Just a reminder….

Conversation 14 comments

1. I agree, Vince, what you said about the Aura(I hate the apologists here, the”Oh, GM makes great cars”, but if they have issues, they ignore them, and attack Toyota, Hyundai, and call them cheap, and yell”Buy American”, whatever that means these days).
   UNIMPRESSED, YET AGAIN(Maybe in person, it will be alright, but as GM has proven,for the past 3 decades, they can take an excellent idea and kill it quickly, especially when it comes to autos).

2. Sorry if I keep mentioning the “cheap armrests”.
   This is a detail really and most of the Aura is really nice.

   The main quality problem I had with the car was the cheap sound the doors make when you close them.
   The car is pretty large and impressive looking in person, until you close the door an it sounds like a much cheaper and smaller car.
   I also noticed than on the larger Buick Lucerne (the one I tested).
   A weird GM thing I guess.
   But close the doors of a new Camry or Altima, and you feel, at least, you bought something more substential.
   A detail for some, but everything counts. (or should)

   No mid sized is perfect. And the new Malibu might turn out to be one of the best compromise out there…

3. You’re right. The Aura looks and drives better than the competition, but I’m going to buy a Camry for the armrests. Oh and the sound of the door slamming. In fact, my ’99 Porsche 911 has even cheaper interior plastics and tinnier sounding doors than both. The good news is that it will get me to the Toyota dealer in record time so that I can trade it in and be slamming that Camry door and caressing its armrest this evening!

4. This is sadly a very boring design. It could have looked amazing 10 years ago but not 1,2 or 3 years from now.

   The plastics look cheap, the color scheme isn’t right(It’s nice to have some color but not this one) and the design is boring.

   At least the exterior seems amazing.

   And with Bob Lutz in command, I thrust GM to surprise us more and more in the future.

5. Vince/
   I agree. If it sounds tinny when the doors shut, the armrests are cheap, new looks won’t help.

6. i know that door armrests are one of the first things you notice in a car, but frankly, i wouldnt change my mind on buying a new car based on its interior doors! im just mad that chevrolet didnt make the wise and easy choice of making the malibu based on the vauxhall/opel vectra hatch, which IMO looks better-propotioned than the saloon.

7. I just noticed…but in the overall shape of the dash…if you sqint…does anyone see the previous generation Mustang dash?

8. My co-worker had a 03 Acura TL and 02 Audi A4 and he was surprised to hear my Camry (solara) door thump. He even played with the door several times..
   I imagine the regular Camry would be better since the Solara doesn’t have any window sill.

   Another co-worker had a new Accord and he was admiring how smooth the power windows & sunroof (compared to his accord).

   On the other hand, I had the Hyundai Sonata V6 the other day (a rental), and I have to say, even-though it’s comparable on the paper with my car – it’s interior is very unrefined (read: cheap) and the engine is lousy (louder, less powerful & more gas thirsty).
   ..and this is even without comparing the stereo system; that deserves its own page LOL

   Not a fair comparison, since the sonata is probably cheaper by $2000-$3000 easily

9. It actually reminded me of the C1 corvette interior.

10. Funny, I thought the doors of the Aura sounded more substantial than the Camry, Accord and Altima. Furthermore, you seem to be part of the minority who think the Aura’s interior is cheap, as most reviews disagree. But while the Aura’s armrests could use an upgrade (so can some of the cheap-looking plastics and plood in the aformentioned Japanese cars), I tend to buy cars based on how they drive, and not how the plasics feel.

11. Vince, I have to agree with you about the door on the Aura. The rest of the interior is OK, but nowhere near as nice as the Mazda6, new Altima, Accord or Camry. That weird brown embossed leather in the up-market models is just plain un-cowlike, not to mention the orange wood. The dealbreaker is the fake embossed plastic stitching that screams 1983 Firenza. It’s a shame because the exterior is one of the nicer 4 doors in that market.

12. The reviews I’ve read have been overwhelmingly positive, especially regarding the interior design and quality. Of course I haven’t read every single article ever written, but the positive reviews reflect my own experience after sitting in the Aura XR. I don’t recall anything good or bad about the armrest, but the interior is superior to just about everything in this class. I think I surprised the Saturn rep with my vocal distaste for the faux wood grain. But in all honesty, comparable stuff is in every one of the Aura’s competitors. It would be nice if Saturn had made the decision to create a higher standard with this particular design element.

    As for the hollow door sound, I always pay attention to how a door closes. To me is separates a refined car from one that’s less refined. The Aura impressed me. Oddly, there are a couple cars that I’ve recently been in where the doors sound hollow, but not necessarily unrefined. The S2000 and the Mazda 3 for example sound a bit hollow. But no one can say those are bad cars.

13. “, but the interior is superior to just about everything in this class.”

    ????????????????????????????????

    Have you ever stepped inside other cars?
    The interior is OK,if you like the busy flashy Las Vegas look,the 1983 Tercel armerests, shacky console and orange plastic wood .

    Certainly not “Superior to everything”….

14. “The interior is OK,if you like the busy flashy Las Vegas look,the 1983 Tercel armerests, shacky console and orange plastic wood .”

    How is the Aura’s interior “busy” and “flashy”? It’s a very well laid out interior, and not at all busy. I’ll give you the armrests, but I’ve experienced no problems with the console, certainly nothing worse than other cars in the Aura’s class. While the fake wood could be better, have you checked out the urine-yellow plood in the new Camry?