2007 TRD Aurion 3500SL Review
October 26, 2007 by Anthony Crawford
2007 TRD Aurion 3500SL Review
“My CarAdvice colleagues were not overly praiseworthy of the TRD. Too much torque steer, lack of soul, were the main gripes. I disagree. I like the car!”
- by Anthony Crawford
Test Model: TRD Aurion 3500SL (Sports Luxury)
CarAdvice rating: 
Options Fitted: Option Pack ($5952), which includes: moonroof, rear personal lamps, satellite navigation, Bluetooth mobile phone compatibility. At $61,500 all items in this pack should be standard kit.
Recommended Retail Price: $61,500 but you can get into the TRD Aurion 3500S (Sports) for $56,990
Where it sits: TRD stands for Toyota Racing Development, so there is no mistaking where this car is positioned in the Toyota line up. It’s aimed squarely at the car enthusiast.
This is not so much another review of the TRD, but rather, why I consider this car better than the overall verdict so far.
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yeah i have bought a bit of stuff for mine, what does he need? i know there is a few body kit parts and stuff they have!
New audi is now january…not happy, but to get the trim and colour i wanted i had too…. i think i may get shot for this audi… i usually get something different but i have gone mad with this one i think! i just need to pray i can sell it! hehehehe…. thats what you get for making me pick what i want… I have some wheels picked out for it and i can get some springs that are low enough so that should be good…. it will be weird not having a Q7 now!
if there having trouble getting TS50 parts let me know ill put you in contact with the ford dealer i have…. i can even get XA parts from them!!
Jan……so what do you drive till then?
Thanks for the heads up on the Ford stuff will let them know …..new old stock still for XAs…..Gee I thought Hobart had a slow selling parts dealer!
Other half wants to know what XA bits would they have?????
Tonyn… its at Drive… look at the other TRD test thread for the link.
Naughtius Maximus… you speak of turps, your replies would suggest your on the stuff, 3 replies ranting on, your certainly on something!
Andrew… No reliability is one area Toyota excells… and is related to the broader concept of them producing better engines (Mrre reliable AND more powerful). Other areas are quality, features and in general, value for money. The only area I can think of Ford having over Toyota is handling… and even then as per Drive.com.au the Falcon didnt perform very well over uneven surfaces (ie streets) while the Aurion did… so the one area it has over it, it doesnt excel in. I agree with one thing, tall poppy syndrome, you Ford fairies have to come to grips with Toyota producing far superior vehicles… which are now tackling, successfully, the performance market.
For additional reading go look at the WRX thread I just replied to.
Toyota paul…
There not industry facts…. i have read those before and its all based of a phone poll…. i could ring 20 times and bag toyota and it would bring them down… http://www.jdpower.com is where you should look if you want to see real industry stuff…
i have bought mouldings, some trim stuff and a air cleaner off them, they have a huge warehouse which has plenty of stuff…. its starting to dry up but they still have some stuff.
Was driving an RS4, but have just been given a A4 1.8 turbo multitronic till mine gets here…. my Q7 has been sold or i would still have that.
I ordered a sort of individual car, so i have to wait….. i have got a set of 20″ wheels for it already and some springs…. thinking they might make it to the white one if they will let me!!
Toyota Paul…yeah mate not on here for around 1week. Low and behold I get on here thinking what people have said. I then come across you and you are a funny f*ck…but then again you truly don’t suprise me one little bit! We see you for what you are Toyo Boy!
That is a beautiful looking piece of machinery.
No soul – yeah right wankers. Just have a look at how elegant it is. I hate Holdens and Fords because of thier extensive history of producing awful vehicles of unacceptable relibility and below common quality.
The brother of a work collegue of mine just about lost his soul approx 15 months ago when the brakes on his Clubsport decided to pack it is when trying to enjoying a Saturday afternoon street meet at Mallawa Speedway S.A.
I just got back from a weekend camping trip up in the mountains with two of my neighbours and on the way home decided to stop into Macca’s for a nice feed of grot.
