TRD Aurion Indefinitely Withdrawn From Sale
September 19, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
Editor’s note and update:
Since many of you are still missing the update we ran on the story, I thought I’d clear the air on this issue.
One of our readers had informed CarAdvice last week of a crash involving a silver TRD Aurion in Melbourne, this was published alongside the report from Toyota that the TRD Aurion range had been withdrawn from sale.
Although we did not make a link between the two incidents in any way, many of you assumed the crash was the reason behind the withdrawal. This is not so. As previously mentioned, the withdrawal is due to a single engine failure, which did not result in an accident.
What is clear now though, is that the withdrawal from sale of the TRD Aurion is not related to the alleged crash.
The TRD Aurion should hopefully be back on sale before the end of the month.
Alborz.
Toyota has confirmed the initially reported accident involving the TRD Aurion was not related to the issues currently plaguing the model.Mike Breen from Toyota Public Relations has confirmed that a “sales stop has been placed on the TRD Aurion.”Mr Breen says that “This action has been taken as a result of an engine failure in a Toyota dealer vehicle. “The cause is currently under investigation and is not believed to be linked to the supercharging or power output of the TRD Aurion.
Sources inside Toyota have this morning suggested that Toyota have indefinitely stopped the sale of the new TRD Aurion due to “issues” – presumably issues stemming from under the bonnet.
CarAdvice is waiting for comment from Toyota to confirm the allegation. Although we didn’t have any issues with both TRD Aurion test vehicles we have driven, Toyota will presumably go to efforts to check dealer and marketing vehicles, along with customer vehicles if requested. In the mean time read our TRD Aurion Review.
Print it: 
Well if you want to get technical Paul… a motorbike isn’t FWD as it is not good for handling AT ALL nor is it practical!!!
Explain how they would drive the front wheel?? Chain drive?? no! How can they?? the front wheel must turn left and right! Shaft driven with a CV(s) on the front nope! and why? becuase a motorbike is too light! Do you know what rotational intertia is Paul?? It is the relucatance of a body to change its current axis of rotation once it is spinning. I’m assuming you didnt understand that, but those are the PHYSICS reasons why a motorbike isn’t FWD!
Once again… just for you Paul… you said:
“How the f*ck does F1 being RWD when the engine ISNT up front like a Falcon or Commodore or has a massive wing to keep the rear down unlike a Falcon r Commodore shows the physics.”
OK.. READ THIS SLOWLY NOW PAUL… again… NOONE EVER SAID “F1 is RWD so it is better” What WAS said is that “AS F1 is the pinnacle of Motorsport AND it is RWD” does that not hold ANY weight?? (Given that you cannot understand the rest??) Everyone was forced to use simplistic examples like that as you cannot understand the physics that is being explained to you!!
YOU are the one who INFERRED (Do you know what INFERENCE is Paul?) that people were saying “F1 is RWD so it is better!!!” YOU!
I was using F1 is RWD as an EXAMPLE of RWD and where it is used – just as I used ALL PERFORMANCE CARAS ARE EITEHR RWD OR AWD…. NONE are FWD!! AS AN EXAMPLE!! NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
UNDERSTAND WHAT IS BEING SAID TO YOU FOR ONCE!!!!!!
Mate Im not going to argue with you because your just nit picking. I use the RWD on a motorbike as a joke and then you try to lecture me about why they are not FWD as if I was suggesting they should be. Sounds like you want to argue for the sake of it, well Im done, you came late for this one… its finished.
Paul,
I do not want to “nit-pick” and “argue for the sake of it” as you put it. I simply want to state the FACTS. Not conjecture and heresay as some have done. You wrote using motorbikes as an example so I simply replied ON TOPIC to what you said.
And to avoid a discussion with me, please don’t tell me I “came late for this one.. it’s finished” Perhaps you have finished what you had to say, but please respect the rights of OTHERS (I.e. ME) to say what I want to also. This is a PUBLIC forums after all Paul. You can’t simply try and dictate to have things your way only – this attitude of yours comes across in how you post your ideas too. It’s an unattractive trait.
HERE HERE HERE, I SECOND THAT MOTION… Ross dead right cobber! One needs ESP with him to firstly work out what he thinks and the real hassle I have is WHY DOES PAUL THINK LIKE THAT MOST TIMES.
…. bit like putting Paul in a round room and asking him to find the corner. Instead of him going to the door he would be giving you his Toyota spiel or theories about quantum physics and other gibberish and prattle.
Colonel, Andrew M, Ross and others,
This has turned out to be a great post. Paul I think you are out numbered but still fighting to the end. Admire you for that. Well I am still waiting to hear how the TRD stuff turns out and let’s see what it is that broke.
FPV Typhoon runs 9 psi
XR6Turbo runs 6psi boost
Not sure what the equivalent is for TRD but I checked out the WRX Sti and it runs 11.6 psi just trying to get some performance figures out of another turbo’d car for example.
Westy :)
Westy the STis run closer to 15PSI
the standard WRX runs around 12.5
at least for the GCB shapes
Ross I didnt say you cant say no more, please dont throw allegations around, I simply implied that I was going… you can continue arguing with yourself if you please.
Westy, thanks… its good to hear varying perspectives, even if I dont agree.
Alborz,
Ok thanks kindly. I was trying to find the latest stats and that was as close as I could get.
Westy.
Paul toyota pretty much admits it them selves as they make lexus’s RWD and their other performance cars and also their work vehicles. if it didnt really matter wouldnt they go for the cheaper setup (FWD)
is that enough for you.
i dont know why you have to take offence when people point out that a particular toyota set up might not be optimum.
