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Sedans Saturn Aura Saturn Aura New Owner Reports
234 messages, Last post on Oct 04, 2009 at 8:15 AM
You are in the Saturn Aura Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
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I am proud to say that I now have a Saturn XE in my driveway. It's Midnight Blue with the gray interior. Has Preferred and Convenience Packages as well as the premium floor mats. I leased my car on Wednesday, 2/21/07. My initial thoughts are wow. The styling is a knock-out and, with the dark blue, the car is very sophisticated looking. I previously had a 2005 Malibu Maxx (a platform-mate of the Aura, built in the same factory). I LOVED the layout of the car but had to constantly apologize for the exterior of the car and poorly executed interior bits. Not so with the Aura. This car has been thoughtfully finished and everything feels done to the highest level. Likes: Amber ambient lighting, comfortable bolstered seats, beautiful gauges, sophisticated Audi-like styling, excellent buying experience, large trunk, cargo nets on side of trunk, tambor door over cupholders, chunky and comfortable steering wheel, OnStar, A lot of car for the money, it suits me exaclty. Dislikes: There is no handle or indent for closing the trunk lid without touching the exterior paint, I should have gotten the leather interior as cloth doesn't match the style of the exterior, the nearest dealership is 15 miles aways (in Central Florida that equals an hour round-trip of just driving). Finally, the Saturn buying experience was incredible. Like many of you, I had heard about the Saturn way but I thought it was more marketing hype than reality. I was wrong. The experience was pleasant from beginning to end. Even the dreaded F&I office was pleasant. I am now slightly embarassed about how combative I was with the sales associate and F&I manager - behavior that I developed over the last 3 purchases that my wife and I have made in the last 4 years. I would recommend a Saturn for the buying experience alone - the excellent new products are a bonus.
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| I got mine two days ago. An XE, loaded. Techno Gray. I love the leather interior, very comfortable and supports well. I have owned Chevy/Olds cars, vans and SUVs in the past. My last vehicle was a 2002 Trailblazer with 95,000 trouble free miles. I was worried about giving up so much utility on the switch from a SUV to a sedan but did it hoping my gas mileage would improve enough to make me forget the trade-off. I did a 600 mile round trip just for fun and only got 28mpg on dry roads so my fears might have been justified. My SUV got around 22mpg in the same road and circumstances. And with the small gas tank on the Aura, I stopped for fuel as often as the SUV. Bummer. EVERYTHING else on the Aura feels great. Fit, finish, road noise, handling and braking are excellent. | |
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Replying to: KarenS (Feb 21, 2007 8:03 am) ANYONE HAD THIS PROBLEM? OR HAVE A SOLUTION? |
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I've had my new XR for about 2 weeks now (Ocean Mist w/Black Leather) and have been loving it so far. Pros: -Interior is gorgeous with understatement reminiscent of Lexus - Car is insanely quiet, even at 80MPH - Great road feel, very little body roll in hard cornering. - Nice sound from factory stereo/speakers - Integrated phone with OnStar I'm happy GM has finally decided to become competitive! Cons: -Design of front air dam... I somehow managed to break the front air dam on some ice backing out of my driveway. Upon reading some forums, I found out that this is a fairly common occurance, even in the XRs with the 18" wheels. It's an easy fix ($145 installed at the dealership) but I anticipate having to make a few more visits for this flaw. -Torque Steer. FWD with a powerful engine, whaddya going to do? -Bit of groaning in the steering wheel when you go hard over in either direction. Dealer indicated that this is not abnormal for this model |
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Replying to: dehg7019 (Mar 01, 2007 7:54 am) |
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Replying to: dehg7019 (Mar 01, 2007 7:54 am) I am an aerospace systems engineer with an electrical/electronics background and it my first impression is that you are hearing some form of acoustic resonance artifact resulting from some form out-of-spec performance by the alternator/regulator. This would explain the change in tonal character as you vary the electrical load (lights, radio, etc.). I suggest you ask your Saturn guy to listen carefully in and around the alternator when the car is cool/cold. As the engine bay and electrical loading on the alternator raise the temperature the sound probably fades away. If the problem cannot be isolated perhaps you can take some comfort in the 3 year/100K bumber-to-bumber warranty. If the conditions worsens, and it may be an indication of a developing failure, then it will be GM/Saturn's problem to resolve to your satisfaction. You may also want to contact the Saturn regional Customer Center and see if they have heard of anything like your problem. Auras are fairly new and the maintenance patterns/problems/legends are just beginning to take shape. P.S. I have been enjoying my XR for about 4 months now, now problems so far |
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I was all ready to buy an Impala LTZ. I figured the size and 3.9 L V-6 (233 HP???) was enough for an old hot rodder like me. Then I read this forum. Researched the Aura(s). I found it was the same size as the Malibu, Lexus ES330, Camry, Accord, etc. Then I say the Power train specs, the 4 or 6(?) speed choices. I read about the 3.6 DOHC 24 Valve VVT All Aluminum V6. The Corvette designed paddle shifters and 4 way tilt wheel. And on and on and on went the added or better features on the Aura XR. One driver of 3-4 miles and I opened the checkbook. This is the closest thing to an infinity or lexus you can get for under $30 grand. Thanks to all that write to this forum, I almost bought a Chevy. |
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Does anyone know what the "I" stands for located on the gear shift plate??? 
