Saturn Aura?

[Eleanor]

My parents are currently looking at a new mid-sized sedan. They've been looking at the Accord, Camry & Altima, however I'm trying to convince them to look at the Aura. I've heard really good things about it and my parents are probably going to be booking a test drive but I was wondering if anyone out there has one or has dealt with Saturn service. Thanks.

[bigbadboss101]

One of the magazine did a review comparison of the three and other cars. They liked the Aura. I don't know much about this car.

Accord - I like the previous gen's back end better. Good resale value, feels good.

Altima - Nice power, bold look. I don't like the back end.

Camry - V6 power, Toyota reliability. Bit soft handling, at least the non-SE version that I rented.

You can find that article, I didn't bookmark it.

[reno97637]

It's a great car for the price. $35K for a 252 hp, 6 speed auto, front and rear airbags, fully loaded vehicle.

[dino_martini]

I dont know where in Calgary you live but we were recently at Hyatt Saturn Saab. We looked at the Outlook and Aura. If you end up going down there and dont have a salesmen, go talk to Derek Sheahan. He is a great salesmen.

The Aura is probably one of the best GM products right now. The interior is great, power seats for driver/passenger, heated seats, the morroco brown leather option is IMO a must on the Aura, it makes the interior look amazing.

As far as the servicing, we were told that if they keep your car for more then a day they will give you a loaner. My neighbor has been a Saturn owner for the last 10 or so years and has yet to complain about the service received at Hyatt Saturn Saab. Bottom line Saturn is a maker on the move, no question.

[Mitsu3000gt]

I thought the Aura had an extremely poor interior, with typical GM plastic everywhere, gaps between plastic panels, crappy finishing on the ends of the door interior, etc. etc. Also, the depreciation will be massive as Saturn's used cars have terrible resale. Although it drives OK, there isn't much appealing about the car in my opinion and the Japanese comptition will be more reliable, is put together much better and will hold it's value much better. For 35k there are much better options in my opinion.

[bobby_lu]

It did win Car of the year in a couple review, take that with a grain of salt though.

[TeamBestBud]

I test drove a Saturn Aura XR at a promotional event just last week and to say that it surprised me is an understatement. I remember asking myself a couple of times "is this really a saturn?"

The car of the year hype is believable.

[Eleanor]

They ended up going with the Altima. We're getting it on thursday. I drove the aura, i was very impressed. unfortunately my parents are still on the "all american cars are bad" wagon. Oh well, their loss. P.S. If i were looking at a mid sized right now, I'd prolly be getting an Aura XR, although the new accord is looking good too.

[Aleks]

Originally posted by TeamBestBud
I test drove a Saturn Aura XR at a promotional event just last week and to say that it surprised me is an understatement. I remember asking myself a couple of times "is this really a saturn?"

The car of the year hype is believable.

It's actually an Opel ;) so you were right to question it haha

[Doozer]

Originally posted by Eleanor
They ended up going with the Altima.

Good choice. ;) I've had my Altima for just over a year, and love it. Very few problems, and more power than any of its competitors. Lots of room too - I've comfortably fit 3 adults and 3 hockey bags in the car.

PS - Forgot to mention that the Aura wasn't really a choice when I was test-driving. The only American car I drove was the Fusion, and it wasn't even comparable.

[jibber]

No matter how good it is when it is new, the thing that hurts the most when you buy a new car is the resale value. Most, if not all, domestics have worse resale value than their imported competitors. I would have personally chose the Camry because in 10 years, it would be worth at least a few thousand dollars more than an Aura with the same milage.

I can remember someone trying to sell a 2000 Dodge Caravan not too long ago, with average milage, and a/c, and he was trying to get $900 for it. That's absurd... it's lost all it's value in 7 years. The Caravan is the worst for resale value bar none. And because of the poor cars produced in the 80's and 90's, domestic car resale value will suffer for at least the next 10 years, IMO. It will get better, but that "Car of the Year" award won't mean squat when it's a 10 year old Saturn sitting on the Automaxx lot.

[Aleks]

Originally posted by JDMSupraTT
No matter how good it is when it is new, the thing that hurts the most when you buy a new car is the resale value. Most, if not all, domestics have worse resale value than their imported competitors. I would have personally chose the Camry because in 10 years, it would be worth at least a few thousand dollars more than an Aura with the same milage.