While we were there chomping down our chowmin a black Presara and a gold Sportivo passed by during the 20 mins or so while we were there and i noticed the other two had taken notice of the the two Aurions as much as i had.
Just goes to show how these new Toyota’s are catching the eye of the public as i have been noticing similar glances of passing Aurions over the past several months.
I’ve checked out the TRD but unfortunately didn’t have time to drive it as i was passing by from job to job and i reckon the Red example that was on display was bloody awsome.
That black one in the picture looks grouse to the max… that means fan-bloody-tastic.
Stuff Holdens and Ford, give us more exotic materials like more TRD’s, Nissan GTR’s while hurring up with things like the IS-F.3
I love it how diehard Holden and Ford idiots chatter amoung themselves while the rest of the world couldn’t careless about thier cars.
I will always remember the tropical rainfall of tears when Nissan squashed the aspirations of the local boys. How great those days were. i can only wait for the years ahead when other manufactuers can once again race in Australia against those trashy Commodores and Falcons.
No soul – yeah right. Get a friggen life.
Cool can you email me their contact details????Cant believe they still have stock!!
Re the new Audi…….so there after market wheels??? I would imagine Audi wheels could be expensive? I once priced a set of M wheels for 535 sport $20,000 for the 4 ..no wonder Alborz calls them the option kings!Gee and your dumping it..theres a surprise ..not!!hahaha Individual what does that option cost in Audi’s ? Depends on the options? What does individual paint cost ?
Paul,
toyota dont have a history of producing more powerfull cars so how is power a feather in their cap. who thinks toyota when they think power?
ah dont forget about safety in fords lap. you dont want to talk about that do you.
mate up until the VE came out the BF was the car to beat with handling. so now we get the VE that marginally gets the falcon on handling and suddlenly the BF is hopeless?? mate i dont get it
exactlly what i have been telling you paul. you go on about a phone poll. JD powers no longer recommends toyotas as their quality has slipped
have you come to terms with what you are saying about toyotas being bullet proof or no problems bar 1 with the TRD? if so apologise for being so abusive toward me. (come on be a man and admit your mistakes)
Johno,
the biggest thing i love is the way you guys stick your chest out at the way the nissan performed many years ago.
how about you open your eyes and realise that you can actually see stock nissans race against stock falcons and commys. you guys think the only category in OZ is V8 supercars. if you want to see stock racing and more than 2 manufacturers well you still can. you are obviously not a motorsport fan (or you would know that) so why did you bring it up.
you are so bitter that ford and holden have created one of the most competitive and popular categories you can watch.
what next you want to see ferraris in the carrera cup?
Nice point……..Are there any Nissans or Toyotas in the Performance car series your speaking about Andrew?????? Not at the front of the pac cause I would be seeing them I guess!
Australia loves the Holden Ford rivalry….its a way of life!
no there are no toyotas or nissans at the front.
they do have a pink BMW for you though!!!!
they have stock HSV’s and stock FPV’s so why dont you tough speaking toyo ans nismo lovers enter a car in that?
well you say you want to see nismo’s etc against fords and holdens……
my point is dont whinge because there is still such a category
i wont post the link (cause it takes forever to be moderated)
so put
“Australian Performance Car Championship .au” into your search engine and see for yourself so you guys stop whinging about that.
the most competitive outside of the HSV’s/FPV’s are the EVO’s.
actually the EVO’s give the big V8’s the best run for their money. needless to say its the corners where the EVO’s shine
so are we all done with this wah wah wah i want to see more than holdens and fords racing wah wah wah
Cause their current models cant keep up with the Evos and Rexes…let alone HSV and FPV stuff or I guess they would be doing it already!
How long has the performance car series been going??????? A while now I thought, so Toyota and and Nissan have had plenty of chances to prove themselves in that racing class!
