Saturn Aura Green Line

The Saturn Aura Green Line entered the hybrid field as the least expensive of the pack—which includes a number of family-sized sedans such as the Toyota Camry Hybrid, Honda Accord Hybrid, and Nissan Altima Hybrid.

Given that the Saturn brand has been nothing to cheer about in recent years, and that the technology employed in the Aura is the ultra-mild belt alternator starter, is there anything newsworthy about the Aura Green Line? Actually, yes. It’s the first hybrid that essentially costs no more than its conventional counterpart. The long-standing argument that hybrids are not worth the extra money—and that the so-called “payback period” could be five years or longer—is eviscerated with the Saturn Aura Green Line.

In broad and simple terms, the Aura Green Line, which starts at $22,695, costs about two-grand more than the Aura XE. When you subtract a $1,300 federal tax credit, you’ve whittled the premium down to a few hundred bucks. In exchange, you bump your city mileage from 20-mpg to 28-mpg, and the highway fuel efficiency from 30-mpg to 35-mpg. Depending on how much you drive, the fuel savings could erase the cost of the hybrid system within a few months. From there on out, it’s all gravy. And with gas prices back in the three-dollar range and continuing to head north, wouldn’t it be nice to have the 30-40 percent boost in fuel economy?