Head gasket at 60,000
Total engine replacement at 102000.
Would never buy another Saturn again. I changed oil at 3000 miles, checked oil every week, did not abuse the car and was amazed when things started going wrong at 60000 miles. Started with cracked head gasket and ended with a blown engine at 102000 miles. Have heard numerous stories of poor quality--wish I would have known of them prior to purchasing. Have used this knowledge to advise quite a few people not to buy Saturn's. Purchased a Toyota last year and have been pleased. I will never buy a GM product in the future and have advised friends/family to purchase Toyota or Honda.
The funny thing about you not wanting to buy any more GM products is that your Saturn is almost entirely made by Saturn.
You're welcome,
A mechanic.
I doubt that your advice to people not to buy a Saturn due to your very rare bad experience with one will cause much of a sales drop. As a general rule, they are extremely reliable (though very boring) cars. Blown head gaskets are very often caused by allowing the engine to overheat, which few modern engines can tolerate. If you ran it hot, it is not the car's fault.
My God son bought a Saturn SC-1 when he entered college 10 years ago and put nearly 200,000 miles on it with nary a problem. It was passed on to his younger brother. I've driven Saturns with as high as 250,000 miles and they seemed to run great.
As for sending friends to Honda and Toyota, I wouldn't unless I was VERY angry at my friends. The quality of imports has literally fallen through the floor, and Toyota especially has been plagued by NUMEROUS very serious problems. Just check the Camry and Tundra reviews.
Oh, and I'm ALSO a mechanic!!
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