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Replying to: salesguru (Mar 13, 2007 10:53 am) The I position will allow the transmission to operate in a more efficient gear. With the XR, you have to shift to M and shift the car manually to get the most efficient operation. Hope this helped Rich Aura XR owner for 3 days 
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This is a bit long, sorry. I don't know what the limits are for this forum. I hope you enjoy my first impressions. After getting acquainted with the car and adjusting the 4 way steering column and 8 way seat, my wife riding shotgun and I were ready to take our new Aura XR for its first test drive in the mountains. Ok, our San Jacinto Mountains of the southern California aren't real mountains but the roads will give me some idea of how the new Saturn Aura XR handles. As we approached the bottom of the hill on highway 74 out of Palm Desert a young man in an Acura 3.2 TL blew past us. I was going 60 in a 60 MPH zone so he must have been hitting 80. I figure I will see him again once he catches up with some slower traffic. As I approached the first corner I pulled the shifter back to "M." This sets up the manual shifting of the close ratio 6-speed automatic transmission. I double tap the downshift paddle on the right side of the steering wheel. This put the transmission into 4th gear and I lightly pressed the accelerator pedal, we feel a little press in the back as we power out of the first turn. I tap the downshift once more and accelerate quickly up the straight heading for the next turn. The low-end torque of this new GM quad-cam engine is, OMG fantastic. Left hand and right hand corners keep coming at us with little or no rest in between. I just drive around the corners at 15 MPH above the posted recommendation. It was extremely comfortable for my wife, who doesn't really like mountain roads. She was actually having a good time. I caught the Acura about three miles up the hill and he picked up the pace quite a bit. When we got to the passing lane, he took the inside line (I wanted the inside lane) so I passed him on the outside, hoping he would not lose control and take us both out. I was doing about 65 MPH through this series of corners starting with a right hand, 270 Degree, wide sweeper. When we exited the passing lane, the Acura was about 6 car lengths behind us. He made a charge on the straightaway so I tapped the paddle for 4th and accelerated away. We never saw him again. After lunch in Idyllwild, the road got very twisty going up over the summit. As I approached one corner I wanted to see just how good the "Stability Control and Traction Control really were so I just turned into the corner at 60 MPH. It was posted at 25 MPH but there was plenty of run off area so I wasn't afraid of bending the new car. Well, the car turned and stuck, the sand on the road made some funny noises under the 225-50x18 Goodyear Eagles, but that was all. The traction control handled the braking and the stability control took care of the lean and sliding and we came out of the corner in the middle of the lane at 45 MPH. I was skeptical that a computer and some brakes could do anything good, but I am here to tell you, IT WORKS, it really works. A few minutes later I warned my wife that I was going to do a brake test so hold on. On the next straight stretch I told her now and hit the woa pedal as hard as I could. No screech, no slide, no skid, it did put a tremendous strain on our shoulder belts and stopped. My wife looked at me and said wow! that was impressive. She had the biggest grin on her face, which made me a very happy man. I just said ABS When we hit the Interstate I hit the go peddal hard and held it there till the speed-o hit 80. We weren't off the uphill on-ramp yet. This car is supposed to do 0-60 in 6.4 and 95 MPH in the 1/4 mile. I believe every word of it. The only thing out of the ordinary was the tremendous feel of torque-steer, which will take some getting used to. That Quad-Cam, 24 Valve, V6, revs like a Formula 1 engine, to the fuel cut off at 7-grand. The power band never ends. From 2000 RPM to 6500 it pulls like mad. It was hard to tell where the torque started to drop and the horses started to build. The 6-speed makes use of every part of the power band like nothing I have ever driven before. You can't make a bad shift, unlike a standard gearbox, this one has a computer that determines if the shift will over-rev the engine or not, before allowing the shift you requested via the paddles. Shifts are snappy and quick, unlike the other GM automatics that have pushbutton shifting on the floor-mounted levers (like the Malibu, Pontiac G6) which shift whenever they feel like it after you press the button. Now I must say I have one complaint about this big 4-door sedan. It has the heart of a fine racecar, but it sounds like an old Buick. It needs some throat clearing so it can sing when the rev counter hits 4K-plus. The automotive writers got this one dead on, Car of the year. Maybe car of the DECADE? I can't wait till my next test drive.
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