A considerable amount of money went into the splits, the source and the installation. And that's just the way it should be. CAA (or Mobile Electronics now) were selling Optima batteries as well, the Yellow Tops I believe. I have a Blue Top and it's great (apart from having to get a custom clamp made up to fit it).

Four or six cylinder?

Yeah I'm a Queenslander... Gen3 V6 Wagon with stereo, but it's hardly a cruise-worthy car. GCCL yours is tough as! If I was interested in doing mine up I'd get a similar rear bar to yours.

www.caraudioaustralia.com It's probably one of the best car audio forums on the net.

Adjust the gains as necessary to get optimal sound quality, but also not to risk blowing your speakers. It all depends on the amps and the speakers. Capacitors are a waste of money for basic systems. First thing I'd do is upgrade your battery. You shouldn't have any problems with your stock battery because your system probably isn't that powerful (I'd say you'd have 1000W absolute max?) but a better battery (say something from Optima) wouldn't go astray. For $150, go to Jaycar. You will not be disappointed.

Alpine Type-S speakers are sh*t. Fusion speakers are sh*t. A lot of Focal's gear is brilliant (upwards of $500 at least), and the same goes for Eclipse. Brands like Rainbow, Morel, Dynaudio, Alpine's Type-X, Diamond, Boston- these are the ones you want to look at. They cost more, but you pay for quality. And someone please tell me how the hell is it more economical to buy a 2ch amp when the guy already owns a 4ch amp? If anything, he can still amplify the rear speakers with it. Before I upgraded to my Rainbow Profis I had a set of Response splits, and for the money they are brilliant. To be honest I had to go up to the $900 Rainbows to find a speaker that, in my mind, sounded better. But you notice the difference when you're cranking the volume. Noice is one thing, but clarity at high volumes is a totally different kettle.

0 power loss? That's a big claim and a worthwhile one to make. Ford's LPG-only Falcon loses a good 20kw or so. Not sure about the dual-fuel 380s or Commodores, though. I read about one mob doing conversions for the Aurion using a 54L tank in the boot. I'd be interested in knowing how much space this took up.

If you want a seriously good sounding system, why not run your front stage actively? D'ice says you have two channels wasted on a four channel amp, but I disagree. Unless your deck has active crossovers, running an active front stage makes a lot of sense (just means your splits crossover is now useless). But like has been said above, the stock speakers off the deck will keep back-seat drivers happy. If you have the 6x9s you might as well use them, but honestly when you have a subwoofer they're just a waste of space. Rear speakers are there just for fill more than anything else. What is your budget for splits? If you have under $500 to spend, the only things worth recommending are the Response Precision Kevlar splits @ $150. If you have $600ish to spend on 2-way splits, I suggest Morel's Elate splits. They are very good. Upwards of that can get you some brilliant equipment.

Those rims are terrific. I've seen them before but the name escapes me. Does anyone know what they're called? Or who manufactures them?

Lol, egay, says he who wants a blow-off valve for his N/A Camry.

+1 But, it should succeed in taking some sales away from the performance Falcons and Commodores. That comment has got to have come from someone who has never driven a HSV or an FPV. No offence intended. Seriously guys and girls, a front driver will NEVER EVER compete with large engined, rear drive cars in this country, they have a completely different target audience. AWD has proven itself a contender, FWD never will. I honestly thought Toyota would remove the cardigan this time, obviously I was mistaken. Sorry mate, but I've driven performance Holdens and Fords before, so I'll take a little offence to that. If you took the time to read other threads about the Aurion, you'll see I've mentioned almost word for word what you said and thus agree with you, regarding "a front driver will NEVER EVER compete with large engined, rear drive cars in this country". And I only said some sales, not a big percentage. Many people buy HSVs and FPVs just for the badge, not the driving experience. It's these people that may be inclined to go to the performance Aurion. I struggle to see how this will compete with the HSV GTS and Force6/Force8 twins, which is obviously Toyota's aim if they plan on pricing the Aurion at that low-70s mark. I was under the impression it'd come out for maybe high-50s originally.

