Miklos73

I received another recall notice (letter), this time I did not ignore it and booked my car in. judging by a couple of slightly greasy marks around the driver side window switch, i figure they greased the switch, although I felt no real difference in the operation of the switch... But! They did do a bit of a general mechanical service on my Aurion, I know they fixed the play in the steering wheel. They also fixed the slight pull to the left (a wheel alignment?) in the steering...holy free holies this kind of service would normally cost the average Toyota owner heaps of bucks! they vacuumed AND washed my car to boot! Maybe they dared not to move any of my 'valuables' (read crap) off the floor of the car but they did vacuum around the items. I now feel guilty I have not been taking my car to Toyota. The last time I had it serviced (this place had nothing to do with Toyota) it cost me in excess of $400 and it feels like they barely touch to it! So I think it's off to Toyota service for me from now on. They really aren't any more expensive. (PS: this is not an advertisement or endorsement of any kind. If your car is less than 10 years old it's best to take it to the car maker's service people)

Haha...and there I was thinking this was just a ruse to trick people into getting their cars serviced at Toyota :P I was sent a recall letter, just mid-January this year in fact.

Pics taken today (7th Feb 2013) Hello Peeps, just saw this baby at the Coles shopping centre in my neck of the woods...thought you may like it? PS: Sorry for the lack of pics - there was a strange guy staring at me whilst I was taking snaps.

First up, apologies for dredging up a billion year-old thread....but i just had to post, as there's always somebody who wants to know about sheepskins for their car etc. I have now just fitted rear seat sheepskin cover for my Aurion - and I am rapt! It's the first time I have had installed quality sheepskins, front and rear...these cost me about $1020 the whole lot (inc ship). These are nice, they don't moult like most other sheepskins I have bought over the years. There's almost no moulting at all. i only vacuum my car every 2 months,and most of the crap I pick up is sand and seed, hardly any wool - ever! And I never have a problem with with 'wool dust' getting into the electrics/switches, it's just not an issue...testament to the quality of these seat covers. i have atached pics, but they are quite large (+4MB - each!). http://members.westn.../Re****at-1.JPG http://members.westn...armrestdown.JPG http://members.westn...rseat-l.h.s.JPG http://members.westn...rseat-r.h.s.JPG http://members.westn...s-fromFront.JPG http://members.westn.../frontSeats.JPG If anyone wants to know the link where I got these covers, it's here;- http://www.woollen-products.com.au (PS: I'm not spamming :-))

Yes they are the steel rims. At first I thought $177 was a rip off but then I saw the price of the alloys. The alloys I want to get, but golly they are not cheap.

I am in no rush to be trying to fix my tiptronic there sloutch - I am currently unemployed. The car drives well, will get around to finding out what exactly is wrong with the tiptronic. I got the rims brand new from Midland Toyota - I am kinda amazed at the low price. The alternative was to pay a very similar price for 2nd hand rims that had tyres with "80%" tread on them. I already had new tyres on mine so by principle I got the brand new rims.

I paid $12,000 for my 2006 Aurion, it had ~116,000 km's on it. It is the baseline model. I found out 4 weeks after purchase that the tiptronic didn't work. No biggie, hoping that is the reason I got the car so cheap. The gears slip (for about a second) when the car is cold, but not when warmed up. I had to replace the front rims, as they were badly buckled (yep the both of them). Cost - $177. Apart from a service, and of course petrol, this $177 is all I have paid out for repairs on the car in the 5 months I have owned it. No rattles, squeeks, nothing annoying the driving experience. This is the best car I have yet purchased.

Oh dear...I'm having trouble with a stinky (musty smelling) car too. The problem is I keep my car under cover quite a bit. Reminds me of a Supra I had. Wonderful car, then when the rains hit I was sitting in absolutely soaked seats. The targa top had crap seals.

Oops I forgot to mention, it has a black interior. Cool... Although there is a all too visible white stain, right on the driver's seat, (looks like the last owner loved the car a little too much hehe...)

Congrats on your new buy.. !! Hope u will enjoy your Aurion... time to do some mod.. hahahhaha :) I DO love this car, but I am not really one to 'do up' my vehicles. I owned a stock standard MA61 Supra for three years (99-02), and in that 3 years no turbo was ever fitted to that car. Looking back, maybe I would have. It cried out for a turbo, and I know now that engine could take a beating. She overheated badly one day, the temp gauge went all the way to the top - but she got me home. Replaced the radiator and coolant, and my Supra started up and drove on no probs...like nothing happened.

I love this car to bits. Have posted my thoughts of this car on CarSurvey.org. Wish more people posted there. Pluses;- + Very roomy interior. I always have passengers comment positively on the comfort of the rear seat. + Quite quick off the mark, but not the greatest handler in the world. (but this is the entry model and the first year model). + Highly economical, much better than my 1994 V6 Vienta Ultima, that was 13L/100Km's at the best of times. This is close to 10L/100Km's with everyday driving. + Stock sound system is pretty decent, still scratching my head as to some people's comments. + Cruise control, 4 wheel disc brakes, power everything comes stock standard. Negs;- - A delay with acceleration. Feels like there is a flat spot, just above idle revs. - A bit too much pep? I think my car just needs very good tyres on the driving wheels (for the wet season). - Can be hard to see around you (ie; when reversing), as the door pillars etc are thicker than found on your usual car... - Park brake is unusual (foot operated) and can be a pain to use. Sometimes it doesn't apply properly... I paid $12000 for my Aurion. That's cheap. But I am finding out why I got it so cheap. The car had a bouncy ride at low speeds. Turns out the front rims were buckled. Replaced them for $86 each. Looks like I may need to replace the rear ones as well. The fuel door won't close properly. These are little things I know, but I hope there are no more...