^^^^
exactlly
sorry but im so over the whinging
i love me V8’s but i still take interest in many other categories.
rex’s actually cant keep up as well as the EVO’s though. maybe its the drivers but the EVO’s are the only ones that provide competition to the big boys
Andrew.M no Toyotas have been just as powerful as their Ford rivals mate… in the past the V6 Camry (Gen3) for example had 140kw and 260Nm while at the same time the Falcon only had 145kw with A WHOLE LITRES more displacement and the Commodore only had a pitiful 130kw with nearly a litres more dispalcement! Granted both had more torque (They have larger engines… although the Commodore only had 30Nm more). The next generation V6 Camry was more even with the others… then the one after this slipped abit in performance as they used the same engine from 1996… but now history repeats itself with the Aurion, again the most powerful engine in its class.
QUOTE = have you come to terms with what you are saying about toyotas being bullet proof or no problems bar 1 with the TRD? if so apologise for being so abusive toward me. (come on be a man and admit your mistakes)
Hahahaha you can twist and turn cant you. You wanna keep taling sh*t be my guest, Im the one who mentioned faults such as the sludge issue with Toyotas… at no point had I said the TRD is the only problem they have. What I have said, backed up from various sources, is that Toyota is far more reliable then many brands, including Ford. What have you said? Something along the lines of.. Ford Ford Ford Ford Ford Toyota is crap Ford Ford Ford Ford… backed up by what? NOTHING. Your own biased views. Im awaiting and apology for the other thread where you provided support to an idiot who claimed Toyotos werent reliable, then when you had pie on your face from that article I linked, you still couldnt hack defeat… to this very point in time this remains!
ha ha ha ha ha
mate you are like shooting fish in a barrel due to the silly things you say and then deny.
i havent got time right now im off till tomorrow ill seeya then
I am shooting fish in a barrel… and your the fish Andrew.M. You can continue on with this ‘bulletproof’ crap, you’ve interpreted wrong obviously… as Ive been well aware of their sludge and transmission problems in Camrys. This has always been about reliability, only 15% of cars needing to get unscheduled maintenace within the first 5 months is bulletproof reliaiblity in my books. But do continue on twisting what I say.
Hey Toyota Paul, In relation to your comments on quality..
“According to the survey, the Falcon’s main problem are as were the engine and general squeaks and rattles”
Dont talk to us about engines, because the recently released V6 RAV4 has just been put on hold because of engine management problems.
An article from another website:
———————-
“Toyota Australia spokesperson Mike Breen says the RAV4’s 3.5-litre V6, which is shared with the Aurion, Kluger, and Tarago, is not operating “as smoothly as would be expected”, and there appears to be an issue with the engine’s electronic managment control system.
The problem was detected in a couple of company demonstration models and the decision was made to stop customer deliveries as a “precautionary measure”.
——————–
First the Aurion TRD, now the RAV4 V6, so whats left ??..maybe a Kluger cease sale next month???
Well, at least Toyota’s aren’t “boring” anymore, I guess when volumes become the focus of a company then something’s got to give …
The JDpower listing is commercial surveys and warranty claims oriented. You see when a buyer returns or claims his/her warranty that counts againts the manufacture.
I agree that the figures of Toyota recalls have increased dramatically over the last 5 years… My opinion on it is that plenty of experienced engineers are lured away for more money to join other companies, experienced Toyota engineers are well regarded by the way, they take in new blood and the results show it. But the Toyota way of engineering is very much still copied and emulated by almost all other manufacturers believe me on that one… I expect Toyota to pick up their slump however.
By the way Honda, Subaru and Scion are ahead of Toyota in the latest ranking… mind you Honda and Toyota are the 2 biggest Japanese manufacturers profit wise anyways, Toyota being number 1 overall. Subaru is partly owned by Toyota, rumours are they will take over Subaru in the near future.. Scion is a “young-audience” oriented car brand… guess what.. owned by Toyota.
Still.. I can assure you, In-House Toyota is still high quality… the amount of reviews when it comes to quality of products is top notch… its the suppliers… they usually work with most manufacturers and the quality of the common parts are the same, but sometimes the exclusive parts for toyota gets the same treatment as the other ones.. take that for what its worth. But still in-house manufactured components go through the twice as much reviews as other companies… Toyota breaks their employees balls when it comes to this sort of things!
