7 February 2011
It's been 40 years now since Toyota started selling vehicles in this country, and the Japanese manufacturer is celebrating the anniversary with the launch of an all-new Aussie built large car to their line up; the Aurion.
The Aurion (from the Greek for tomorrow), with its 3.5 litre V6 goes head to head with the rest of Australia's vehicle manufacturing portfolio, Holden Commodore, Ford Falcon and Mitsubishi 380. Toyota has realistic projections for the vehicle, and while one of the objectives of the Aurion was to establish a genuine competitor in the Aussie six-cylinder segment, it's makers know just how hard the Commodore nut will be to crack.
Looking long-term; rather than crush the competition Toyota recognise if the Australian vehicle manufacturing industry as a whole is to sustain itself and flourish against the flow of imported product, the four main players need each other. The Aurion offers yet further alternative from locally built vehicles keeping Ford, Holden and Mitsubishi from resting on their laurels.
A collaborative effort between Toyota Australia's design team and Toyota Japan's engineers sees the staunch Aurion body atop current Camry underpinnings but with the excellent 3.5 litre, 2GR-FE engine, also used in the Lexus RX350 luxury SUV, mated to a slick six-speed automatic. Impressively, both power as well as fuel efficiency is among the best of all the big sixes. 204kW is developed at 6200 rpm, while Toyota claim economy of 9.9 litres/100km can be expected.
Performance isn't lacking that's for sure, punchy delivery of the V6's 346Nm of torque sprints the 2110kg Aurion to 100km/h in the mid seven seconds mark, and the responsive powertrain was a highlight.
Given the Camry, (that shares interior design and dimensions with the Aurion) feels simply massive by comparison to many of it's competitors, Aurion's leg and headroom really says more for it's "smaller" sibling's capacious interior than it does it's own in this large car market segment. Nevertheless, the roomy Aurion still feels like a large car inside. Not class-leading spaciousness, though in the same league as the wider Commodore and Falcon rivals.
Four Aurion models are offered. The entry-level AT-X targets fleet markets however there's still plenty of kit crammed in, standard fare for the range includes electrically adjusted driver's seating, Electronic Stability (ESP), front, side and curtain airbags, cruise control, steering wheel-mounted audio controls and a tilt/reach steering column.
Sportivo SX6 looks the part with its obligatory spoiler kit and alloys, inside it gains a sportier 3 spoked, leather steering wheel (with cruise function controls), more supportive seating and a six-disc CD player.
The Touring which replaces the athletic looks of the Sportivo with conveniences such as leather, power adjustable seating, dual-zone A/C, parking sensors is well suited to the typical family purchaser.
The flagship Grande ticks all the boxes in the bells and whistle department, the engineers clearly making repeat raids on the Lexus parts bin here. An electronic sunblind, rain sensing wipers and seat memory functions are nice. But high intensity, adaptive headlamps that swivel to illuminate around bends, and a smart key system that allows the driver to unlock, start and lock the vehicle without the key needing leave their pocket give the Grande a distinct advantage over most vehicles at this price point.
Too bad though the two upper level models are marred internally by unconvincing plastic wood grains.
The Camry's independent MacPherson strut suspension has been retuned for the Aurion, benefiting from front and rear strut bracing integrated into the body. The chassis is taut but stepping in from a Camry to the Aurion as we did, you can feel the additional weight of larger mill up front when on twister roads. In Sportivo guise the Aurion offers the best suspension package. We feel it loses a degree of the AT-X and Grande's suppleness thanks to sportier dampers, but handling is sharper and anti-ripple springs inside the strut go some way to improve the ride control over corrugations.
Toyota risks being the victims of their own success slightly when it comes to pricing. The AT-X Aurion at $41,990 is priced within $1000 of an argueably more attractive, equally as spacious and similarly capable Camry Sportivo. Do you really need the V6 grunt? This is what one needs to really consider come decision time.
The Aurion Sportivo and Touring make a better argument though, particularly for the middle management sector. Both are priced $45,500.
The Grande, costs $55,850. This blows out the price somewhat from the rest of the range, but it's still a hard to beat package. Toyota will be hoping to turn over more Grande's than their entire model line up of 40 years ago. Hard to believe in 1966 total units sold in New Zealand for the now market leader was a humble 16 vehicles!