Toyota Aurion GSV40R (2006-2011)

Powerful and Reliable – Amazing Car. Its my 2nd Aurion. Bought it post covid from Newcastle in 2022 for $5000. Prodigy with sunroof 2+ years has not missed a beat. The only maintenance I had to do on the car was replacing the O ring that started leaking recently. The job is pretty basic but takes time for labor as the v6 doesn't have much space to work on. Cost me about… Read more

$160.

My drive is purely suburban city 5 days a week so the its quite thirsty. Fuel Economy with 100% city driving is around 12L/100 on average. In the Highway runs i have gotten as low as 7L/100

I have nothing to complain about for a 19 year old car this has been fantastic. The power is addictive. Once you get used to it all other mainstream cars feel slow. Also the weight of the car makes it quite planted on the road. No rattles or squeaks in the cabin. After the engine warms up you can hardly hear it. Transmission is still silky smooth.

Great car with one major drawback for early models – Great car, reliable, but you have to watch out for the the VVT-i oil line hose issue which was a design fault on models before 2009. Mine developed a pin hole in the recent hot weather and pumped out half the oil from the motor before i realised what had happened. Lucky i caught it in time with no damage to the motor. I got it towed to Toyota… Read more

and had them replace this rubber hose with the metal pipe update which was on all models above 2009.

Could have been a disaster with a blown motor if i had been on a longer trip and not noticed this.

So beware any Aurion drivers with models before 2009, make sure Toyota replace your Rubber based VVT-i Oil hose with the metal pipe like the one on later models, its a ticking time bomb otherwise, you could end up with a destroyed motor.

All in all, i am happy with the vehicle, great power and pretty good driver comfort. Being the 2006 ZR6, its a little bit more firmer ride but i dont mind that.

"Aurion drive and you'll never turn back" – I own a 2007 Toyota Aurion Presara with the cream interior. Been a typical Toyota very reliable the 2GR-FE V6 Lexus motor, very smooth running and one of the best V6 engine you can get. I live in WA, Aurion and I have been across the Nullarbor to Sydney and Adelaide every year if possible I do a trio over east. The 6 speed transmission is very… Read more

smooth and I can very easily drive around keeping the revs under 2000rpm. Having the Presara model it's got all the luxuries, full leather interior (cream colour), wood grain, climate control, Sat-Nav, back window shad, sun roof and much more! My Aurion is my pride and joy and I have a second car I use as a daily, so having the cream/white interior is not a problem for me. Always keep clean and undercover and only done 207,000km. The one thing I always say to everyone who owns an Avalon, V6 Camry and the Aurion's that is make sure you keep the services up to date and be sure not to miss a service. I owned an Avalon Grande before the Aurion and the one big thing I had to check before I brought both the Avalon and this Aurion is make sure service history is all up to date. There known for oil sludge build up but if you take good care I've seen these engines get 800,000km and plus expecially Avalon's and V6 Camry's with the 1MZ-FE Engine. Take care of the Aurion, keep the revs down and it will look after you!! "Oh what a Feeling, Toyota"

Was Loving it for initial 5 years not any more – I had in Mind Toyota's are built to last forever, this Aurion disappointed me big time in last 2 years...i always serviced it at Ryde Toyota...used Castrol Edge 5w30 oil, kept it very well maintained... despite of goof maintenance last year it developed a fault with front bearings, costed me $1000 to replace both front bearings, this year when it… Read more

went for 165k service, found out Water pump needs immediate replacement ($1000) and steering Rack as well another $1600...

In short in last 2 years additional expenses on top of very expensive toyota servicing are $3600...this is insane..the car which is worth $7000 i have spent more than $3600 on undue repair....very disappointed over all...

Toyota was not meant to do things like this... no more loyalty for Toyota who are still proud of their 3 year useless warranty while others offer 7 years....will not go for Toyota again

Earlier review when i was very much liking it...

