Saturn Aura Fades Against Rivals
The Detroit News

By Anita Lienert

Aug. 23, 2006

SANTA BARBARA , Calif. – The 2007 Saturn Aura mid-size sedan is a study in "European design," according to General Motors' vehicle line director Gary Kovacic.

"We tried for a more European character," he explained to me as we stood in a grassy courtyard at the Four Seasons Hotel here, where Saturn's new lineup was arrayed for the media. "By that I mean clean lines, pronounced flares around the wheels and muscular shoulders along the beltline."

Then I heard tittering over my shoulder.

"Why, honey, that looks like the Taurus we rented in Rapid City when we visited mom," said Susan Hicks, 50, the owner of a collection agency in La Crescenta, Calif. , to her husband, John.

The two, who own a 2002 Honda Odyssey minivan and a 2001 Lincoln Continental, were at the hotel celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary. But they couldn't resist crashing the Saturn media preview event.

"I don't like it," John, 54, replied, studying the Aura. "It leaves me cold."

With that kind of off-the-cuff consumer input, it was hard to stay focused on the corporate party line about the five-passenger Aura, a New Age Saturn in name and intent that was actually designed and engineered in Germany by GM's Opel subsidiary.

Despite the great strides made by the brand, especially with new products like the sexy Sky roadster, it's clear that Saturn faces an uphill battle in the tough mid-size family sedan segment.

It's here that the Kansas City-built Aura, which is on sale now, will duke it out with major players such as the best-selling Toyota Camry and Honda Accord.

The base Saturn Aura XE starts at $20,595, including a $650 destination charge, while the uplevel XR model starts at $24,595. Expect a fully loaded Aura to top out at around $27,700.

In comparison, the '07 Camry starts at $18,850 and the '07 Accord starts at $19,220, while the Ford Fusion and the Hyundai Sonata are both priced from under $18,000. [No mention that the Aura comes pretty well equipped even in base form, and that the base engine is a 224 hp V6, compared to sissy 4 cylinders in thos other cars]

After spending the better part of a day driving a pre-production Aura XR, nicely equipped at $25,319, I didn't feel as cranky about the car as the Hickses. I'm more lukewarm. And I'm more impressed with one trim level on the Aura than the other.

Overall, the Aura is much better than previous Saturn sedans, but it may not look as striking next to its competitors from Japan , Europe , Korea and Detroit .

Consumers should be aware that the two Aura trim levels have some major differences – including engine and transmission – and that the uplevel XR is really the way to go if you can spring for the extra cash.

I'm disappointed that you can't get stability control on the base XE (it's standard on the XR). Or that the base XE comes equipped with the old-fashioned four-speed automatic transmission [more than adequate with that 224 hp engine; much more power and still decent fuel economy relative to the 4 cylinder base cars of the others]; the XR is outfitted with the more modern six-speed automatic transmission.

I was surprised that, for a family offering, the new Saturn sedan doesn't come with such options as a rear-seat entertainment system, a rear backup camera or a navigation system. (You can get a turn-by-turn navigation service as part of a subscription to OnStar.)

I also found it weird that the Aura XR features "tap" shifters on the steering wheel, which executives proudly pointed out are the same as the ones on the Chevrolet Corvette and race cars. Why any car-pooling mom would get excited about this on a family car – or even use them on a regular basis – remains a mystery. [So only car pooling moms will drive them? What about a more enthusiastic driver who wants to put that 252 hp V6 and six speed auto through the paces on a winding road now and then? What a lame and useless comment. On an Accord it would be praised for having a setup like the NSX, if that were the case]

In terms of appearance, the Aura is not as arresting as the new Camry, but its conservative looks should hold up well for many years. [:blah:]

In many ways, the new Aura gives buyers the best of both worlds. You still get Saturn staples, like the no-dicker sticker and the 30-day return policy. But the Aura skips the traditional Saturn plastic body panels in favor of steel ones, and the car is much more substantial looking and feeling than the L-series sedans it replaces. (The Aura rides on the same corporate Epsilon front-wheel-drive platform as the Chevrolet Malibu.)

