High Marks for Saturn Aura Hybrid

Thought you couldn't afford a hybrid because they cost too much? The $22,695 Saturn Aura Green Line is the cheapest hybrid on the market

by Thane Peterson

Editor's Rating:

The Good: Low price, fuel efficiency

The Bad: No all-wheel drive or wagon version

The Bottom Line: A "mild" hybrid that offers maximum value

Reader Reviews

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Up Front

After driving a new Saturn Aura Green Line Hybrid for 150 miles or so, I got around to looking at the car's sticker price. I was astonished to learn that my test car listed for just $23,070. I was expecting the car to cost $5,000 more than that.

The Aura Hybrid, which starts at just $22,695, is now the cheapest hybrid on the market, especially when you factor in the $1,300 federal tax deduction most buyers qualify for, and cash rebates of $500 or more that General Motors (GM) dealers are offering some buyers. The conventional Aura sedan has been a smash hit with reviewers, and I believe the Aura Hybrid should be too.

Inexpensive as it is, though, the Aura Hybrid is controversial. Toyota's (TM) hybrid business is booming—the Prius' sales have doubled in the first five months of 2007, to 76,747 units—and Detroit automakers want a piece of the action. But critics will say the Aura Hybrid is little more than another sign of how far behind Detroit is. That's because the Aura Green Line is a "mild" hybrid that doesn't have the fuel efficiency of a "full" hybrid such as the Toyota Prius and Camry.

The Aura is rated to get 28 mpg in the city and 35 on the highway; in 230 miles of mainly highway driving, I got 31.3 mpg. That's good, and significantly better than the 20 mpg in the city and 30 mpg at which the conventional, gasoline-powered Aura is rated. But it's nowhere near the 60 mpg in the city and 51 on the highway that the Prius gets. It's also less than the 40 mpg in the city and 38 on the highway you'll get in the comparably-sized Toyota Camry Hybrid.

If you want a more efficient Saturn hybrid, you'll have to wait. The current Saturn Vue Green Line sport utility vehicle, which came out last summer, uses the same hybrid technology as the Aura. Next year, however, the Vue Green Line will be offered with a more efficient, two-mode, hybrid technology. Saturn also has a far more efficient plug-in hybrid technology under development that will have a rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack.

The Aura has lower fuel efficiency than the Toyotas because it has a smaller electric motor that's essentially a more-powerful-than-usual starter motor. In the Aura, the electric motor assists the gasoline engine during acceleration, rather than sometimes powering the car on its own as it does in the Toyotas. As with other hybrids, the Aura's hybrid system also cuts down on gasoline usage by cutting off fuel flow early during deceleration, shutting off the engine at idle, and capturing energy generated by braking.

Combined, the Aura's electric motor and 2.4-liter gasoline inline four-cylinder engine produce 164 horsepower, and 159 foot-pounds of torque at 5,000 revolutions per minute.

Despite its low list price, the Aura Green Line comes fairly well loaded. Standard equipment includes electronic stability control, power steering, front, side, and side-curtain airbags, cruise control; power mirrors, locks, and windows; air conditioning, and one year of free OnStar telematics service.

There are hardly any available options on the Aura Green Line. The main ones are an $800 power sunroof and a $345 preferred package that includes heated and adjustable outside mirrors, an eight-way, power-adjustable seat, and steering-wheel mounted audio controls.

The Aura has a five-star safety rating in both front and side impact crash tests, and a four-star rating when it comes to the risk of rollover.

The Aura Hybrid seems to be adding to Saturn's cachet. Early numbers on the new model from the Power Information Network show that 61.5% of all buyers didn't already own a Saturn—an indication that the Aura is luring brand new customers into Saturn dealerships.