Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
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
The air conditioning needed to be refilled every summer... they couldn't find out what was wrong with it, and refilled it for free the first three times (in two years), but after that it cost plenty. The driver's side window mechanism snapped, twice. The rotors needed replacing in 96, 98 and 99. The bucket seats began to break down after three years, the weatherstripping and interior molding started coming off after two... and were not covered by the warranties. The clutch had to be fixed, the exhaust system had several problems, the battery died after two years, the tires had to be replaced frequently, the problems just went on and on... we were in the garage every other month. Bad enough when the repairs were covered by the warranties, but afterwards it got very expensive. Finally the timing chain jumped and smashed the engine... a $4000 problem that is not worth bothering with for this particular black hole.
The worst part was that in 96 I was rear ended in a very minor fender bender, and the seat adjustor gear stripped, snapping me backwards at high velocity and tearing several of the disks in my spine. The guy at the body shop said that he got this problem frequently with the older SLs, and he couldn't understand why the company never recalled them or offered to replace them, though they had eventually redesigned them to fix the problem.
When we first got our SL I had loved the drive and comfort of the car, and recommended it to several family members and friends... I had read the consumer reports and believed that it was a reliable car. Unfortunately they have had much the same experience with theirs, saying that the car was decent for the first three years but that at that point they quickly fell apart. None of us will be buying Saturns again.
dave
with ABS brakes and traction control that looks
good. However, I had a Subaru Legacy and did not
like it's ABS brakes at all: it took much too long
to stop the car on a slick road. I felt that on the Subaru, ABS brakes could get you into more trouble than they could keep you from.
Anyone know how the ABS brakes and traction control on a Saturn are?
I'm not impressed - there are a lot more cars out there in that range that impress me more.
And I still STRONGLY DISLIKE Saturns no hassle price policy. Around here the dealers pack added worthless "dealer added" items on and still will not come off their inflated price.
ron
And many people are put off with Saturn dealers who tag on "dealer extras" and act as if they are a part of the non-negotiable sticker price. The non-negotiable sticker price should be a big turn off to most of us. Using that logic I would have paid $27,283 for my last car instead of the $24,283 that I paid. No thanks, if I can't negotiate then I won't consider the car no matter how good it is.
Might want to think before you make comments like that about another person Saturnboy!
@18K Fluid leaks under car - replaced right transaxle seal, replaced end cover transaxle gasket
@30K Accelerator sticking - replaced throttle body gasket
@30K Passenger A/C vent broke - replaced deflector outlet
@30K Driver side mirror stuck - replaced driver side mirror
Everything else has been routine maintenance. It still has the original brakes too. They seem to last forever. Original tires are nearing the end of their life.
I did drive a sentra, cavaliar, escort and a neon besides the saturn. In my opinion, the cavaliar was the only one that was similar in quietness and acceleration as the saturn. I was careful to drive comparably equiped cars, 4 cylinder, automatic,air,pspb etc.
I bought the saturn because when I compared all given costs and used the epa mpg figures driving the car for 150k miles the saturn was no more expensive than the cavaliar even though the price was about 1100 more than the cavaliar.
Last thing wanted to point out is that the dealers are not different from any others. I could even say they are worse( at least the one that we dealt with). They have an answer on every question you have, and the question are not the ones that we would like to hear. Almost like lawyers.
Anyway... Tried it, didn't like it, moving on.
It may not be too late. It might be worthwhile contacting the B.B.B., etc. to see what your options are.
The mileage you're getting seems pretty reasonable for stop-and-go driving, although 10mpg low if you have long, steady speed, highway stretches. Hope this helps.
Floridian
My Saturn has stopped today again. This is the second time it does it. The first time was a month ago. Saturn's mechanic replaced the spark plugs( said it was misfiring), but it did it again this morning, and I don't see why. When I press on the accelerator it stalls. It is so strange. Anybody knows what it might be?
94Saturn
Floridian, that's the way I see it.
I get tired of all the trendy "analysts" predicting "90% SUV sales in 5 years!" and "truck sales will go up forever, so all car models should be dropped"
The Saturn SL is slipping mainly since its an old design. Also, the LS is "invisible" to
Cam-cord and Civ-olla shoppers. Saturn was expected to only offer the S-series at first, and then then owners were supposed to "move up" to Oldsmobiles. It took a lot of arm twisting to get the LS and the future SUV. I hope it's not too late.