2009 Saturn Aura

2009 Saturn Aura
2009 Saturn Aura
(General Motors)
Saturn Aura

EPA Fuel Economy:
17-22 city / 26-33 hwy

Available Engines:
169-hp, 2.4-liter I-4
252-hp, 3.6-liter V-6

Available Transmissions:
6-speed automatic w/OD and auto-manual

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2010 Mercedes-Benz GL550: Learning to Love Dubs

To be honest I was a little worried about the dubs. Giant 21 inch alloys and low profile tires seemed about the last thing Mercedes-Benz’s comfortable and capable GL-series SUV needed; pointlessly expensive Beverly Hills bling that would surely prove as useful as a chandelier on the Space Shuttle.

I like the GL-series a lot. It was our 2007 Sport Utility of the Year, and deservedly so. It’s the best vehicle Benz builds off the hardware that also supports the ML-class and the R-class, offering just the right mix of roomy functionality (including a third row adults can use, with seats that fold in and out of the floor at the touch of a button), confident road (and off-road) manners, and quiet Mercedes luxury.

The GL550 is the top of a three model GL range for 2010. It boasts a number of minor cosmetic tweaks, including a bolder, deeper grille and LED daylight running lamps up front, and quad exhaust outlets at the back. Under the hood is Benz’s muscular and versatile 5.5-liter V-8, which develops 385hp and 391 lb-ft of torque, a useful 75 percent of which is available from just 1000rpm. And then there are those standard-issue dubs: Gorgeous five spoke AMG alloys, shod with meaty 285/40/R21 Continental Cross Contact all-season run-flat tires.

Dubs might look cool, but they add a lot of unsprung weight, as Ron Kiino pointed out a few months back when he tested Ford’s Edge Sport, which rolls on giant 22-inchers. More unsprung weight makes it harder for suspension engineers to deliver superior ride quality, as spring and damper rates invariably have to be stiffened to keep the heavier wheels under control. Compounding the problem is the fact bigger diameter wheels also demand lower profile tires with stiffer sidewalls.

Sure enough, I noticed a little edge to the GL550’s ride that our long term GL450, fitted with 19-inch wheels and plumper 275/55 tires, never had. Then there was the subtle disconnect between the super-sharp initial response of the low profile Contis and the languid transients you’d expect from a 5313 lb SUV. I was prepared to be annoyed. But in the middle of a 436-mile stint behind the wheel, on a quiet two-lane that alternated from fast open stretches to a yee-hah! roller coaster ride along a twisting, heaving canyon, I learned to love the dubs

The big Benz was more fun down that road than any truck had a right to be. And what made the GL550 impressively quick and composed through the twisties were those massive Contis, which offered a ton of grip, and plenty of mid-corner feel. I flicked the air suspension into sport mode, and made the most of the 385-horse V-8, using the steering wheel mounted paddles to run up and down the seven-speed automatic transmission’s ratios, left foot braking into the turns. I can’t think of another seven passenger vehicle that would have been as good along that stretch of road. Caddy Escalade? Nope. Honda Odyssey? Forget it.

Minivans bore me to death and most full-size SUVs corner like a drunken water buffalo. So if you really have to carry more peeps than you can fit in a luxury sedan, and still want to enjoy the drive, there’s probably no better way to roll than a GL550. On dubs.

Source : blogs.motortrend.com/6539068/auto-review/2010-mercedes-benz-gl550-learning-to-love-dubs/index.html

Our Truck of the Year Gets Good JD Power Scores

DETROIT – Ford is pretty proud of its latest JD Power and Associates Initial Quality Score (IQS) results, released Monday. The Ford F-150 scored just 88 problems per 100 vehicles, tying the Toyota Tundra in its segment for best pickup truck score. The industry average for all cars and trucks that JD Power measured averages 108 problems per 100 vehicles. This year marks the first time the F-150 had led its segment since 1996, which also coincided with an all-new model.

So with the new F-150’s scores, Ford is disproving the old rule that you should avoid the first model year of a new model if you want good quality.

High quality was designed in to the manufacturing process, says Bernie Fowler, Ford’s group vice president for global quality. That means the design makes it hard for line workers to make mistakes in building the truck. The supply base also is part of that solution, Fowler says, and Ford will continue to improve the manufacturing process to increase quality, he says.

The F-150 isn’t the only bright spot among all-new models. JD Power also singles out the Acura TL, Honda Pilot and Nissan 370 Z.

Good news for the domestic brands is that initial quality has improved 12 points in the last year. In 2008, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler averaged 124 problems per 100 vehicles. This year, it’s 112 problems per 100. That’s four points short of the average overall; 108 for the industry, down from 118 per 100 vehicles last year.

