New car - Toyota Crown

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New car - Toyota Crown

Postby TRD_TOY » Fri Mar 25, 2016 10:17 am

Hi guys

Its been about 3 years since i have been on the forums. Was last here when i still had my JZS161 Aristo. Have had a few other cars since then but back in the Toyota game again.

Recently purchased myself a 2004 Toyota Crown Athlete with 90ks on the clock. This one has the 3GR-FSE. Wanted the face lift but there weren't many available when i was looking. Murphy's law though...after i picked mine up a couple face lift 2GR-FSE models popped up for sale....oh well, still pretty happy with mine.

Being the Athlete model it comes with factory 18's, comes 20mm lower than the base model and has a factory bodykit. Such a nice car to drive and pretty impressed with the mileage i get from it, especially with it being quite a big car. I drive from West Auckland to Manukau everyday for work, so sit in stop / start traffic all the time and i was able to get 690ks out of the tank before the fuel light came on. Trip computer said i still had 40ks left to go and i averaged 12.4km per litre.

Found some cool nifty things with the car too. Car doors unlock by themselves if you go to reach the door handle with the keys in your pocket ( must have sensors somewhere?? ), there are lights under the wing mirrors that light up the area around front doors when you unlock it - handy when its dark, car has tire pressure sensors so light on the dash comes on when it detects one of the tires low on pressure, HID lights that follow the corner when turning - found its called AFS , also found it has the same function as the Aristo where if you hold the unlock key down for around 3 seconds it will open all of the windows, great for those summer days where the car has been sitting in the hot sun. Must be a Toyota / Lexus thing as my mates GS300 does the same thing.

With it being my daily, i will be only be doing a couple mods to it. Was looking at getting coilovers but couldn't be bothered having to pay extra for cert etc so have a set of Tanabe DF210 super low springs coming from Japan. They are suppose to be a 40-50mm spring so hopefully it gives it a nice drop. From the very few pics i have seen on the net, it should be all good.
Will be getting some tints in the next week or so and once the springs arrive, i will look at fitting a set of nice 19's to it at the same time. Will be installing a band expander so i have more than Mai FM and Talkback radio to listen to and would also love to be able to convert the screen for the sat nav, aircon etc to English too.

Here's a couple of pics of it at the moment -

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Re: New car - Toyota Crown

Postby steroidcontaskie » Fri Mar 25, 2016 11:32 am

Sweet dude, getting a few crown owners on here now.

IMHO, they look better than the equivalent generation GS. Keep us updated with photos when you put the 19s on, I was thinking of doing the same to mine.
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Re: New car - Toyota Crown

Postby Dell'Orto » Fri Mar 25, 2016 12:52 pm

Sweet car, they're growing on me more and more. The older I get, the more I like the idea of a comfortable 4 door with all the mod cons :lol:
50mm drop will sort out the ride height nicely too
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Re: New car - Toyota Crown

Postby Kiwi-Corolla » Fri Mar 25, 2016 1:20 pm

Congrats on the purchase. Good choice on the Tanabe DF210 springs. We imported a set of the DF210's aswell from Japan for the Mrs' Toyota Wish as they were the lowest springs we could find and it dropped it perfectly (about 50mm). Minimal guard gap and very comparable to what coilovers can achieve. They're quite stiff but we definitely weren't disappointed with the height after they were installed.
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Re: New car - Toyota Crown

Postby TRD_TOY » Sat Mar 26, 2016 10:23 am

steroidcontaskie wrote:Sweet dude, getting a few crown owners on here now.

IMHO, they look better than the equivalent generation GS. Keep us updated with photos when you put the 19s on, I was thinking of doing the same to mine.


Yeah i agree. Was looking at the GS300 / 350 but the shape didn't quite do it for me. Was also looking at the IS models but they are not very roomy in the back. Yep, will keep you posted and will flick up some pics and do a bit of a before and after. Do you know if the aftermarket cold air intakes for the equivalent GS300 will fit the Crown? Im guessing they will?? Found a drop in HKS filter for a 3GR Mark X but apparantly they have a different shape airbox so wouldn't fit.

Dell'Orto wrote:Sweet car, they're growing on me more and more. The older I get, the more I like the idea of a comfortable 4 door with all the mod cons :lol:
50mm drop will sort out the ride height nicely too


Yeah i'm in my mid 30's with a young family so wanted something nice and easy to drive and comfortable too. This definitely ticks all the boxes. I appreciate it even more after driving this then jumping in the Wrx afterwards. Yeah hoping the springs should sort out that gap and give it a better "stance".

Kiwi-Corolla wrote:Congrats on the purchase. Good choice on the Tanabe DF210 springs. We imported a set of the DF210's aswell from Japan for the Mrs' Toyota Wish as they were the lowest springs we could find and it dropped it perfectly (about 50mm). Minimal guard gap and very comparable to what coilovers can achieve. They're quite stiff but we definitely weren't disappointed with the height after they were installed.


Thanks man. Was having a read on your build thread and that's one cool car you have there! Its definitely given me a new appreciation for the Aurion! Glad to hear you have had some success with the DF210's. Will be interesting to see if i get the same outcome on the Crown as you did with the Wish.
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Re: New car - Toyota Crown

Postby TRD_TOY » Tue Mar 29, 2016 9:12 pm

Replaced a few bulbs in the Crown with LED ones.

All of the interior, doors, boot, rear license plate and front park lights :)


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Re: New car - Toyota Crown

Postby GDII » Wed Mar 30, 2016 8:00 am

Looks great. What LEDs did you use? Or what brand/supplier?
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Re: New car - Toyota Crown

Postby TRD_TOY » Wed Mar 30, 2016 5:12 pm

GDII wrote:Looks great. What LEDs did you use? Or what brand/supplier?


Cheers dude!

From Sean @ Ultimate LEDs https://www.facebook.com/ultimateleds/ otherwise he is advertising on Trademe as well http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listin ... ber=762019

Have them on my Wrx as well. Been a few years now since i first fitted and still all good.

Awesome service and really good product.
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