prometheus

Just wondering. With your body kit, particularly the front, have you had any issues with scraping or hitting barriers when parking?

I can totally relate to what you guys are talking about; although I don't have a Hybrid Camry. After having a 1996 2.2 litre Camry for 14 years I bought a 2011 Aurion Touring in late March last year. The Camry had 14 inch wheels with 185/75 tyres. Yes, kind of laughable by todays standards but it was quite a comfortable car. From memory, the last set of tyres I had on it were 195/70 tyres. Anyway, the Aurion Touring has 215/55 tyres on 17inch wheels (the base model ATX having 215/60 tyres on 16 inch wheels) So, ironically, the base model rides better than the "Touring" model and other "up-spec" models. Initially I found the ride "bumpy" at low speeds, particularly when decelerating at lights ... like the car was doing a series of little bunny hops and at times I still find the ride too firm and irritating. I bet you Toyota did the vast majority of its testing on the base model and then threw bigger wheels (alloys) at the rest so that they would look better. Having played around with the tyre pressures I have currently settled on 36psi for the front and 38psi for the back on Michelin XMV8 tyres. The AutoSpeed website has some interesting things to say about the trend to lower profile tyres. http://autospeed.com...intArticle.html

Yes, same here. Anyone recommend a place in Melbourne close to the CBD or in the inner west? I'd be prepared to travel a bit further for someone really good and reasonably priced. I'm actually getting my car serviced today at Toyota and told them about the steering issue again. Last time they looked at it, tried to correct it and did manage to improve the steering issue but it's still not 100% right. I can't see them fixing it frankly. By the way, took my car in as booked for 10am and have been told it will be ready at 4pm because they are "busy".... hmmmm ok. Luckily I am on holidays and can wait. Still, not the best way to pass the day. At the abovementioned service, I mentioned the steering issue again. They had looked at it last time and spent quite some time on it but hadn't corrected the problem completely. After I got the car back from it being serviced they said that the steering issue had been "fixed" (or looked at). I had a feeling there were shenanigans at play being that I had waited so long for the car to actually get serviced and the relatively short amount of time that it took from when the car was actually driven into the workshop (I saw it go in). So, when I got home, I checked all the tyre pressures and found that the tyres on the drivers side were both a few psi less than the tyres on the passenger side. LOL ... seems that their "fix" to the car pulling to the left was to let down the right hand side tyres, thus creating more drag/friction on the right hand side so as to counter the pull to the left. I check my tyre pressures at least once a fortnight and keep my front tyres at 36psi and rears at 38psi and I have never had a difference in pressure between the driver and passenger side. I will be taking the car in to a specialist shop this Friday for it to be looked at and hopefully fixed. Will let you know how it goes.

Ohhh and the original stock speakers that were removed look laughable compared to the Alpines. They are crappy, light carboardy things. The magnets are 1 inch in diameter by half an inch in depth. I am suprised thet produced the sound that they did. Also, I had a look at the car with the rear seat out and the sound insulation that is currently on the metal. Being that this area is fairly easy to access without ripping out carpets etc, I was wondering how much benefit could be gained by adding extra sound insulation vs cost. Your thoughts?

Well, I got the Alpine SPR-69 6"x9" inch speakers installed by the guy at Essendon DFO JB Hifi (friendly chap, so a thumbs up for him). It has made some difference to the sound quality. Although, if I put the fader all the way to the rear I am still suprised at the lack of sound volume coming through compared to using the fader all the way to the front (even allowing for the four speakers at the front) Maybe that's just the way the head unit is set up. A pic of which head unit I am talking about. http://carandsuv.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Toyota-Aurion-Sportivo-int-det-340x204.jpg

Yes, same here. Anyone recommend a place in Melbourne close to the CBD or in the inner west? I'd be prepared to travel a bit further for someone really good and reasonably priced. I'm actually getting my car serviced today at Toyota and told them about the steering issue again. Last time they looked at it, tried to correct it and did manage to improve the steering issue but it's still not 100% right. I can't see them fixing it frankly. By the way, took my car in as booked for 10am and have been told it will be ready at 4pm because they are "busy".... hmmmm ok. Luckily I am on holidays and can wait. Still, not the best way to pass the day.

Thanks xCalibur; can you offer any pointers on how to remove the existing speakers at the rear to install the new ones. The installer at JB Hi fi said he hadn't done an Aurion before ... so doesn't fill me with a heap on confidence.

Can anyone offer advice on what needs to be done for the rear, parcel shelf 6x9 speakers to be removed?

