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Comments
Next time Step up and get the " XR " and see how much better for the few thousand $$ this is over the XE.....not that the XE is not worth the $ but the XR is great !!
I have had my XR for almost 4 months now after leasing Caddy's for years and years and working for BMW for over 15
and for the $$$ You cant beat this car !!!! I love it and honestly, when on the highway cruising at 70mph, its a smoother ride than the Caddy ever was. I always had a shimmy in the front and no matter what I did, it was always there, the XR is as smooth as anything I have ever had.
For the $ you cant beat it..... Only thing missing in the XR is - rear seat vents for AC and a nicer interior door panel ( kind of cheep look and feel ) even with the wood trim. But rear AC should be standard in every car today. Its only a rear vent thats needed from the front like my caddy had and many do, even in this class car.
enjoy your XE..................
and have discovered what is a possible defect.
I have noticed that the plastic rocker panels
attached to the body just below the doors are
separating from the metal body they are attached to, creating a 1/8 to 1/4 inch gap between the rocker panels and the car body. Dealer had no fix for the problem, and showed me the same "defect" on 2 other Aura XR cars in
the service area. Service dept. said that the separation was possibly due to temperature changes or vibration.........or was possibly a defect. Has anyone else noticed this problem on their Auras ? Please take a look. Maybe the factory will come out with a fix or redesign.
My 07 Saturn XR started out getting only 17 and 24 MPG or so early on. Now I have over 13000 miles and I have seen over 30 MPG on one 350 mile run on level ground (Washington to Oregon). I averaged over 27 MPG on that 2300 mile trip, mostly interstate driving running 80 mph most of the time. I just got back from Arizona where I drove in the mountains 4-7000 ft. in and out of small towns. The trip went through Phoenix twice and over 700 miles on I-10. This trip was great because I got to use the paddle shifters in the mountains (call this the really fun part) and drive around a lot of small towns. About 2300 miles and my overall average was 26.8 MPG.
Love how this car handles the mountain roads, more like a German sports coupe than a SATURN. Oh! That's right it is a German Sports Coupe, I forgot, because it doesn't cost what a German Sports Coupe is supposed to costs.
I am old school when it comes to break-in procedures and that may have something to do with my XR getting better than average MPG's and better than average acceleration (0-60 in 6.0 and 60-100 in 7.6).
I have over 13000 miles now and the XR is better than ever, and getting better every week.
Phaeton Driver
When I do see one, I get so excited. They're still new and I'm not sure that they sell all that many. I've got the sunroof which has been great during the spring and summer months. Leather interior is nice also.
I am leasing, so I more than likely will get a new one come my 36 month. Saturn salesman and staff were awesome to deal with too; no hassles - ya either want it or you don't. They don't call ya a half a dozen times like some salesmen do.
Anyways, glad you're enjoying you XR. Wonder what the difference is between the TWO of them?
Start here: http://www.edmunds.com/dealerships/drr/jump.html
I love the car - i need my roof fixed though.... :P
We drive to Tampa every other weekend and get 27MPG at 80MPH. Not bad for a strong V6.
Two things have manifested and the dealer has fixes for both. First, the power steering pump is a bit noisy. They have a new hose on order and I read in an earlier posting this will fix the problem.
The other thing is a "clunking" noise while turning left or right and is most noticeable in reverse. It sounds a bit like a bad CV joint. The dealer said there is a bulletin out and they are replacing an intermediate shaft. I guess there hasn't been enough instances to warrant a recall.
This is the first "new"car we have purchased since '84 and we feel we got alot of car for the money.
Mine have begun to separate and I only have 4,000 miles on the car. Dealer refuses to fix the problem under warranty. He said
it is occurring on all the Auras.
I have an 07 Aura XR with ~3500 miles and I just went to my garage to look at the underdoor rockers. I opened all four doors and inspected each one carefully and I did not see any gap between the plastic rockers and the threshold.
How large of gaps are you seeing? More than 1mm? Maybe you should try another dealer or maybe contact Saturn Customer Assistance.
I hope this helps.
steelerman
to Saturn Customer Assistance, who refused to fix the problem
under warranty. I am presently in Arbitration withe the BBB and
Saturn. Saturn insists the separations are NOT a defect because
they are occurring on all Saturn Auras. Will see how the Arbitration turns out. This is a definite defect that Saturn is attempting to hide.
probably repaired by the Retailer prior to the sale.
This problem is also showing up on 2008 Auras. It is a manufacturing defect............ it appears the plastic rocker panels were cut incorrectly.
Keep watching your vehicle. I have yet to see an Aura that is
not showing at least the early signs of rocker panel separation.
how to upload them. If you would like to give me an e-mail address, I will send them to you.
because the server at your end would not accept the full size
pics. You can see the gaps and the floor underneath the car through the gaps.
dinof
warranty. They are attempting to hide the defect. I am in
Arbitration now with the BBB and Saturn in an attempt to force
them to fix the problem.
I only see a gap of 1/16 in. at the center, between the doors. From in front of the front door to the rear door at the fender well, mine is touching the body (except at the center as mentioned above.
Would pictures of one that I believe is correct help?
Phaeton Driver
a workmanship/appearance defect.
I really don't know what you mean by an ad-on.
dinof
Because your see a gap means the part wasn't stamped correctly or there is something wrong with the attachment, which is what you have been saying.