I can remember someone trying to sell a 2000 Dodge Caravan not too long ago, with average milage, and a/c, and he was trying to get $900 for it. That's absurd... it's lost all it's value in 7 years. The Caravan is the worst for resale value bar none. And because of the poor cars produced in the 80's and 90's, domestic car resale value will suffer for at least the next 10 years, IMO. It will get better, but that "Car of the Year" award won't mean squat when it's a 10 year old Saturn sitting on the Automaxx lot.

I would not mind losing a few thousand over 10 years if it meant enjoying driving a car as opposed to just having an A to B tool

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by JDMSupraTT
No matter how good it is when it is new, the thing that hurts the most when you buy a new car is the resale value. Most, if not all, domestics have worse resale value than their imported competitors. I would have personally chose the Camry because in 10 years, it would be worth at least a few thousand dollars more than an Aura with the same milage.

I can remember someone trying to sell a 2000 Dodge Caravan not too long ago, with average milage, and a/c, and he was trying to get $900 for it. That's absurd... it's lost all it's value in 7 years. The Caravan is the worst for resale value bar none. And because of the poor cars produced in the 80's and 90's, domestic car resale value will suffer for at least the next 10 years, IMO. It will get better, but that "Car of the Year" award won't mean squat when it's a 10 year old Saturn sitting on the Automaxx lot.

$900 for a 2000 Caravan? I find that hard to believe unless it was absolutely shitbagged. We got $16,000 for our 2001 Caravan without any trouble at all.

[403Gemini]

Originally posted by JDMSupraTT
No matter how good it is when it is new, the thing that hurts the most when you buy a new car is the resale value. Most, if not all, domestics have worse resale value than their imported competitors. I would have personally chose the Camry because in 10 years, it would be worth at least a few thousand dollars more than an Aura with the same milage.

I can remember someone trying to sell a 2000 Dodge Caravan not too long ago, with average milage, and a/c, and he was trying to get $900 for it. That's absurd... it's lost all it's value in 7 years. The Caravan is the worst for resale value bar none. And because of the poor cars produced in the 80's and 90's, domestic car resale value will suffer for at least the next 10 years, IMO. It will get better, but that "Car of the Year" award won't mean squat when it's a 10 year old Saturn sitting on the Automaxx lot.

Or... you could buy a car you'll enjoy driving? :dunno:

I know in 3-4 years my car wont have the same resale as the honda civic si's.... but while im driving it i sure as shit know i can beat the snot outta them at the track ;)

[jibber]

I agree with everyone here about having an enjoyable car to drive instead of a appliance to use, but people like my parents, and probably his parents, have resale value in mind when buying a new car. So they'd rather live with an appliance for 10 years than have something more dynamic that's worth less after the same 10 years. Which is why I have an old Buick to run around in a rack up the kms because it's worth so little it doubles in value everytime I fill up for gas, and I have my nice car at home which might be gaining value for every km I don't put on it.

My Dad really wanted an H3 to tow his boat, but ended up getting a Honda Pilot to do the same thing. Even though it will probably end up being the last new vehicle he ever buys, he told me he couldn't buy the H3 because of the resale value and off-warranty repair costs. I see his way of thinking and his rationale, but I don't agree with it. I wonder if he's ever had a love affair with a car.

This is just my opinion as to why they picked the Altima over the Aura. I could be wrong. Some people get kicks out of driving something around that's pleasant to drive, and doesn't depriciate with every km they put on it. That's why I drive a $300 Buick :P

Each to their own, that's why there's so many different cars on the road.

[bspot]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt
I thought the Aura had an extremely poor interior, with typical GM plastic everywhere, gaps between plastic panels, crappy finishing on the ends of the door interior, etc. etc. Also, the depreciation will be massive as Saturn's used cars have terrible resale. Although it drives OK, there isn't much appealing about the car in my opinion and the Japanese comptition will be more reliable, is put together much better and will hold it's value much better. For 35k there are much better options in my opinion.

Have you ever liked any American car? Do you hate the Z06 too? (Serious question, as it seems even the staunchest USDM hater will concede a bit on the Z06)

[Supa Dexta]

Its funny though its always the z06 that people use.. Ha one car out of how many? a hundred? I have no idea how many there are, but you get the point..

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by bspot


Have you ever liked any American car? Do you hate the Z06 too? (Serious question, as it seems even the staunchest USDM hater will concede a bit on the Z06)

Everyone always uses the Z06 as their arguement haha, thats the only car.

