DJKOR

That's why I was after that bit from the TRD. Would have been a straight swap, same size hose and everything. The only reason why I wanted that part was because it already has the vacuum attachment on it together with the crankcase ventilation hose attachment. If those weren't there I would have put a reinforced silicone 22 degree elbow. Even that costs <$70 and it's tougher than the Toyota counterpart. Toyota's spare parts prices are all over the place lately.

Sweet as. Nice work there and a good writeup. From the video, it makes the track look so peaceful. I really want to take mine to the track, only because I want to get that out of my system; experience it in this car so to speak.

While on the topic of the air intake pipe, because I took my car in for a service today, I was messing around with mine yet again. Now on the standard Aurion, it looks like this between the throttle body and air filter box (yes this photo is a Camry, but same thing): Some time ago, you may remember me mentioning about how I did a little DIY and changed mine to this: Well after all that work, at one Thursday night meet, I had a look under TRD Aurion Owner's hood. And then straight away, I noticed the TRD had an already made solution all along: I thought to myself that I could have gotten this instead, but oh well; I made mine. The only issue with mine though is that to change the air filter, I need to remove that section of pipe first as there is no flex in it whatsoever. Another issue is that the stainless steel absorbs a lot of heat which must not be that great for the intake charge. I figured though that when air is running though it fast enough, the heat shouldn't be too much of an issue. This modification provided no performance gains in my opinion, but it sure as hell sounded meaner. I can't really tell if it's due to just the lack of a resonator, or if the stainless steel plays a good part. Anyways, to cut this whole story short, after servicing my car, I thought I would ask the parts department about the hose used on the TRD. Since it is silicone, the heat absorbing issue wouldn't be a problem, and because it has no resonator, it should give me the same induction sound that I was getting with my modified setup (maybe less if the stainless steel was part of the great sound). After inquiring about many different parts, I figured a short non-reinforced silicone hose shouldn't cost much. After all, the airbag module costs $120 and each motorised side mirror costs $66. I walk in, ask for the part and then he confirms the price... $125. I was shocked. Guess I'm going that route anymore. Point of the story, none really. I guess I'll leave my setup as is in the meantime. You can really hear the extra induction noise from my modified setup, and because of that, I just can't return to the standard setup anymore.

Sounds interesting. I'm always up for a cruise.

Bad luck to whom? You... LOL.

Hello and welcome to the forums. The good thing about all Aurion's (with the exception of the TRD) is that they all have the same engine and drivetrain. Now I can see that by narrowing the choices down to the Presara or ZR6, you are definitely in for the luxuries like leather seats, satnav, sunroof, keyless ignition, etc. So then this leaves you with the final decision really... do you want a really smooth ride, or do you want excellent handling? The Presara still has good handling, it's just a little more cushioned and 'spongy'. The Sportivo on the other hand has stiffer suspension, but the handling is greater than that of the Presara. Still fells like a boat at times, but when you really give it some, it does as it should. That review you pointed to is fairly spot on. But everyone is always biased one way or another. The only true way to tell is to take them for a test drive yourself. LOL. In that sense... most definitely!

To YOGIZZ above, I just use a trolley jack to lift the front of the car, then place some stands behind each front wheel in the designated positions. Now at the beginning, I said I would post the end cost of my service. So got my car back earlier (ahh, nothing beats the feeling of a freshly serviced car), and the total for my 45,000km service was $239.90. Car was serviced exactly as was listed in the service log book. As mentioned, my own oil was supplied so you need to factor this in. The cost breakdown of this before GST is: Labour - $140.00 Oil Filter - $18.19 Air Filter - $39.86 Sump plug gasket - $1.75 Windscreen washer additive - $1.80 Workshop supplies - $14.00 Environmental levy - $2.50 I must say, I am highly satisfied with the service from Southside Toyota Wooloongabba. Last place I had my car serviced was Sci-Fleet Toyota Taringa and I was not satisfied with their service. Southside Toyota charges slightly more on the supplies, but with their service, I'm not too fussed. As well, Southside Toyota actually adjusted my foot brake. I'm not sure about how it should be, but when I got the car, when engaging the foot brake, I was able to push it all the way to just about the end without too much force. This left barely any gap between the foot brake itself and the foot rest. This remained exactly the same after Sci-Fleet serviced it, so I assumed this was fine. However, after Southside serviced it today, my foot brake is tight and I only need to push it in about 3 clicks before it provides enough stopping force. When it is engaged now, I can have my foot on the foot rest and the brake lever still sits above my foot. After getting used to how it was before, this just doesn't feel right though, but it sure locks the rear wheels better than before. Actually, the service manual states 7-10 clicks at 300N, so I'm tempted to back mine off a bit myself as I can't bothered bringing it in again. The 3 clicks is fine for me, but I don't know if this is 'healthy' or not. Only bad thing I have to say about my service today was that my car came back dirtier than it was when I dropped it off. I expected my car to get slightly dusty after a service, but I still washed it before I took it in. Mainly because if the service centre was still doing the complementary car wash (which that now no longer do due to water restrictions), I didn't want them touching the surface of my car. I figured if it was clean, they will leave it. When I got it back, it looked like it went through a sprinkler or something because there were water spots in various places. Not too fussed though as I'll wash it tomorrow; just partially annoyed.

