R.I.P. Saturn

[dman]

Originally posted by: nerp
I see a lot of saturns burning oil and leaving trails of smoke around town. Sup with that, eh?

Older ones had issues with leaking headgaskets, iirc. Wasn't just a Saturn issue though.

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: dman


Older ones had issues with leaking headgaskets, iirc.

that is how my 1997 Saturn SC-1 with 192,000 miles died, it blew a headgasket

 

[shortylickens]

I dont care. They make shit and charge too much.
Nothing special about them except they dont haggle. That combined with the steep prices is a sure way to not get customers.
I went to go for a test drive at my local Saturn about 6 months ago. The salesman was so unimpressive I didnt even turn the engine on. Just looked around and walked away. Even he knew it wasnt worth talking up.

The Nissan and Toyota dealers were much better. They knew every little thing about their cars and the vehicles themselves were a much better deal for the money.

 

[Possessed Freak]

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: dman


Older ones had issues with leaking headgaskets, iirc.

that is how my 1997 Saturn SC-1 with 192,000 miles died, it blew a headgasket

Head gasket was a different problem.

The engine just naturally consumed oil from the seals and design. Not bad though, my SL2 eats a quart every month or 2, and she still gets ~35 mpg. Paid $1100 for it and she already earned her cost in gas saved from driving my PT every day.

 

[eplebnista]

RIP

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: pockets83
yea, they kinda live in europe dont they?

& :laugh:

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

damnit,
I just bought an 09 Vue XR. I wonder if my warranty will transfer to other GM dealers.

 

[krylon]

Originally posted by: Possessed Freak

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: dman


Older ones had issues with leaking headgaskets, iirc.

that is how my 1997 Saturn SC-1 with 192,000 miles died, it blew a headgasket

Head gasket was a different problem.

The engine just naturally consumed oil from the seals and design. Not bad though, my SL2 eats a quart every month or 2, and she still gets ~35 mpg. Paid $1100 for it and she already earned her cost in gas saved from driving my PT every day.

No car should chew oil like that. If Saturn intentionally designed an engine that consumes oil at that rate, which eventually fouls the catalytic converter, they deserve to burn.

 

[Phoenix86]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
IIRC, Saturn never once turned a profit.

I heard on a car talk show for the cash GM spent on Saturn (total investment) they could have bought Toyota.

 

[Gothgar]

bye

 

[Krynj]

199,254 on my SL2, and still running strong.

*knocks on every piece of wood in the room*

 

[TruePaige]

I love my Ion 2 Quad-Coupe.

Sigh, Saturn made some of the best GM vehicles. I think their recent move to try and seem more premium and adding ~3500 to all the small car price tags was a major factor in cutting their sales recently.

The Ion for example was built on the same platform as the Cobalt/Cavalier but with some improvements /interior changes and styling (like the quad coupe with its v-pillar mods) that people liked. So what do they do? Cut the Ion, introduce the Astra/Aura to try and raise Saturns "Image".

 

[Freejack2]

My family was a Honda family for a long time but then Saturn came along and they won me over. Had a 95 SL1, 98 SC2, and the last was an 01 SL2. In 2001 I took a Honda Civic for a test drive and the Saturn SL2. The Saturn was equal or better in everything. That DOHC engine was only 124hp but that thing had torque. I drove the 01 SL2 for almost 8 years until I got into an accident in an ice storm in January.

Mind you once the car got over about 130,000 miles it started to have problems and having to replace the transmission didn't leave me thrilled. On the other hand I had an 89 civic and that thing was horrible. Every time I turned around it needed to be repaired.

Still even after the problems I had with it I would have gone back to Saturn and bought another Saturn. Only one problem, there was no fucking Saturn anymore. It was now rebadged Opels. No independent company with cars made in Spring Hill, TN. It was just a GM division selling their rebadged european cars. No thank you.

I don't think GM realized that Saturns success was because people saw it as a company mostly independent from GM. A company that made cars that were as reliable as a Honda or a Toyota and didn't have the reliability stigmatism that GM made cars had. In short GM killed Saturn years ago.

 

[Possessed Freak]

Originally posted by: krylon

Originally posted by: Possessed Freak

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: dman


Older ones had issues with leaking headgaskets, iirc.

that is how my 1997 Saturn SC-1 with 192,000 miles died, it blew a headgasket

Head gasket was a different problem.

The engine just naturally consumed oil from the seals and design. Not bad though, my SL2 eats a quart every month or 2, and she still gets ~35 mpg. Paid $1100 for it and she already earned her cost in gas saved from driving my PT every day.

No car should chew oil like that. If Saturn intentionally designed an engine that consumes oil at that rate, which eventually fouls the catalytic converter, they deserve to burn.

Pish, I know of no catalytic converter problems with the S-series cars. Perhaps the cat fails when I cross 300k, yep shame on saturn for making that unreliable a car.

 

[TruePaige]

Originally posted by: Freejack2
My family was a Honda family for a long time but then Saturn came along and they won me over. Had a 95 SL1, 98 SC2, and the last was an 01 SL2. In 2001 I took a Honda Civic for a test drive and the Saturn SL2. The Saturn was equal or better in everything. That DOHC engine was only 124hp but that thing had torque. I drove the 01 SL2 for almost 8 years until I got into an accident in an ice storm in January.

