Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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A reporter would like to speak with you about your experience; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com by 7/22 for details.
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dunworth ::: I'd put Corolla, Protege, Ion and Sentra ahead of the Civic. I was not impressed at all with the car and we had a Civic.
I like it though. I saw a VUE in the color a couple of weeks ago.
They had an L series in that colour at our local dealer.
You have an unusual color for a Civic. Almost all the Civic's I see are either black or gray. Honda makes good cars but is very bad with colors.
Who cares - Saturns have never done well in these types of things. They are never editors choice etc but still very good cars.
I think the old SL was one the best kept secrets in the low-end auto world. Lots of room, diesel like fuel economy and nice looking. The car never got any respect.
Hopefully the Ion is doing better. I saw one one the weekend in a really bright blue color with grey rook rails. So far this is the only Ion colour I did not like, although it suits the car.
Dirt cheap
Reliable
Fun to drive
Low maintinence
(try to get advanced audio option)
Hopefully your insurance will give you a decent amount of $$ back for it if it's a w/o.
Dindak: I just want them to total the car, I don't even care about the payout right now. I have GAP that would cover the difference, I just don't wanna drive around in a car that will smell like burning plastic until it's paid off. The smell literally made me sick this past Friday when I found the car, so I don't think I could do it.
As I have mentioned elsewhere, let's keep the conversation in one place instead of in multiple discussions all over the Town Hall.
Good luck Paul - we'll keep an eye out in Jetta for further developments.
The Jetta and the Ion to me though are two totally different classes of vehicle. Styling aside, could you make a switch to something like an Ion, given the refinement, benchmark interior, and superb fit and finish of the the VW.
In response to your more detailed letter:
1) Like I said, we have previously tested an Ion 3 with all the options you mentioned, but we were similarly unimpressed.
2) You’re right that a Civic LX would have been a better matchup, but when you’re trying to schedule eight cars all for the same time period you have to take whatever Honda gives you – in this case an EX.
3) Regarding the Elantra: although you’re correct in citing the individual scores as rather mediocre, you have to remember that these scores are only one section in the 23-point evaluation. If you look at the final scoring summary you would see that the Elantra scored in the upper half of most of the categories and then cleaned up when it came to price.
4) Regarding the individual reasons for each category: while this would provide an in-depth view of why we scored them the way we did, providing that much text for 23 different categories on eight different cars from four different editors would be just too much.
Hope this clears things up just a little bit more, thanks for the detailed response.
Ed Hellwig
Senior Road Test Editor
Edmunds.com
(310) 309-
At least they wrote me back!
Thank you for taking the time to respond to my letter. I can respect your reasons, but I cannot agree that they are good. To bring the Elantra up to second overall simply because you like the cupholders and other trivial things about the car is incomprehensible when your editors trashed the mechanics of the car--which is what should count the most. Also, the price factor. This is simply ludicrous in my mind. Had you used your own True Cost of Ownership instead of price tag, then it would have made sense. It would be there that you would find that due to factors such as the Elantra's high depreciation and relatively low gas mileage, the Civic and Corolla are actually cheaper to own for five years than the Elantra--even though the Elantra costs much less out the door. We will just have to agree to disagree about the Ion. Again, I know the Ion is not the class of its field--but there is no way it is the worst. Even more so if tested in a form comparable to its competition. I think the excellent buying experience and service facility are worth something even if you do not. Lastly, I do not think it would have been too hard to list a main reason why a car did so well or so poorly in each of your subjective rankings. There had to be a reason why a car came in last--what was it? I feel the best way for people to decide which car is for them is to drive them--let's hope not too many people buy a particular car based on this test! Thank you again for responding.
Clay Waterfill
Duluth, GA
770
At least they know how I feel on the subject!
I just read a review of the Ion at the on-line magazine "womanmotorist". The review was very positive. They liked the distinctive styling (not cookie cutter), powerplant and the worldclass platform - things that most of us on this board agree on about the car.
Then after 4 pages of a good, upbeat review they provide a summary which basically trashes it and says there are better choices out there. And you guys thought the Edmunds review was bad!
Here is the URL:
http://www.womanmotorist.com/index.php/news/main/1630/event=view
Not much to report on the Ion. All is still well after about 4 months of service.
Anyone know if the interior packages are available yet?
I too am worried about my favorite GM division.
I see lots of 2000 model year Saturn L Series at the used lot of the GM dealership near my office. There are some seriously good deals on this car (new and used).
~alpha
VUE is the only Saturn that sells well though the ION seems to be coming up now.
Every Saturn gets 1000 rebate + 0.0% APR for June
Wow!
Only get 1.9% up here for 48 mo. I think the L gets 0% or cash back though.
http://www.autoweek.com/cat_content.mv?port_code=autoweek&cat- _code=carnews&loc_code=index&content_code=03523456
afk_x How's the Ion doing in your neck of the woods? I am still not seeing that many here in Toronto which is odd since we tend to buy a lot of small cars. See lots of new '03 Cav/Sunfires despite the odd restyling job (I thought the '02s were both better looking).
Dindak Do you work at GM or somewhere in the car industry?
It will be interesting to see how the Cobalt compares to the Ion,
Years ago, I used to work for a major steel supplier. GM was one of our customers and we used to sell to a number of Ford's suppliers as well. I have always had a distant relationship in my working career to the auto industry without actually having worked in it.
Despite this I am still a closet car nut but with no money to spend on this hobby because I have too many other hobbies (photography and an unhealthy love of stereo equipment and music). Sad but true
Back to the topic at hand, some time ago you mentioned you might get an Ion. Don't you have two Oldsmobiles? Would you sell one? Or is this for a driving age kid.
In East Oakville where I live Saturns are popular third cars for teenage kids. I saw a recent Saturn SL that some kid had just started to soup up with a skirt kit, aluminum spoiler and incredible wheels. Not my cup of tea but pretty neat.
:-)
dunworth : Owning 2 Oldsmobiles happened because we bought our Intrigue and then when Olds was killed, they offered owners $2000 off another. Our other car's lease was up and the Alero was a nice car so we figured what the heck. Very happy with both cars. Oakville does have a lot of Saturns though, Budds does very good business.
I still like Reg's Chevy "Cadaver" name.
One of GMs big problems is that it does not have global brands or product names like the Corolla or Civic. At least the Astra is used in Europe and I believe there was a Holden branded one for Australia at one point.