Toyota Aurion 2008 review

IT IS hard to be over critical of a Toyota.

The Japanese car maker turns out well-made, highly reliable, moderately priced motorcars designed primarily as urban or rural family transport. You have only to look at Toyota sales figures to realise they are very good at what they do.

Perhaps the most strident criticism of Toyotas in the past could be that on average, they were staid, unexciting and did not particularly like being pushed out of their comfort zones. But bear in mind most of them are staid because they are family cars and the vast majority of them are never, and will never be, pushed outside the zone.

Excitement while driving is the last thing on Dad's mind. So staid is as much a compliment as it is a criticism.

A car for the family — certainly. A car for the enthusiast — not usually.

But there is now an Australian-made Toyota on the road that does not deserve the staid handle.

In fact anyone who described it as staid clearly wouldn't know what they were talking about. It is the 241kw, 400Nm Toyota Aurion TRD, TRD standing for Toyota Racing Development.

Basically TRD have taken a family car that was already producing respectable power, bolted on a supercharger, some big wheels and tyres, adjusted the suspension and brakes and added a few mild body kit bits. The result is the most powerful front-wheel-drive production car in the world.

Toyota insist this is not a muscle car in the vein of the R8 Clubsport HSV Commodore or Ford equivalent. It is a more subtle refined package a la Mazda6 MPS.

But when it is all boiled down this is a supercharged, go-fast car despite what Toyota say about it not being all about performance but rather the overall package. Toyota Racing Development engineered it, after all, and any car that gets from standstill to 100km/h in near enough to six seconds is a high-performance machine.

As tested, the SL TRD with moonroof and sat nav tipped the scales at $67,452. Now that is a reasonable amount out of anyone's wallet, especially when you consider you can get a V8 Berlina for $45,290, a V8 Calais for $59,290, a Ford FPV 5.4 GT for $62,460 or an HSV Clubsport R8 for $64,890.

If sat nav and a moonroof is not your cup of tea you can get the SL for $61,500 or the S with no leather seats, no dual climate control air conditioning and with a few less bells and whistles for $56,990.

So on the basis of those prices for those cars, with similar (or better) performance, it is hard to make a value-for-money case for the Aurion TRD. True, you do get Toyota finish and quality which can be hard to beat.

And yes the TRD is far more refined and subtle as a performance package. Inside, it is impossible to hear any exhaust note or any supercharger whine. There is just this feeling of being thrust back forcefully in your seat.

Feeding all that torque through the front wheels has to eventually make itself felt through the steering wheel. If it is wet, or the car is making a left turn up hill from a standing start, for instance, and the loud pedal is getting a flogging, the wheel will buck a little in the driver's hands. But it is not overpowering and many less powerful cars have much more torque steer than the TRD.

Those 235 Dunlop Sportmaxx low-profile tyres do a pretty good job of hanging on but with all the power and most of the braking reaching the tarmac through the front wheels, tyre life would have to be minimal.

In fact it requires a light right foot to get the TRD off the mark without any chirping or slipping from the front.

The brakes are nothing short of superb, at least on the road and in the wet; smooth powerful and progressive with no disconcerting grab at initial application.

The six-speed transmission is seamless and smooth and has no trouble coping with the 400Nm of torque. It is not trying to second guess the driver and sequential changes can be made (backwards and forwards) with the gear selector in Sport mode. The electrically adjustable leather seats are comfortable with good side support given the high centrifugal forces created if the driving is spirited.

The dash is simple yet appealing, there is keyless ignition yet no dash light adjustment. The sat nav screen, like that in the recently tested RAV4, is a work of art, swivelling down to allow access to the CD player and slot for the sat nav compact disc.

Everything fits well and the vast majority of noise in the cabin comes from the 35 per cent low-profile tyres as differing road surfaces can attest.

The ride is a little stiff and unforgiving but most of that appears to be a side effect of the low-profile tyres as much as stiff suspension.

TRD have done a good job of turning the Aurion into a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Perhaps the major question is whether the cost of the trick comes a little high.

The other question is why those exhaust ports in the rear diffuser that get filthy thanks to exhaust pipes which finish 80cm further back?

Ford XR6 drivers, those behind the wheel of Commodore SV6s and even Ford and Holden V8 drivers will consider it a surprising, even if not cheap, trick if they come up against one in the traffic light drags.