Saturn Aura XE or XR I-4 with the new 6-speed Auto

Hi Charlie:

___It has been 56 to 58 degrees F and raining

___I drove the wife out to a neighboring suburb to look at furniture, back towards home to a Home improvement center and back home again. Working the Aura as hard as I can and the OEM aFCD reads just 43.5 mpg

___What I believe is the Aura's Achilles heel is its acceleration mpg. Per the OEM iFCD and SG-II iFCD, the Aura will camp under 10 mpg all the way up to 30 mph during a relatively light acceleration. The Accord quickly pops up over 15 mpg by the time you are at 20 mph and by 30 mph, you are pushing into the 30 mpg range with similar acceleration rates. The Accord EX-L w/ NAVI weighs within 100 pounds so I do not think it is just the weight that is causing the Aura XR mpg problems?

___Given the lousy weather conditions, I think it will sit until the rain stops and I will take a drive up to Bradlees home North of Milwaukee to reinstall his Insight's clutch switch mod. 43 anything is simply not acceptable in this day and age.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

 

Hi All:

___Placed over 130 miles on the Aura yesterday evening while tooling around locally and heading to North Milwaukee to reinstall an Insight Clutch Mod.

___The seat belt webbing’s plastic button the keeps the male buckle “thingie” from falling to the floor is to low and it gets lost next to the outside driver seat.

___About the only thing I picked up yesterday was you can force 6th to come on at 46 mph and above using M and the paddle shifters. Anything below and 6th is locked out.

___FE… I am either having a bad week or this thing just will simply not let loose. I have tried slow, mid and high speed P&G’s, Warm-up P&G’s, DWL at various speeds and terrain and she simply will not break much beyond 50. Temps have been in the 60 to 61 degree range all day and although low, an Accord would be punching into the 55 mpg range while being as aggressive. There is simply to much mid 30’s type light accelerations during a low to mid-speed highway cruise to break 50 mpg. I am sure it is still running its OEM Moly loaded good and of course there is some break in to be dealt with but either I am out to lunch or the Accord simply eats the Aura alive.

___To put this into perspective, the Camry motor equipped 09 Corolla XRS that we reviewed earlier in the year was EPA rated at 25 mpg and allowed 62 mpg whereas this particular Aura (I4 w/ the 6-speed) is rated at 26 mpg and I bet the OEM FCD is close to being right at < 44 mpg. I am going to have to apologize to our members and GM as I was sure this thing was good for 50 and it will not even be close :ccry:

___The day ended up with the OEM FCD for the tank at 43.8 mpg and the SG-II’s tank at 47.6. WTF!!!!!

___Good Luck

___Wayne

 

Hi Sean and Charlie:

___I think you will like the following as I sure did!

___The Aura is back in GM’s hands but it proved its worth thankfully. It also restored my faith in GM as it allowed similar FE as the Accord in somewhat challenging conditions.

270 miles out and 43.5 mpg on the OEM aFCD and 47.8 per the SG-II’s tank aFCD


Final Top Off – 270.5 miles on 5.354 gallons = 50.5 mpg

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___She caught Elite with a few mpg’s to spare too. I suspect she would be closer to 52 if it were not raining most of day #2’s drive To verify what I was seeing, I actually pulled the gas nozzle out shut down and waited about 5 minutes and topped it off again just to make sure. First fill was 5.324 gallons and the second was only 0.030 (just $0.10) worth. A touch more than I filled on her first top off so she did very well indeed! Over 50 mpg in GM’s most modern Automatic is pretty impressive! That aFCD being off as far as it was is extremely ominous as I have written about the past 4 days and almost made me want to swear off GM. Boy did the General make a comeback a few short minutes ago

___Good Luck

___Wayne

 

I agree 100%. If such a beast were on the market these days, I'd be giving it a look for sure.

 

Hi Charlie:

___40 + w/ CC on at 60 mph is a gimme in the Aura and Malibu if the SG-II and tank results are accurate. Running 70 #’s all around of course

___About the OEM to actual differential… I saw the aFCD increase after re-ignition after a FAS multiple times but if I FAS'ed into the drive and than my next drive a few hours later started off with a 3-block long coast out, re-ignition did not show an uptick. The OEM aFCD is not as FAS friendly as I had originally thought possibly? I wish I would have had another 300 + miles to really make sure but the gas receipts below and distance traveled tell the tale of the tape.



___Good Luck

___Wayne