2002 Saturn L200 Base Ecotec I4, 2.2L from North America

Summary:

Manual I4 is good, auto V6 sounds bad!

Faults:

Tires.

Brake pads and rotors.

Left rear door speaker went, going to replace that next week.

Front passenger door lock sort of lags behind the others, as if someone stuck molasses in it.

Pine sap ate through the paint on the plastic panels real fast.

General Comments:

My dad first bought this car in the spring of 2009, and sold it to my brother in the summer of 2010. The entire time I have done the maintenance on the vehicle, which hasn't been much, just oil changes, and front pads and rotors.

Mine is a manual I4 combo, so that might be why my experience is better than others; the car probably isn't really comfortable handling the extra power of the V6.

Car handles like a dream, tons of low end torque, takes corners almost as well as my sports car. Not much else to say about it. Enjoy!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 24th December, 2010

2002 Saturn L200 from North America

Summary:

Dependable transportation except for the above mentioned problems

Faults:

Odometer reset from 58,000 miles to 264,433; continues to add miles as I drive it, but when I shut off the car, it resets to 264,433 every time.

Head gasket blew at around 28,000 miles; had extended warranty and replaced it with a rebuilt engine at no cost to me.

General Comments:

I have been very satisfied with the car except for the odometer and engine problems.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 28th March, 2010

2002 Saturn L200 2.2 from North America

Summary:

Why aren't all cars this reliable?

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong with this car.

General Comments:

My first Saturn was an '01 L200 that was retired at 201,000 miles, solely due to the fact that a 60MPH roll-over doesn't exactly do good things for a car. We did, however, drive the car home following the accident, in which nobody was hurt.

Due to the reliability and safety of this car, we bought the '02 L200. I have spent nothing on this car outside of general maintenance (oil changes, tires). It now has 249,000 miles on it and runs as good today as my '01 did when I bought it with 13,000 miles.

I do know that the 2.2 engine has a far better track record than the V-6, and still has reasonable performance. I only wish that the Saturn company was still in existence, because someday this car will wear out, I think.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 1st January, 2010

2002 Saturn L200 2.2 from North America

Summary:

This is not fair

Faults:

I have a 2002 L-200 Saturn, 107k miles and the engine timing chain broke with no warning. GM does not want to fix the problem because they said it is not a part of their problem.

General Comments:

There should be a class action lawsuit.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 13th November, 2009

16th Nov 2009, 12:22

Why is a repair on a 8 year old vehicle with 107K miles on it GM's problem? You are way past the warranty on this car. Timing chains will fail depending on how the car is run and the maintenance it receives or doesn't receive.

Since you obviously didn't buy it new, you probably have no idea what it was subjected to before you got it. Coming on here and crying "no fair" that your used car broke on you, doesn't make sense. If we lived in the perfect world, all cars would be warranted forever no matter how they were treated and how many owners they have had. Keep dreaming!

2002 Saturn L200 2.2L from North America

Summary:

It's a GM product, what do you expect?

Faults:

I got myself a 2002 Saturn L200 in 2003. The car was one year old with 11,000 miles. I like this car a lot, but it is another GM money pit. I will NEVER purchase another government owned GM product. Stuff that has gone wrong with this car... (from today back)

I have a new problem with the service light. It came on this week. Along with this light, the airbag light, fuel light (out of gas lt), and security light. The lights come on and go off at will.

The back drivers side window didn't work one night.

The A/C works and then stops, but if you turn the fan off and back on, it works for a few minutes again.

The doors re-lock while driving.

The fuel gauge and temp gauge don't work. I've read online that the BCM goes out in these all the time. I'm not looking to pay another $400 to $1000 to have this replaced.

The heater core was replaced due to a crack for $500, and took 1 hour to repair.

Previously at 65K miles I had to replace the engine. It cost me another $4,600. I had to take a loan out on the paid off car for this. This car only has 78k miles on it.

The speakers in this car do not work at all. Every speaker and the tweeter died one by one. I hear this is typical for Saturn cars.

The fuel gauge will leave you stranded when it shows 1/4 tank of gas. Seems to always work when checked by mechanics. Go figure huh?

The drivers side brake light had a factory recall on it. The dealership denied a recall till I paid for the new engine, and only due to me spending so much did they fix it for free. Let me clarify what I mean when I say new engine. It was pulled out of a salvaged car and dropped directly into mine in 5 hours. And all that for $4,600. It seems that Saturn doesn't rebuild engines. A new engine would have cost over $9,500. I only paid $12,400 for the car. The reason the engine was installed in 5 hours was that the dealership didn't want me to have the loaner car over a 3 day weekend.

The windshield washer went out right after I got the car.

So all in all, as long as this car is running it's great. This car has cost me almost $1,000 a year in maintenance if you average it out. It is reliable as long as running, but if anything needs repaired costs usually start at $400 on up.

General Comments:

This car has a great paint job that still looks like it rolled off the showroom floor. The dent resistant body parts work well.

The car is fun to drive and will peg out the speedometer (130+ I only tried that once when new). I hear the timing chains have a recall they never installed either. That will trash your motor at almost any speed when it breaks.

The city gas mileage sucks. Only 19 or 20 mpg vs the 24 mpg they claim. It doesn't matter how slow or fast you go. Always 19 to 20 mpg.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 12th August, 2009

12th Aug 2009, 11:41

The doors locking when you begin to drive is a safety feature. If you lock your doors before you begin to drive, that's fine, but the computer is still going to try to lock them. This is supposed to happen and is not a defect.