Well, I splashed out today and probably went a bit overboard and bought a pair of Alpine SPR-69 6"x9" inch speakers at JB hifi at the Essendon DFO and will get them installed in a week. I guess this is overkill; one concern was that other speakers may have had trouble fitting due to the two boot opening/closing rails that run along the underside of the rear parcel shelf. These Alpines are a fairly shallow speaker so shouldn't have any problems with fitting. They are quite a powerfull speaker according to the specs (therefore my overkill comment); I tend not to pump up the volume but rather prefer sound quality and clarity. Can anyone comment on my thoughts regarding the poor level of sound that is produced by the stock speakers of my 2011 Touring when the Fader is used to move all the sound to the rear speakers?

This also happens with the audio system on my 2011 Aurion Touring. I have a 160 GB iPod Classic with a heap of music on it and find that the audio system often struggles to keep up and "sync" with the iPod. You just have to be patient and get used to it. Not sure there is much you can do to change this. The menu system on navigating through iPod files with the audio system is a bit clunky.

Can anyone recommend a speaker/system installer in the inner to outer west or the inner north of Melbourne? With my old Camry, I just went to JB HiFi, bought the head unit and speakers and got one of their installers to do it.

I was playing around with the sound settings on my 2011 Touring and after shifting all of the sound to the rear parcel shelf speakers found the amount of sound produced to be rather low compared to the front door and dash speakers (allowing for distance) and the sound quality is very average. I'm tempted to swap the rear speakers for some of the same size but of better quality. Do you think this will make a significant difference?

This is particularly prominent when rear windows are opened, particularly both rear windows at higher speed.

It's not the taillights that are the problem. It's those hideous things above the exhausts.

Don't they all have the ski hatch and no fold-down seat.

Personally I think leather seats are rather over rated. In winter they are cold, in summer they are hot.

From my experience with my 2011 Touring, the bigger rims do firm the ride up a bit but it isn't at firm as the Sportivo models. A happy medium perhaps. It's taken me a while to get used to the ride having had a 1996 CSi Camry for 14 years ... perhaps I'm just getting old and needing a smoother, softer ride. Personally I prefer the look of the previous model than the current.

I inquired with a Toyota dealership about disabling the "beep" when locking and "double beep" when opening with the remote and they quoted me something around $140 Might try asking a different dealer in case they can do it cheaper.

Kinda off topic. I was wondering how often (if at all) you guys use a fuel additive to clean the fuel system ? I usually add one to a full tank every 5-10,000 klms such as Nulon's Total Fuel System Cleaner and more recently Liqui-Moly Fuel Injection Cleaner.

Good point, With that setup (according to online calculators) when my speedo is showing 100klms/hr I'd actually be doing 105klms/hr ....hello speeding fines. With 225/55 R17 tyres instead of the stock 215/55 R17's at 100 klms/hr I'd actually be doing 101.6klms/hr. I best wait my current set of tyres wears out and just go to a more "comfortable" and quieter, touring type tyre. Agreed?

Bugger. Did any of your airbags go off? Don't stress too much about the car. Cars can be fixed and replaced. As long as you and your occupants are ok and come out of it unharmed is the main thing. You just have to put things into perspective. Cheers

I've been thinking and would welcome any thoughts or feedback. My 2011 Aurion Touring has 17 inch rims and 55/215 , Michelin XMV8 tyres (which also seem a bit noisy). Sometimes I find the suspension setup a bit annoying as it tends to be a bit "bouncy", particularly at lower speed. I was wondering if going to a slighly wider and taller profile tyre like a Size ( 225/60R17 ) would make an improvement or what effect such a change might make? Also, other than the bigger rims, I assume the ATX and the Touring have the same (identical) suspension ? as I haven't read anything anywhere indicating any difference.

I have noticed some rust around the inside of the exhaust tip surrounds of my 2011 Aurion Touring. Is this normal? On the inner side of the exhausts there is no black soot so it's definietely not running rich.

Yep, the boot in the Widebody was a beauty.

My answer is; Who Cares ! I had my 1996 CSi 4cyl Camry for 14 years until it got written off in March this year. One thing I do remember that when I bought it, 2 years old with 32 000 klms on the odo was how smooth and quiet it was. Of course as the years and wear and tear set it, it did get rougher and noisier but it never let me down. The boot was huge and with the back seats folded down I could fit a big bike (minus the front wheel; this came off and went in the car) in it and drive to some great cycling spots. Can't do that with my current 2011 Aurion Touring. It was simple and easy to maintain and despite being a fairly simple design didn'y age badly and looked quite decent when given a clean. As far as power goes; despite the Aurion Touring having DOUBLE the power of the Camry, I still barely get to work (or back home) any faster than I used to. With traffic (mostly suburban driving), lights, speed limits and the ever present threat of being stung for speeding the extra power is almost pointless. Buyers remorse perhaps? Who knows.