Today was a historic day, my Aura XR passed the 10,000 mile mark. We bought the car in November of 2006. It has been an eventful year and a half of ownership. This is in the media term, a long term verdict.
( Picture of when it was brand new)
(what the interior looked like brand new)
When I first saw the production car from the NY Auto Show, I knew I wanted this vehicle to be my first vehicle to drive. The exterior design was beautiful. European class and the LED taillights had me sold. Then it got better as soon as I saw the Morocco Brown leather interior. Again, when I read the specs it got even better. Seeing the High Feature Dual Over Head Cam 3.6 Liter V6 engine from the Cadillac CTS in FWD form producing 252 HP and 251 lb of torque at 3200 RPM mated to a new 6 speed automatic( didn't know how to drive a stick yet) made me foam at the mouth I wanted this vehicle badly.
October came around and while we were equipping our Suburban with new tires, we went over to our Saturn dealer to test drive the Aura XR. It was the base model with black cloth, but it was still an amazing car. Accelerated very well and the steering was weighted fairly well though a bit on the heavy side. Then a month later we went back to do another test drive and we switched sales people as I did not like the first one as she started to question me about the damn car. I was in a state of confusion. I knew I wanted the Morocco Brown leather, but I didn't know what exterior color to get it in, black onyx or midnight blue. Two very beautiful colors. Two weeks later they just got in a black onyx Aura XR with the Morocco Brown leather. I don't like to buy vehicles that are on the lot for a long time, so I decided to jump for the black onyx one they just got in. Test drove it one more time and took it home for the day and returned it and said we will pick it up Monday.
For the first 1100 miles the car was problem free. Drove great and went around corners fairly easily and well within its limits still. Around 700 miles I decided to open the throttle up and take it to its redline of 7000 RPM. The car just flew and sounded awesome for a V6. Then came the small issues. At 1100 miles both the sunshade started to rattle and the tachometer started to tick. I decided to wait until 3000 miles to get them fixed so we could do the oil change at the same time. Also got the new transmission software done as well. The transmission shifted wonderful after the update. As when cold, the 3-4 shift was rough and jerky. But, now it is nice and smooth. The sunshade rattle and ticking tach never showed up again.
For the next 1400 miles after the oil change things went smoothly again. But, the problem bug struck again. This time the parking brake broke at 4400 miles. Turned out a plastic piece of the parking brake assembly snapped. Couldn't wait for 6000 miles to roll around as I always use the parking brake and I viewed as necessary to get it fixed ASAP. Took it in and got the park fixed and did another oil change. After that the next 1000 miles went smoothly again. I started to throw it around harder then usual to see what this thing could do. It really impressed me. The interior was still holding up. Though I did not like that the bottom portion of the dash was really hard plastic with a rough grain to it. The top portion though had nice high quality soft material. The power adjustable pedals are came in handy as they enabled me to stay as far away from the airbag as possible and still be in comfortable distance from the steering wheel. The center console armrest though was disappointingly cheap and when extended out, is really flimsy.
At 5500 miles, tragedy struck. On the way home from school I was following one of my classmates. When she went to make a left she went into the shoulder. Thinking she was stopping I went to pass and when I was at her rear bumper, she turned into me and I made a hard left, but my right front corner hit her left side front wheel well back to rear wheel well. Her car definitely took the brunt of the damage. Her excuse was that her Beetle felt like it was going to tip over if she didn't make a wide turn. Apparently she didn't understand what G Forces were and how turning shifts the weight during a turn and creates body roll. Anyway, $2270 worth of damage and a week later the Aura was repaired.
After the accident and my small issues I have had no other problems with the Aura. At 6600 miles I finally changed the tires as the OEM Goodyear Eagle LS2 tires were junk. They could only hold their grip in dry conditions. Wet, snow, and ice they couldn't do anything to help themselves to get traction. When the car was moving they would be fine, but it was the initial take off that was horrible. When it rained on a complete flat road and I accelerated very smoothly and slowly the front tires would still go spinning and traction control had to activate. In the snow trying to get up a small grade to get into the garage they were spinning and my car was stuck. Had to shovel all the snow out of my vehicles way down to the gravel to get my vehicle back into the garage. It was only 2" of snow as well. Though the stability system worked great as when I went around a curve in my driveway, the rear started to slide and ESC activated quickly and brought the rear back into control. Then emergency braking, they squealed like crazy barely holding to any ounce of traction they had left. Anyway, changed them out for Goodyear Eagle F1 All Seasons. So now once I remove the governor and turbo the 3.6, I can safely go 186 MPH.
The F1's were the only all season tires at the time that fit the Aura's weird 18" rim size and they were not cheap( $1000 for the tires and mounting and balancing, etc).
Grip, handling, ride, and road noise were much improved by the new tires. The next day after I got them mounted it snowed and the tires performed beautifully. Kept their traction and grip with minimal wheel spin. The only downside, the steering feel is now lighter and when going over bumps, the tires sometimes take control and jerk the wheel back and forth. The Aura XR was really designed around the LS2's. But, I am happy I got rid of them.
At 7400 miles when it came time to do another oil change, I decided to switch the oil over to Mobil 1 Synthetic oil. I have since noticed the engine runs a bit smoother and again at cold, the vibration in the gas pedal is gone.
It only took 2 trips to a car wash to notice scratches were magically appearing. Since then I have been hand washing my car. The Armor All Car Wash detergent and the Turtle Wax Chrome Polish does wonders to my vehicle with all of its chrome and makes the car look brand new again.
I found myself fighting the temptation of regret when the Pontiac G8 came out. I was drooling over it. It had what the car enthusiast wanted, RWD, V8, and masculine looks. I was really thinking to myself should I have waited for this beast. Though with todays gas prices, I don't think I want a 15 MPG vehicle to fill up. So that brought back my senses.
The experience the Saturn brand has given me has definitely earned my loyalty. When it was announced the Aura won the NA COTY for 2007 and Saturn decided to send around 5 replica's of the trophy I immediately went to get the link to sign up to get the award( unfortunately, I couldn't sign up for the owners thing due to a glitch they had with the VIN #'s so I didn't get the email luckily a person at SaturnFans posted it for me). A month later I got an email saying I was selected to receive the award. I was excited. Another month went by and it arrived and I unpackaged it like a monster. It was in a Tiffany's box with the the sign book. It had about 3 other signatures ,messages, and pictures of other Aura owners and I really enjoyed reading their experiences with the car.
( look Ma it wants to drive!)
At 9600 miles though the battery drained for some reason( everything was off) and I had to jump start it. I was somewhat an idiot and doing it in my garage with minimal light and by accident connected the wrong plugs to the battery( negative to positive) as when I initially attached them correctly and went to hook up the cables to our Suburban, they came unattached. I plugged in the Suburban and went back to hook up the Aura. I assumed the plugs were still in the correct position and went to plug it in and it sparked. On the 3rd attempt finally noticed I had it wrong. Jumped start the car and everything was still functioning except for the radio. My idiocy caused the fuse to blow. So went and got a new fuse and radio functions again. Though I have noticed the DIC is getting my fuel economy wrong( it is saying I am getting 16.3 MPG now). Though everything else in the DIC still works so I don't know I should bring it in to get it looked at since I don't go off the DIC anyway for my fuel economy.
So now at 10,006 miles and a year and a half later I am still happy with it. I avg. around 18-20 MPG( now around 18-19 MPG due to driving in heavier traffic and developing a lead foot). It has been a great car so far and besides its small problems I can recommend it to anyone here and all of my friends.
