I have had probably a dozen cars in my life, but this was my first (and perhaps) last brand new car.
At the outset, I would say that I chose Saturn, for the most part because of the reliability others had expressed in their vehicles, and their award-winning customer service reputation they had established over the years, OR SO I THOUGHT.
I have had multiple problems from the start; (Did I mention the fact that our '07 Vue has only 37,000 miles on it)
The repair manager told me I needed the "cables" that apparently make the car (manual trans) shift and they were not covered under the power train warranty. I'm sorry, I thought drive train would include the parts that makes the car go from reverse to 1st gear.
Our miles put on this vehicle are as follows: the first 10,000 miles were around town in the city of Amarillo, Texas. we then drove 1,500 miles across the country as we moved to the Hudson Valley region of upstate New York. I'll give you that the Catskill mountains are not as urban as Amarillo, but with the stress that the shock mounts and other things have taken, you would think we go through downtown Kabul every day!
I remember with fondness the day we said this little cheer with the sales team at the dealership. Looking forward to driving my new Vue, not having to worry about things breaking down all the time. (yeah right)
For the most part I love my Saturn. I just wish there was an express lane to the service and parts department, because I am there so frequently and the dealership is 60 miles from my house. (not your fault, I'm the one that moved to the mountains.)
I've been to the dealership more often with my (NEW) car, than I ever was with my old Toyota that I drove until it had 150,000 miles on it, then the muffler fell off.