"i have my 2008 aurion since 2011...very happy so far...3.5 L V6 is a treat to drive...have been doing annual servicing 12 months or 15k almost once every year...problems i have had so far other than scheduled servicing so far in last 6 years are...break pads replaced at about 135k ($600)...Front wheel bearings replaced both at about 156k ($900)...driver seat lumbar support has gone faulty, couldn't fix it...its over $1100

Every second on driving seat is a treat to yourself, super quiet, enormous power and acceleration. Highly reliable....despite of driving over 165k, still feels very new."

Never Any Issues With This Car – I still have my 2007 Presara. It continues to drive beautifully, with no issues. I have now done over 300,000km and it remains a quiet, refined driving experience. Plenty of power - and luxury to compete with modern vehicles - and it has never given me any problems. Just put a good set of tyres on it (I use Michelin Pilot Sport 5), and it will… Read more

grip the road as good as any new car. I do a lot of driving and travel more than 200km each day with work. This car has never let me down, and even in terrible weather, feels safe and secure on the road. Great shame this model was discontinued.

This is the best car I have ever owned. Fastest and also the most economical – Thus is used just for general family commuting etc, but just 2 days ago we did a 400km trip in one day and it was comfortable and had no issues at all. Show details

What a great car – I have a 2010 Toyota Aurion and its just a great reliable car. Its 11.5 years old bought it a 5 years old with about $50K on the clock at about half of new car price and now has done 135000 K and it has not had any issue just regular oil/filter changes which I do myself every 10.000 km, I had the brake pads replaced at 120,000 kms but nothing… Read more

else, If you look after the car you'll never break the engine, just a beautiful V6 just goes and goes. This is the first Toyota I owned after a number of Mitsubishi Magnas. Shame all cars are not this good anymore.

Constant check engine light issues – Purchased an 07 Presara, drove beautifully and looked great, however constant check engine light warning “check VSC”. Mechanics wouldn’t figure it out, nothing actually seemed wrong with the car but the constant light coming on was frustrating and I got rid of it. Amazing car with V6, unfortunately Toyota messed this one up and I wasn’t gonna deal with the check engine light issue after numerous mechanical attempts to fix it Show details

Powerful car but with many disadvantages – Toyota aurion is a good, powerful, family car. It has advanced and computerized features, like climate control, dual side airbags, V6 engine, and efficient fuel injection system. Interior is classy, with leather seat covers, enough space for arm rest and drink holders, plus big space for mobiles, keys, wallets etc. The road grip is amazing, and it… Read more

runs with awesome ease. the biggest drawback is sludge formation in the engine oil, I don't know what is the reason for that but it seems like a very common problem in all Toyota Aurions. The other drawback is high running cost. You can manage the cost of fuel but sludge problem is a big one because it destroys the whole engine

Warning, sealed gearbox – Beware of Toyota sealed automatic transmissions! Toyota have used factory 'sealed for life' automatic transmissions since at least 2009 in the Aurion and most, if not all, of the Camery series. These gearboxes don't have an oil level dipstick and is not a 'regular' serviceable item, that means that your service centre does not check the… Read more

quality of the automatic oil in your automatic.

So what you say, let me tell you my story.

As you can read below in my previous praise of my Aurion, I've always had my car serviced at a Toyota dealership as per logbook requirements, I've always been guided by the dealerships recommendations and have never skimped on the costs of anything that has been required.

At approximately 171,000 (just 11,000 (mid January 2016) after my last review), I started to hear a slight whirring sound (like the old speedo cables used to do), within a couple of days it got worse so I rang the dealership and booked it in.

Imagine my surprise when they phoned me up and said that my automatic transmission was failing, they told me that it would cost $8950.00 to overhaul.

I authorised them to do a 'transmission flush' ($450), they told me that there were metal filings in the transmission oil. I couldn't afford the $8950.00 so I collected my car and rang around and found a transmission specialist that could do me a second hand, fully cleaned auto for less than $3500.00 fully installed.

