2007 Saturn Aura XR: Baby Got Seatback

That does look really awkward.

I have never noticed those when driving. Then again, I dont have a problem with every single design feature in this car. When reading through the comments in the edmunds consumer reviews few of the complaints mentioned here came up. The most common complaints are the same ones I have noted and feel are important. Poor visibility due to large A pillars and no rear armrest. Those are rear issues, not seat seams.

"I have never noticed those when driving. Then again, I dont have a problem with every single design feature in this car. When reading through the comments in the edmunds consumer reviews few of the complaints mentioned here came up. The most common complaints are the same ones I have noted and feel are important. Poor visibility due to large A pillars and no rear armrest. Those are rear issues, not seat seams."

So lack of rear arm rest is more important to you then driver comfort? I could care less about the passengers in the back seat. If it has an arm rest, that's great. If not, its not a deal breaker and certainly not up there with visibility in terms of important complaints.

I don't usually put a whole lot of stock in those consumer reviews. They're helpful for some things, but most of the people who write those either a) don't have a lot of experience with cars outside of what they bought or b) are unwilling to admit that they could have spent their money more wisely. Ever notice how the consumer rating for any given car is always way higher than the editor's rating?

doug,

let me clarify this for you. There is no comfort issue. I drove the car 5.5 hours to CT and had no issue with seat comfort. I have never noticed the seam in the seat and this isnt a big issue based on comments posted by other owners. In terms of living with the car the main annoyance is front visibility. Lesser annoyances are doors that swing open very wide and lack of rear armrest. Unless you drive shirtless those seams are not going to be noticeable.

I've always wondered about this...I think extruding seams can look great, but that design (like those in the picture) seem like they'd catch and drag my shirt when I got into the car, and that they'd be annoying me sometimes when driving. Is this a form over function thing?

1487 - I know this is an astounding concept, but your experience may differ from that of others.

Here's an anecdote. I love wide-swinging doors. Primarily if they have detents (I.e. the ~96-02 Audi A4) and will stop where you stop them. However, if they flap freely I can see that being an annoyance....but just about any door, wide-swinging or not, that doesn't have detents can be annoying.

Moving back to the topic at hand...

Seat seams are incredibly important, even internal ones and their placement. I remember one story ( I forget the car ) where the seat seams cut off proper blood circulation for some individuals enough that they experienced regular "pins and needles" after 20-30 minutes of driving. A fix was made after 2 model years, and the seats became more comfortable for almost all people who sat in them.

Downplaying seat seam placement is analagous to the whole argument that "who cares about ergonomics, padded armrests, or interior control placement."

It's yet another piece of a pie that makes or breaks a person's relationship with a car.

Joe

"let me clarify this for you. There is no comfort issue. I drove the car 5.5 hours to CT and had no issue with seat comfort. "

I'm going to echo joe here and state that what is comfortable for you may not be comfortable to me. Its all a matter of opinion.

Just like how you list some other items as annoyances - items which would not bother me-> ie wide opening doors, rear seat arm rest.

you can 'clarify for me' all you want, but comfort is always subjective.

"1487 - I know this is an astounding concept, but your experience may differ from that of others. "

Profound as usual Joe. If you noticed (not that you ever read my posts in detail) I noted that I have looked over the consumer commentary and other owners have not mentioned this problem. I combine that with my personal experience and comments made by other Aura owners here and surmise that for most folks the seams are not an issue. What people complained about the most are the same issues that irk me: visibility, armrest and wide swinging doors. Other complaints I have seen relate to some plastic trim bits and lack of nav but these arent as prevalant as the visbility complaint.

doug:

How can you say the door issue wouldnt bother you if you dont have to deal with it? Before I owned this car I never thought about such an issue but owners of the car note this as an irritation. When you open the front doors they easily swing out to nearly 90 degrees. Its very annoying and you have to be careful if you're in a parking lot or on a narrow street. Its far easier to see how that could be more problematic than a seam that is about 1mm thick. Before reading this post I (nor any other driver of my car) has never noticed the seat seams. The cloth seats dont have them so anyone who is that bothered during the test drive could opt for cloth.

"How can you say the door issue wouldnt bother you if you dont have to deal with it? Before I owned this car I never thought about such an issue but owners of the car note this as an irritation. When you open the front doors they easily swing out to nearly 90 degrees. Its very annoying and you have to be careful if you're in a parking lot or on a narrow street."

I know about this problem because I own a MINI Cooper, and my doors also open almost 90 degrees with only 3 stop points. Even with the small width of the car, I have to be careful of hitting a vehicle beside me. Add on top of that the extra length of the MINI's doors (being a 2 door vehicle) and its a dangerous situation. I regularly warn my passengers about this.

So, yes I have had to deal with it on a daily basis.

I personally like the wide swinging doors, because I find it easier to get in and out of the vehicle. I'm 6'2", and its easier to swing my legs in and out when the door opens to almost 90 degrees. That is my main logic for liking wide opening doors.

Wide swinging doors are a plus for ingress and egress but the doors on the Aura dont seem to be detented properly. again, many owners have noted this. It's amazing that none of the legit criticisms seem to show up in this long term test. Anyone genuinely interested in this car wouldn't learn much from these posts. Actually, they probably wouldnt buy it after reading these posts even though the complaints have largely been nitpicks.

As an occasional Aura driver, I have never noticed the center seat seams, until now. I've never felt them and I did a 3 hour round in the car last fall and did not notice their presence in any way, shape or form. The seats are quite comfy.

When looking over Accord owner comments I noticed numerous complaints about the Accord's seast being too narrow and too hard. I believe there was a blog entry about seat comfort on the Accord here. I didn't see seat comfort mentioned in the Aura or Malibu owner comments.

This is what happens when cows die for our seating (dis)comfort. Anyone with experience sitting in a cloth-faced Aura care to share a perspective?