Aurion: The cabin

BY MARTON PETTENDY AND TERRY MARTIN | 18th Oct 2006


TOYOTA’S interior designers have attempted to emphasise the Aurion’s cabin space but to also create an enveloping cockpit environment through design elements such as integrating the centre console and dash stack.

It uses the common theme of metallic-look surfaces and mock woodgrain to enhance the visual appeal of each model grade and, as designer Nick Hogios describes it, to integrate functional areas.

It also looks cleaner with a foot-operated park brake – not every owner’s first choice in this department – favoured over a console-mounted handbrake lever.

Toyota claims that independent testing (which it commissioned) found that Aurion has the most "useable cabin length" in the large-six class, with 1835mm from the ball of the driver’s foot to the rear-seat hip point.

The electric-operated driver and front passenger seats found on all models across the range bar AT-X (which has a manual passenger seat) offer 260mm of fore-aft movement. The AT-X passenger seat has a 255mm range.

Euro-look flat woven fabrics with embossed leather are used on Prodigy, Sportivo ZR6 and Presara models. Interior trim colour relies heavily on various shades of grey – a standard grey in the base AT-X, charcoal on Sportivos and, on Prodigy and Presara, a lighter shade known as "Grege" (call it anything but beige, it blends ivory and grey).



Sportivo models (left) get sportier seats than other Aurions, with more pronounced side bolsters for the seat cushions and higher side bolsters for the backrests.

Adjusting for reach as well as height across the range, the steering wheel on Sportivo models has a leather-wrapped three-spoke design with metallic highlights, while high-series variants use a four-spoke steering wheel with either black or silver accents.

Large-diameter Optitron backlit instruments and meters are used on all model variants, while all grades other than AT-X have a trip computer panel (with an "AURION" welcome feature) housed beneath the speedo. This can show the outside ambient temperature, estimated fuel range, average speed, fuel consumption and trip time.

Presara and Sportivo ZR6 are the first Australian-built Toyota models with keyless entry/locking and keyless go. Push-button engine start and stop is featured on these models.

The detail:
Front seat headroom: 995mm (975mm on ZR6)
Rear seat headroom: 975mm (970mm on ZR6)
Front seat legroom: 1045mm
Rear seat legroom: 1000mm
Front seat shoulder-room: 1465mm
Rear seat shoulder-room: 1445mm
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