Saturn's mid-size sedan adds Aura to the brand

Saturn's mid-size sedan adds Aura to the brand

Wheels

2008 Saturn Aura XE
By: Jim Robinson

Saturn, once the home of humble, stolid transport, has a new face and a new persona. The harbinger of this change began to arrive in Saturn showrooms across Canada three years ago in the form of the Sky roadster. The Sky was a concept car designed to increase awareness of what GM's youngest division could do.

With its pert looks and great fuel economy, the Sky was part of a reassessment of every nook and cranny at the world's largest automaker, as it tried to reinvent itself, and along the way, do it with new thinking and new products.

Key to this intervention was doing away with the old(-smobile) and bringing in the new with GM’s youngest division and making Saturn attractive to younger buyers.
We’ve looked at a bevy of new Saturn models on these pages recently like the Astra compact and the Outlook CUV, but at the centre of the model mix is the Aura that arrived last year.

The Aura is totally different from what Saturn sold in the past.

Firstly, it doesn't have a rubber/polymer body and it doesn't have an underwhelming bunch of colours that only served to help older model Saturns blend into the background.

The 2008 Aura will come in three versions: the Green Line Hybrid, the XE family sedan and the no-nonsense XR, a European sports sedan that can, and does, hold its own against Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

There is virtually nothing from other Saturns used in the Aura. It is based on the German Opel Vectra chassis and has been developed by GM-owned Opel and Vauxhall for many years much the same as BMW does.

Styling is very Germanic, with a hint of Audi A4 in the sweep of the front wheel well over the tire and the roofline that flows backward in a semi-circle into a very short rear deck with next to no rear overhang of the body. While 17-inch wheels are standard on the XE model tested here, the top XR model has 18-inch alloys that really fill up the wheel wells in the same fashion as BMW and Audi.

Aura is a whole new step up the ladder for Saturn. It has a premium car look and stance to it and includes the interior where Saturn is determined to use the best materials in its segment.

I’ve now driven all three Auras and outwardly all three stay away from unnecessary bright metal bits in the European fashion which is refreshing from sometimes garish use of chrome and cladding that marked GM styling in the 1990s.

Just to review the engine options quickly, the XR is fitted with twin-cam 3.6-litre variable valve timing V6 with 252 hp and 251 lb/ft of torque. This is the same engine used by Cadillac in the CTS sports sedan and the SRX crossover SUV. The XR uses a new six-speed automatic. The Aura was the first GM vehicle to use this new transaxle, which is destined to be the main automatic used across the entire GM range.

The Green Line Hybrid uses a 2.4-litre Ecotec four-cylinder engine mated to a hybrid electric motor and four-speed automatic transmission and is similar in concept and operation to the Saturn Vue Green Line hybrid.

The XE has a choice of two engines. The base car tested here comes with a 2.4-litre DOHC inline four-cylinder with a four-speed automatic producing 169 hp and 160 lb/ft of torque. Fuel consumption is listed at 9.6L/100 km (29 mpg) city and 6.5L/100 km (43) mpg) highway. The other powerplant is a 3.5-litre, variable valve timing OHV V6 with 219 hp and 219 lb/ft of torque. It is mated to a four-speed automatic transaxle driving the front wheels. Mileage is listed at 11.5L/100 km (25 mpg) city and 7.2L/100 km (39 mpg) highway.

In terms of safety, the Aura is fully equipped with front dual stage airbags and head curtain side impact airbags. But those in the front seats also get thorax protection airbags that cover the chest cavity in the event of a side impact. Anti-lock brakes are standard with traction control on the XE. GM's StabiliTrak pitch and yaw control is not available on the XE I-4 but is standard on the three other versions.

And when worst comes to worst, the Aura is equipped with OnStar for one year free and that includes the Safe and Sound Plan free for one year. If the worst ever happens, a real OnStar operator calls emergency services nearest the point of the incident using GPS tracking to pinpoint the location of the vehicle.

The interior on the base XE is not all coal-black as one finds too often on entry-level German cars. My tester has a charcoal upper and grey lower color scheme that has the tonal effect of making the interior feel bigger.

Fitted out in “Custom Cloth” the fabrics are of a high quality while the plastics used feel soft to the touch. The two front seats are broad and supportive, but the back 60/40 folding rear seat will be a challenge to three grown adults.

I’ve mentioned the B-pillar before in the Aura and same-under-the-skin Chevrolet Malibu. Because the seat is placed behind the B-pillar, it is marvelously safe in a side impact crash, but tall drivers will find they have to drag their butts across the b-post and then slide back and down into the seat.

The 2.4-litre engine and four-speed automatic are old friends and are as close to bulletproof and defect-free as you can get. Off the line, the transmission has a high “tip in” speed that means the torque is converted into a snappy launch that carries through into second before it settles down into drive.

The 2.4 XE will not out drag tuner cars at the light, but it is responsive and easy to drive. Credit the handling to the German DNA. Not only does it all feel solid at all speeds, but there is no wallowing on highway speeds.

There weren’t many options on my tester, which is probably how most of these cars will be ordered. What it did have was an optional power sunroof ($1,195) that I could live without, but the ($475) eight-way driver’s power seat is something I would want.

The Aura is a change for General Motors in a time of change. GM has challenges, no doubt, but it appears they have rounded the corner, at least, with exciting new vehicles like the 2-Mode hybrid, the plug-in electrics and Saturn with its focus locked on a new audience of buyers.

Thanks to General Motors’ huge pool of engineering DNA, this new Saturn truly gives consumers the Aura of European driving.

SATURN AURA XE 2008 AT A GLANCE

• BODY STYLE: Compact sedan.
• DRIVE METHOD: front-engine, front-wheel-drive.
• ENGINE: (as tested) 2.4-litre DOHC inline four-cylinder (169 hp, 160 lb/ft); (available) 3.5-litre OHV V6 (219 hp 219 lb/ft).
• FUEL ECONOMY: 2.4-litre, 9.6L/100 km city (29 mpg) city, 6.5L/100 km (43 mpg) highway; 3.5-litre, 11.5L/100 km (25 mpg), 7.2L/100 km (39 mpg) highway
• PRICE: Base XE $24,260, as tested $27,890 including $1,250 shipping fee.
• WEBSITE: gmcanada.com

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