I was mildly annoyed that the gorgeous tobacco-colored " Morocco brown" leather seating with embossed leather inserts that helped to define the well-received Aura concept car at the 2005 North American International Auto Show is an extra-cost item on the production version of the car. Granted, it will only cost you another $100 to get it, but it would have been truly impressive to see it as a standard feature on the base car. [Gee, why should Saturn be able to charge a mild premium (100 bucks buys premium floor mats for crying out loud) for an obviously desireable option? Go price out leather or color options on a Benz or Porsche or any number of others]

The Aura is a decent driving companion, although I thought the ride could have been a little stiffer [why would those carpooling soccer moms want a stiff ride if they have no use for the tapshift?], and there were some visibility issues with the wide pillars and the high parcel shelf. The way the front end is styled also makes it difficult to see where the nose ends, which makes parking a bit of a challenge. [Just like almost any car these days, especially for shorter people]

My Aura XR was outfitted with a DOHC 3.6-liter V-6 engine that delivered 252 horsepower and 251 pounds-feet of torque. There was plenty of power for merging and passing on the two-lane roads in this part of the world. The mileage was decent, too, at an estimated 20 miles per gallon in city driving and 28 miles per gallon on the highway.

The base Aura is equipped with a different engine, a pushrod 3.5-liter V-6 that makes 224 horsepower and 220 pounds-feet of torque.

It returns 20 miles per gallon in city driving and 29 miles per gallon on the highway.

One of the worst things about the Aura is the back seat, which I made a point of riding in for many miles. [I'm 6'2" and found the backseat a little shy on headroom, for ME, but nice on legroom. I have yet to find a midsize (or even large) sedan with adequate headroom for my tall-torsoed frame, but most people will fit just fine; I didn't try the middle seat.]

The passenger in the middle seat will have to straddle a large hump in the floor, thanks to the location of the exhaust system. There is no headrest for that seat, either, and no rear vents or armrest.

There are individual reading lights, but they are built into the dome light and are too far away, once you're buckled in, to reach with ease or be of much use.

I kept finding little things that made me think Saturn was cutting corners where it could with the Aura, including the lack of dual-zone climate controls for front-seat passengers and the use of a too-big corporate-issue steering wheel that feels more suited to a truck than a sedan.

On the way home, I kept thinking about the car's name and how New Agers define an "aura" as the vibration or color surrounding people and objects.

What would it be for the new Saturn sedan?

I think blue, as in blue collar. And I say that as a person whose grandfather labored in the Ford Rouge foundry and whose father worked as a Detroit cop for 30 years. For as much as the Aura is intended to lift up the Saturn brand, with its European roots and styling, there is too much old-school about the sedan to make it more than a classic, blue-collar Detroit offering.[ That pretty much sums up her and her husband's whole attitude toward the home team. ]

The Leinerts are a couple of quaffed foo-foos. Their "blue collar" comments are boarderline offensive, especially in a town that is proud of its industrial roots. They've pretty much admitted in their reviews that nameplate reputation is everything; They hate driving Chevys and Saturns to the country club or beauty salon.

I'm not usually one to broadly categorize any publication or journalist as having certain biases, but the Lienerts have been an exception since day one. They are undoubtedly the most anti-Detroit writers I have read in any mainstream publication. It's like it's their personal mission to bring down the domestic auto industry, facts be damned. I finally quit reading them a couple years ago since they do nothing but raise my blood pressure. Added to that, their overly cutesy 'he said she said' brand of sophomoric journalism shouldn't merit publication in your local Pennysaver, let alone a newspaper supposedly with its finger on the pulse of the auto industry.

The average person here knows alot about Aura. The typical car person can tell an Aura from a Taurus. But a person who would buy a Taurus or Camry aren't going to be car people and would probally not be able to name half the cars that pass them on the road.

Sure she didn't mention the base Saturn is well equipted, but the person drifting through the showroom is going to compare prices 1st, just like she did.

Even people on this site have made an issue about GM not having the most modern 5 or 6 speed transmission, so her making a point about Aura's 4 speed shouldn't come as a surprise.

She questions why there's tap shift on the car. Since this isn't going to turn away any sales, it's nothing to get worked up over. She wishes the car had the 2 tone interior standard. Again, no biggy. Look at the competition. And again, she isn't slamming the car for not having it.

She didn't like the back seat. The current Grand Prix initially didn't have a comfortable back seat (GM fixed it by recontouring the rear seat the following year). G6's rear seat isn't the roomiest in the world, so naturally Aura's not either. Still, not an issue if kids are riding in the back. Not the 1st thing people look for in a family car.

She didn't really slam the Aura, but she didn't go out of her way to give it kudos either (Consumer Reports ring a bell?).

If her's is going to be the worse review the Aura's ever going to get, then it's going to be a hell of a car.