Hmmmm JD Powers must be right about Toyota, James from Melbourne raises a great point too and like I said being at the top is real hard (and staying there) and getting there is easier. History has proven that in all industries – it is people like TOYOTA PAUL who are in denial. Phonepolls from a tiny count of people is not a true result either as not broad based either. Then again it is like the polls with the Election coming up…in one day the Coalition make half the 16% deficit back which says to me anyone who takes these seriously are tad silly.
I will email you the contact details for the ford dealer….
yeah i wanted genuine wheels but i fell over at the price,and audi had a fit when i told them 20″ wheels fit on a A4!! Work isnt too happy either but they give me a car to do what i want with!!!
Indidval depends how far you want to go, anywhere from $4000 to $25000…
Paul, what am i twisting?
you have either said it or not.
the fact is you HAVE actually said the very words i have quoted you on.
i have provided quotes/links 3 times now to what you have said
so before you keep swimming round and round in that barrel thinking you are getting somewhere please quote one from myself that has me saying that “Fords have better reliability than Toyotas”.
where have i said it?
provide me with a time and date and the actual text that says i have said those words.
mate thats all you keep having a go at me about so how about you prove i said it.
i have proven where you have said stuff but if you want to keep denying it then what am i to do?
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH
A Large camry with a spoiler kit (sigh!)
Toyota usually make low powered cars, apart from the Toyota Supra. Thats probably why there so reliable. The previous Camry looked about as exciting as my old fridge.
Good to see that this TRD is trying to spice things up, but seems rather expensive.
For that price I would much rather a VE Calais with a 6L V8.
As for reliability, I doubt the supercharged V6 would outlast the Gen IV. Time will tell.
Jamison said “the Toyota way of engineering is very much still copied and emulated by almost all other manufacturers believe me on that one…”
I can back that up, I know an Australian Machinery Manufacturer that has employed Toyota Executives from Japan to emulate their production method.
Hmm… 241kW + FrontWheelDrive = This TuRD is a Coffin on wheels.
Ive said this before and i will say it again, but toyota have made a big mistake with all the TRD Aurions. How stupid are they putting alot of power through the front wheels not the rear, they should have made it AWD or RWD! Toyota Paul, Toyota made a………………..BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!! Mistake!
Nice review.
I’m an Engineer, I’ve had Falcons and Commadores forced on me for over 15years as company work cars. When you spend all week in them you learn to hate them.(thats when there not back getting fixed under warranty)
The problem with Falcadore Taxi owners is they have never driven let alone owned a Toyota so they don’t understand what there missing and they never will.
As for FWD, take it out to a track day, open it up, find its limits, end of problem.
Damo your an engineer……..in what?
Well that’s a pretty bold statement.
I have driven and owned them,along with other front wheel drive cars.Toyota is becoming one of the most blandest manufactures out there.
Finding its limits would be its problem, I guess if your happy with its limits then good on you but it aint going to excite me. Some drivers limits different like cars I guess. I like to test mine by upping the anti not going backwards in performance.
Hi Damo,
Let me introduce myself.. My name is Mickey Mouse!
You can be anything you want on a message board.
Please stop telling us to take a Toyota of any kind on a track day. Have you had a look at the standard tyre width on most Toyotas??? Understeer heaven! I know what I am missing out on and I’m happy to miss out on blandness.
Nice article. I couldn’t have said it better myself. I am the proud owner of TRD 3500SL build No. 447.
This is a very nice ride, with few flaws. Unless you have driven one don’t criticise it. The torque steer really is not bad at all, not even a handfull, and if you can’t handle bit of ‘wheel jockeying’ fun you really shouldn’t call yourself a driver at all.
After being a Ford man for many years Toyota’s have recently become a favorite build of mine, after being burnt with a BA Falcon The Toyo’s I have owned before only proved to have good reliability & low mantenace costs. I was happy to purchase this over the F6 ‘phoon’ that was the same price as I know it wont even cost half as much in the future.
