Saturn Aura Green Line

The midsize sedan provides a spacious interior, with good legroom and decent comfort. The adjustable reclining front bucket seats provide firm support. The quality of the interior design, and fit and finish, is greatly improved from previous Saturn models—but the materials and finishes have not completely shed their cheap plastic feel.

The instrument panel, which flows smoothly around to the door panels, is modified for the Aura Green Line to indicate the level of charge and assist from the hybrid battery. The “auto stop” light shows when the engine is shut off during idle. These features pale next to Toyota’s hybrid dashboard display or Honda’s blue backlit instrumentation.

The hybrid system is designed to maintain use of accessories when the vehicle is stopped. But if the air conditioning or defogger is blasting when the car is stopped, the gasoline engine may continue to burn fuel—rather than using the no-idle feature. Saturn provides a “hybrid” AC setting, which may reduce passenger comfort in exchange for maximum fuel savings.