Toyota Aristo

Road_Warrior · 18-06-2009, 11:19 AM

Yeah yeah

It's a Toyota

_

An import Toyota at that. I have a general disdain for the turbo Skyline imports and other of that ilk however I had never seen one of these before until yesterday and what I saw was a luxo, 4 door sedan that was REAR WHEEL DRIVE. So I did a little googling on this car and strike me pink - they also made an AWD, V8 version!! Using the 4.0L V8 from the Soarer and other Jap-only Toyotas and Lexuses (Lexii?)

At 1740kg the AWD V8 is a little bit on the porky side and the motor 'only' has 191kw to move its chubby **** around, but a blower will soon sort that out. The 4.0L V8's tough bottom end should have no trouble dealing with the extra power.

Not too many luxo AWD V8 sedans getting around.

So does anyone know anything of these cars?

**ebxr8240** · 18-06-2009, 11:28 AM

Fitting one of Lexus V8 to a Mustang shaped Celica, RA28 ...
Then there's this CRAZZY Kiwi fitting one into a Starlit !!!
http://www.lextreme.com/forums/attac...3&d=1244530499

**PepeLePew** · 18-06-2009, 11:34 AM

Nothing except a lass at works' boyfriend has one she brings in occasionally. I just cant get past the looks of the thing, it has no redeeming features including the interior (unless there is some sort of base version and this is it?)

Fairlane · 18-06-2009, 11:34 AM

They are essentially just a Lexus GS series just in different levels of trim for the JDM. Virtually everything in Japan has an AWD option, most of them imported to Australia would be just the RWD ones.

There are quite a few of them around, some of them with LExus badges, pretty sure you had a choice of N/A 2JZ, Turbo 2JZ and 1UZ-FE. Im personally not a fan, I prefer both the Crown and the Cresta/Mark2/Chaser.

They were more of a Luxo barge in Japan- Sort of slotted between the Mk2 and the Crown.

Kieron · 18-06-2009, 11:37 AM

Dunno much about them except they are damn quick. There's a dark green one I see up around the Whitfords area in Perth and he 'demonstrated' it's performance a few weeks back..

ottoS13 · 18-06-2009, 11:41 AM

i looked into these in the past. check out this link for more info on importing them and options available.

http://www.prestigemotorsport.com.au...php?storyid=11

Road_Warrior · 18-06-2009, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PepeLePew

I just cant get past the looks of the thing, it has no redeeming features including the interior (unless there is some sort of base version and this is it?)

Could be - the one I saw had leather and full electrics inside, but not as trick as the Soarer is inside.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kieron

Dunno much about them except they are damn quick. There's a dark green one I see up around the Whitfords area in Perth and he 'demonstrated' it's performance a few weeks back..

Could be the 3.0L turbo one, it's probably the most popular model (of that type) with the rice box brigade, being a turbo and all.

ottoS13 · 18-06-2009, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

Could be the 3.0L turbo one, it's probably the most popular model (of that type) with the rice box brigade, being a turbo and all.

Twin turbo JZS147 2JZ-GTE 3 litre 206KW/1680kg IL6 Engine -122kw/tonne.

Non turbo JZS147 2JZ-GE 3 litre 169kW/1580kg IL6 Engine - 107kw/tonne.

4WD UZS143 1UZ-FE 4 litre 191 kW/1740kg V8 Engine -109kw/tonne.

think it's obvious which one to go for if you had the choice.

**ebxr8240** · 18-06-2009, 12:05 PM

Yea the V8 has better cruising ability though..
Designed to pull lard arss cars around..
These cars are luxo cruisers..
Even the soarer is a luxo 2 door..
All too heavy with heaps of elect goodies.
The 2J or [t] doesn't have masses of low end torque...

Mr Hardware · 18-06-2009, 12:50 PM

Yeah i have seriously considered on many occasions buying an Aristo.
Seriously, they're quite possibly the ultimate car.
RWD, Plenty of poke, luxurious, Jap quality, sedan, fairly good economy considering, just slightly smaller than a falcon/commodore.
I wish i wish i wish i wish they would bring back a mid sized RWD car with a small-medium six. Call it torana or cortina or whatever you like, but i'm sure there is a demand for it.

i'm an import nissan hater, big time. i'm a german (kraut) car hater too, so that knocks off MB and BMW.

pretty much leaves the the Lexus GS300 and the Toyota Aristo as the most desirable practical cars for me.

