Autoblog

Queensland highway patrol deputizes the TRD Aurion

Alex Nunez — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 15:02:00 EST

Filed under: Sedan, Performance, Toyota, Police/Emergency, Australia

Click image for a gallery of more police Aurions

Many thanks to Anton, an Autoblog reader from Down Under, who was kind enough to grab a couple of snapshots showing us one of the Queensland Police Department's new highway patrol cars. We've reported on Toyota Australia's TRD Aurion before -- it's basically the Camry we want but can't have. With a much better-looking face and 323 supercharged horses underhood, the Aussie-built sedan is inherently more appealing than the vanillamobile available at our local Toyota stores. And now the fuzz has them, too.

Earlier this month, the Queensland police welcomed some of the "regular" Aurions into its white-liveried standard fleet. Our new friend Anton noticed a TRD Aurion dressed in the red finish used by the highway patrol. Curious, he followed it back to the station and talked up the officers there to get their opinion on their new interceptor. The verdict is that the TRD Aurion has as much punch as the older V8-powered FPV Falcons and Holden Monaros, and it is the clear winner in terms of interior comfort. Its front-wheel-drive configuration took some getting used to, however. The RWD pursuit cars could power through corners, and any oversteer incurred could be easily corrected from the driver's seat. The officers say that the Aurion's tendency to torque steer forced them to adjust their driving technique.According to them, hammering the throttle mid-corner doesn't do much at all, and the the car plows straight ahead. Solution: they don't do that anymore, and they're apparently "overjoyed" with their new toys, which, as Anton puts it, "go like the clappers." Thanks for the TRD pursuit car shots, Anton!

Gallery: Queensland Police Toyota Aurions

Gallery: 2007 TRD Aurion (AU)

Gallery: 2007 TRD Aurion 3500S (AU)

Gallery: 2007 TRD Aurion 3500SL (AU)

Queensland highway patrol deputizes the TRD Aurion originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 19 Jan 2008 15:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toyota Australia launches TRD Aurion with 323 HP

Alex Nunez — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 14:55:00 EST

Filed under: Sedan, Performance, Toyota, Australia

Click image for TRD Aurion gallery. Click here and here for more, too.

A year after it was initially shown in Sydney as the Toyota Aurion Sports Concept, and a few months after a closer-to-production version was displayed in Melbourne, Toyota Australia has officially launched the long-awaited TRD Aurion. While TRD-editions of existing Toyota vehicles have been available in many markets over the years, the TRD Aurion is the first vehicle worldwide to be sold as a TRD -- now established as a new, separate brand under Toyota, like AMG is worldwide for Mercedes, and HSV and FPV are for GM and Ford in Australia.

Viewed as a step up from the Toyota Aurion Sportivo in terms of both equipment, appearance, and performance, the TRD Aurion's greatest asset is its Eaton TVS (Twin Vortices Series) Supercharger, which sees its first production car application here. The blower gives the TRD Aurion over 323 horsepower and a torque peak of 296 lb-ft, which is channeled forward via a six-speed automatic with sequential shift. 0-100km/h (62 mph) takes 6.1 seconds, and the car is limited to a top speed of 155 mph. Neither number is particularly earth-shattering compared to other specialty models, but TRD says that the goal was to achieve all-around balance rather than all-out performance. Combined-cycle fuel economy for the TRD Aurion is 21.5 US MPG.

Follow the jump for more, including multiple press releases from Toyota Australia.

[Source: Toyota Australia]

Gallery: 2007 TRD Aurion (AU)

Gallery: 2007 TRD Aurion 3500S (AU)

Gallery: 2007 TRD Aurion 3500SL (AU)

Continue reading Toyota Australia launches TRD Aurion with 323 HP

Toyota Australia launches TRD Aurion with 323 HP originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 20 Aug 2007 14:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Australia: TRD Aurion engine exceeds performance targets

Alex Nunez — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 09:34:00 EST

Filed under: Sedan, Performance, Etc., Toyota

Click for gallery of the TRD Aurion

It's no secret that in Australia, the cars seem to, well, rock. You've got the Holden Commodores, the Ford Falcons, the rodded-up stuff from HSV and FPV, a dizzying selection of Utes, and a fair amount of imported goodies from Europe and Japan. While we make do with the utterly blandtacular Toyota Camry, our Aussie friends get not only the Camry, but the locally-built Aurion. We reviewed an Aurion Sportivo SX6 back in April, and determined it to be a "great Camry" with demonstrably better looks at the end of the day. Something better's on the way, however.

TRD unveiled its forthcoming version of the car at the Melbourne show back in March, and this week announced that the performance of the engine it's developed for the TRD Aurion has exceeded the targets set for it. The 3.5L V6 gets force-fed via Eaton's new twin-vortices supercharger, which makes its production vehicle debut in this application. TRD's Australian arm hasn't released hard numbers yet, but indicates that the engine's planned output of 235 kW / 320 HP is among the specs that have been exceeded. Acceleration times are also likely to be better than expected, and it's all wrapped in the sweet-looking package shown above. Naturally, we'll never see it here. Sigh...

[Source: Toyota Australia]

Gallery: TRD Aurion

Continue reading Australia: TRD Aurion engine exceeds performance targets

Australia: TRD Aurion engine exceeds performance targets originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 20 Jun 2007 09:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Melbourne: Toyota shows off TRD versions of Aurion sedan and HiLux pickup

Alex Nunez — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 16:28:00 EST

Filed under: Sedan, Truck, Toyota, Misc. Auto Shows

Click image for TRD Aurion gallery. TRD HiLux gallery below.

TRD didn't just show off its new Corolla-based rally car at the Melbourne Motor Show. The Aussie wing of Toyota's factory motorsports arm also pulled the sheets off a new production car, the TRD Aurion, and a near-production-looking concept in the TRD HiLux pickup. The emergence of the special Aurion represents the world debut of TRD as a vehicle brand, opening the door for TRD versions of just about anything the automaker sets its mind to.

The TRD Aurion doesn't play around, either. This better-looking (much better looking in fact) Aussie version of the Camry gets a blown 3.5L V6 good for at least 320 horsepower. Some of you will notice that the TRD production car is essentially a dead ringer for the Aurion Sports Concept (gallery) that made its debut at the Sydney Motor Show back in October. We think the production car looks better, with less grey in the nose and much nicer-looking wheels. Sadly, Toyota thinks that the Camry has to look boring in our market. Come on guys, this look and the supercharged engine would go a long way towards making people think of the car as something other than an inoffensive, boring appliance.

Joining the TRD Aurion at the Toyota Stand is a TRD HiLux concept pickup. The four-door short-bed truck sports TRD graphics, a black roll bar, and a supercharged 4.0L V6. No power numbers were given. TRD only says that HiLux concept's engine is good for "substantially more" than the 234 horses the standard HiLux produces. If we had to guess, we'd say that our friends in Oz can look for the "concept" part of the HiLux's name to be dropped in the future.

[Source: Toyota]

Gallery: TRD Aurion

Gallery: TRD HiLux Concept

Continue reading Melbourne: Toyota shows off TRD versions of Aurion sedan and HiLux pickup

Melbourne: Toyota shows off TRD versions of Aurion sedan and HiLux pickup originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 02 Mar 2007 16:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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