Okay. I didn't know the best way to approach this, but this is what I have managed to get (this has reminded me to pick up a can of TB cleaner and flush it tomorrow): As for the measurements, without taking everything off to get precision measurements, this is what I have obtained. Yes even I think the measurements look way off. I think its because the from the perspective that you are looking at it, it is creating an optical illusion. I even went downstairs again to double check everything. My measurements are give or take 1-2mm as it wasn't the easiest measuring it while still mounted: I hope that all helps for now. Don't hesitate to ask if you need any other questions answered.

All good. I wasn't trying to have a go at you or anything. I just don't want to see this forum turning into the Toyota Nation forum. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go here and look for threads about "HID's" for starters. Being the type of forum this is where a lot of us are trying to get as much out of the Aurion as simply as possible, you would find a large majority of us are running on Premium Unleaded (95 RON) or greater. With 95 RON or greater, the Aurion will then push 204kW. That is enough to sway most of us to using that fuel, even if the gain is not significant. The difference between 95 and 98 is debatable, and for the purposes of this argument, it should be asked whether the fuel you use is e10 unleaded, unleaded, or premium. I wouldn't be surprised if most of us are using premium, with those that are concerned about saving as much as possible using unleaded. What you should have done is start a poll with this thread to gain more usable answers for your curiosity.

I personally would buy from Toyota Spare Parts. Being a car of it's age, I'm kind of like that; it's more of a comfort thing. It only cost around $19.65 from Toyota, and for 7,500km-15,000km of travel, it's not big. Personally though, it is up to you. On my old Camry, I would use Ryco/Repco/Silverline, but I would also change the oil and filter after 5,000km intervals since the engine kept dirtying the oil. For some reason, I don't feel comfortable putting that on my Aurion. If you do go that route and buy from Repco and the likes, you will be looking for this part number or equivalent: Ryco Oil Filter - Part Number: R2648P

I'm sure Auspacks is still up and running. How long ago did you try to contact Rob. He can sometimes take a couple of days. As well, being this time of the year, he's probably having a bit of a holiday.

Also comes down to where you live. That can make a big difference in some cases. I'm 21 (insurance started when I was 20 and 9 months) and my Aurion is insured for an agreed value of $32,800 and my premium is $674 with Rating One protection with standard $500 excess (plus young driver excess). Still haven't had a chance to attend the AAMI Skilled Drivers' course. That will shave a good 10% off my premium until I turn 25. Can't complain there; especially when the course is free.

Haven't quite got photos on me at the moment, but there was some discussion over here: oil filter removal In there you will also find this YouTube video which I have also added a step here. THis basically shows the oil filter replacement that you would do after draining the oil: Please wait a few seconds for Video to Load! As for the tools needed, all you really need is a standard socket set and one of these: Toyota Oil Filter Wrench

Depends on how good you can drive. Ideally, you would be accelerating at just the right level so that you are giving it nearly as much power as you can, but not too much that it would cause wheel slip. In that scenario, it wouldn't make a difference whether TC was on or not. If you push it too far with TC off, you can recover by reducing the throttle by an 'appropriate' amount, and then simply recover. On the other hand, if you do push it too far with it on, the TC does tend to cut the power sharply and with the lag of the Aurion and what not, it can end up slowing you down worse than the other scenario. But realistically, if you are wanting to launch as fast as possible, work on you technique so you don't enter any wheel spin. It's completely fine if you floor it now and again. The one thing is that any form of motor would probably last the longest if it ran at the same speed non-stop. This isn't practical in a car engine, and there is always moments when the engine would be revving then released suddenly. So say you are putting your foot down, the RPM increases then say the TC kicks in and cuts the power, this could be compared to driving down the road with your foot on the accelerator then suddenly lifting your foot off it completely. Engines are built to handle all these sudden changes and I'm pretty sure that in reference to what you are saying, its affect on its life would be immeasurable. As for your tyres, sure they can handle some wheel spin here and there; it's just going to add to its wear though.