Road_Warrior · 18-06-2009, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Hardware

Yeah i have seriously considered on many occasions buying an Aristo.
Seriously, they're quite possibly the ultimate car.
RWD, Plenty of poke, luxurious, Jap quality, sedan, fairly good economy considering, just slightly smaller than a falcon/commodore.
I wish i wish i wish i wish they would bring back a mid sized RWD car with a small-medium six. Call it torana or cortina or whatever you like, but i'm sure there is a demand for it.

i'm an import nissan hater, big time. i'm a german (kraut) car hater too, so that knocks off MB and BMW.

pretty much leaves the the Lexus GS300 and the Toyota Aristo as the most desirable practical cars for me.

I almost bought a Soarer V8 before I bought my BA, because it was around the same price range, power and fuel consumption, the only thing that put me off was paying $15K for a 10 year old car when I could (and did) buy an 18 month old car with remainder of NCW for the same. And the issue of the odometer reading on some of those imports being not quite truthful...

5L · 18-06-2009, 02:00 PM

my mate had one with hks dump pipes and hks cat back exhaust and a decent air intake setup. imported it with the exhaust gear, coilovers and a nice set of lightweight deepdish wheels.

i wasnt that impressed by the looks at first, but with the coilovers it handled well, with the 2jz tt in it was quick when it got moving. and had a nice comfy feel when driving.

id imagine his would of done a mid 13 second 1/4, put on a nice front mount intercooler setup and up the boost for 12's id imagine.

Mr Hardware · 18-06-2009, 02:36 PM

Quote:

the only thing that put me off was paying $15K for a 10 year old car when I could buy an 18 month old car with remainder of NCW for the same. And the issue of the odometer reading on some of those imports being not quite truthful...

Exactly the same for me mate.
Oh and the fact that one day i came home at 9pm at night only to find that i'd split a radiator hose and nearly all my coolant was gone. Because it was a falcon, i was just able to go down the road to supercheap at 8am the next day and get a hose, fit it, refill coolant and still get to my meeting 60km away at 9:30am. Try doing that in an aristo/soarer/random poser import

ottoS13 · 18-06-2009, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Hardware

Exactly the same for me mate.
Oh and the fact that one day i came home at 9pm at night only to find that i'd split a radiator hose and nearly all my coolant was gone. Because it was a falcon, i was just able to go down the road to supercheap at 8am the next day and get a hose, fit it, refill coolant and still get to my meeting 60km away at 9:30am. Try doing that in an aristo/soarer/random poser import

you could actually do the same thing if there was an australian delivered equivalent. i had a 'random poser import' (1990 s13 silvia) but because the later model (mid 90's s14/200sx) was australian delivered i could basically replace any part walking into repco or whatever.

Road_Warrior · 18-06-2009, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ottoS13

you could actually do the same thing if there was an australian delivered equivalent. i had a 'random poser import' (1990 s13 silvia) but because the later model (mid 90's s14/200sx) was australian delivered i could basically replace any part walking into repco or whatever.

But that's not a Soarer or an Aristo is it...

loosey · 18-06-2009, 05:32 PM

Aristo's are good, I've only ever seen one v8 aristo in australia for sale though (not that I've looked hard)... So you might want to check they can be imported (the one i saw may have been brought over on the ownership rule...) If you're serious about it get in touch with ironchef imports, he really knows his stuff...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Hardware

Exactly the same for me mate.
Oh and the fact that one day i came home at 9pm at night only to find that i'd split a radiator hose and nearly all my coolant was gone. Because it was a falcon, i was just able to go down the road to supercheap at 8am the next day and get a hose, fit it, refill coolant and still get to my meeting 60km away at 9:30am. Try doing that in an aristo/soarer/random poser import

Your average 'poser import' wouldn't break down in the first place :P.

ZA-289 · 18-06-2009, 08:56 PM

I like aristo's, the TT 2J is freaking quick with a few mods. Some had a fold down car phone etc in the rear seat armrest.

