![]() ![]() We had found ourselves on O'Farrell Street, and with no means of recalculating the route, we were left to our own devices to find our way to the destination. Starting out from St Joseph's Drive (see map) we were told by the recorded voice to "continue north to Geary Boulevard and turn right." We pulled off, drove north on St Joseph's, came to a T-junction, and turned right at what we thought must be Geary Boulevard. Steeled with optimism, we resolved to give it a go. ![]() ![]() It sounded like a reasonable alternative-unless we took a wrong turn, in which case all subsequent directions would be wrong, and we would have to start the process over again by calling in to OnStar for new directions. We could activate playback by pressing the phone button and saying "Adviser playback." This would then give us the option of hearing the list of directions either from the start or from our last position. The OnStar rep told us that this kind of outage happened from time to time, and that there was a workaround: she would read out a list of the turn-by-turn directions, which we could record and play back to ourselves throughout the journey. (Interestingly, we experienced a similar outage the last time that we tried to use the service in our review of the 2007 Chevy HHR in June). ![]() As such, the system was unable to send out the text data that we would need for our journey. According to the nice lady, OnStar was experiencing technical difficulties due to a disruption to its cellular network coverage. This is where the first of our journey's problems began. While its hybrid drive train may not be as sophisticated as that of other manufacturers, the Saturn Aura Green Line does succeed in its mission of delivering significantly improved gas mileage over its award-winning gasoline counterpart.īeing immediately connected to the OnStar rep, we told her that we needed to get to Tehama Street, a small, back alley near CNET's headquarters in San Francisco. In keeping with this mission, there are precious few frills on the Aura Green Line: a basic, easy-to-use stereo and an off-board navigation service constitute the sum of its gadgetry. Making use of the same Belt Alternator System hybrid-lite technology that we first saw in the Vue Green Line last year, the 2007 Aura Green Line is the second hybrid from Saturn, which promotes it as the cheapest hybrid car on the market. The gasoline version of the 2007 Saturn Aura impressed automotive journalists so much that the car won this year's title of North American Car of the Year. While its stripped-down cabin disappoints, its entry-level drive train technology delivers decent fuel economy gains over the V-6 gasoline model. The new Outlook is very good looking and I am simply dying to take the upcoming Astra for a spin.The 2007 Saturn Aura Green Line succeeds in its mission statement of being a cheap hybrid. In fact, Saturn is quickly becoming the brand to watch in GM's extensive portfolio. GM is onto something with the new Saturn. Other than an unpleasant amount of rattles present in my tester and quite nearly terrible brakes, the Aura is a fine cruiser.Īnd, the Aura's cabin is the best designed Saturn interior ever! On the road, the Aura provides a congenial mix between handling and comfort. The 3.6L V6 and 6-speed autobox are simply superior is every which other way it packs more torque and only it can really compete with any of the competition's V6s. As far as the mechanicals are concerned, I would avoid the 3.5L V6 and 4-speed automatic transmission even though they will most likely prove to the more reliable powertrain. My biggest qualm is with the size of some of the buttons, especially those of the steering wheel: they are tiny and difficult to use. The cabin features a straight-forward dash layout with a number of thoughtful ideas. Inside and out, this car is more substantial, refined and better assembled. The Aura is the best looking Saturn Sedan ever!Īt first glance, the Aura looks far more contemporary than the L-Series it replaces. Why all the confetti and party favors? Simple, the Aura is a revolution in GM's line-up of midsize family cars. In only a few short months, it picked up number of awards including car of the year at the North American International Auto Show. Other than the Corvette, Sky and Solstice, few GM products have made such a splash upon arriving on the new car scene as the Aura did. ![]()
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