Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Options
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
People, especially those who visit edmunds.com are very passionate about their automobiles as well they should be. Granted, no cars are perfect. My previous Toyota Celica leaked oil at 60 thousand miles, and had a faulty turn signal switch which Toyota wanted a few hundred dollars to replace. That led me to Saturn, which I has been near flawless in reliability (knock on wood), I simply wish that everyone would be as lucky as I am in regards to owning a Saturn.
Ingtonge, I do realize that what you own (hyundai Accent) has nothing to do with your comments, I suppose that in defending the Saturn brand, I let my own opinions come through regarding this korean automaker. I personally do Really Like the new 2001 Elantra, and would consider buying one. However, I still feel that thier previous repuation would make people look at me as if I were cheap , kind of like how people veiw hatchbacks , aka horizon, colt, etc.
I wish you luck with your accent,make sure you do every maintenance item at a hyundai dealer, if you miss maintenance they can and will void your warranty. Also, Hyundai has warranty exclusions , such as paint is only covered for 3 years, radio for a year, etc.
By the way, the new 2001 Elantra is a nice car. I went and looked at one and was very impressed with its looks and roomy interior. Anyway, Hyundai does allow do-it-yourself maintenance on their cars as long as you keep a record and receipts of what you have done. I am one that will not bring my car in unless it is for a major service like the timing belt. Thanks for retracting your negative comment towards what I drive. That was very nice of you and I appreciate that.
Here's something that ought to get a few laughs. I am hailing from Florida, the state of recounts and people who can't read a ballot, LOLOLOLOL. I'm so embarrassed to even say I'm from Palm Beach county, but thankfully, I'm not registered there so was not part of that stupid ballot. I'm just glad that my ballot may have been one of the few that kept Bush in the lead
A side note to fellow Palm Beach citizens: Get a life, move on, and just accept the fact that Bush won Florida no matter how narrow the lead was. Enough of this dragging the whole country along with stupid and groundless lawsuits.
If your car is only 6 years young, I would definitly hold on to it for a couple more years. Saturn has made improvements to thier original car line, quieter engines in 1999, better pricing on MSRP, and options for 2001. The SL2's Horsepower rating remains competitive with other current cars.
The Saturn S series has not had a major makeover due to lack of investment dollars from GM. Dollars which are coming, and waiting for a 2003 Saturn S Series should prove to be worth the wait. I have a 98 Saturn SL, which has been great. I plan on leasing a 2001 SL to contiue to support the brand while waiting for completely redesigned 2003-2004 S Series which I hope to purchase.
That sounds like good advice. I so like the car that it will be good for me to follow the changes and all the information I glean from this BB.
I am becoming a Saturn Freak and enjoy collecting information on the car. I hope that GM really supports it because I definitely want to own one someday. I do believe they are a "Different Kind of Car Company."
My mother owns a '99 SL2 so I do feel a little like I'm part of the Saturn family.
For me it comes down to the company itself. Think about how you are treated. Saturn practices what it preaches and that is what brings customers back time and time again. In the review pages I saw the comment that the Saturn may be priced better than some of the competitors but you might want to shop around because if you work at it you might be able to get some of the dealers to come down as much as $3000.00 due to rebates and incentives. I say why bother? I like being treated like a customer not a rube waiting to be took. Being treated with respect has to be worth something. When you look at all the customer responses Saturn is right up there with Lexus in customer satisfaction. Sales, service, parts all treat you like you are important. Not like many the other dealers I went to when looking to buy a new car. The Subaru dealer pretended that my trade in was only worth a " few bucks", and started out high planning on working down in price so I would feel I had been given a deal. Some sales people and dealers must not realize that we have access to sites like this, and Kelly Blue book also.
Saturn is designed from the bottom up to believe the customer comes first and that being a horse trader is a thing of the past. There was no second sales person, meetings with the manager and last but not least the "closer". One man, pick the car, pick the options, and here was the price. Simple and quick. The company also offers classes on how to service your car, for free. " So what?" some might say? "`I already know how to service a car." Isn't it better that a person the does servicing for a living is willing to show you how it is done? More companies should offer this. Maybe if they did someone wouldn't feel that replacing a defective alternator was a "major" repair. My wife could do it. It is easy to be satisfied with a car, just pick what you like and take care of it. If you want to be satisfied with a experience as well as a car I believe you can't go wrong with a Saturn.
I agree with you on that. The people at Saturn have been great to me and my wife. We have only had it in the shop three times for repairs since we bought it in 1994. They give us a loaner each time and treated us like kings. The last repair when i replaced a front axle they even replaced the windshield wipers for free and aired up my tires, washed the car and other stuff like that. I just bought a Chevy Impala and while I love this car the dealership I bought It from ain't Saturn.
