AW

Aura holds promise to compete

Advocates for Honda, Toyota or Saturn can all point to differences to justify their preferences, but the news here is GM finally has a car that merits comparison. We think Saturn may have a hit on its hands. How big a hit?

Edited August 14, 200619 yr by regfootball

ok Honda and Toyota bangers, fire away.

Aura is definitely the best midsize entry GM has.

I'd like the Aura more if it weren't for the smiley face nose and bugeye headlights. But the review bodes well for the Pontiac G6 GTP, which will offer the same powertrain in a sleeker package! I'm tempted to buy one of those, but I don't know if I can bring myself to trade in my dent resistant Saturn SL2 on a far more expensive car that I know will get dings and dents.

Edited August 14, 200619 yr by vt_hokie

A very pleasing review. I love the fact that for once they pushed a launch back to make sure it is right at launch.

This should prove well for GM bringing over more Opels as they are, and not "Americanizing" them.

This should prove well for GM bringing over more Opels as they are, and not "Americanizing" them.

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huh? This has nearly nothing to do with that concept, they just "opelized" the Malibu/G6. It has far more to do with those cars than the Vectra (at least until the next gen Aura).

The XR model we sampled was optioned up from a base of $24,595 to slightly more than $27,000, which includes 17-inch alloy wheels (vs. 16s on the XE)

Wrongo.

17s are standard equipment on the XE. The XR has 18s.