Experience with Saturn SL1 or 2?

[stinkynathan]

My commute is 42 miles each way and I'm currently driving a V6 Ford Escape. 18 mpg is killing us right now with gas at $3.69 here.

It turns out I can partially finance a Saturn SL1/2 and it will still be cheaper than the fuel for my Escape. (I think we're actually going to pay cash now. No sense financing that small amount.)

Anyway, I found one within 70 miles of me with less than 50,000 miles for around $5k.

Before I waste that guy's and my time emailing and making a trip:
How are these things?
I'm seeing reports of better than rated fuel economy=winning. True?
How noisy are they?
Any future maintenance concerns I should be aware of?
Parts availability with Saturn gone?

The plan is to buy this and drive it into the ground. We'll probably keep the Escape for now, with the intention of eventually selling it for a POS small/mid truck for hauling/hunting/fishing.

 

[DaveJ]

My commute is 42 miles each way and I'm currently driving a V6 Ford Escape. 18 mpg is killing us right now with gas at $3.69 here.

It turns out I can partially finance a Saturn SL1/2 and it will still be cheaper than the fuel for my Escape. (I think we're actually going to pay cash now. No sense financing that small amount.)

Anyway, I found one within 70 miles of me with less than 50,000 miles for around $5k.

Before I waste that guy's and my time emailing and making a trip:
How are these things?
I'm seeing reports of better than rated fuel economy=winning. True?
How noisy are they?
Any future maintenance concerns I should be aware of?
Parts availability with Saturn gone?

The plan is to buy this and drive it into the ground. We'll probably keep the Escape for now, with the intention of eventually selling it for a POS small/mid truck for hauling/hunting/fishing.

They're pretty decent cars. At one point we had four Saturns in the family (3 SL1s and 1 SL2), and one of them is still on the road (my sister's 1995 SL1 with IIRC at least 200K on it currently). Of the other three all of them went over 100K with only a few issues, mainly alternators. The designers put the alt in a place where it built up a lot of heat, and that combined with Texas summers killed them about every 3-5 years. They also did burn oil somewhat, although the SL2s were a bit worse than the SL1s.

AFAIK parts are still available, because my sister has had several belts, a belt tensioner, an oil pan and a radiator replaced on hers within the last year or so. She doesn't maintain it worth shit though so I wouldn't take that as a sample of their reliability. Outside of the alternator issues I had no major problems with mine (1995 SL1 bought used with 88K on it in 1997, sold in 2005 with 120K).

Fuel economy was good on the highway, my Dad used to drive 100 miles a day and got somewhere in the mid-30s. I used to get 26mpg in town with mine. They're not as quiet as more modern cars but they're not super-loud either.

 

[Viperoni]

Both burned oil, the DOHC's might have a bit more, but it was a piston ring problem.
The SOHC's had a tendency to crack their cylinder heads between 100-150k.
Would not recommend a SOHC, as the DOHC's should be near the same price and got similar mileage with noticeably better performance.
Auto trannys were shitty, definitely stay away as far as I'm concerned.

Overall, they were fairly cheap to repair, fairly easy to repair, fairly quiet, and I'm pretty sure parts are still available through GM dealers.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Have one that's been passed around my family for several years now. They're good for a beater commuter car, although I don't know if I'd pay 5 grand for one even with just 50,000. Then again, I haven't checked prices and depending on where you live that might not be that bad of a price, seems high to me though (the one we had was originally bought for like $2500 I think with like 100-120k miles, its now at like 225k). Oh, its a 98 or 99, so I don't know if they were updated much after that.

They burn oil so you'll want to check that frequently. We also had a temp sensor where the connector was broken (so it would keep killing the sensors every so often, which would cause it to try to overheat). At one point, my mom was driving and she was trying to keep the oil good, but would overfill it, which caused the oil to get in the cylinder head and caused problems. I believe it needed a head gasket after that time. Just keep an eye on the oil. I'm not sure how common the temp sensor problem is, but I do know oil burning is common. The [auto] transmission isn't great either, although it hasn't really given us problems, but supposedly transmission problems are somewhat common.

Most everything else is ok, the A/C is good (well, once we got it recharged and fixed a leak in it), and the heater is good. The interior is crap though, its just bad, but hey for a commuter car no big deal, but its crap even for 90s era GM.

The last thing is that, because its a light car wind will move you around pretty good, and because there's little weight in the back if you drive on ice it likes to slide the back end around (its worse than my sister's Trans Am in fact).