When people complain about dependability they often aren't aware of what others that own the same model of car have to say. Often it isn't that the part broke but rather how easy is it to fix. I like you have had nothing but good experiences from my dealer. And I have had more than one dealer in my driving life. My worse experience was with Jeep. I doubt if I would ever get another one, and if I did it would never see a dealer. I like the idea that many repairs can be made on this new car by me. I also like the idea that they had a cross section of a Saturn engine for me to look at. I was shocked to see they had a real timing chain...not a rubber belt. It would seem that they expected to see these cars last.
Traveler,
I agree that some styles are classic. And the simple ones seem to be around for a while. Besides take one look at the PT Cruiser and you will see that smooth curves must have some appeal.
I personally like the way Saturns look , and appreciate the super low maintenance costs compared to the Corolla, and Civic. I intend lease a 2001 S series in a few months. I intend to wait till the new 2003 S Series comes out to purchase. Saturn of course isn't perfect, but what car is? Overall, I am very satisfied with my car and service.
I remember when Honda first started selling cars in this country. How many people remember getting a free Honda 600 when you bought a Olds? I remember a dealer doing that. And believe me I remember what a poor car that was. But people bought it. And they got the next two models also...remember just before the civic came out they had that little car with the fish bowl looking window? And people paid good money for them. They had their reasons I am sure but they were light years behind a good domestic car. Shoot, if they wouldn't have lowered the speed limit nationally they would never make it to the speed limit. Toyotas weren't much better. They were cheep little cars that may or may not have gone 50,000 miles. Nissan was just as bad. They were afraid to use the parent company name and decided to market them as Datsuns remember? Square, slow ugly little boxes. Some might say, "oh they weren't that bad," but I had a B-210 and I can confirm that they were that bad. You had to downshift to get over a cigar butt. And still people bought them. The companies didn't even offer a 3 year 30,000 mile guarantee. All they got was good gas milage, period. People stuck with them and today they are pretty good cars. Are they light years ahead of Saturn? No, and Saturn offers something very few of them do. Honest service and respect for the customer. I think it is time they can learn something else from us.
My question to you (and others who know): Should I replace the EGR valve next? Is it difficult to do it yourself?
Thanks.
They can help
I just joined this group because I'm getting to my wits end on my 95 SL2. We are the original owners on it and there have been odd things at odd times that have gone wrong with it. We have been noticing, and have taken it in about three times now to no avail, that the transmission is slipping. It's an automatic transmission. It all started when the car would get warm, putting it in reverse it would hesitate. Now you have to push the gas to get it to go into reverse, especially if it's really warm. If it's cold, no problem. And when I'm in traffic now if the engine downshifts odd the "service engine soon" light comes in. We have taken it in and looked at and it is the transmission. My question is, why at 100,000 miles would I have to have the transmission fixed and this all started probably around 80,000 also.
We have twins now and are looking for a bigger car, more like a van instead, so we'll probably just trade it in. But with the past 5 years and the odd things we have had to have replaced (i.e., the medal bar that pushes the moon roof up got rusted and it was never left open during rain or anything and since we've had leakage that is obvious on the roof, and the lumbar support lever went out within the first year we had the car ... we never used it!). I'm not trying to sound upset, but it's just really been one thing after another with the car and now it's not under any kind of warranty. I just have a bad taste in my mouth from all of this. We also have a 92 Toyota Corolla that has only had to have the typical stuff repaired for it's age and mileage (150k).
Any input or suggestions would be great!!
Thanks!
Sorry to hear about the transmission problems. And your mechanic can't tell you what is going on? What does the dealer say?
As for the vans, Honda Odyssey has been my first choice and Toyota Sienna the second. Thanks for the info on the Sienna though. I was going to check out the ratings and stuff too and do some research. For that much money and that big of a vehicle, I really want to make sure we're going to make a good choice here on something that will get these twin boys through sports!
Thanks again for your input!!
P.S. It was the dealer and he said it was probably the transmission. We had to have the clutch replaced on our Corolla at 140k and that was quite expensive ... not sure I want to put that much money out at this point.
am looking at a '93 SL2 with all of the options for that year. I had a '92 SC2 that I was pleased with. Are their any particular problems with this model/year that I should be on the lookout for or
aware of? We are going to test drive the car tomorrow (Friday) and would appreciate any and all
input that comes my way. Thanks in advance.
Just watch out for oil consumption, 1 quart per 2 thousand miles is considered normal by Saturn, anything more is not good, but may be tollerable. Again, your local retailer can tell you everything you truly need to know about this car. How many miles are on it"? what price are we talking ? Happy turkey day : _)
I am really stunned by how this car is just falling apart, especially since it's been pampered from day one, and does not get a lot of abusive driving (I'm a stay-at-home mom, so it pretty much gets used during the week for local stuff!). The other part that bothers me is that every problem seems to be described to me as a "problem with '93's" by the service manager. I'm really wondering about the experiences of other owners with this year - it's kinda at the sell it or keep it decision-making point in terms of upkeep, especially if there are even more "93 problems" down the road.
(And, no, it's not the dealership hosing me - they are the sort of people that have gone way out of their way to help us, and every one of these problems has been evident to me before they told me about them. Except the door locks!)