Windsor220 · 18-06-2009, 09:02 PM

2JZ no . Will decimate all if you put about 15 grand in it or more...

duaned · 18-06-2009, 09:16 PM

I'm pretty sure a mate had an Aristo, it certainly was a V8. He had deep dish cromies on it, and air bag suspension at the touch of a button. What freaked me out about this thing as it had a refridgerated compartment at the rear, ( we coudn't fit a sub behind the back seat due to the compressor etc., tv screen and tuner, and an amazement of other electrical goodies that were stock for a car of it's year of manufacture. Unreal.

Mr Hardware · 19-06-2009, 08:53 AM

you sure that wasn't a celsior, duaned?

Quote:

Your average 'poser import' wouldn't break down in the first place

Oh right, because rubber hoses on jap imports are so much better than rubber hoses on falcons. My sarcasm meter better be broken.

Road_Warrior · 19-06-2009, 10:42 AM

lol

Yeah Duaned I think your mate may have had a Toyota Celsior. Basically an early Lexus LS400 but with Toyota badges. Had all sorts of weird s--t like a cooler box in the back seat armrest and TV in the dash.

Rev28K · 19-06-2009, 11:12 AM

The Aristos were available as a straight 6 N/A, straight 6 TT and a pretty rare V8 4WD.

I could’ve got a nice black one 3-4 years ago with 75-80k (who knows if it was genuine mileage) for $11k.

Joshvee · 19-06-2009, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Hardware

Yeah i have seriously considered on many occasions buying an Aristo.
Seriously, they're quite possibly the ultimate car.
RWD, Plenty of poke, luxurious, Jap quality, sedan, fairly good economy considering, just slightly smaller than a falcon/commodore.
I wish i wish i wish i wish they would bring back a mid sized RWD car with a small-medium six. Call it torana or cortina or whatever you like, but i'm sure there is a demand for it.

i'm an import nissan hater, big time. i'm a german (kraut) car hater too, so that knocks off MB and BMW.

pretty much leaves the the Lexus GS300 and the Toyota Aristo as the most desirable practical cars for me.

Whats wrong with a Falcon?

And did you really have to put the word Kraut after German? It is a derogatory term u know.

loosey · 19-06-2009, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Hardware

you sure that wasn't a celsior, duaned?
Oh right, because rubber hoses on jap imports are so much better than rubber hoses on falcons. My sarcasm meter better be broken.

I'll admit when i first got my car (skyline) a heater hose went, luckily there's a radiator joint and mechanic across the road from my work and they had the car fixed by the afternoon.
What you'll find is a lot of the more popular imports be it skylines/ stageas, soarers/ aristos, 300zx's, silvias etc will have spares readily available. It's only when you get into the slightly less popular imports such as cimas, gsr's etc you'll have trouble. The other thing is look how often aforementioned imports get written off.

duaned · 19-06-2009, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Hardware

you sure that wasn't a celsior, duaned?
Oh right, because rubber hoses on jap imports are so much better than rubber hoses on falcons. My sarcasm meter better be broken.

You maybe right mate, I'm just not into the import scene myself. Did the Celsior come in V8 guise?

Road_Warrior · 19-06-2009, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by duaned

You maybe right mate, I'm just not into the import scene myself. Did the Celsior come in V8 guise?

Yep. Had the same 4.0L V8 as the Lexus and the Aristo (I think)

Matt47569 · 19-06-2009, 01:07 PM

1UZFE.. Great smooth engine from toyota would have so much potential if it wasnt stuck in a 1800kg car.. search it on youtube there is a video of it been revved to 6500rpm with a 50 cent coin standing upright on the block, and it doenst fall over.. also they come already with some forged internals so they have no trouble revving over 7k stock, once the limiter is removed

Fireblade · 19-06-2009, 01:15 PM

And a freshly imported one will have new hoses anyway, they have to be changed for compliance.

**ebxr8240** · 19-06-2009, 09:12 PM

Here's the bottom end of a 1UZ-FE 4.0 V8 same engine in Aristo.. One of them..
This one has Aussie Argo rods.. The sump is very much the same as new engines where it doubles up as mains support.. Not fitted yet..

Top end..

Complete..