Excellent fuel mileage. Dent resistant side panels. Excellent warranty and dealer service. Very reliable.

Under-powered with A/C on. Horn buttons awkward to reach in a hurry. Rear passenger seat extremly uncomfortable on any trip over five miles. No leg room in rear.

Excellent, reliable transportation. Purchased this vehicle at one year old with 15,000 miles on it. Car was involved in a sideswipe accident (other driver hit my wife while he was trying to merge on the freeway at 50mph.) Totalled the other car ... Saturn damage, minor scrape on front bumper and rear wheel. The dents on our car just popped out! No injuries. Excellent fuel mileage.

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Toyota Tercel, Honda Civic.

Nice look, gas mileage, accleration, interior.

Engine!

This car was great until I noticed it was using about 1 quart of oil per tank of gas. I took it in and it turns out the compression is shot and basically the whole engine is crap. Then it wouldn't even pass emissions and would smoke periodically! It still got great mileage and only seemed a little sluggish on the acceleration. The engine is the weak point of the car which should be the strength so basically it's a huge waste of money.

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Oldsmobile, never going back to Saturn.

Low price, Enthusiastic company

Weak brakes, car is not sturdy, too many problems, dealer wants to fix things that do not need to be fixed.

I bought my car about three and a half years ago through the dealer and though it was a good car for about a year. The only problem was it did not have the best ride. I had started to notice that while driving the car it felt wobbly and the brakes were not sturdy. About a year and a half after I bought the car my altenator went out and I had the dealer replace it. Next time I went to the dealer to have an oil change they told me that some tube was leeking fluide on my altenator and that the fluide would damage the altenator. Was that leek there before they put the new altenator in and if so why did they not catch it? If it was not there before, did they put it there while installing the altenator? About a year later I started to hear a whisling. I brought my car to the dealer and they looked and came back with your filters need to be changed. I asked if that was what was causeing the noise. The mechanic said probly. Filters were changed and at first the noise seemed to disappear. After a while they got louder and closer to when I put my foot on the brake and then came the grinding. My brake pads had gotten worn down to the point of rubbing the rotters. I stopped going to the dealer to get oil changes because I had to wait so long for them and every time I brough my car in they had something else they wanted to replace that did not need to be. One day my car started to have trouble switching gears. My car is an automatic and is only at 76,000 miles. Later on that day my car would not reverse. I had a friend call around to see about a good price on fixing my transmition. He called the saturn dealer and they said for $45.00 they would hook my car up to a machine and it would tell them what the problem was. He was also told that to take the transmition apart would cost $245.00. I took my car to the dealer and hooked it up and came back saying the pump pressure was low and the fluide was burnt and every thing else on the test was good except it will not reverse. The guy said that they would have to take take the transmition apart for some $300.00 and a list of some $400.00 worth of replacements not related to my transmition. Next the mechanic told me the transmition was a mess and would cost $3,000.00 to fix. I will never own another Saturn.

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1991 Ford Tempo(owned for only one year)

plastic body doesn''t rust

unreliable engine destroys resale value

I bought a ''93 Saturn SL 2 new, drove it lightly for 9 years and then sold it for scrap. It only had 38,000 miles on it but it would have cost $2500 for the dealer to rebuild the engine which was more than they would give me for the repaired car. The General Manager of the Saturn dealer I bought it from wasn''t surprised. He informed me that the time element on the warranty was every bit as important as the mileage limitation. By that reasoning if you buy a Saturn with a 3 or 5 year warranty that''s all you should expect to get out of the car. I guess I was naive to expect an American car to last as long as my various Toyotas. He also informed me that his service department was union and worked strictly on commission so he could not give me a break on the cost of the repair no matter how disappointing the car''s performance because "it wouldn''t be fair." Perhaps the most outrageous thing the dealer did was hold my license plates hostage until I found someone to haul the car away. Apparently they were worried I wouldn''t pay them the $320 their mechanics charged me to tell me the car had a negative net worth. They seemed to have a lot of experience ripping people off and they made a profit on me right to the end. The only fortunate thing in this for me was that the car died before I traded it in on a new VUE. One Saturn in a lifetime is enough for me. I bought a Subaru Outback wagon I am very happy with and I can recommend.

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Toyota Tercel

Great value, reliability, safety, and those dent resistant door rock.

Not enough power, interior is a little loud at high speeds (70mph and higher).

This is a great car. I bought mine in December of ''97 and have taken it in twice for checkups, the ones they recommend at least. I do all the normal work on it (oil, wipers, etc) yet I have never had a single problem with it. I have 85,000 miles on it and had one blow-out which was caused by debris of the freeway, the car handled fine at 80+MPH when it happened as well. This is a great entry level car for those looking to get a car that will give you a lot of bang for the buck. You aren''t going to get a drag racer as it is underpowered and you aren''t going to have super luxury either, but what do you want for 15,000? I''m thinking of buying one of the sedans just because they have done such a great job on this car.

