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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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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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Is anyone else having trouble registering for the Saturn Owner Center on Saturn.com? I have been trying to register for four weeks. I've e-mailed customer service and I get the standard "we're working on it". How hard is it really to give me access? <--Last question rhetorical. 
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Purchased my Saturn Aura XE a couple of days before Thanksgiving, 2006. Can't say enough good things about the car; color is Pewter Brown and absolutely gorgeous with a beige interior. What a classy vehicle. The smooth ride is what really turned me into buying this vehicle. If anyone is looking for a great looking vehicle, and not bad on gas - look into buying a Saturn Aura. The salesman and people at the dealerships are incredibly nice to deal with. Monetarily - ya can't go wrong either. |
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Replying to: bdubsee (Mar 19, 2007 11:05 pm) |
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I'm pushing 70 and wanted something that rides smooth. Living in the Portland, OR metro area I travel along the I-5 freeway all the time and wanted a car that will get up and go and boy did I get the right one. After going to the Portland auto show we noticed most of the people at the Saturn expo and that is what turned me on to my first Sasturn. So I got on the internet and found the one I wanted under 25 grand and bought the XR midnight blue from one (Russ) of the only two dealerships in the portland area. I only have 1800 miles on her but i can tell this is some car for the money. I haven't run it up to the redline yet but will do it soon i'm sure when my wife isn't around. The only weird thing is that I have yet to see another 2007 Aura on the road. And why isn't there more advertising or dealerships here in the NW. I was told this is the same engine as in the Cadillac...3.6. Obviously I love my car as much as golf and it is way more foregiving. thx Saturn.
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Replying to: olduffer (Apr 15, 2007 8:43 pm) This XR really makes them wonder if spending 50, 60, or 100 grand was such a good idea. It'll go from 0-60 in under 6 seconds which is amazing for a car that you got for under 25k. One word of warning. When you do decide to "take it to the redline" Hold on tight to the steering wheel. The torque steer will just about rip it out of your hands in an attempt to make a right turn. For max fun, turn off "traction control" and use manual shift paddles. |
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Just took Delivery this past Saturday for a New 2007 Aura XR fully loaded with EVERY option avail !! I was turning in a 2004 Caddy lease and was quite scared to " step down " i thought !!!! To my surprise......The car is GREAT !!! Drives Fantastic, Handles Great with 18" alloys, and has everything in it.. Lots of power, and drives awsome. After working for BMW for over 15 yrs in MGMT and driving a free 7 series car fro the last 10 yrs+ This is a Great car !! I considered a Camry Top line model and for the money this car beats it !!!! Really very surprised so far and NOT unhappy with my choice ! Great car for the $$ .....gas mileage could be a bit better, but hope it increases as it breaks in. But for $360 less a month than my 2004 Caddy its a STEEL GO FOR IT..... GO FOR THE XR LOADED TOO enjoy.....i sure am 
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My XR has about 4000 miles and is less than 2 months old. The engine has a slight knock when it idles. The dealer thinks that the engine is miss firing. The car has been at the dealership for the last 2 days. In addition, there is annoying ticking noise from the speedo meter when I hit the gas. Wondering if any one else had these issues? Second thoughts May be I should have bough a Toyota or a Honda? Still a little leery about GM quality.
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Replying to: andygrv (May 02, 2007 2:05 pm) My experience says the knock can be: 1, bad spark plug/wire. 2, computer program glitch. 3, fowled injector from dirty gas/defective fuel filter. I would love to know what the dealers service dept. finds. Clicking from the Speedo? In the old days it would be a broken gear or bind in the cable form the trans to the speedo. Todays electronic gauges, No idea! Keep us posted |
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