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Lyndon Conrad Bell | 9/7/2007 | Saturn
It was a dark and stormy night ...
And while I've always wanted to start a story that way, it really was a dark and stormy night. Rain was streaming out of the sky like a featured video on YouTube. Dashing out of the airport parking shuttle and loading my luggage, I hopped into the car, paid the rent on the space and got on my way.
Traffic was light on the freeway, and in spite of the precipitation, the pace was quick and steady.
I made an interesting discovery that night.
Driving
an unfamiliar car at night has a remarkable way of democratizing a
first impression. Looking around the car, you can’t see the badging or
the interior styling cues. Nothing says cheap or expensive. With very
little ambient light to reveal the car’s interior, I was free to focus
on the way the vehicle actually felt.
In
fact, the darkness and the rain forced me to pay attention to the way
the car felt going along the highway. Looking back on it, firmly in
control and secure immediately come to mind. The steering wheel was
fat, solid and reassuring in my hands. A fair amount of communication
about the road surface was coming back through it. “Listening” with the
seat of my pants, I could sense the car was in good solid contact with
the road and as it knifed through the wetness the sensation one of
utter stability. Comfortable seating providing support in all the right
places, the car could’ve been any number of ultra-expensive Euro-sleds.
But the fact is, the car was a Saturn Aura XR.
The following
day, I took the Saturn to get a well-deserved car wash as the skies had
cleared and the promise of several sunny days graced the local weather
report. Looking around in broad daylight, I could see the car suffered
only mildly from being a child of General Motors, the company famed for
delivering cheap-ass interiors for some time now.
The
Aura XR demonstrated excellent fit and finish. The materials were
substantial looking with soft-touch plastics on the dash. Wood grain
trim nicely accented the overall appearance and the level of content
was excellent for a car in this price range.
The
“basic” Aura, the XE, comes standard with AM/FM/CD/MP3 playback, power
windows, tilt and telescoping steering wheel, cruise control with
redundant controls on the steering wheel, vanity mirror, and automatic
headlights. Standard safety features include OnStar, traction control,
antilock brakes, and side curtain airbags. My XR test car added remote
vehicle start, StabiliTrak, and fog lamps. Power-adjustable pedals, a
sliding panoramic moonroof, automatic climate controls, heated front
seats, and leather seating completed the package, to make my XR a fully
loaded proposition.
The
252-horsepower V6 gave the Saturn more than enough swoop for its given
mission in life and the 251 lb-ft of torque also enabled the Aura to
step off the line rather smartly. Braking and handling, while adequate
for a family car, were not quite up to sport sedan standards. But then
it isn’t really trying to be. The main competitors in this range are
the Camry, Accord, Altima juggernaut that single handedly accounts for
more than million vehicles sold per annum. In other words we’re talking
about the cars that put the main in mainstream.
Tough
competitors to be sure, but if Saturn is truly going to be a player in
modern American automotive market, these are the cars to beat.
While a dark and
stormy night is not really necessary to get the full impact of the
goodness of the Aura, it does bode well for the car that it did so well
in that circumstance. After all, in a “blind” driving test, it was
difficult to discern the fact that the car was a product of General
Motors and more impressively, not a product of Mercedes-Benz.
That’s
no small statement. The Aura delivers a very solid driving experience
and is a must-consider for anyone shopping for a car in this price
range. And if you’re just sick to death of CamCordImas, it’s nice to
know the home team finally does offer a viable alternative, in the form
of the Saturn Aura.
Specifications:
Base Price: $24,345
Engine: 3.6-liter V6
Horsepower: 252 @ 6400 rpm
Torque: 251 @ 3200 rpm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Drivetrain: Front engine/front-wheel drive
Fuel Economy: 20 city/28 highway
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