Long-Term Road Tests - 2007 Saturn Aura: Washout and Kickdown

2007 Saturn Aura: Washout and Kickdown

Aura trip computer washed out in the sun

Can you tell which gear I'm in? If you guessed or could decipher that it's "M2", then congratulations, you just won the dinette set and the year supply of PoliGrip. Our Saturn Aura's amber display screens are rendered next to useless when the sun hits them. While this wouldn't be a huge deal when the trip computer is showing the outside temperature or odometer, it becomes a bigger issue when showing which gear you're in when using the manumatic feature.

This problem is magnified by the fact that the Aura is a little too eager to downshift when slowing down. Most automanual-equipped cars drop to first gear when they come to a complete stop (BMW's annoyingly drop to second), but the Aura does it without asking when just rolling slowly in traffic. Since I couldn't see the gear display, the car would lurch ahead in first when I nudged the gas. Not a good combo.

Saturn Aura's stereo washes out in sunlight

If you're wondering, the stereo succumbs to the same washout problem in direct sunlight. Perhaps amber isn't the brightest idea.

James Riswick, Associate Editor @ 6,337 miles

Posted by James Oct 1, 2007 9:08 am

Permalink

Categories: 2007 Saturn Aura XR

Comments

jriz - Oct 19, 2007 9:20 am (#39 Total: 39)

I was driving a Buick Enclave last night, and it didn't suffer the washout problem with its green-tinted displays. I'm just going to blindly assume that the Enclave and Aura utilize the same display systems, but one's in amber and the other is in green.

hondacura4 - Oct 7, 2007 3:19 pm (#38 Total: 39)

They do have tint without die as Ive had it installed on all of my vehicles except the S2000. Its windex safe.

crashtestdingo - Oct 5, 2007 5:37 pm (#37 Total: 39)

Astoria (New York City) NY United States of America

Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. I just read the follow-up blog entry about the English/metric switch and learned that the unit of measurement (albeit not the numbers) on the face of the speedo *DOES* change as well (as does the rotation of the needle).

I forgot to add in my previous comment here that I thought that benson2175 was joking when he complained about the missing km/h on the face of the speedo.

jriz - Oct 5, 2007 9:31 am (#36 Total: 39)

aurakr: I mentioned earlier that Mini uses a similar paddle design as GM (minus Saab), but I forgot about BMW using it too. Good call.

aurakr - Oct 5, 2007 7:49 am (#35 Total: 39)

SubyTrojan:

Thank you very much for that information. Very helpful, although I am not surprised that anyone who works at Edmunds would go for the performance version. Everyone appears to have a real passion for cars.

Last night I was relaxing and read that BMW uses the same system of manual paddles as the XR for the automatic 335i. I was surprised until I read that BMW sources the auto from GM. The article I read also preferred the Infiniti set up to the BMW.

Everyone enjoy the weekend. Octoberfest is calling, I'll probably answer :o)

SubyTrojan - Oct 4, 2007 7:34 pm (#34 Total: 39)

Santa Monica, CA, USA

langjie has a 3.5-liter V6-equipped Altima.

Just in case folks don't know what aurakr is talking about, he's referring to the comparison Motor Trend has in their November 2007 issue featuring the Nissan Altima Hybrid, the Toyota Camry Hybrid, and the Saturn Aura Green Line.

Inside Line did a similar comparison test back in July. Enjoy!
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/Comparos/articleId=121755

aurakr - Oct 4, 2007 3:19 pm (#33 Total: 39)

langjie

Doesn't tinting a car just make it that much better looking? It does help with any potential washout. The only problem is you have to keep telling the car wash employees not to use windex on the windows. What a pain!

Is your Altima the hybrid? Just got voted #1 over the Camry and Aura. Congrats if it is. I can't wait to see a two-mode hybrid in a car. That will be cool, whenever it is. Soon, very soon I hope.

ateixeira - Oct 4, 2007 1:31 pm (#32 Total: 39)

Recife, PE, Brazil

z479: you might want to start by being nicer to the folks at Edmunds, and maybe a little more modest, too! :D

langjie - Oct 4, 2007 12:40 pm (#31 Total: 39)

Boston, MA

the $200 solution is to just tint your windows. my alti's navi screen had some washout, not after i got 35% all around though....gives you a good reason to tint

1487 - Oct 4, 2007 11:44 am (#30 Total: 39)

Philadelphia PA United States of America

I have noticed washout of radio display in direct sunlight but rarely, if ever, have I seen this on the DIC display. Its pretty common for the sun to washout digital displays- although not always to the point where they are totally unreadable.

aurakr - Oct 4, 2007 11:04 am (#29 Total: 39)

One more thing, as stated before previously. I have not noticed the washout during the day(car has tinted windows) but at night, the amber light is so, so cool. I would not change that on my car at all.

aurakr - Oct 4, 2007 11:02 am (#28 Total: 39)

Correct me if I am wrong, they are the same design as the Corvette, right? Maybe they were designed by someone who plays video games a lot. I know that each side does the same thing, touch for upshift, pull for downshift.