On the other hand, Jaguar suffered a drop in score, to 134 problems per 100 vehicles, from 112 per 100 in ’08. This year, it’s tied with Dodge. Jaguar says its number-one ranking in another JD Power survey this year, for three-year dependability, better reflects the “huge progress we’ve made.”

And here’s where the IQS results get tricky. Do they reflect real problems, the kind that mean you have to drop off your brand new car before work and pick it up a day or two later? How much nit picking occurs? This is the kind of variable that’s hard to measure, making it impossible to determine exactly how close Chevy or Ford quality is to Toyota or Honda quality, for example.

Jaguar says its drop this year is the result of minor problems with its new XF sedan. “Ninety percent of the score is from one model’s launch, the XF, in which minor launch glitches/issues impacting the score have since been resolved,” says Stuart Schorr, Jaguar Land Rover’s North American veep for communications and public affairs.

Which glitches? The touch-sensitive glovebox button, which looks cool in the XF but can open the glovebox on your date’s knees when it’s brushed by mistake. Or, it doesn’t open as easy as it should. Jaguar has abandoned the button for a conventional latch. Schorr also cites a fuel filler flap problem that also has been solved.

“The score was also impacted by customer questions on brake dust, a common issue,” he says.

There’s also the question of whether Jaguar owners, for example, demand more than Ford F-150 owners, for example. I don’t think that’s true anymore – the F-150 hasn’t been a simple, low-content model for some time. King Ranches and Platinum trim level models can easily breach the lower end of Jaguar’s price range.

The important question, as we report how rapidly GM’s and Ford’s quality (Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep all are still near the bottom of the list) catches Toyota’s and Honda’s, is, how close are they, really? Are Camry or Civic owners expecting more because of what they’ve had in the past, or are the domestics really as trouble-free as JD Power suggests?

Cadillac jumped from 13th to third this year, with a score of 91 PPH, just behind Porsche (90) and Lexus (84). At 102, Ford is just ahead of Chevy (103) and behind Toyota and Mercedes (101), Honda (99) and fourth-place Hyundai (95). On the other hand, some of the best-scored models are cars and trucks that their makers have been making so long, they had better be well built. Pontiac G6 tied with Chevy Malibu for second-best midsize car (Nissan Altima was first) and the best-rated large car was the Mercury Sable.

Source : blogs.motortrend.com/6524077/car-news/our-truck-of-the-year-gets-good-jd-power-scores/index.html

Coda electric sedan looks to plug in to U.S. market

There’s some competition for the Tesla Model S. Santa Monica, Calif.-based Coda Automotive unveiled its first electric car on Wednesday, and it’s no golf cart.

The Chinese-made, four-door, five-seat sedan has everything from Bluetooth and navigation to an iPod dock and a finished interior. The car will sticker for $45,000 when it goes on sale in fall 2010, but federal and state rebates could lower that to the mid-$30,000 range.

Speaking of range, the Coda sedan will get between 90 and 120 miles of what the carmaker calls “real-world range” from its 728 prismatic lithium-ion batteries. Recharges take six hours on 220 volts. Top speed is a freeway-capable 80 mph.

We rode in the passenger seat for a few blocks near Coda headquarters and found the car did, in fact, accelerate, turn and brake, so it’s not just vaporware. It accelerated pretty smoothly, too. Our technician driver said the pedal software allows a progressive action to keep the wheels from spinning on launch. We couldn’t tell how it felt to steer but all systems seemed to function just fine.

The car was a prototype, so it might not be fair to judge the fit and finish we saw inside, but it was certainly ahead of that found on so-called neighborhood electric vehicles we’ve driven.

Perhaps the most innovative thing about the Coda is its provenance. The design began life as a home-market Mitsubishi sedan that was then licensed to Chinese carmaker Hafei. Hafei makes an internal combustion version of this car, named Saibao, for sale in China.

Rather than start from the ground up, Coda designed an electric powertrain to insert on the Saibao assembly line, along with about 95 changes to the chassis, thus saving about $1 billion dollars right off the bat. Coda says that the car has passed all U.S. government crash standards and Coda expects it to get–depending on who you ask–four or five stars in the NCAP test.

Coda is a separate entity that grew out of Miles Electric Vehicles. Coda makes highway speed-capable EVs while Miles continues to manufacture low-speed EVs for sales to fleets.

The batteries come from a joint venture with Chinese battery-maker Lishen, a major supplier of lithium-ion cells for computers and cell phones. The chemistry includes iron instead of cobalt in the lithium mix for increased battery life.

“I think five or 10 years from now, we’ll get cars with 1 million miles on the original battery pack,” said Kevin Czinger, president and CEO of Coda.

“Our thing is to create a mass-market car and still be profitable,” added Czinger. “We have a price that is a fraction of what anybody else can do.”

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