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Saturn Maintenance & Repair
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Comments
robert98374
Second, Saturns are targeted at the lower-mid end of the domestic transportation market. They don't have the build quality as far as fits and finish of the Japanese entries.
Third, service life of an average Saturn is considerably less than that of the Accord, Camry, or Sonata, all else being equal as far as maintenance, etc.
Here's an interesting blurb on thermoplastics in the automotive industry:
http://www.autofieldguide.com/articles/060407.html
Depending upon which dealership you are shopping at, you may or may not be able to negotiate the price of the vehicle. Saturns when purchased are one price, best price. They do not believe that persons whom are not good at negotiating should be taken advantage of and pay more. That is just an FYI.
As for the body they are not fiberglass, such as the corvette. Saturns are actually known for there polymer panels. Which are actually a blend of plastics. The bumpers themselves are 5 mph impact, and the sides are dent and rust resistant. If you full out kick them in the cold they may shatter. They are among the cheapest vehicles to insure. The panels are easily replaceable and not nearly as expensive as body work to a typical steel vehicle. The panels are one part of the safety design. The other is the solid steel space frame. So instead of welding each piece of the frame together it is cut as one. Think race car frame. VERY SOLID!
Saturns are know for reliability It is very common for the vehicles to run to 200k plus. Remember that required maintenance is required. I would have to say that I am bias as I sell these for a living, however I recommend the Saturn brand to all my friends and family.
Compared to Honda and Toyota. Both are great vehicles too, but known for being more expensive at purchase and for cost of ownership. Personally, best bang for the buck is going to be the Saturn.
Hope that helps!!!
I have a Saturn wagon, my boyfriend has a Saturn wagon, and I've had many friends with Saturns since the early 90s. I have to say I don't know a single person whose Saturn made it to 200K. I know a few who have gone over 100K, but they all needed repair work, like most high mileage cars do.
I don't think Saturns are as reliable as Hondas or Toyotas, but they are good in terms of reliability as far as domestic cars go. They are not a luxury marque by any means, but they are decently-appointed, solid cars.
Saturn's resale value is also not great, but since you'd be buying used, it will work in your favour. My wagon was $23K new, but I bought it for $10.5K four years later. I bought my wagon at CarMax where you cannot haggle, and I expect I could have gotten it for cheaper elsewhere had I been able to find a used wagon. (The wagons are difficult to find.)
Having said that, If you can get them under $6000 I would snatch it up. You won't find a Camry or Accord with less thatn 120k miles on it for that price. And the vehicle will last you but you are going to have some problems with it. If you wan a good indication search through the Chevy malibu board (Pre-2004 models). Most of the problems are known and can be fixed by most mechanics.
Good luck and report back on your purchase.
i have taken it to a local garage and he had put dry gas in it for me, but really couldn't tell anything b/c it didn't act up for him.
twice it has happened with a full tank of gas and once w/about 1/4 tank.
could it be the pcm shutting everthing down?
My 2004 ION has been reliable, but has need multiple visits to the dealer for what I think are "soft recalls." Saturn knows that certain problems exist and has found remedies for most of them, but Saturn has chosen not to recall the cars because most of the items are not safety issues. It seems that they do not share these remedies with their service departments very quickly either.
For example, the fuel gauge was inaccurate for 24,000 miles. They checked it twice and could not fix it. On my last visit to the dealer for another issue, I mentioned that the fuel gauge operation was still unacceptable. They wrote up no paperwork on it, but when I picked up the car they said that they updated the computer so it should work better. Guess what - it does work better! Why so many visits and so much secrecy about the solution to the problem? This makes no sense.
The only remaining issue I have on the car is that it DOES NOT get anywhere near its rated MPG - especially on the highway. I have been told that there is no fix for this - all 5 spd automatics are like this in the ION.
I am seriously looking at the new Dodge Caliber. It can be bought fairly inexpensively in my area and we have some Dodge dealers who actually know how to service their cars. Several years ago we had a Caravan that developed small oil leaks in the head gaskets after only 25K miles, but it was more than 3 years old, so the warranty was expired. When the local Dodge dealer found the problem, they went to bat for me with Dodge and it was repaired at no cost.
The reviews on the 2007 Caliber are pretty promising. I know its not a Honda Civic, but it not $18k either. I drove one and its a nice riding 36 mpg car(5spd) with plenty of style. Side airbags are also standard on the Caliber. I can get a nice 5 spd Caliber for $14k. To me, this repesents a good value.
I also think that Dodge has learned from its own mistake. Known problems are best addressed promptly without hassles. That gives me some purchasing confidence that I do not have now.