I contacted Toyota Australia via email to firmly state my case that to have a 'sealed at factory' automatic and for it not to even be a serviceable item, has caused it to fail prematurely. The rest of the car mechanics are in tip top condition because they have been regularly serviced.

Toyota asked the dealership for their opinion, the reply was "It has been advised after inspection, the cause of failure is due to the wearing of the hard coating in one of the bearings in your vehicle. Possible contributors may include but are not limited to misuse of the vehicle, wear and tear, lack of servicing, natural deterioration".

1) I have never misused my car (as evidenced by the mechanical condition of the engine and the rest of the car), yes it accelerates quickly, but misuse?

2) Wear and tear (5 years, 171,000 km, hmmmm maybe, I know of 20 and 30-year-old cars that are still going strong)

3) Lack of servicing, now this is a good one, you can't even 'check the oil' level yourself and neither can the dealer, nor is there any service requirement/recommendation in the log book.

4) Natural deterioration (so what is the Toyota expectation of 'natural deterioration'?

I asked them how they could tell what had failed without pulling the transmission apart, unless this is a growing common problem (no comment from them).

Toyota Australia gave me a standard reply that my car is out of warranty so basically, that's my problem.

My gripe is, that if the gearbox was a serviceable item (as are the rest of the car mechanicals), that it would have been unlikely that it would have failed because the oil would have been replaced regularly and maintained sufficient lubricating properties so that the hard coating surface of the bearing didn't fail.

Please be wary of the 'factory sealed for life' gearbox, all oils break down with time and temperature and to get the gearbox fixed is expensive!

Kind regards

Steve

Below was my previous review..

Aurion SX6 Sportivo purchased as new in November 2010.

Never had a problem of any kind, serviced as per logbook (100,000 service a bit expensive), now up to 160, 000 km on the clock.

Use Mastercraft tyres (same manufacturer as Cooper 4WD tyres, get at least 50,000 km of hard driving out of them)

Will drag the [censored wordd removed] off most SV6 and XR6.

Love this car

Best Australian made car – I have a 2007 Presara with 135k km. I have owned this car for 4 years. Apart from regular maintenance I have not had any issues. The car has excellent functionality and ergonomics. Everything works, nothing has fallen off or broken off. The acceleration is excellent although these days you would not describe this as a fast car. However, there are… Read more

no issues with overtaking on freeways up steep hills. The suspension is incredibly soft and wobbly and it could be described as boat like. This car was not designed for fast cornering. The brakes are probably the worst feature with brake shudder after hard deceleration, which may require machining the rotors to fix this recurrent issue. The torque steer needs some getting used to but is not a big problem for me. I drive this car daily to work and in heavy traffic it uses 13.5l/100km, with mixed city driving that can be reduced to 12l/100km. Over all great car.

outstanding – outstanding car. Reliable cheap to run even though a v6. Great used car for family on a budget. My 2009 is great. Servicing cheap and it won't leave you stranded Show details

Keeps going! – Our family has owned our 2009 Aurion prodigy for 8 years and it still runs like a dream. It has clocked up 230,000 kms and is still driving like new. Unfortunately the Aurion's were discontinued but if you are looking for a reliable used Toyota the Aurion is the perfect car! Show details

Absolutely beautiful car – Have owned my 2008 Aurion Touring for about 2 years now. It was my 3rd car in about 3 years, as the last 2 cars had major issues (but that’s my own fault). Honestly, I’ve never had an issue with it, and it’s a perfect family car. Plenty of boot space to fit my sons pram, and our fortnightly shopping into. The only issue is that it generally needs… Read more

oil top ups in between services, but my mechanic told me it’s a common issue. If I had to pick at anything I didn’t like about it, I would say I wish the rear seats folded down, and I find it a little outdated with no Bluetooth. Otherwise, I think it’s a fantastic car. Plenty of power, easy to park, and a beautiful, smooth, quiet drive. Gear changes are barely noticeable, and it’s always ready to get up and go. Super fuel efficient too, as a tank of fuel can last me about a week or 2, and cost around $50 to fill up

