-Car needed new rotors and pads; dealer replaced them for free.
-I started to pull away with the parking brake still engaged and now the door locks do not lock automatically.
The positives:
-It took me a lot of research as well as a long time to finally decide that I was interested in purchasing a Saturn Ion. When a deal finally came up that I could not refuse, I went for it.
-The car is beautiful. It is a 2004 Saturn Ion 3 Special Edition. It is black Onyx with two-toned tan and black leather interior. The special edition came with special leather seats, polished aluminum wheels, chrome-tipped exhaust pipe, "special edition" embroidered floor mats and many other amentities.
-The leather interior is smooth and supple, and it is comfortable and easy to clean.
-The car runs very smoothly; when the engine is idling, it is hard to tell that it is even running.
-The manual transmission allows the 2.2L engine to operate at its full potential while still allowing it to have wonderful gas mileage.
-The center mounted gauge cluster and high ceiling allow for the interior to feel very open and airy. This contributes to the car feeling much larger and more substantial than it looks.
-The radio and climate controls are well within reach of the driver and passenger.
-The car handles very well, with very little lean through turns. The car always seems to feel sure of itself over bumps and uneven pavement.
-The gas mileage is also impressive.
I have clocked 31 MPG City and 38 MPG Hwy.
The negatives:
-It took me a very long time to adjust the seats to a comfortable driving position. They still feel somewhat unsupportive on a long ride.
-When driving over severely bumpy pavement, the front suspension seems to rattle a bump a lot.
-The power window, lock, and mirror switches are hard to find in the dark because they are not lit.
-The electronic power steering makes the steering feel a bit numb and much too sensitive at highway speeds.
FYI--your automatic door locks may just simply need to be reset. The procedure is spelled out in the owner's manual, and involves holding down the door lock button for a specific time. Try as described in the manual and it may fix your problem.
I appreciate that very much, however I did try that and it didn't work. I tried it multiple times as a matter of fact.
Yes, I had the same problem; on the car remote, push and hold both door lock and unlock buttons for about 5-10 seconds.
About my lock problem.
So everyone knows, the dealer was more than helpful with the lock problem.. They didn't really explain to me what the problem was, but something needed to be programmed, everything was fine, and I was in and out of the dealer in 20 minutes.. I'm still enjoying this car and the Saturn service experience as well. Great people, great cars, great service.
**UPDATE**
Everything with the car has been going well, 5 months later, and the odo is up to 48k... (yuk)
My front end is starting to clunk over certain bumps at times... It's just a quiet clunking noise, mechanic says I need sway bar bushings.. After research, this is a very common problem. The parts are about $7/each.. Having it done after Christmas.
*Another update*
The car is now at almost 52k Miles.
At 48k I had to replace the Ignition Module and Coil Towers. This caused the car to misfire under a load. Had everything repaired at the dealer for $300, everything is fine now.
Replaced Front Stabilizer bar bushings at 51k miles due to clunking from the front end, did it myself, bought the parts at the dealer for about $25.00.
Still a good car, but because of the amount of miles I'm putting on it, I will be selling it/trading it in on an Aura towards the summer time.
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