On the ethanol discussion, there was some of that going around in the Kluger forum: E10 Unleaded? As well, it led to this article: False economy: E10 fuel isn't cheaper or greener - National - BrisbaneTimes Generally, if you use it and you are satisfied, then personal preference I guess. I have had bad experiences in the past with ethanol fuel (car not starting, running rough, etc), so I will never allow myself to use it in the Aurion. The Aurion is built to permit its use, but that's not enough for me. Tests have found that percentages of ethanol above 10% causes damage to engines, so you would think that even though 10% isn't going to do damage, it had to be doing something wearing. As for the type of fuel used, you did do a search right? Should have revived another thread instead of creating a new one: Fuel test today Best fuel for our Aurion(s) Best Fuel for Aurion's I myself prefer to use Caltex Vortex 95 at the minimum. Now that fuel is cheap, I've stepped up to Vortex 98 (which I only really reserved for when I had minimal expenses), but I am going to keep using it since I have finished study and am able to work more, thus earn more. Personally, I haven't felt much difference between 91, 95, and 98 RON, but I feel better when running at least 95 RON. Same goes for the 98. The fuel tank on the Aurion is a 70 litre tank, I have personally filled 68 litres maximum on mine, and that was after the gauge reaching empty and driving 97km after cruising range said 0km.

Lol. Shows how good my memory is. I was about to run downstairs to take all the photos necessary, but realised I just got back home from dropping it off for a service. I will reserve this space to post my photos since when I get it back, I need to remove the stock intake to fix mine up again. I'll take measurements while I'm at it since I know how much you were considering upgrading your throttle body. Gotta love the facelifts eh?

All this talk about the price of rims. Makes me think how lucky you guys are that 17 inch would be a good size. To upgrade mine, I need a set of 19's just to look decent, and boy does the price just keep climbing. I'm thinking a set of 'Konig - Hot Swap Black', but too scared to think of what the total cost would be after wrapping them in some good tyres.

That was fairly intense. I hadn't seen the 'pinky wiggle' commercial until seeing the end of that one, and you can definitely see how it doesn't hold much bearing. Anyways, I've uploaded it to YouTube to make it easier to view. It took a while to load for me on the site that was originally linked to, so YouTube should be a bit quicker. Please wait a few seconds for Video to Load!

I'm pretty sure you have at least a drivers side airbag right? When that is the case, swapping your steering wheel will completely render your airbag useless as it will no longer be there. Sure you can fit the steering wheel, but you SRS warning light isn't going to disappear. Edit: Was going to say what micky_tee said below (as I have heard this numerous times), but couldn't locate a document to support my statement.

Many make/model/design fits the camry. How to choose? There aren't too many out there that fit the Gen 6 Camry. Out of the ones that fit, you make your selection based on stiffness. This can vary depending on the material used and the thickness.

Yeah; aquaplaning in the Aurion with its VSC certainly feels strange. Like magnetic rails or something. As for the air intake pipe/upper resonator, just change those crappy hose clamps over for a pair of popper ones. Those twin-wire things do have the odd occasion of coming loose.

Smooth... but not smooth enough, lol.

Pretty much what eSEXSIX said. It helps if the badge and car surface is warm (either gently with a hair dryer or left in the summer sun for a moment) then you start sliding the fishing wire underneath the badges. Once the badges are off, you will have patches of this 'foam' left over. I'd highly recommend trying to remove as much of this as possible firstly; a thumbnail does the trick most of the time. Once you have taken off the bulk of it, then you can use eucalyptus oil as suggested, or a citrus oil (commonly available as a general purpose goo remover such as 'oomph'). The reason why I suggested to remove as much foam adhesive as possible before using the goo removal oil is because when the oil touches it, it tends to soften up to a tar-like substance. Sure it no longer adheres to the surface, but lifting it off the surface of the paint ain't too fun; it just slides around. Once all that's done, depending on how the surface looks, a quick application of swirl remover (or if it's that bad; cut and polish) will do the trick to blend things in. P.S. Doing a search under 'debadge' returned this thread: 'debadging my car??' which then led to this thread: 'Badging my Car..', both containing the answers you seek.

All personal preference mate. There actually isn't a "Genuine Toyota engine oil". Just a range of oils that suit their specifications. You will find a fair few service departments are using Castrol Magnatec or equivalent. I myself don't like Castrol oils, hence why I bring my own. Depends what peace of mind you want.

In my opinion, the Australian winter is just not cold enough to justify using an oil grade lower than 10W30. If you really wanted extra assurance in winter, you could go for 5W30, but there really isn't a need. 10W30 is good all the way down to a temperature of -20 degrees Celsius, and the 5W30 is good al the way down to -30 degrees. To be on the safe side, you take (add) 10 degrees to this. So if you think your car will experience temperatures lower than -10 degrees Celsius, then go for 5W30, otherwise you will be fine with the first. As for the oil I use, it all comes down to personal preference; everyone has different opinions. I use Fuchs Titan Super GTO 10W30. It is a fully synthetic oil and it only costs $39.99 for a 5L bottle. I change my oil at 7,500km intervals, so the price point is a good one. Have not had any issues with the oil at all.