Reliable, comfortable and safe – very comfortable with a smooth ride, perfect cornering, strong and reliable brakes and least noise. with the powerful v6 3.5 engine, you get massive power. from my experience, driving Aurion 2010, it consumes around 8-9 lit petrol in the city, and 7.5 in highways. you get the least noise driving in highway. if your car is full of passengers,… Read more

you would not notice any drop in the car acceleration. it easily accelerates and gives you a smooth and nice ride. maintenance cost is reasonable and not much different from Toyota Camry.

100% reliable - Best car ever owned – I still own a 2010 Toyota Aurion Touring and still looks and drives like new. Spacious, quiet, safe, has a great sound system and drives excellent. I do the oil changes myself which is easy when shown and with the right tools. Apart from the battery going flat It's never had a breakdown. At the time I chose the Touring 2010 edition as it had… Read more

good features inside. With good maintenance you have a car that will last for a long long time. fuel consumption - 9.5 - 11 and highway 7.4 It's good to hear other peoples feeds saying there cars are still going strong, that is a Toyota for you. If you find one with a excellent service history 2010+ ( my10 on wards ) I would recommend this a reliable car.

100% reliable, 100% of the time! – Owned my Aurion Sportivo from new, for 11 years and no problems, only the usual maintenance. 300,000km and still going strong. Excellent car! I would buy a Toyota, and specifically an Aurion, again without hesitation. Show details

Amazing Car! – Love the power space and luxury. Toyota really thought of everything when designing this vehicle. Perfect family car. Relaxing and smooth drive. Beautiful sound system. Would recommend anyone making a first car purchase look at an Aurion. Show details

Oh What a Feeling! – After owning Commodores for years I grew tired of the issues. I couldn't go 6 months without an issue cropping up. And then I turned to Aurion and I have never looked back! Unrivalled reliability with plenty of power when you need it! These things can out perform most V6 Commodores and Falcons without fail. It definitely surprises people at the lights. Power, reliability and comfort is what I would use to describe the Aurion. Show details

What a car! – I bought my Toyota Aurion atx 2008 four mounths ago, i was looking to buy this car from last year (i'm italian and i'll leave in Australia only for two three years...in Italy they don't sell this type of Toyota), paid for It 4k, 150000 km on the clock, still new on the road, lot of power to use when you need, quiet in a long travel! The be(a)st!! Show details

2006 aurion smoke – bought an aurion just recently had a bad smoke problem looked at all the reviews some said valve guide seals some replace the motor all i did was take off the front tappet cover took about 20 minutes .sludge everywhere . steam cleaned the rocker section .and steam cleaned the tappet cover especially the pvc area take it out to clean .you will… Read more

notice a rectangular box .this gets full of sludge .Stick the steam cleaner nozzle in it .then i took off the intake manifold and noticed the intake to the rear was as clean as a whistle .so i didn't bother with the rear one. changed the oil and filter with a diesel detergent oil and run it for about 100 ks then change again with full synthetic oil 5w 30 . went to cairns and back 4000 ks no smoke used 1/4 ltr of oil so easy just cost me the price of an oil change 4 hrs time and iol $85.00 so happy

Great choice – The car is very reliable. Great for its price. I own a 2011 Toyota Aurion that has silver katana colour. Bought the car awhile ago, but havent had any problem so far. I had great driving experience, especially on motorway. In addition, it saved a great amount of money spent on fuel.  Show details

Best Toyota Sedan Ever – Quality is the best. Also have the award winning 3.5 engine from Lexus. Average fuel about 10.5L/100kms. Service very cheap. I have the prodigy model so the interior is quite fancy even after 10 years. I have owned two Aurions since 2009 and it's always my first choice as family sedan. The only problem I have is the melt dashboard, but got replaced by Toyota Dealer under 10 years recall program.  Show details

Great car – This car is great, powerful, comfortable on the inside and very spacious. It definitely is an upper class of an ordinary camry and having a prodigy with leather interiors are a definite luxury touch to it. My aurion is 8 years old now and it seems to still be running excellent and powerfully. Easy maintenance, cheap servicing and overall just a… Read more

great car. Be careful when wet, I tend to get wheel spins when slippery or accelerating too hard when making a turn. Otherwise it drives wonderfully.

