For those of you that didn't see my last post, I had a buddy of mine at the local dealership pick up a '07 Aura XR off smart auction for us. Got the car home yesterday morning and spent most if the weekend on it detailing and checking it over. It cleaned up a lot better that I thought it would. One wheel had been curbed and has some scuffing on it, just bought a new one off ebay to replace it with for $57!!!

Here's some pics from today....

Definitely an attractive car, wouldn't mind one myself, too bad it looks lightyears better than the car it will be replaced with.

From one Aura owner to another, I wish you many happy miles!

mmmm saturn-y goodness minus the plastic fenders

Looking good!

From one Aura owner to another, I wish you many happy miles!

I like that color...

From one Aura owner to another, I wish you many happy miles!

X2... here's mine:

Whoa congrats on the Aura.

I like that color...

Me too

Congratulations cars Auraites

X2... here's mine:

Nice cars! The dk blue was my wifes favorite color (same color as my avalanche!)

Picked up the wifes Aura XR yesterday

Good, I expect delivery to my front door sometime this week for my 6 month test drive. You wouldn't want to just hand the car over to your wife completely unchecked would you? I'm more than happy to do you the favor! :-D

That's a nice red.......and that black interior, withOUT the fake-wood looks MUCH better than the ones with the woodgrain. In fact, it goes some way in masking the poorer details of the car's interior......

Nice choice on the 3.6L too!

Looks AWESOME!

Hopefully most of the '07 bugs and/or TSB's have already been dealt with, and she has many miles of smooth, strong driving. The Aura is one great looker, for sure, and the 3.6L is a perennial sweety.

That's a nice red.......and that black interior, withOUT the fake-wood looks MUCH better than the ones with the woodgrain. In fact, it goes some way in masking the poorer details of the car's interior......

Nice choice on the 3.6L too!

That was our stipulation... black leather (which only comes on the XR anyway) of course I wanted the motor and drivetrain :-P If we found a nice enough one with tan leather we would've been ok with the woodgrain in that though. I'm just not a fan of fake wood.

Looks AWESOME!

Hopefully most of the '07 bugs and/or TSB's have already been dealt with, and she has many miles of smooth, strong driving. The Aura is one great looker, for sure, and the 3.6L is a perennial sweety.

I was wondering that, but not sure that it has had em done. I'm still under 36k miles and want to get that all sorted out in the next couple weeks. I do feel a pop once in awhile in the floor board when turning.

Edited April 22, 200817 yr by BuddyP

I was wondering that, but not sure that it has had em done. I'm still under 36k miles and want to get that all sorted out in the next couple weeks. I do feel a pop once in awhile in the floor board when turning.

Yeah, clunks and such were probably the most common issue--particularly the intermediate steering shaft. Like with the GMT-800 trucks, seems like most Saturn dealers keep several of these on hand because they're used to needing to replace them.

Other than that, off the top of my head, was a power steering hose TSB thing that may have had to deal with excess hydraulic pump noise (or something like that), as well as maybe more than one trans reflash--this 6-speed backed up to the 3.6L has been a source of experimentation for GM, and they've gone through series of revisions of the shifting, mostly for the Lambdas (so many times with those...) and also at least once or twice for cars like the Aura, from '07.

Not many issues, just mainly noises and clunks and such in a lot of '07s. And also many running design changes since then, adding or changing little detail touches such as the armrests, steering wheel buttons, trunk pull strap, etc. Not a lot different, but they've finally fixed a few things not 100% on the Aura from the start.

Otherwise...on the good, it seems like most 3.6L Aura owners actually get pretty great mileage all around, without racing the cars--and particularly on the highway. On Saturn fans, some were just commenting on how they actually seem to be more easily getting higher numbers than a lot of us 2.4L people are reporting...albeit with still mostly tight, new cars & engines.

All in all...GREAT choice, and especially trim. Make sure it's had the TSB's, reflashes, etc. covered, and you should be set.

Yeah, clunks and such were probably the most common issue--particularly the intermediate steering shaft. Like with the GMT-800 trucks, seems like most Saturn dealers keep several of these on hand because they're used to needing to replace them.

Other than that, off the top of my head, was a power steering hose TSB thing that may have had to deal with excess hydraulic pump noise (or something like that), as well as maybe more than one trans reflash--this 6-speed backed up to the 3.6L has been a source of experimentation for GM, and they've gone through series of revisions of the shifting, mostly for the Lambdas (so many times with those...) and also at least once or twice for cars like the Aura, from '07.

Not many issues, just mainly noises and clunks and such in a lot of '07s. And also many running design changes since then, adding or changing little detail touches such as the armrests, steering wheel buttons, trunk pull strap, etc. Not a lot different, but they've finally fixed a few things not 100% on the Aura from the start.

Otherwise...on the good, it seems like most 3.6L Aura owners actually get pretty great mileage all around, without racing the cars--and particularly on the highway. On Saturn fans, some were just commenting on how they actually seem to be more easily getting higher numbers than a lot of us 2.4L people are reporting...albeit with still mostly tight, new cars & engines.

All in all...GREAT choice, and especially trim. Make sure it's had the TSB's, reflashes, etc. covered, and you should be set.

Thanks for the info! I keep hearing about the ISS, had this replaced in my Avalanche with I first picked it up. That one I remember feeling it in the steering wheel when hitting bumps in the road. With this car, I feel a "popping" in the floor board when turning and accelerating.

I drove it down to my work yesterday (45 min. each way). Got almost 29mpg on the way down, and 29.5 mpg on the way home. Very pleased with fuel economy.

I drove my moms for two full tanks on a road trip last year. i got on the 3.6 every now and then because I like to drive fast and its a sweet engine but with only moderatley conservative driving got 26 mpg with a fair few WOT momments.