It wouldn't hurt you to go and do some research on the matter, though. In a Hot 4's or Fast Fours mag a few years ago they published a blue widebody Camry sedan 4cyl that was turbocharged; it was actually quite trick. Finding that magazine and reading that article would be the very first thing I'd do, because even though it's a different engine the same basic rules apply (though altered a little as your engine is near-new so rebuilding probably wouldn't be necessary). CAPA were a long way into developing a supercharger kit for the 1MZ-FE V6 motor for the Gen5 Camry (even though that's possibly now defunct due to the Aurion's release with the 2GR-FE), so it'd be very worthwhile calling them up and checking if any testing was done on the 2AZ-FE But in all honesty, mate, you're driving a Camry, a car that is no more than mediocre. If you wanted a base for a modified and quicker-than-stock mid-size sedan, you should've gotten something like a Mazda6, Honda Accord Euro, or a Subaru Liberty. They all handle infinitely better than a Camry (as well as having nicer interiors and better exterior aesthetics to boot). I'm not saying your purchase was bad; Camry's are a good solid car (my V6 wagon's done 208,000km now and still going strong) but what I'm trying to say is it isn't an ideal base to build a good hill sprint car from. I'm pretty sure there are turbo and blower applications for sale in the US, but it'd probably cost a fair amount to send the gear over here. And lastly, if you modifiy a car that drastically now, kiss your warranty good bye.

+1 But, it should succeed in taking some sales away from the performance Falcons and Commodores.

www.carmate.com

Lol, a 2JZ in a Camry. That's laughable. I know people will argue "ooo it's so different and unique". That's true, but it's a waste of time because it'll still be slow. All that weight over the front wheels will make its handling worse, too. If you want to be realistic, a supercharger or turbo with minimal boost will give you more usable power and save you money in the long run. A little more optimism and you could easily use the Aurion's motor, seeing as the only major differences between the cars are the front and the ****; engine bay should all be the same. That GAS Camry; isn't it built on a Commodore chassis? A mate of mine was telling me it's nicknamed the Camryodore. But it highlights how fast a 2JZ-powered car can go; 6.8sec is awesome. Lastly, you say you "want" to spend 30k on an engine. Anybody here who's done engine work would be able to tell you your estimates will always blow out by a huge margin. Gremlins always come up. And 30grand on the engine is all well and good, but you'll destroy your box, destroy your diff, destroy your brakes, and destroy your suspension. More power and more speed puts strain on everything in your car. Everything would need upgrading for a conversion as big as a modified 2JZ.

That sounds quite reasonable for a press-bent system from a hi-flow cat. To get a full system with some form of headers and mandrel-bent, you're looking at over $800, + cost of a new cat. I wouldn't really bother getting a full system; it's really just about noise as any gains will be fairly minimal.

The old Accord V6 looks nice but the new one looks soooo sh*t compared to the Accord Euro. There's a reason so many Euros are around; they're a far superior car to the Thai-built Accord. If you want a reliable family hack, go the Camry. The 2001 Accords are nothing special to drive so you won't lose out in that regard, and there are parts galore for the Camry's 1MZ-FE.

In the Brisbane Bayside area (Alexandra Hills to be exact), a white or silver Aurion (SX6 or ZR6) pulled over a VS Ute. That's adding to the dark blue 380 VRX and grey Accord Euro I've seen that strike me as out of the ordinary up here in Queensland (down in Melbourne the Police had a much more varied fleet).

I love those multi-spoke rims; they'd be perfect if only one-inch larger to fill the guards (Edit: yes, even the 18's look slightly small). They're a lot nicer than the 5-spoke jobbies on the sport models, and the lack of a spoiler is also a better option. u54mot; are you happy with it so far?