The Honda and Toyota dealers act as if their cars NEVER have problems. The fact is they sometimes do ahev problems, and I do not know if they are good at fixing them. I have heard that Honda, in particular, tries to opt out of fixing major problems if you did not take the car to a dealer for all the regular maintenance. This sounds like corporate blame-shifting to me.
What I want is a reasonably priced car that I know will be serviced properly when needed. Maybe I should order a Caliber. :confuse:
Any thoughts?
If you explain your situation in a letter you will be given a "case number" and it will initially be handled by an "area manager." But you need to take it to the next level, asking for a "territory manager." They have more decision-making power within the org.
Never mind my case... but I just went through this process as an extremely upset Saturn customer. If there is anyone that can help you it will be through a territory mgr at Saturn national. They intervene on your behlf when the dealer screws up.
I had the exact same problem,,, cost $ 800,00 to find out it was the egr Valve...
Thanks again!
Peter
It is like it hasn't cleared a security kill switch, or something. There is supposed to be some sort of key fob activation requirement that locks out the ignition for five minutes if you manually opened the door with the actual key, or a brick.
Take the key out of the ignition and Cycle with your key fob (lock/unlock the doors a couple of times). Now put the key back in and turn it. If the accessories wake up (radio is a good indicator), then the car should be happy and you can start. Might have to repeat 2 or three times to get it to catch.
Put it in warm garage or wait for spring?
Hopefully the block heater worked.
Odd thing that killed my mazda to just a click once was the ground wire/pig tail had rotted out, so check to see if the complete circuit is there.
Other idea is to put full synthetic oil in so it has less friction to fight.
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I have a '97 Saturn wagon, and I sure love this little car. My sister recently bought an '05 VUE that is great for her. She recently took it in for its oil change, and was told that out closest dealership is closing. There are two more dealerships a little farther away that are ALSO closing!! Now we will have to go many many miles away if we want to go to a Saturn dealership. Her concern is her warranty... now what does she do?? I don't know if she has the extended or not, but all she was told by Saturn is that each dealership is independently owned, and that she will have to keep looking. Is this information correct?! I can't believe that Saturn would leave their customers high and dry like that! Any information would be greatly helpful. she is considering trading in her Saturn for something else as am I which is sad. We are in Southern California.
have her call Customer Service to confirm this.
Where she may have issues is with body parts but even then a good body shop can do the work.
The good thing is your warranty is to 36k miles, so I'm guessing with it being a 2005 that you will still be under this mileage next winter.
You may want to read in the Pilot forum to see if anyone is having this issue.
Frustrating as we can't trade it in, we can't afford another payment as we own it outright, and the trade-in value...well, I don't have to tell you about that, do I? :lemon:
That said, we have been loyal Saturn customers, we take it to the dealership when we need anything and this is our second Saturn after having first leased a new S series before this one.
Sigh...anyway, I have an appt. to have it looked at tomorrow am, but I am stressing out that it will cost us quite a bit if it's the engine.
Oh, and the door seal is messed up, too, when I drive on the freeway, it sounds like the window is partially down...but it's not.
Then at about 15K miles, the vehicle starting making a clunking noise when you shift between gears. (thought is a bad rear end, or possibly transmission gears?)
Because of the last year of run around the dealer has given, I did escalate to Saturn Corp. and do have an Area Mgr. following the situation, but has become ridiculous as his daily message is "they are still working on the problem, they are calling in other resources and hoping it will be fixed this week".
They gave me a Demo car to drive in the meantime because I made such a stink about this whole situation.
Has anyone had any similar issues with this vehicle? I did not see any Relay posts on this board?
However it would start when jumped and be fine then not start again. I had the alternator cked and it was fine. The guy said the battery was ok for low charge but not for high charge. I bought a battery. Its started fine every since.
The problem now is, whenever I step on the brake the light on my radio dims and cigarette lighter light comes on now. Also whenever I turn the car off to get out and open the door but press on the brake the car dings like its telling me the lights are left on or the keys are left in it..which neither is true.
Also at the same time I had the battery replaced, I had taken it in to have the tires rotated and balanced, a 3 step fuel induction service, they replaced the air filter and spark plugs. I'm not sure if any of this means anything or not but never had any problems till after the battery was replaced and all this other stuff was done.
Also I noticed before the car wouldn't start and before replacing the battery, the Check engine light would stay on, after replacing the battery, the light went off but now is on again all the time.
Does anyone have any ideal's about any of the problems?Thanks again for your help its very appreciated.
Debbie :confuse:
Has anyone had this problem, or any suggestions?
thanks.
perhaps you can provide more details of the problems:
$2,000 in the last 3 months. What happened and why was not covered under your warranty.....