Bringing Higher Quality to the Basic Sedan

2007 Saturn Aura XE sedan

2007 Saturn Aura sedan

HUME, Va.

Here along the winding back roads of Fauquier County was evidence of General Motors Corp.'s renewed vigor.

It was a ride-and-drive exhibition of 2007-model cars and trucks, one of which, the mid-size Saturn Aura XE sedan, is the subject of this week's review.

Products make or break a company. The vehicles brought to the village of Hume for examination by East Coast automotive journalists prove that GM, once broken, is on the mend.

The base Saturn Aura XE is a case in point. Please note the word "base."

Previously, GM relied on its top-of-the-line models to make a good impression at media show-and-tell events. That made sense, because the company's base cars and trucks in the 1980s and most of the 1990s constituted rental-car fare, generally unremarkable and unworthy of media or consumer attention.

That was the old GM, which had mastered the art of rationalizing the lackluster quality and marginal appeal of its new-vehicle entries by focusing on price -- a kind of buy-one-get-one-free product development and marketing approach that ultimately served neither the company nor its consumers well.

The new GM is eager to let its products speak for themselves -- so much so that the company has abandoned its neurotic habit of surrounding its engineers and designers with public relations executives and other spin artists at new-vehicle introductions.

And GM's engineers and designers, freed to do what they love and do best, now happily answer any questions journalists and industry analysts ask about their market-ready vehicles. They're willing to back up their answers by turning over the keys -- without insisting on coming along for the ride as talking heads.

GM says its current attitude reflects "a new level of confidence" in what it is doing and where it is going as a car company. If so, the Aura XE indicates it's moving in the right direction.

Even in base form with cloth seats, a 224-horsepower V-6, and a four-speed automatic transmission, the front-wheel-drive Aura sedan is a no-apologies car. It compares well with similarly equipped Honda Accord, Nissan Altima and Volkswagen Passat sedans.

In the premium mid-size sedan segment, the upscale Aura XR, with supple leather seats, a 252-horsepower V-6 and a six-speed automatic transmission, gives the front-wheel-drive versions of the Audi A4 and Volvo S60 sedans a very good run for the money.

Fit and finish on the base Aura XE are impeccable. Gaps between exterior panels are barely noticeable. All interior materials, including the seat fabric, are first-rate. Driver-seat comfort is excellent, as good as, if not better than, that of substantially more costly cars. In short, the Aura XE's passenger cabin is a winner, a visually stunning knockout, the best of any produced by GM's Saturn Corp. subsidiary since its founding in 1985.

It is important to understand that both the Aura XE and XR are family cars, which means they are more "us" automobiles than they are ground-scorching "me" machines. Yet, the tested XE, with its rigid body construction and four-wheel independent suspension, is quite amenable to spirited highway romps. It tracks nicely around curves, is amazingly stable and sure-footed in high-speed lane changes, and runs up mountain roads without hesitating or gasping for air. It is the first genuinely likable, got-to-have, give-me-that-one sedan to come from Saturn.

GM executives interviewed here said that their objective is to give consumers much more than they expect from a car in the $20,000 to $30,000 price range. They say they want to "over deliver" in terms of product attributes.

That sounds nice. But from a buyer's perspective, it's off the mark.

The Aura XE and XR are the cars consumers expected from GM and Saturn all along. The company finally is giving consumers what they want. That's not over-delivering. It's meeting the legitimate expectations of a demanding, discerning, product-savvy marketplace.