Pfft, this whole "bias magazine" crap is retarded. There is nothing to be gained from it. I mean, Wheels openly point out faults in the Commodore. My brother has a VZ and it's also got the two biggest faults in the VE; a 6 cylinder behind the eight-ball (especially when compared to Aurion's 6) and a sh*t 4sp automatic box. For fu*k's sake, if Holden was paying Wheels huge sums of money, would the Captiva have been shunned like it was? Doesn't make much sense, does it? And if I recall correctly (and I do), the WL Statesman/Caprice twins also got knocked over inthe first round of COTY testing. Surely, bribery would see the WL make it to the second round. I drive a gen4 Camry, so hopefully I'm not coming across as bias. Recalls aren't to be tolerated, I fully agree, but if you look at the Government's website, you'll see many other cars up there. New cars often have teething problems, and hopefully they'll be ironed out. The VE is still a good car and if you sit in a VZ and a VE back-to-back, you can see where the money's gone. Driving them back-to-back reveals even more. To clarify, the SV6 is a higher output motor; 195kw Vs. 180kw in the base cars. The gain is due to variable valve timing on the exhaust side of the motor, not just the intake side. The SV6 also runs on 245's (as opposed to 235's). And can I back up my claims the COTY judges had issues with the Aurion's handling? Hopefully; I can quote from the magazine directly if you like. "Some judges found that the non-switchable system system... destabilised the Aurion's on-the-limit behaviour over bitumen. "ESP (VDC) is scary," noted Michael Stahl. For the vast majority of owners, this is a matter of little consequence. Much more serious is the Aurion's inability to arrest slides on slippery surfaces. At least one judge, exploring the ability of the system on Lang Lang's dirt, left the road and slapped one of the facility's white plastic posts with the left-hand passenger door." So, when you say the Aurion is a safe car when cornering, I'd say that's because it's fairly neutral and prone more to understeer (great for the school run or people who drive from A to B ). Safe, yeah, but exciting? Probably not, especially when you take into account the fact VDC is always on and can never be turned off (at least to most people). In the review where I quoted the performance figures (I did say it was a direct quote; I didn't make them up), the Aurion was inferior to the Falcon in terms of handling as well. Maybe I am reading crappy reviews (I am a subscriber to Wheels), but I know the reviews I read aren't out of Toyota's own magazine. Perhaps you sell Toyotas? Can I quote directly from drive.com.au to try and strengthen the apparent talking from my ar*e when I mentioned handling? "Where the Aurion (AT-X) is less convincing is in the driving dynamics. Its front-wheel-drive layout struggles to maintain balance and the ride quality is not up to the standard of its rivals." (Bruce Newton, The Age, 27 Jan 2007) The SX6 is an unconvincing sports sedan because it does not handle or ride all that well. The 380 VRX is a better example of how front-wheel-drive dynamics can be sorted. (Bruce Newton, The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 February 2007) I'll say it again; the Aurion is a great car, and if a family car is needed and there is no need or interest in driving for the shear fun of it, it should be the winner hands-down if only due to its drivetrain, let alone the fact it is better on emissions and some safety equipment. Another review from drive.com.au backs that up (the Aurion SX6 won said review); http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/ArticleD...=21521&vf=1 Unfortunately I enjoy driving far too much to make that sacrifice, though. This went off-topic, but I actually liked reading something interesting as opposed to the crap normally on here.

The 1/4 mile time really helped the Aurion to win Wheels COTY award ahead of the VE Commodore, didn't it? Speed counts for not a great deal in the big scheme of things, and while I'm not discounting how truly awesome the Aurion's engine and 6sp slusher are (because for a car starting in the mid-$30's in the case of the AT-X, they are unbelievable), the Aurion struggles as soon as the road goes around a bend. And while I'm yet to lose control in an Aurion, COTY judges managed to with scary results. For information, the ZR6 did the 1/4 dash in 15.3sec (0-100kph in 7.4), 0.5sec ahead of the Commodore SV6, 0.2 ahead of the XR6 N/A, and 0.6sec ahead of the 380 VRX (Wheels January 2007).