Later today I will take a picture of mine and email it or post it to my home page on carspace.com
Maybe it will help you get the dealer to take a different approach to the problem you are having.
BTW my car was an early production unit hitting the sales floor in Sept 06. So maybe something in the manufacturing has changed on later models.
lower door gasket on your car, you will find that it actually
seats against the middle step of the rocker panel. So the panels are not just there for ground or cosmetic effects......they are used as the bottom door support and sealer. I have a theory that the door constantly closing against these flimsy, plastic panels are what's actually causing them to separate. That's in addition
to the fact you mentioned.............they were not cut to fit
properly.
Sorry, the rocker panel pictures are posted at MyCarspace anyway
http://www.carspace.com/phaetondriver/Albums/phaetondriver%27s%20Albu/
that you have no gaps or separations. They must have taken extra care when assemblying the early models. Your parts even
look different from the pictures of the areas I sent you on my car.
Quality Control must have gone straight downhill beginning in
January 2007, when my car was built.
Thanks for the pics.
door exterior rocker panels are all plastic and held in place with 5 clips to the main body. Did I misunderstand you or do you
actually have Metal Rocker Panels ???
good day at the factory.
plastic rocker panels - are appearing on both sides of my car,
which was purchased in April 2007 and presently has only 4700
miles on the odometer. Please take a look and then examine
your Aura for the same problem. Saturn is refusing to repair
this problem under warranty.
http://www.carspace.com/dinof
Since seeing all the posts about this problem, i looked at both sides of my door rocker panels and i can see the SAME PROBLEM starting on my car...it seems to be separating from the car. Obviously a engineering error and hard to beloieve they wont try and FIX the problem.. If you wanna know the only way they will start a correction of this will be for ALL OF US who is having this problem puts a review of the car on EDMONDS CAR under reviews that customers thinking of buying the car see BEFORE they buy it.. If GM sees the posts on EDMONDS they dont like negative reviews about product !!
I Love the car otherwise....( heat on feet sems not to be the best ) but i do really like the car for the price !!!!
Lets all post some reviews on these sites and also copy GM on your review to their web site for Saturn Customer Service !!!!
good luck...............................
remember.....its NOT a safety problem, thats why its not a recall !!!! if causes no safety problem Only looks , thats why there is no quick reply back from anyone from GM .....UNLESS they see everyone having this problem and complaining about it and effecting sales of the car
solve the problem, because the Arbitrator does not have the power to order a recall . Everyone with the problem will have to have it repaired at their own expense. So much for being a
member of the "Saturn Family " . GM increases the period of
their warranty to compete with Korean and Japanese car makers,
but then will not honor the warranty. They may as well warranty
their vehicles for " LIFE " ; they aren't going to stand behind it.
So I see why they don't want to fix it, that would require some body work, pounding out the dents, repainting etc. It would also require that they correct the manufacturing cause of the dents, which could cost millions.
Looks to me that they made the plastic rocker panels to cover up manufacturing defects to the body/sill panels.
Funny my early model has only one small recess under the tire pressure sticker.
If it were up to me I would redesign the plastic rocker panels to come up over the lower step which would cover up all sorts of defects down under.
Good Luck
value on a trade, because this problem will become more and more associated with the Saturn Aura in years to come. They
are apparently using the same assembly techniques on the
2008 also. I now see another advantage to leasing !!
the plastic rocker panels to fit the contours of the body would
probably eliminate the problem. However, I think what's breaking the panels loose is the fact that the lower rubber gasket on the door is constantly striking the flimsy, plastic panel and sooner
or later causes it to break loose. There goes the resale value of
these cars !!
I'm not sure I would go that far...... it is a defect, but if you hadn't mentioned it in this forum, I don't think I would have ever noticed it. Just my opinion.
*** All they need to do is simply develope a color matched rubber flexible cauk type product....if they run a color matched beed of flexible cauk that would match the car color and rocker panel color, it would BOTH hide the opening and also being flexible it would expand with the cold and heat !!!!!!! *****
QUITE A SIMPLE FIX IF YOU ASK ME !!!!!!!!!!
but will they think of this ????
on Ford vehicles either.........until they spontaneously erupted
in numerous fires.
Your probably right..........no one will pay any attention to these
rocker panel defects until they start falling off. (After the
warranty period, I'm sure !! ) Maybe my analogy is a bit
strong.............but someone has to look for and report these
defects..........the car company surely won't !!!
panel meets the steel body with a piece of black rubber door gasket cemented to both the panel and the body. No need to develop any thing new or even repaint and the fix would probably cost less than $5.00. You wouldn't even need a recall - affected cars could be repaired as they came in for routine service. Saturn refused this suggestion made to them in October 2007.
autos that have the same problem. Just ask via your e-mail.
drives the car onto the showroom floor drives very recklessly;
because it can be seen on new 2008 cars that have not yet been
on the road !!! The Saturn Area Manager that was supposed to
be handling my case also attempted to infer in a letter to me that
abuse of the car could be considered a cause.
discuss the outcome of the Arbitration according to the rules
of the BBB ! Neither Party can disclose the outcome.
Sounds kind of silly I know...........but I guess if the company
decides to fix my car, I can not tell every Aura owner to go and
get theirs fixed ! Probably set up like this to prevent recalls.
Each owner will have to complain on their own.