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First real car, had a ''84 Nissan Sentra Stationwagon, ''86 Ford Escort L, both used.

reliability, handling in all weather, cost of ownership

relatively weak low-end acceleration.

We own 3 Saturns, two bought new (the 1996 and the 2001), one used. I just found out the clutch on the ''97 needs replacement after 90,000 miles and that my trusted local mechanic can do the job for $500 less than the dealer. Other than that, I''m a big fan of the car and the service at my local dealer. My ''97 was rear-ended almost 3 years ago. After $5,000 in repairs (paid by insurance), I cannot tell that this car was ever so abused. Gas mileage is consistently in the mid-30s in the ''97(high 20s-low 30s for around-town driving in the other two automatics). I''ve never had an auxiliary system fail and the major systems seem quite long-lived. I recommend stepping up to the SL-2''s dual OHC engine -- I find it to be very smooth and possessing decent mid-range power. It is true that the car is noisy inside, but against that I''ll put the handling, original price paid and cost of ownership, and 210,000 miles of satisfied driving.

Cheap, dent resistant sides, good gas milage

no power, bumpy ride, unconfortable seats for long trips, horrible customer service

My husband and I purchased our first new car two years ago. Within a month one of the tires blew-out. The dealership said there was nothing we could do, because warrenties were not available on the tires. However I just found out through a regional manager that you can purchase warrenties through firestone, which the dealership did not know! My main complaint is with our local service center. The first 3 times I took my car in I was told it would be a 30 min wait. The 1st time it took 1.5 hours for an oil change, then 3 hours for an oil change and a problem with the sideview mirror, which was not even fixed that visit. We were told the our side mirror was covered under warrenty and the part was on back order. 6 months later we call to find out if the part came in, nobady knows anything about it, so they order the part again(so we are told). 6 months after that we finally get the mirror and have to pay for it because now they say the warrenty does not cover it. The 3rd time I told the service attendant about my pervious problems and if it was going to be a long wait I wanted a ride home, she assured me it would not take more than 30-45 min, half a day later my husband picked me up for lunch! We complained to the service manager who seemed not too concerned. We were also told our side mirror was covered under warrenty and the part was on back order. 6 months later we call to find out no one knows anything about it, so they order the part again(so we are told). 6 months after that we finally get the mirror and have to pay for it because now they say the warrenty does not cover it. We then complained to a regional manager who could not do much about the problem. We now avoid the service center at all costs. The car itself is ok, but we will never buy another Saturn because of the horrible customer service.

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Toyota Celica, Pontiac Le Mans, Chevrolet Celebrity

Price, gas mileage, Saturn dealership has always been very pleasant

Power window/sunroof outages, hard to put turn signal back in neutral position, driver''s seatbelt ill-placed, poor pick-up

I got this car because I thought it would be a nice reliable sedan (my first 4-door automatic as an adult!!) but have been somewhat underwhelmed, given all the great press Saturn had gotten in the past. Although the gas mileage is great, there have been numerous stupid little things that have gone wrong requiring frequent trips to the repair shop. The sunroof quit working TWICE within 3 years, as well as the rear window. The battery/oil light comes on after starting the car and stays on for about 3 minutes despite the fact the oil is full and battery is new. The driver''s seatbelt always hangs in the door after you get out, and once it kept my door slightly ajar, causing the overhead light to stay on for over a day, thus requiring a brand new battery. The pick-up is not so great, and the car just isn''t very good looking. And what is the deal with all those videos that Saturn mails out for updates? What a waste of money.

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Toyota Celica, Toyota Tercel, Ford Escort

Good fuel economy (35-40mpg)

About as reliable as a Kia; cheap fit and finish, no power, shifter feels like it has mud in it (which wouldn''t surprise me at this point).

I had always thought that Saturn''s were reliable, but in the past 10 months, I have spent over $2000.00 on repairs. First of all, the car has always burned about a quart and a half every 3000 miles. The slave cylinder went out 6 weeks after purchase ($300.00). A month later, the A/C died ($850.00). A week later, I lost an enviromental sensor ($300.00), and the alternator at the same time ($400.00). I brought the car into the dealership a month ago, and had to replace 3 engine mounts ($200.00), a CV boot ($150.00), and a headliner that had completely rotted away ($175.00). I know there''s more, but I''m so pissed off thinking about it, I can''t remember anything else. Granted, It''s an older car, but does Saturn specifically design these things to fall apart at 75,000 miles? I''m a little upset at the used car dealership as well; they swore up and down that the origional owner was a little old lady who only drove it to church... I feel like such a fool.

The design of the vehicle, in terms of safety.

The air bags didn''t go off, and I''m not so sure I''m pleased with that. True, they''re expensive to replace, but it was a head on collision.

This is for everyone that worries about the safety factor. I bought my Saturn and a week later it was in a head-on collision. The injuries? None. The damage? The hood, the headlight assemblies (including the turn signals), and the panel under the hood between the lights and engine bent. That was all. It was in and out of the repair shop in no time.