Car Reviews

2008 Saturn Aura Green Line Hybrid

The Saturn Aura Green Line is a handsomely styled, midsize sedan with anemic-feeling gasoline-electric hybrid power and lackluster fuel economy vis-à-vis its Japanese competitors. And starting in 2008, the Aura Green Line no longer is the lowest-priced hybrid production car.

When Saturn introduced its gasoline-electric hybrid Aura sedan in the 2007 model year, it was the lowest-priced, production hybrid vehicle in America.

No longer. Toyota dropped the starting manufacturer's suggested retail price of its long-running Prius hybrid to just under $21,000 for the 2008 model year.

This pushed past the Saturn Aura Green Line with starting MSRP of just over $22,000 to once again make the Prius America's price-leading hybrid.

Now, what's the appeal?
The pricing snatches from Saturn a key differentiator between its midsize Aura Green Line sedan and the more well-known Japanese-branded hybrid cars.

Certainly, the Aura Green Line can't claim superior fuel economy or a more sophisticated hybrid system than what's in Toyota's Prius or the Honda Civic Hybrid.

The Prius and Civic Hybrid offer higher official government fuel economy ratings in the 40 miles-per-gallon range for 2008 while the Aura hybrid's rating like that of a non-hybrid, small car at 24/32 mpg.

And while Japanese cars provide full hybrid power, meaning they can be propelled solely on electric power for short distances, the Aura Green Line can't. Its less complex "mild hybrid" system is not designed to allow electric-power-only propulsion. Rather, its electric power comes on primarily to supplement the engine power, and from my test driving, it doesn't do a class-leading job of it.

Thank goodness the Aura has other qualities, notably handsome looks and commendable handling that stem from its development from a European Opel car.

I enjoyed the comfortable ride and easy handling nature of the Aura.

And some consumers may recall that the gasoline-only version of Aura won the 2007 North American Car of the Year Award from an independent group of U.S. and Canadian auto journalists.

The car won before the introduction of the hybrid version and, thus, was judged based on its two initial engines, which were strong V6s with a reported horsepower of at least 224.

Hybrid has different character than Aura V6 models
But the Aura Green Line, which is priced higher than an Aura with V6 and weighs about the same as a V6 Aura, gets only 164-horsepower from its 2.4-liter, 4-cylinder engine with electric motor assist.

And the lower power is noticeable and disappointing.

Sure, the Aura Green Line drives mostly like a regular car and even has a regular 4-speed automatic transmission, rather than a fuel-conscious continuously variable transmission like the Prius and Civic Hybrid have.

But the Aura's 4 cylinder, with peak torque of 159 lb-ft at a high 5000 rpm, has a noisy, buzzy sound when it's pressed, which can be often.

Indeed, anyone who has experienced a Toyota or Honda hybrid will realize there's no big power surge in the Aura hybrid like the others have, and the addition of electric power during the Aura's acceleration is less than impressive.

In fact, the test car even felt sluggish in the mid-rpm range when I wanted quick acceleration.

Compounding my frustration were the Aura Green Line's brakes.

As in the Toyota and Honda hybrids, the 4 cylinder in the Aura Green Line can shut off automatically when the car comes to complete stops, thus reducing fuel consumption and emissions.

This is what I expected. But using my normal driving style, I'd slow smoothly to a stop, say, at traffic lights, and find the gas engine wouldn't turn off as I sat there at idle.

Only with practice did I learn that in the test Aura hybrid, the brake pedal had to be pressed firmly to the floor for the engine to turn off. Unfortunately, this meant that my stops were no longer smooth. Rather, they ended in a jolt.

On the plus side…
The Aura shines in a few areas, notably its good looks.

And Saturn's mild hybrid worked without the hesitation or chug-chug sensation that I sometimes experienced in earlier Toyota and Honda hybrid cars as the electric power mixed with the engine power.

The Aura has more headroom than a Prius and standard, one-year, complimentary OnStar emergency notification system that neither the Prius nor Civic offers.

But I wonder if the Aura hybrid has enough of the hybrid qualities that lure buyers—basically, a high-tech nature and top fuel economy.

Inside, on the Aura dashboard, there was no big, dynamic graphic to illustrate the power modes as there is in the Prius.

And during my test drive, I only managed 22 miles a gallon. Frankly, I don't need to buy a fancy hybrid powertrain to get that kind of mileage.

Looks like a regular Aura
I also wished for something that would show that this Aura was special.

But onlookers likely won't notice a difference between hybrid and non-hybrid Auras, because they look virtually identical and are the same size, stretching 15.8 feet in overall length.

Differences on the Green Line are subtle, like the hybrid badging, a hybrid gauge in the instrument panel that shows when the battery pack is being charged, an "eco" light that comes on to tell drivers when electric power is aiding propulsion, and smaller, 16-inch wheels and tires.

Odds and ends
In all Auras, three adults sit close to each other in the back seat, and the dashboard arrangement of controls is cleanly laid out.

The hybrid's trunk is just a tad smaller than the 15.7 cubic feet of a regular Aura. This is because the battery pack for electric energy storage sits behind the rear seatback, on the trunk floor. It's smaller, though, than the battery packs in hybrid Toyotas and Hondas because the battery never provides electric-only propulsion.

Note that some features, such as satellite radio and larger, more attractive wheels, aren't offered on the Aura hybrid.

And the 40-foot turning circle is surprisingly large for a car this size.

I couldn't help but notice the gap between the Aura hood and top of the grille seems unduly large—about the size you'd expect to see at the front of a pickup truck, not a car.

Be careful with the top-of-the-center-console lid that's between the two front seats. In the test car, as it slid uninhibited fore and aft as a make-shift armrest, it could easily pinch wayward fingers.

The Aura earned top, five-out-of-five stars in federal government testing for passenger protection in frontal and side crashes.

Among the standard safety features on the hybrid are electronic stability control and side-curtain airbags.

A final note
Car buyers may be aware that federal income tax credits for Priuses are running out.

But Saturn has plenty of hybrid tax credits still available.

So buyers of the Aura hybrid can qualify for a 100 percent hybrid tax credit—totaling $1,300—on their federal income taxes, provided the taxpayer isn't subject to other tax provisions such as the Alternative Minimum Tax.