I don't hate the Z06, but it's probably the only American car I'd ever consider owning besides things like a Saleen S7 and similar. The Z06 still has a very poor interior in my opinion, especially given the price you pay for the car, but it delivers such extreme performance that it is easier to overlook. I also don't like that there are a million corvettes/Z06's around so they don't really seem special at all to me, but I'd love to rip around the track in one.

The day I can go to a car show and compare the American cars to their direct Jap/German competition and not tell a blantently obvious quality difference pretty much everywhere, I will be the first to say so. When they start building cars like their competition does, they will likely see a marked increase in resale value as well. This is all only my opinion of course, but it is shared by a lot of people. I can't really blame them though, if they can sell a ton of cars and build them for half or less of what it costs the competition to make a car, then they would be silly not to from a marketing standpoint. Unfortunately the customer is the one who loses in that case. I don't hate all American cars by any means, I just think they need to get their act together if they want more people to consider them. They arent horrible terrible cars or anything like that, it's just that there is just almost always a better alternative from a different manufacturer. Their closing the gap, but they have a long way to go still in my opinion.

[Mangina]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt


$900 for a 2000 Caravan? I find that hard to believe unless it was absolutely shitbagged. We got $16,000 for our 2001 Caravan without any trouble at all.

You can get the brand new ones for under 20K with a rear DVD. You probably mean $1600.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by Mangina


You can get the brand new ones for under 20K with a rear DVD. You probably mean $1600.

Nope, we got $16,000. A lot of calls on it, too - it sold very quickly. It was a super low KM ES model with all options. The ones for 20K are the short ones with few options, but yeah, you can get brand new ones for extremely cheap with full warranty. They depreciate like hell, no arguement there. The only reason we bought it at the time was because no other van could tow as much as we needed it to.

They depreciate like no other, but there is no way it depreciates 98% in 5 years. We sold it about 8 months ago or something like that, and all the similar caravan's for sale were being advertised anywhere from $12,000-$17,000 depending on options and KM, regardless of the fact you can buy a brand new one for 20k.

[bspot]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt


Everyone always uses the Z06 as their arguement haha, thats the only car.

I don't hate the Z06, but it's probably the only American car I'd ever consider owning besides things like a Saleen S7 and similar. The Z06 still has a very poor interior in my opinion, especially given the price you pay for the car, but it delivers such extreme performance that it is easier to overlook. I also don't like that there are a million corvettes/Z06's around so they don't really seem special at all to me, but I'd love to rip around the track in one.

The day I can go to a car show and compare the American cars to their direct Jap/German competition and not tell a blantently obvious quality difference pretty much everywhere, I will be the first to say so. When they start building cars like their competition does, they will likely see a marked increase in resale value as well. This is all only my opinion of course, but it is shared by a lot of people. I can't really blame them though, if they can sell a ton of cars and build them for half or less of what it costs the competition to make a car, then they would be silly not to from a marketing standpoint. Unfortunately the customer is the one who loses in that case. I don't hate all American cars by any means, I just think they need to get their act together if they want more people to consider them. They arent horrible terrible cars or anything like that, it's just that there is just almost always a better alternative from a different manufacturer. Their closing the gap, but they have a long way to go still in my opinion.

2 types of people I guess, those that are willing to trade off fit/finish/status for price, and those that aren't.

[riced]

I agree with mitsu3000gt

It seems american companies are coming out with all these cars with the latest technology, but they are just throwing it on there.
It's not planned out properly IMO.

the american car market, I will admit, performs good in it's prime years and down the road, like most people have said, become regulars in repair shops and yes, you paid less than any japanese car buyer did with all the options, but down the road you pay for it all plus more fo the repair and the low resale value.

It's sad that the american companies still don't get it, it seems that they try to make a quick buck off of cheaply made cars that try to look bigger than what they are to beat the competition, but it seems many more people are beginning to see the value you retain in a japanese made car and the quality they have.


after all that though, I would not mind driving an american car like the SS, SRT-4, G6 and all the affordable sport compacts, but the long-term problems is what stops me. I don't hate american cars, I just wish they could improve and stop knocking off other manufacturers designs. (ie. hyundai and kia)

[stevo 27]

i dunno saturns seem to last forever and there reliable

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by bspot


2 types of people I guess, those that are willing to trade off fit/finish/status for price, and those that aren't.

I agree with that. Well said.