Still plastic panels for Saturn???

 

Ask anyone who's tried to trade in a Saturn Vue: Saturn resale values aren't all that impressive these days. A Saturn Vue has a resale value (%) that's just above a Suzuki XL-7s. Did I forget to mention that a Saturn Ion3 will have the same resale value as a Ford Focus ZX5 SES?

Of course, Buicks also shed their resale value PDQ. I personally feel that Buicks are some of the best used car values out there - if you can tolerate bad seats, sloppy suspensions and lots of fake wood. Some people are predicting that the LaCrosse won't depreciate like the old Regal and Century, but I don't buy into that.

 

I can't help thinking that the new Saturn Aura is bland in a generic corporate kind of way. Overall, the whole thing looks like some sort of bloated new-wave Opel, not that it will ever be sold as one. I see the same sort of trend with the Ford Fusion, which literally screams "Ford of Europe," but has purely Japanese DNA.

Perhaps the Saturn Aura is GM's belated attempt to (finally) compete with the Nissan Altima head-on? I don't know and I'm not really sure if I car one way or another about this car.

 

I agree. With Pontiacs coming out looking "almost there" every time, and Chevy being nothing but bland boring cars, I was starting to lose hope for GM ever making anything styled nice. Here comes Saturn out of nowhere! If they keep this styling direction going, Saturn will be a real player. Hopefully the quality problems people noted on stuff like Ion will be fixed too.

 

So let me get this straight... you don't like something from GM... and are praising something from Nissan.... ----->

 

Well, the Aura's headlights look like they came off a Cobalt, the rear end is oddly Pontiac G6-ish and the side profile has elements of the 2006 Impala. If you like the Saturn Aura, you should also like just about every post-Lutz GM product.

Hey, I'm glad that Saturn's flagship is getting Stabilitrak and the 3.6 liter DOHC "High Feature" V6. Unlike the G6 and Malibu, this car might just be competive. It's just that this car shouts "Generic General Motors." Maybe that's the message Saturn wants to send?

I just hope the "store brand" styling is matched by "store brand" pricing.

 

The steering wheel controvesy:
~$20,000 Toyota Matrix steering wheel:
http://www.ebizautos.com/lokeyautomo...=574432&pid=18

~$50,000 Lexus GS430 steering wheel:
http://www.lexus.com/models/gs/galle...or_photos.html


My point is that the steering wheel issue isn't a big deal as long as its a good looking, well designed wheel.

 

I like the Saturn Aura a lot. First car the I think GM might get right if they do not screw up the production version, but hate the G-6, think the Colbalt is just ok..The new Impala is bland as hell,looks liek a 95 Lumina, but it seems several other cars in that catagory are ugly as well. Lutz has been far from a godsend for GM so far.

 

What? A Saturn that doesn't look awkward?!?! (actually I like the Sky too. )

 

Man , Nissan has redzed on some good drugs .

 

I'll reserve final judgement on the Saturn until I see the window sticker.

Other than the Solstice/Sky roadsters, all Lutz has done is delay, delay, delay cars like the STS and LaCrosse - and they still end up more "ho-hum" than "holy...." Even with all of the over-hyped introductions in the last year, GM still lost half a percent of marketshare. It all make you wonder.