Andrew M… stating the obvious, but you can only lead a horse to water and you can’t make it drink and Iam certain Andrew will be obtuse the the obvious (hang on he has new name again – WHATEVER PEOPLE WILL KNOW WHO HE IS!)
Again you people are small minded on this, just because Lexus’ are RWD doesnt mean anything. For starters the biggest floor in your argument is that they offer it for the IS250 which has hardly any power or torque, certainly not enough to trouble a FWD setup. So this would suggest, as Ive said many times, that other variables like market demand influence them. RWD is PERCEIVED as being performance based (an article in another area referred to this, during the inception of FWD people branched into RWD camp and FWD camp) so companies naturally build to their market. The other point is that if it was truly for performance reasons, then theyd go for AWD and better yet, mid engine etc. They dont, because it has more to do with getting $$$ from what the market demands then producing a car that can go around a track really fast… something many of these cars wont ever see. So yes Klink you can lead a horse to water, but in your cases, you cannot make them drink when they are to caught up in their pro-RWD world.
If Toyota says they are now part of the Ford vs Holden war, they need to have a north-south engine rear-wheel drive car MADE IN AUSTRALIA! Not this east-west car.
The break down is most likey caused by car sales persons screeming the **** out of the thing, trying to impress the buyer. Like the MT Gravat Holden dealer screeming a new SS
up the mountan when the car had not done 1,000 KMs.
Yeah I would NEVER buy a dealer demonstrater… you can guarrantee they have been trashed during the breakin period where they shouldnt see anywhere near redline.
Hey Paul you read this ? I have just found it ,released today from GO Auto.
TOYOTA Australia has yet to reveal the exact cause of a mysterious and embarrassing engine failure that led the company to withdraw its high-performance Aurion TRD from sale just weeks after it was released.
However, suppliers Prodrive, which modifies the basic Aurion for Toyota, and Eaton supercharger agent Harrop Engineering have both been cleared of responsibility.
Toyota maintains that the failure of the 3.5-litre supercharged V6 is an isolated case and has resumed production of the car, but stocks are being held back from dealers.
The company suspended sales of the TRD Aurion last week after an engine failed while being driven by a Melbourne dealer salesman.
“(TRD) are still doing their testing so they are not up to a point where they want to say anything yet,” said company spokesman Mike Breen on Monday.
“Once they got the engine back it was already detonated so it was hard to see what was cause and what was effect, so that’s been a challenge for them.
“They’ve been trying to replicate the situation the dealer had the car in to see if they could make it happen again and they’ve been checking the engines internals with an endoscope to see if there was any foreign matter inside the engines. But so far they haven’t found anything untoward.
“They still maintain it’s an isolated case, but until we are 110 per cent sure we’re just not willing to send them out. It might seem an over-reaction, but that’s the Toyota way.”
Mr Breen said that Prodrive was “totally in the clear” after checking the 150 cars built to date at its new facility near the Toyota factory in Altona.
“It’s not a Prodrive concern. One of the reasons (the engineers) wanted to look inside the engines was to make sure that during the changing of components some foreign matter didn’t fall inside inadvertently,” he said.
“They haven’t found anything to suggest that, and they didn’t think they would because the way things are done by Prodrive there’s no reason to think that anything could find it’s way inside the engine.
“Harrop dissected the supercharger that was on the car and checked it to make sure there were no problems with the castings or anything like that and they’re 100 per cent in the clear as well.”
Toyota had delivered only five cars to customers when the problem arose and has another 30 customer orders awaiting delivery.
Owners of the five TRD Aurions were not formally advised of the problem because Toyota is confident it is an isolated incident.
TRD launched the supercharged Aurion only last month after four years of planning and development. End of Story
Maybe some one ran normal unleaded in it and it ran lean and detonated,what you think Paul. I do find it hard to believe they cant find anything that caused it? Or does it have a knock sensor ?
Hey Paul ,did you read this ?
Hmm interesting, yeah maybe they used normal unleaded that sounds like a logical explanation… but youd think the would have enquired the dealer about it, although maybe they lied to save their arse, who knows. Lots of speculation. Hopefully Toyota finds out or fesses up, eventually.
Yep Paul you would think they would ask the obvious question on the fuel but quiet often we tend to always search for the most complicated reason for a problem.
I cant think of any other reason but that it didn’t have a knock sensor ,which would be madness on a supercharged application ,or that if low octane fuel has caused it to run lean the knock sensor it did have was faulty.
Either way I think Toyota know more than their letting on and they are going to have fess up if they have to make changes to the models that are already sold. Guess all will be revealed soon enough ha.
its back on sale now
http://www.carpoint.com.au/car-review/2829928.aspx
Hey Paul I wouldn’t read the latest Motor . The PCOTY 07.
The TRD Aurion made the grade but didn’t impress. Hey at lest it got in the class!
Here is what WAZZA said ” Really uninspiring.The highlight is definitely the engine,but the rest of the car just doesn’t inspire performance driving.You sit to high with not enough support…it just does an average job of being something its not…..a performance car is more than just extra power.A lovely family car though!” end of quote.
That was a bit mean!
missile i would have to agree.
the interior of the TRD looks (and seems to be set up) the same as last gen camry’s i have driven.
they are totally uninspiring and yes first thing i noticed was how high you do sit. the second was the ridiculous placing of the handbrake.
im sure the TRD seats are a bit better but apparently they still sit quite high. i think the way the dash rolls to just looks awkward
This car is POS!!
…Take that Toymotor Paulie!