Saturn Aura Green Line
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The new Saturn Aura got off to a rip-roaring start when it won “Car of the Year” at the 2007 North American Auto Show in Detroit. The judges raved. Matt DeLorenzo of Road and Track said, “The Saturn Aura is a breakthrough car for General Motors. The road manners are solid, the interior is beautiful, and the overall fit and finish is top-notch.” John Davis of Motor Week called the Aura, “a striking and entertaining family sedan alternative to Camry and Accord.”
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That was the buzz from Detroit, and before the Green Line version was introduced. As the Aura Green Line made the rounds to the auto reviewers, the story changed. The styling continued to receive high marks, but a chorus of auto journalists dinged the Aura Green Line for "anemic" performance and a "stripped-down" feel.
Why did the Aura Green Line get accused of being cheap? Because affordablity (a.k.a. cheapness) was General Motors's goal in producing Saturn hybrids. The company argues that consumers won’t buy a hybrid if they can’t justify any extra costs with a quick return. So, all of the company’s first hybrids, including the Aura Green Line, use a less expensive gas-electric system that calls on electric power mostly to prevent the vehicle from burning gas during idle, and only occasionally to give the car a minor boost during certain driving conditions. This technology, commonly called “stop-start“ is a no-frills system for improving fuel economy by about 10 percent.
While Saturn manages to keep the additional cost of the Green Line version within a couple of thousand bucks of the conventional four-cylinder Aura (especially when considering the hybrid tax credit), its real competition is not the standard Aura—but the Toyota Prius and Civic Hybrid. Unfortunately, the bare-bones entry-level versions of those cars are about the same price as the Aura Green Line. And those vehicles beat the Aura Green Line's fuel efficiency ratings by 13 mpg and 16 mpg respectively. To make matters worse (especially for those calculating the environmental impact of driving), the Aura Green Line is rated as a Low Emissions Vehicle (LEV), four steps below its competitors, which score the Advanced Technology Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle rating.
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24 / 32 MPG 9.8 / 7.35 L/100km
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BODY TYPE:
Sedan
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TECHNOLOGY:
Stop-Start
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BASE MSRP:
$22,100
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