1996 Saturn SC -2 review from North America

A ring broke in one of the cylinders at 72,250 miles and it is now at a mechanics awaiting disposition. The mechanic told me that it needs a new engine. This after I spent $450 to fix the oxygen sensor and a driver side window that would not roll up all the way.

This car is cheaply built and I would not buy another one.

I bought this car new in 1996 and, at first, enjoyed the hell out of it. I did notice that the tuning circle was not as good as my VW Golf, but outside of that, it was a fun car to drive

Also, it seemed more noisy than my VW.

The longer I owned it, the more annoying problems I found with it.

For example, the driver's side window

started slipping and would not roll up all the way. The molding on the passenger side began to disintigrate and fall apart, leaving the metal exposed.

When I had to replace the battery, the nut that hold the battery clamp in place were so hard to get to that I ruptured the air conditioning line which started leaking freon. That cost me $200 to fix.

The oil consumption on the car was horrible. After I talked to someone at work, they remarked that this a well known Saturn defect. A couple of times, the oil level fell down to almost dry in about a month. I alway shad to carry a couple of quarts of oil to combat this. Supposedly, the problem lies in the valve guides in the engine.

All in all, I won't buy another Saturn.