Saturn Aura 09 V6: would it be a good option for family car?

General Discussion
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1

Hello everyone, I’m looking to buy a Saturn Aura 2009 V6. I’m a student and so buying this for my family use. I need to know if this would be an economic option based on mileage repair etc. Any opinion is welcome

2

Who knows ? It is a 11 year old discontinued vehicle brand . It could run 5 years or 5 days . The standard reply here is to pay a shop to inspect it for current problems as no one can predict future problems .

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3

It could be, depending on condition. If it is in good condition, test drive it. If you still like it, get a prepurchase inspection for about $125 to see what it needs. Only use a mechanic you trust for this. You might also look into whether parts are available. It shares some parts with the Chevy Malibu, so a fair amount of parts should be available. One of the professional mechanics that show up here can give you a better ide of parts availability.

4

Depends on how many miles. Also on how the maintenance was on the vehicle. Something to keep in mind though if it got in a accident you probably would have a hard time getting it repaired as body parts would be hard to come by .

5

If I am not wrong, this is an Opel that Chevy/Saturn brought to US market with some changes. It is discontinued now, so as mentioned, parts will be an issue. I will check it out but would not pay much for an old car that did not sell that many and is also discontinued/obsolete.

6

You have it right, the other models built on this platform for the US were the Pontiac G6 and the Saab 9-3. Similar but not exactly the same as the 2008-2012 Chevy Malibu. Not sure exactly which parts were shared.

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I know several owners of the SL models have had good luck with them but the Aura and others I couldn’t predict how well they will do.

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For the V6 anyway, the labor/parts cost of typical jobs like water pump, brake pads/rotor replacement look reasonable. I recommend you check what Consumer Reports Used Car Guide has to say about its reliability and trouble spots first. If that checks out to your satisfaction and your own mechanic’s pre-purchase inspection says it is in good condition, probably a pretty good choice.