Really the only 2 things I dont like are; the integrated exhaust. It looks hot but if you have actually seen this, you will know what I mean, the exhaust pipe is not actually connected to the stainless flute that is part of the rear bar. This causes a mass of carbon deposits all around the bumper The exhaust pipe doesn’t even point in the right direction.
Also the traction control cannot be switched off. I know it sounds like suicide to want to turn this off in such a high powered front wheel drive, but as a ‘well acomplished’ driver (some would argue that)I would prefer to control my own wheel spin. The traction control is not consistent anyway, sometimes it will break loose into a tyre frying frenzy and other times it will really retard the power output.
Bottom line, this is an exclusive car with a heap of character, and certainly points Toyotas in a better direction. I am very happy with mine.
Cheers
Same here, proud owner of wildfire TRD Aurion build no. 262. I love my car!!!
Granted, it won’t beat any track records but the drive is so refined and the build quality is very good. I’ve thrown it around heaps and it just keeps going. The brakes are remarkably resistant to fade.
There is torque steer but I find most people exaggerate it. I think Toyota have left it in on purpose in order to enhance steering feedback. Seriously, if you can’t control it you need to go to the gym. It’s really not that big a problem.
The main issue I have with this car is the loss of traction. The traction control is quite conservatively tuned, especially in the wet, and driving to give it full power from stop will be met with much wheelspin. Once I learned how to control it, there’s not that much problem. When cornering, there’s a bit of difference in driving technique as compared to RWD/AWD. I find the best results when I brake early, go through the apex of the turn and once I have cleared the apex I stomp on it and the car swings clear and rockets on.
She’s not an easy beast to tame, but once you learn the ropes she will reward you with an utterly fun drive. That’s what separated this car from the rest that I drove. It’s really fun to drive. And not to mention I love the look on the faces of XR6 and SS owners when I give it a jolt and hear the whine of the supercharger as I pull away from their shocked looks.
Lastly, the car looks awesome, especially in red. I have lost count of the number of times people have literally stopped and gawked at the car, and I get people walking past and giving me the thumbs up for no reason. It’s a Toyota, and it’s on steroids. The game has indeed changed!
Gawk at an aurion? You are a delussional overly proud toyota owner. The new 2009 Ford F6 is in the price range and it is the best sports sedan under 100 grand.
I forgot to add that while it might not match the Liberty GT or Mazda 6 MPS’ cornering abilities, the straight line acceleration of this car will rape the other two. I’ve tried this in real life, if you have the chance to get your hands on one give it a go.
All this performance for an average fuel consumption of 10.5-11.5L/100km (depending on how I drive). It won’t keep up with the HSVs or Evos, but if you like a practical day to day car that you occasionally want to sprint around in, while not breaking the bank when filling up at the bowser, then I recommend this car. Of course, if you can afford it, go for a HSV GTS!!
This post seems to evoked alot of strong opinions!
I am most surprised that this car wasn’t put together as an AWD Machine, Especially taking into consideration TRD’s notorious heritage in the WRC scene with the Celica GT-4, It’s a shame it hasn’t eveolved along with the Evo’s and Impreza’s.
It’s still better looking than the latest EVO X and Impreza!
I would’ve thought this car would be like a spiritual successor especially with all that power to hand.
It’s almost second nature for a japanese performance car of this caliber to be AWD or RWD
With Kevin’s 50% tax incentive, I’m now the owner of a New TRD SL. As Toyota has stopped producing them they are just about giving the last couple away, which bring the price way down, even when optioned with Sat Nav and moon roof. (just over $50k with every option)
Just clocked up 4000km and it’s brilliant. Road noise is the most evident, and yes, if you tramp it make sure you’re holding onto the wheel. But turn up the stereo and tell the wife not to push the pedal all the way to the floor.
And when high speed hooning when the revs are up the torque steer is all but gone.
Freeway driving from Melb to Syd returned 8.5L – pretty good for something that brings a grin from ear to ear when you leap on the go peddle.
It’s a luxury vehicle, and a great toy at the same time.
And just a little bit rare! (build no. 621)
I’m luvin’ it!