MONTEREY, Calif. Barely a decade after doomsayers predicted the demise of Oldsmobile, the General Motors division is showing signs of life.
It's not a stretch to say that the original Oldsmobile Aurora, introduced in 1994, saved the division. It was a beautiful car GM's first effort, along with sister ship Buick Riviera, at a truly rigid chassis in the European tradition.
The chassis was also European-inspired, offering taut handling and a firm ride. The engine was a 4.0 L version of Cadillac's brilliant all-aluminum twin-cam 32-valve Northstar V8.
The Aurora was a critical hit, but only a modest success in the showroom.
For starters, it may have been a bit too intense for then-typical Olds shoppers. And as Karen Francis, Olds' current general manager, says now, "It wasn't easy to sell a car like that when customers who might be interested in it had to walk past cars like the Achieva or the Cutlass Supreme."
For 2001, Oldsmobile has an all new Aurora. It is based on the latest version of the G body, shared with the Buick Park Avenue and Le Sabre, Pontiac Bonneville, and Cadillac Seville and De Ville.
Denis Burke, chief stylist for the new Aurora, calls the new car "a true evolution of the original, but with a shorter, more nimble body and harder, more contemporary lines."
The new car also boldly displays the divisional nameplate on the trunklid the original Aurora showed the word Oldsmobile only on the radio face plate, and that could have been changed at the last moment if the decision had been made to scrap Oldsmobile and sell the car through another franchise.
The smaller look is no lie the new car is about 150 mm shorter. Aiding manoeuvrability and hopefully appealing to more women, who say they prefer less massive cars.
Narrower side sills make the new car much easier to get into, and the more upright body increases visual space as do thinner windshield pillars and lowered cowl.
The result is more space for all passengers. They're nicely accommodated, too, in big, comfy leather seats, with belt-to-seat attachment for correct belt alignment, and so-called active headrests that cushion your head and neck in the event of a rear-end crash. The accents are genuine walnut veneer.
The trunk is slightly smaller, but more usable thanks to a wider opening and a lower sill.
The 4.0 L V8 shares internal upgrades with last year's Northstar. It returns 250 hp at 5,000 rpm and 260 lbft of torque at 4,400 rpm the same peak values as before. But the torque curve is flatter, with at least 230 lbft available from 2,300 to 5,600 rpm. And it runs on regular fuel, gets better
fuel economy and qualifies as a Low Emissions Vehicle, too. Cool.
GM says many of today's entry-luxury customers expect a V6 in a car like this, and feel that a V8 is somehow over the top. So the 2001 Aurora also offers the new twin-cam 24-valve 3.5 L V6 from little brother Intrigue.
This has been dubbed the Shortstar because it is essentially a Northstar with two cylinders sawn off. The peak numbers are 215 hp at 5,600 rpm and 234 lbft at 4,400 rpm.
While hardcore gearheads say you can never have too much horsepower, the new Aurora 3.5 V6 is about as quick from zero to 100 km/h as the old V8 Aurora because it's about 130 kg lighter. The new Aurora 4.0 is 75 kg lighter than its predecessor.
Both engines churn through four-speed automatic transmissions, but the boxes are different, as is the gearing.
Mac-Struts perform the front suspension duties. The geometry has been modified to provide quicker turnin. Magnasteer, General Motors' magnetic power steering system introduced on the original Aurora, continues, recalibrated for better feel.
The three-link rear suspension is similar to that on the other big GM cars, with tuning specific to Aurora.
Aurora offers its version of Cadillac's Stabili-Trak here called Precision Control System. It's one of the increasingly common directional stability control deals: sensors measure wheel speed, car speed, steering wheel rotation and how much the car is actually turning.
If the degree of turning doesn't match the degree of steering wheel angle, meaning the car is not responding to the helm, the system automatically applies one or the other of the front brakes the inside brake if the car is understeering, or plowing, the outside brake if the car is oversteering, or fishtailing.
PCS is standard on V8 Auroras, optional with the V6.
This is only a two-channel system that, as noted, works only on the front wheels. GM engineers say that on a front-wheel drive car, this can be sufficient.
Yet the Intrigue, a smaller, less expensive and, yes, front-wheel drive Oldsmobile, recently added a four-channel Bosch stability control system to the option list. I'd love to have been in on that engineering meeting.
The PCS also includes an all-speed traction control system, with both torque reduction and frontbrake application strategies.
Big four-wheel disc brakes with Bosch anti-lock control are standard across the board.
The roads around this pretty southern California town are ideal for evaluating a sports sedan like Aurora, and the car acquits itself very well.
Turnin is, indeed, sharp; the downside is that the geometry changes that enable this behaviour (for you techies: reduced "caster trail") also result in less self-centring in certain types of cornering, you have to consciously unwind the steering.
Cornering is athletic and composed. I did activate the PCS on a couple of occasions when I encountered sand on a tight corner it's a nice safety cushion, when the alternative is smiting a big rocky bank. It isn't a cure-all, however, as one of my colleagues discovered to his shame.
The ride is still firm, but more compliant than before, especially on larger disturbances.
The V6 engine feels very nice. Off-the-line grunt and midrange response are both good, and this base motor has about as much performance as most competitors offer even as an option if they offer an option.
The V8 is faster, but not massively so. Shift quality differences between the two transmissions are indistinguishable, both are very good.
I have some misgivings about the appearance not that the new Aurora isn't a handsome car, but I don't think it has the presence of its predecessor.
Still, the objective was to make a car with wider appeal. Not everyone was prepared to put up with the original car's tight interior and too-firm ride.
Oldsmobile has very high hopes for the new Aurora, expecting it to compete with cars like the Acura 3.2TL, Lexus ES 300, the new Lincoln LS and even the BMW 5 Series and MercedesBenz EClass.
It has the engineering stuff the performance, the ride, the handling to do it. The showrooms that Olds general manager Karen Francis said might have been a problem with the former car are in better shape with Alero and Intrigue as Aurora's floormates.
Pricing won't be released until closer to the Aurora's spring on-sale date, but in today's market, you know they won't be able to price the V8 much higher than the $46,000 of the outgoing car, while the V6 will have to be around $36,000.
Freelance journalist Jim Kenzie prepared this report based on sessions arranged and paid for by the automaker.
Visit http://jimkenzie.com
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