I wonder if the airbag caused the placement? Anyone know how the Corvette's work? I like the push for an upshift. I must be getting old, I am trying to imagine myself as a rally driver right now, and I am failing miserably. Oh well, time to just put in in drive, put the XM Radio on the 80s station, open the sunroof and enjoy a drive around town :)
San Diego is awesome for that, as long as you avoid the sinkholes near La Jolla.

jriz - Oct 4, 2007 9:58 am (#27 Total: 39)

Having the manumatic gate is good to have, but I find I don't use them as much as the paddles. You're right, though, the Aura's are easy enough to use, but other designs are far superior. Specifically, pulling on the right one for upshifts, and pulling on the left one of downshifts. Preferably, they will be mounted to the column and not the wheel so that you can always find them regardless of where the wheel is turned. See Mitsubishi Outlander, Infiniti G35/7. The Saab 9-3's design is not quite as good, but it's close. Push on the right for up, push on the left for down on paddles that stick up on the spokes. GM should really switch to this design across the board, since those paddles are placed closer to your thumbs at 3 and 9. The Aura's are unergonomically placed a tad too far for a quick thumb tap.

1487 - Oct 4, 2007 7:33 am (#26 Total: 39)

Philadelphia PA United States of America

So any manumatic without shift paddles is a waste? You might as well say they are a waste in general since the majority of them are not the type you like. What is poorly designed about the buttons on the Aura? I think they are pretty easy to use when driving.

jriz - Oct 3, 2007 9:54 am (#25 Total: 39)

"Solution: Either use drive or buy a car with a real stickshift. I have to wonder how many people who buy automatics with 'manual' shifting actually use them...I've test driven a couple cars with it and was almost instantly bored with it, I can't imagine finding it entertaining if I actually owned the car."

Having greater control over the engine in traffic and during aggressive driving is an asset. However, I agree with you to an extent since I find that it really depends on the transmission and shifter type. If it's slow to change gears or shifts excessively when it wants to, the manumatic is pretty useless. I also dislike using the ubiquitous console-mounted manumatic gates, GM's silly shifter-mounted buttons and poorly designed shift paddles like those in the Aura or last-gen Mini Cooper S. Using shift paddles like in our Outlander, the Infiniti G37 or ahem, Ferraris, is actually quite fun.

langjie - Oct 2, 2007 8:57 am (#24 Total: 39)

Boston, MA

aurakr

i think those other cars are criticized because you can't drop from 6 to 3 while going 60. but that is why manumatics aren't as good as true manuals.

i didn't start watching that game until the 7th inning (i was looking through the channel guide and it wasn't on...then eventually i decided to try TBS). i was watching the thrashing of "dem bengals" still love ocho cinco though

stovt001

my bad, it was late, leave me alone, haha

aurakr - Oct 2, 2007 8:48 am (#23 Total: 39)

langjie

I could just scream. Oh well, Hoffman has had a great career. I think it is tiime for Bell to become the closer. What a disappointment Peavy was last night.

Funny how in manual mode the XR is too willing to drop down into the lower gear. Most of the time in automatic mode, most of the new 6 speeds (Camry, XR) are criticized for not being willing to drop into the lower gear. I do see the driver's point however. With the old Nova we had, I kept it in 2nd gear, otherwise you were just revving the blip out of the motor. Then again it only had a 1.6 liter, it needed all the help it could get.

stephen987 - Oct 2, 2007 7:10 am (#22 Total: 39)

My mother-in-law's LeSabre was built eight years ago. A single push of the "metric" button changes the entire driver info center (speedometer, odometer, miles-to-empty, etc.) to metric units. I'm not a fan of that car's brakes or handling, but the controls are big and simple and very effective. BMW could learn some things from The General.

stovt001 - Oct 2, 2007 6:42 am (#21 Total: 39)

Calm down Lanjie, it was a joke. A JOKE. Evidenced by the end of my post. I was being sarcastic about how dissimilar automatics with manual shift features are to true manuals.

1487 - Oct 2, 2007 5:55 am (#20 Total: 39)

Philadelphia PA United States of America

"Once again 1487 comes to the rescue of Aura. I would suspect that he is a local Saturn dealer but I am young and innocent to thing anything like that"

actually I have one which is why I know how the manumatic performs.

the car only downshifts when you are below a low speed. It doesnt upshift automatically. Some manumatics upshift and downshift automatically if you stay in gear too long.

mrfusion:

you are correct about changing the speedo from mph to kph. Contrary to what people here think GM isnt quite a stupid as we would like to believe.

You are also correct about the interior displays. At least they are viewable with sunglasses unlike many other vehicles I read about. Maybe Edmunds editors will note that problem with some of their other long term vehicles.