It does get good gas mileage on the highway. In town it was ok, but its definitely much better on the highway. Aside from when it was running really bad (time my mom had it), I think its always gotten 30mpg or better.

Loudness wise, its not good. The engine mounts aren't the best so you can get quiet a bit of vibration which, with ours the awful plastic interior panels are not the best so it causes problems there (the door and the dash on the driver's side is particularly bad, but it gets drowned out by the engine at highway speeds). There's also not a whole lot of sound deadening.

 

[LTC8K6]

Sounds like it might be a bad economic idea to me. $5G buys a lot of fuel.

What year is your Escape? Maybe it needs a tune up? A fairly recent V6 Escape should do well over 18 on the highway.

 

[HarryLui]

$5k is too much for that car, regardless of the 50k. I'd find one for around 2k with 100k and put another 1k-2k into it and making it reliable. New tires, new belt, new hoses, new fluid/filter/coolant/atf, etc...

They use timing chain, and they use .5-2qt of oil in between 3000 miles oil change. If the oil is changed every 3k-5k and level is kept up, the engine will last.

Upper engine mounts goes bad on them easily.

Sign up for www.saturnfans.com/forums

Had my 93SL2 for 9 years, got it at 87k and drove another 120k. Engine and transmission worked perfect when I sold it. Got around 28mph in town, and 32-36mph on highway. Manual is best, auto is ok.

Plenty of parts on rockauto.com for them.

 

[Vette73]

Yea they are good cheap reliable cars. Nothing fancy but you can get them cheap and if you keep up on the oil, change every 5k and keep it topped off, 200k is a easy number with many doing 300k before it cost to much to keep.

 

[stinkynathan]

Sounds like it might be a bad economic idea to me. $5G buys a lot of fuel.

What year is your Escape? Maybe it needs a tune up? A fairly recent V6 Escape should do well over 18 on the highway.

Believe me. I ran the numbers. The SL is definitely cheaper AND the Escape is on the verge of nickle and diming us. The best I've ever gotten in that thing is like 22, during the summer, with a tail wind. It's got 150k on it now and I'd really not like to rely on it to get to work every day (and I drive 840 round trip once every month to military obligations).

$5k may seem high, but keep in mind that I've only been looking at 2001-2002 cars locally and on Autotrader. I'm trying to find one that is as low mileage as possible that won't be a maintenance concern for me. I can broaden my search up to 75k miles, but I think that's as high as I'm willing to go.

 

[Vette73]

Yea 2000 is the update year. So try and get a 2000 or newwer SL model. Craigslist has a lot of them.

If the milage is in the low 100k or less then that is ok. I be more worried that a 50k one was just left sitting and not had its fluids changed enough. Could be fine but a lot short drives are worse than long ones.

 

[HarryLui]

$5k may seem high, but keep in mind that I've only been looking at 2001-2002 cars locally and on Autotrader. I'm trying to find one that is as low mileage as possible that won't be a maintenance concern for me. I can broaden my search up to 75k miles, but I think that's as high as I'm willing to go.

Waterpump goes around 80-120k. Third transmission service is 90k. Alternator last to about 100k. 2nd set of tires is about done at 75k.

$2k car with good service history plus $2k in repair/maintenance >>>>>>>>> 4-5k "low" mileage car.

 

[Vetterin]

Exactly what year and style is it....SL1 or SL2? The SL2 is the nicer of the 2. The oil burning was only a problem before 2001. I bought a new 02 SL2 which my daughter now has. It has passed 125,000 miles and no major problems yet. Have never added oil and only change it at around 3500-4000 miles. Did replace the top motor mount (which is typical on the SL's) but cheap and easy to do. Overall, I think it is a very good car for a DD and with the plastic body panels should look good for a long time.

 

[stinkynathan]

Exactly what year and style is it....SL1 or SL2? The SL2 is the nicer of the 2. The oil burning was only a problem before 2001. I bought a new 02 SL2 which my daughter now has. It has passed 125,000 miles and no major problems yet. Have never added oil and only change it at around 3500-4000 miles. Did replace the top motor mount (which is typical on the SL's) but cheap and easy to do. Overall, I think it is a very good car for a DD and with the plastic body panels should look good for a long time.

The one I'm thinking about right now is an '02 SL1 with the auto tranny. I'd prefer an 02 SL2 with manual trans, but my job is going to make it difficult to travel a long distance to find one.

 

[stinkynathan]

I actually just noticed an 01 SL1 with the manual trans in town here. Probably head down there later today and take a look.