Hello peeps, I made a post on this forum a while back, wondering whether I should buy a Sportivo Camry or an Avalon. I heard a lot of good things about the Mark V Camrys, and Avalons. But the Avalons drop in price too quickly... And after owning 3 Camrys, over the space of 9 years, I decided to have an audacious change in motor vehicle. Only in 2011 did I really find out about the Aurion, and decided this was the car for me. Ladies and Gentlemen...let me present to you... My new baby;-

I was looking to go for the '02-'04 Camry as well, the 2.4 Litre Sportivo in particular. I have had a lot of trouble with my Vienta V6. Drives superb but I always have trouble with the engine leaking coolant. Spent $3560 on a rebuild 2 years ago, then 18 months later another blown head gasket that required an extra $1500 to fix...(had a friend do it for me cheap). Now the car runs like crap when it's cold and there's a smell of burning rubber when she gets warm (and no, I don't hoon my cars). And it's still bloody leaking coolant! Very slowly though. Looked at the Pickles car auction site, no Camry's in my neck of the woods at all, except maybe very late models. One Avalon though, looked nice. Had a look at the storm damage/salvage section, found an '02 Camry that looked very badly rolled, then left in a monsoon. There's an auction place just a 5 minute drive from my home, they don't seem to be doing good business lately. Only 5 cars on their site... Thanks for the replies guys. I have decided on the Sportivo, not sure whether to get the 4 banger or V6.

Hello everyone, I have a 1994 Vienta Ultima which I may soon want to offload. I have owned two MK3's over the last 8 years and want something else. On top of my savings/tax return if I can sell my Vienta I may have a total of $10K or so to play with by the end of the year. I am tossing up between a 2000-03 Avalon and a 2002-03 Altise or Sportivo. I have found 2 Sportivo's near me and both are under $10K. One is a 4 banger auto with a sunroof and done 176K's, while the other has only done 114K and is a V6 manual! (Must be something wrong with the latter car!). Also, I have seen a really nice Avalon, a 2000 model which looks concourse but has done over 200K's...and they want $7200. Which is the better car/model- Avalon or Altise/Sportivo? And what is the right price to pay for a V6 2003 Camry Sportivo that has done around 160K and doesn't look like it belongs in a tip? Ya just can't trust Red Book all the time. Miklos

I have a Gen 3 Camry that is a gun metal grey colour. Why paint a car this colour? It's boring! If I had a choice in what colour my car would be, no restrictions, I would go for sunburnt bronze. Dark metallic bronze. The same colour as those modern Holden utes. I wouldn't go for a really audacious colour, or a boring colour. Something just above mild, yet really nice. Yep, it would be that sunburnt bronze colour. PS: Sorry about the non-Toyota car in the pic :-).

I own a 94 Camry Vienta Ultima that has 240K on the clock. It is a V6, and this model has all the fruit of it's range. It stunk of fresh burning oil everytime I took her up hills etc. Wanted to merely replace the rear main seal, turns out the whole engine was in dire need of an overhaul. The overhaul would normally cost $4700 - I got mine done wholesale for $3560. I got mine done at a well-known firm (which I am reticent to mention, but these guys are usually expensive @$100/hr). The 2.2 Litre engine would cost about $2100 (or thereabouts). An engine exchange is a little bit cheaper. About $1800-2000 for the 4 banger, and ~$3000 for the 6. Just my $0.02c.

I know this may be a little off-topic, this being the Camry side of the forum, but here goes. My father brought his 1991 Hi-Ace in to Toyota. It had ~400,000 Km's on the clock. It was rough but in reasonable running order. He wanted a major service. He himself got serviced by Toyota however. they did't do much to his van. When he came to pick up his van, they had a bill for $600 or thereabouts. He wanted to know what they did. Here's what they did; Walk around and check for malfunctioning light globes (for the indicators, headlights etc):- $20 for each corner of the vehicle. Notice how I said 'check', the price they charge does not include actually taking off the lenses and replacing the globes, no, no that's a lot more. I think the total bill for replacing all the stuffed globes came to $140. Then there was "cleaning out" of the fuel system; they may or may not have actually done this, my father felt no difference in the car's performance after. $120 Then the last thing, replacing the rocker cover gasket. Now I must tell you, they did a very nice job with this. Neat and professional. So was the price. About $300-350, I'm not sure. It seemed they were reticent to actually itemize it. Another thing, they quoted a price on a new driver's seat, the crown wheel for the engine, and Oh my ***...a price on a new gearbox! They wanted about $2000 for a new seat, $1200 for the crown gear and maybe $6500 for the gearbox! My father just laughed himself silly...he paid only $3000 for the car itself! 5 years later, he still has the dodgy old gearbox fitted. The problem? It pops out of top gear when you deccelerate, that's all. Still gets him from A to B no worries. It seems if your Toyota has high Km's, they will go to town on you! And before you guys and gals get skeptical about this poster, I will say I am a proud Toyota owner. I just won't buy parts new from Toyota, unless they are a disposable part of the engine.

I have a 93 Camry which has a flashing A/C light. I took it to an auto electrical repairman near me today (we've used these guys for many years) and he reported that there was no flashing light. Only after about half a day did he finally notice the A/C light would flash. He gave it a regas (he said it was at 550mg's(?), supposed to be 850). The regas cost $145! That's a lot! Then there was the labour, $52 for half an hour labour. So it's $197 I paid all up. Which is all fine and dandy, however... The A/C light still flashes...he said the air con blows so cold now...but I won't know this until I fork out MORE money on this 15 year old junker... He said it's a fault he cannot fix, and I would have to take it to a Toyota dealer... Damn this sucks!