Saturn turned us loose on the writhing two-lane roads of Santa Barbara wine country, and we wasted no time in putting a fully-loaded Aura XR to the sport sedan test. Given previous experience in the Aura’s platform-mates, our expectations weren’t high, and that might be why we think it’s plenty of fun to drive.

The Aura XR’s 3.6-liter V6 is strong, delivering good power throughout the rev range, and the six-speed automatic is responsive to manual input through the paddle shifters and always shifts unobtrusively. Like any real sporting sedan, the Aura’s transmission won’t automatically upshift for you when you’re in manual mode, which is selected by sliding the gear shifter all the way to the bottom of the pattern. Under hard acceleration, there is a hint of torque steer, but it’s certainly better than the previous generation Nissan Altima 3.5SE.

When it comes time to stop, or turn, the Saturn Aura isn’t quite as impressive. The brake pedal feels too stiff and doesn’t offer enough range of travel, making it harder to fine tune the amount of pressure the calipers are exerting on the brake pads. This is more of an issue under normal driving conditions. When we hammered the car on Santa Barbara County’s back roads, we appreciated the quick response to input and the ability of the brakes to bite hard for tight curves. Likewise, the steering felt better and more natural when driving in a spirited fashion, featuring lively response, good road feel, and steadiness in fast sweepers. If there was anything to complain about, it was column shake over quick, lumpy corners. Also, on the highway, we thought there was too much play on center, and when cruising around town assist levels were a bit too light.

Offsetting any issues with the steering and brakes, the Saturn Aura’s suspension tuning is exceptional, doing a wonderful job of masking the inherent tendency of a front-drive car to feel nose heavy and ponderous in curves. Saturn has deftly blended enough ride compliance to keep occupants comfortable with enough stiffness to control body motions and create an engaging, entertaining driving character. Adding to the Aura’s driving pleasure is a quiet cabin into which minor levels of wind and tire noise intrude. So quiet was one of our test examples that the creaking and buzzing in that car’s dashboard rapidly became a major irritant.