 

[Vette73]

Exactly what year and style is it....SL1 or SL2? The SL2 is the nicer of the 2. The oil burning was only a problem before 2001. I bought a new 02 SL2 which my daughter now has. It has passed 125,000 miles and no major problems yet. Have never added oil and only change it at around 3500-4000 miles. Did replace the top motor mount (which is typical on the SL's) but cheap and easy to do. Overall, I think it is a very good car for a DD and with the plastic body panels should look good for a long time.

Only major differance between the 1 and 2 is the motor.
You can get power options on the 1 just like the 2. The 2 usually has more features due to the fact the special low price cars were always 1's.

 

[Vette73]

I actually just noticed an 01 SL1 with the manual trans in town here. Probably head down there later today and take a look.

If power windows, cruise, etc... are something you can't live without most 1's may not have them, esp if its a manual trans car.
But of course you can get awesome gas milage with the manual trans.

 

[HarryLui]

Only major differance between the 1 and 2 is the motor.
You can get power options on the 1 just like the 2. The 2 usually has more features due to the fact the special low price cars were always 1's.

2 has 15 inch wheels, bigger front sway, a rear sway bar, better seats, etc compare to 1

 

[Saga]

Daughter drives a SL2. We've had it in the family for a very long time (1996 SL2, bought it with 40k miles in 1998). Outside from a clutch replacement, and 3 head gasket's before I just gave up and used a silicone sealant around the gasket to stop the oil leak, it's been an amazingly reliable car and sits at 182,000 miles.

It's a tin can with no power, but it's a perfect daily driver and/or great car for a new driver.

 

[ViviTheMage]

The only experience I have is getting stuck behind them ... all I smell is oil burning and clouds of white smoke in view.

P.O.S's

 

[kornphlake]

My 96 SL2 has been a pretty good car, aside from a rash of repairs at about 120k miles, it's been the cheapest to maintain car I've owned. Known problems are leaky valve cover gaskets, temperature sensor problems, engine mounts both upper and lower, automatic transmissions develop the "reverse slam," radiators crack, burning oil, and I've had 2 bad heater cores, but that's not necessarily common. They also go through starters, alternators and water pumps but what vehicle doesn't? The problems are well known and repairs are well documented, for the most part a neophyte mechanic can keep a saturn on the road for a long time for little cost.

With the exception of a couple parts I've bought at a junk yard, every part I've ever bought has come from a local auto parts store and came with a lifetime warranty. I'm on my 3rd starter and only paid for one, I'm on my 3rd lower engine mount and only paid for one, 2nd alternator, etc. I'd rather buy factory parts and not have to repair something like the starter 3 times, but the factory starter didn't last much longer than an aftermarket starter and didn't come with a lifetime warranty.

 

[Possessed Freak]

Extremely cheap car to maintain. Yes, they burn oil. You *need* to be vigilant and check your oil frequently.

I need to retire my manual '94 SL2, but I will be purchasing a replacement immediately. The car is rusting out from under me and it is getting dangerous, but the engine is still fine. I plan to pull the engine and keep it for a spare.

 

[CrackRabbit]

I had a 96 SL1. Ended up with a cracked head at about 115k, and dumped it.
Other than alternators/batteries and crappy interior bits breaking it was fairly reliable but drank oil like a grad student drinks coffee.

 

[radioouman]

I owned a '95 SW2 and a 2000 SW2. Both had the DOHC motor. I bought the 2000 brand new. I bought the '95 with 72,000 miles. The 2000 required far more repairs than the '95 did (front wiper controller, rear wiper controller, head assembly replaced at 42,000 miles, power window switch). The '95 was fun and handled better but not as refined as the 2000.

 

[Aikouka]

My mom always liked her SL1.. or maybe it was a SL2. I can't remember which, but she never really had a problem with it. She still has it too.

 

[Freejack2]

I had a 01 SL2. It wasn't a bad car, and for many years, it was one of the very few manual transmission cars you could get with traction control.

It got pretty good gas mileage, higher 30's highway and even mixed city/highway I was getting probably 30mpg. It was going down towards the end though, I'm not sure why.
The road noise wasn't bad but at highway speeds you can definitley hear that engine.

Sometime between 99 and 01 they switched to hydraulic clutches or something like that on manual transmissions and should be good for well over 150k.
Lots of torque, but as it gets older expect to put some money into it for repairs.

As for oil the DOHC defintley did burn oil. I needed to put at least a quart or two in between oil changes.

It also seemed like every time I turned around it needed brakes or rotors but I'm not really sure as the car is gone along with any service records I had for it.