Suitably excited to experience what is the sportiest of the Aura lot, I hopped into the driver’s seat (which has height adjustability, a rare feature in a car in this segment) and set off. We were driving on the bypass outside Indore and the Aura had a bit of poke on the highway. It has a sizeable bottom-end surge and an infinitesimal trace of turbo-lag. Not surprising considering the torque peaks from 1,500 rpm to 4,000 rpm. The Aura sustains speed-limit-tipping triple digits without feeling out of breath and the three-cylinder turbo petrol is refined and quiet throughout. In fact, the cabin has decent insulation levels, too, and tyre noise is the most prominent audible element during highway cruises. The ride is pliant over bumps and potholes and the steering is a positive too. It is light and makes for easy handling in tight by-lanes and weighs up well for highway lane changes.
The Driver Rear-View Monitor I mentioned earlier is a good feature on paper, but using the reverse camera poses a problem. There’s too much road visible in the frame and the constant motion from ever-retreating tarmac was not just distracting but headache-inducing, so I switched it off immediately. I didn’t really have too many curves to toss the Aura around on, but the few corners I could take at speed were enough to hint at the Aura’s behaviour in the bends. It felt planted and agile and the steering offered adequate feedback.
Braking comes from a front disc-rear drum set-up that is equipped with ABS. It did what was asked of it on this short drive, but our comprehensive road test will be more telling when it comes to braking performance. In terms of safety, you get dual-front airbags as standard across variants and the same goes for the BS with EBD set-up. The Aura slots straight into a previously unoccupied premium compact sedan segment and this Turbo Pack, in particular, offers a bit of excitement and also a sprinkling of performance in this space. Price-wise, you are looking at shelling out Rs 8.55 lakh (ex-showroom) for this variant, which is a competitive price-point for what this car has to offer.