For those of you who are wondering what in the heck I'm talking about, saturnboy posted this long post from another web site from a person who was having a problem getting their deposit back from a Mazda dealer when they couldn't deliver the exact car that was agreed upon after the test drive. He then went on to say how Mazda was this evil company that had hundreds of complaints on this site and were doing illegal things. He also said that he was now an ex future Mazda owner and was only considering Toyota's (what type of car is saturnboy really shopping for?). I then visited the site and Toyota had even more complaints then Mazda, including complaints about dealers cheating them out of deposits, rudeness, etc. Most dealers I know of are not employees of the car company they are selling for, therefore you can't say that one dealer acting unethically is a reflection of the car company that supplies the dealer with cars. BTW...Saturn has complaints on that web site too, although I must admit they have far fewer than Mazda, Toyota, or most of the other car manufacturers. (way to go Saturn!)
My conclusion...take whatever saturnboy says with a grain of salt!
Bryan
After some two days, I picked up the car and requested to see the old transmission casing they replaced. The story changed and they said they only replaced the tranny oil, and what looked like a leak was actually some glue that got stuck on the outside of the casing. The tranny worked fine after that, to my knowledge.
Just recently, I had to replace the tranny oil and filter. I did it myself at about 45K miles, 30K miles after the 1995 work by the friendly mechanics. The beauty of the job is that the filter is external and the draining can be accomplished by removing just one transmission plug. A relatively easy job.
The transmission seems to be working reasonably well, only sometimes it "kicks" when switched from Reverse to Drive. Maybe yours can be fixed so easily? Let me know if this sounds reasonable.
Paul
If you are buying a used Saturn be very careful.
Other than that they are one of the best cars you can get for the money. Extremely safe, reliable, and fun to drive.
Could you post a link to the places that have negative things to say about the reliablility?
It is not the speaker in the passenger door (that has its own special noise) or the window winder handle(ditto special noise) and stuff isnt rattling around in the glove box. the tires are balanced and it cant be felt through the steering column. In addition to being annoying, my fear is that it is getting worse, and may result in leaving a piece on the highway (!) or, more realistically, setting in motion a cascsade of other thing loostening up due to the vibration/rattle. thanks
Thanks for the speedy reply. I went to saturnfans.com, stumbled around for awhile and came across queries similar to mine with responses that indicated a problem with the top motor mount(s), but mostly in older models than mine. Any experience in that regard? Are these mounts covered by warranty?
Recently, cars.about.com published an article with a similar stand on Saturn.
http://cars.about.com/autos/cars/library/weekly/blbailey112900.htm
The third negative article came from the Edmund review of the new SC2. They seemed to have complaint about a bunch of stuff like styling, which I ignored (styling is subjective. I am sure that someone out there finds the Toyota Echo cute). What alarmed me was the lack of build quality.
Previous to this I haven't heard any bad things about Saturn, except from the owners who own them. A friend of mine owned two Saturn and had no problems except for a dead alternator and some sensor problems. He plans to buy another in the future. Another Saturn owner had nothing but trouble. His auto transmission actually self-destruct. He said he will never buy another.
Paul
Has anyone else noticed that their car makes whistling noises when it rains? Normally my car is really quiet.
no oil consumption
no engine mount problems
no electrical problems
no reason for me to bash ford
Thanks,
L8_Apex
Sedans Host
Also sat in an Ion 2 while I was there and was not impresssed. The center instruments I just cant stand. The rest of the interior is an improvement in quality but not in design or function. The seats are improved but the bottom cushion is still too short for my stubby 30" inseam legs to have any support behind my knees. Add to all this the weird styling and I can sure unerstand why they are not selling well.
I am anxiously awaiting the new S series. If it is as good as the L series then it will be a very nice car.
Anyone could have seen that if our lovely host had not deleted that post. Apparently, they felt it was deemed innapropriate. Have a nice day
Plus they are going into the dumper on resale. Chase Auto Finance is gonna take a real "bath" on the residual on my lease as it is way too high.At this point it's higher than retail on a low mileage 1998. In nine more months it will be even worse. Too bad for them. I am very grateful I didn't buy the car.
Saturns ar a good example of GM hype that the public bought into. The buying experience is nice tho at the dealers but give me less "birthday cards", calandars and donuts and coffee and a better car for less money. I was looking forward to the "new" L series till i saw one. Same old stuff. Haphazard build quality, dull styling and still overpriced. Big daddy GM should just "absorb" Saturn and forget the whole thing. If it had not been for Roger Smith's ego, Saturn would have been stillborn and the whole experiment would have been forgotten. That has cost GM billions of $.
Floridian
Floridian
I thought this room was for SATURN OWNERS, to talk about their SATURN CARS. Apparently the hosts at edmunds.com are out snacking with the police at Dunkin Doughnuts, never around when you need em.
"...helpful negative feedback is appropriate and will be allowed. Saturn ownership is not required..."