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source:

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/04/gm_saturn_aura_.html#more


It seems that the GM's upcoming midsize sedan Aura will be given the BAS treatmeant too. Oh boy I think this could be the car for the masses that wishes to abuse engine off treatment. The most exciting piece is that the car goes on sale by the end of 06 so we'll see it much sooner than expected.

If this car delivers on value and hypermiling capabilities then oh boy GM this could be your comeback but specs and price are not revealed yet :(

Please, god, let it be a car that the masses might want to buy and hang on to for a while!

i just request, that while in a FAS you can regen without needing to turn to IGIII again. It would be a waste to power on the ICE so that you can just regen then at the end come to a stop.

Hi All:

___I have very mixed feelings about GM’s BAS. It is akin to Honda’s IMA at a great price but it doesn’t really add anything in terms of numbers to get me excited? Sure some regen can maintain the smallish pack’s SoC but we have been FAS’ing our std. Auto’s and Manual’s far beyond EPA without a larger pack to be charged back up. If it were the Dual-Mode w/ true EV capabilities, I can see a number of uses but BAS/IMA-light is kind of gimmicky unless attached to a properly designed/smaller sized ICE knowing what we know today. GM ICE’s needs a lot of work to see real world numbers like those that can be achieved in the FEH. We shall see soon enough however …

___Good Luck

___Wayne

The "electronic creep" is a nice feature - wish Honda had it.

Occasionally, I'll be bumper-to-bumper and that burns a significant amount of gas. :( Doing autostop just to advance a couple of carlengths might consume more gas than just letting it idle, depending on how fast traffic is moving. If the wait is long enough, the catalytic converter cools enough that autostop deactivates. :( Fortunately, the exit ramp of Hwy 190 (George Bush Freeway) to northbound I35E to Lewisville allows for a "gravity creep" a lot of the time.

Hi Chuck:

___I think Honda will be completely rethinking IMA given where the TCH is today and the Prius III is headed in the future. They (Honda) simply have to pull out some big guns and the latest iteration of IMA just doesn’t cut it imho.

___To follow the article, GM should be scared out of their minds knowing where Toyota is headed with HSD. GM does a great job at engineering cost out of anything but how BAS or even a smallish Dual-Mode in a somewhat desirable Pontiac G6 as just one example is going to compete with the Prius III’s HSD is anyone’s guess? Ford, DCC, Nissan, and Honda may all be whistling past the graveyard with that upcoming monster’s release?

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I'm dissapointed that honda is so far behind toyota at this point. The 8thgen civic should have had fold down rear seats. Even with the pack where it is I don't see how they can put enough batteries in the current 8thgen to pull off a phev. The motor seems to almost be big enough to start the car moving and I'm sure they could beef it up a bit more. It won't have the prius performance off the line, but It might be able to at least move the car.

It will be interesting to see where honda goes with IMA they definatly have a challenge.

unless honda lowers its pricing for their hybrids. For the masses!