Very reliable car – My Toyota Aurion keeps on going and going. I bought it new in 2007, so now 10 years old. I have thought of getting a new one, then think, why, this car is still perfect. It gets regular services at my local service centre. The guy says there is nothing wrong with it, why get rid of it. It has been extremely reliable. It has the power when… Read more

necessary. When I do get a new car it will be another Toyota. Won't be for a while though. I feel very safe in this car, quite comfortable, with plenty of room. The only thing I don't like is the seat belt cuts into my neck, even though I have it pushed down in the slot. It is an automatic with electronic drivers seat, nice and easy. I have the tinted windows, which are great. I have had numerous cars in my lifetime, my Aurion is the best. It is now 14 years old and still going well. Very reliable car. Too scared to trade it in as the next car may not be as good.

Love that car – With 200 kw or about 285 bhp, 0-100 in 7,2 seconds, an with very good economy, city 12L/100km an country I get 7.5L/100 km, Better then a lot of 4 cylinder's I think, handles an rides very good, pity it only has 4 star ancap safety rating, Brakes are very good too, an it does not look ten years old. still looks like new. I got the Sportive SX6.… Read more

can not find anything wrong with it. The only thing, that I can spin the front wheels at almost any speed if I try.

Oh What A Feeling - 200 Killerwasps – I have had this car now since 2012.( now 2017) Heaps of power. Totally reliable. Changed the battery last year. Have changed 2 sets of tyres. Thats it. Its comfortable, handles well and really no issues at all with it. I put Michellin low noise tyres on it out of personal preference. It does chew the juice if you put the hammer down - like… Read more

12litres / 100klms - but will be good on long trips you can get the average down just below 8litres /100klms. It pretty much averages in the 9's all the time. Honestly - its a pleasure to drive. They got this one right - thats why you see so many on the road.

This car would be the safest car i have ever owned – I have owned a few other cars but this car would be the safest and best car i have ever owned it has all the luxury you could want it has the side mirrors that when you put it in reverse the mirrors face down and you can see the service of the road it has camera in it push a button a blind will go up the back window it has a navigation system it… Read more ·  1

has a system that if you brake down push a button and talk to a person there is a lot more in the car but I have run out of space

Excellent Car with power and luxury – Fantastic reliable car. Performs amazingly and can really go if you put your foot down. Comfortable electric seats and huge room on the inside makes this car a comfort to drive. I drive this car for almost 2 hours daily and every minute has been a pleasure. A 55l fuel tank costs about $75 to fill on premium and the last two tanks I have got over… Read more

650km.

Only negative is a slight amount of body-roll and the car is very heavy on the torque, if you want to take off slowly, you might be disappointed.

Very good car, front shocks are damaged soon – I bought an Aurion 2007, in 2016. The drive is very smooth, and the reliability is still very high. The only problem with Aurion is that the car platform, including front shocks and dog bone, is based on Camry, while the Aurion's engine is much heavier and more powerful. Thus, the damage on these two part will occure at earlier kms. The repair cost for both parts is around $800.  Show details

Reliable car & engine – Had my Aurion for 9 years now, no major issues. Pros: Awesome engine and reliable, good handling for large family car, a lot of cabin and boot space, easy to maintain and servicing is cheap. Cons: Road noise although nothing too loud, at 100,000km engine starting to become fuel inefficient,  Show details