Mind you once the car got over about 130,000 miles it started to have problems and having to replace the transmission didn't leave me thrilled. On the other hand I had an 89 civic and that thing was horrible. Every time I turned around it needed to be repaired.

Still even after the problems I had with it I would have gone back to Saturn and bought another Saturn. Only one problem, there was no fucking Saturn anymore. It was now rebadged Opels. No independent company with cars made in Spring Hill, TN. It was just a GM division selling their rebadged european cars. No thank you.

I don't think GM realized that Saturns success was because people saw it as a company mostly independent from GM. A company that made cars that were as reliable as a Honda or a Toyota and didn't have the reliability stigmatism that GM made cars had. In short GM killed Saturn years ago.

Exactly, I love my reliable, American made Saturn. What is this BS where they rebadge their Euro models and try to claim Saturn is cutting edge?

I just like a decent car at a decent price.

 

[kstu]

'03 L300 still running strong. Would have absolutely considered another Saturn in a few years.

 

[Bibble]

I drove a 2000 Saturn LS1 from spring 2005 through this past summer. I traded it in with 185k miles on it and the only problem it had was that the cruise control was broken. Of course, it did not have anti-lock breaks or any fancy side airbags but it did it's job well, and even survived me slipping off the road last December. I lovingly called it my Saturn POS.

 

[kalrith]

Originally posted by: FetusCakeMix
199,254 on my SL2, and still running strong.

*knocks on every piece of wood in the room*

Let's hope you're not at a sausage fest.

 

[Kaido]

Got an '05 ION sedan, LOVE it! Turns on a dime, runs nice, and no one wants to steal it even in the ghetto I also like the large windows, makes merging REALLY easy because there's not a B pillar in my blindspot

 

[waffleironhead]

Originally posted by: krylon

Originally posted by: Possessed Freak

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: dman


Older ones had issues with leaking headgaskets, iirc.

that is how my 1997 Saturn SC-1 with 192,000 miles died, it blew a headgasket

Head gasket was a different problem.

The engine just naturally consumed oil from the seals and design. Not bad though, my SL2 eats a quart every month or 2, and she still gets ~35 mpg. Paid $1100 for it and she already earned her cost in gas saved from driving my PT every day.

No car should chew oil like that. If Saturn intentionally designed an engine that consumes oil at that rate, which eventually fouls the catalytic converter, they deserve to burn.

This was not intentionally designed that way. Show me any car that does not consume oil as the engine reaches higher miles. When the 1.9L reaches highers miles,(150k or so) it starts to consume some oil. In my case, after an oil change I can drive for about 2000 miles with no oil burn, then after around that point I am adding about 1/4 quart every gas fill up. So I can either continue to add some more each fill up or just do an oil change. Very livable circumstance imo. I'm sitting at 180k with no signs of slowing down. In my opinion the 1.9L motor was great, and reliable.

 

[KevinH]

Originally posted by: waffleironhead
my sc2 has 180k miles on it and is still going strong. It has been by far the most reliable vehicle I have ever owned. Its too bad they went away from the independent designs and started making gm clones. That is what killed them imo.

They weren't selling squat with their own designs either.

 

[magomago]

Originally posted by: krylon

Originally posted by: Possessed Freak

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: dman


Older ones had issues with leaking headgaskets, iirc.

that is how my 1997 Saturn SC-1 with 192,000 miles died, it blew a headgasket

Head gasket was a different problem.

The engine just naturally consumed oil from the seals and design. Not bad though, my SL2 eats a quart every month or 2, and she still gets ~35 mpg. Paid $1100 for it and she already earned her cost in gas saved from driving my PT every day.

No car should chew oil like that. If Saturn intentionally designed an engine that consumes oil at that rate, which eventually fouls the catalytic converter, they deserve to burn.

[/quote]

RX-8 XD

 

[FelixDeCat]

Originally posted by: kalrith

Originally posted by: FetusCakeMix
199,254 on my SL2, and still running strong.

*knocks on every piece of wood in the room*

Let's hope you're not at a sausage fest.

I dont get it.

No wait...

 

[dmw16]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
They made mechanically good cars, but their styling was terrible until the last few years. The Sky is on my "want to own someday" list

On a side note, that commercial they were running where that guy said "We make cars people want to buy!" made the company sound like a whiny loser. If you are---why aren't people buying them?

Why on earth (haha, planets, pun, get it ) would you want a Sky? Have you seen how inexpensive you can get a nice used Honda S2000 for? The Sky is marginal at best as far as it being a roadster.

 

[waffleironhead]

Originally posted by: KevinH

Originally posted by: waffleironhead
my sc2 has 180k miles on it and is still going strong. It has been by far the most reliable vehicle I have ever owned. Its too bad they went away from the independent designs and started making gm clones. That is what killed them imo.

They weren't selling squat with their own designs either.

Oh really? do you have figures to back up those claims?