1992 Saturn SL from North America

Summary:

A fabulous, comfortable workhorse

Faults:

Faulty Break Line caused brakes to fail within the first year.

Very minimal routine maintenance and the car runs like a champ.

General Comments:

I love this car, the interior has held up remarkably well considering that I use the car to camp, backpack, transport children, wet paintings and all the ordinary stuff of life. It has been amazingly inexpensive to maintain and gets great gas mileage. In it's old age it has developed a fondness for oil, so I keep it topped off. As a brand new teacher (translation-impoverished) I am trying to stretch it out another year. I hope to get a VUE hybrid.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 16th June, 2004

1992 Saturn SL from North America

Summary:

Good reliabiltiy and performance

Faults:

The window stopped operating on the driver's side. The mechanism inside the door panel had to be replaced. Rust underneath the rear doors on the body panel, and the rear window triangle support rusted.

General Comments:

Great gas mileage. And handles very well.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 9th March, 2004

1992 Saturn SL SL2 4 Cycle 1.9 Liter from North America

Summary:

Seems as though it's only made to last 100,000 miles

Faults:

This car burned excessive oil. By the time it reached 100k miles, it burned so much that if I weren't adding extra every few weeks, by the time it was time for the next oil change (every 3000 miles), there wouldn't have been hardly any left!

The brakes have never worked well. I've taken it to the dealer many times asking to have them checked, but each time I'm told nothing is wrong. Still the brakes feel soft, and if I have to stomp on them to stop immediately, the car doesn't stop right away, causing me to think I've got little or no brakes at all.

The dashboard and paneling snaps have all broken by 100k miles, and the move and rattle while driving over 40 MPH.

The turning radius is VERY wide. I can almost never make a "U" turn, it just doesn't turn sharp enough, even on wide streets, I have to use the "3 point turn-about".

The transmission began to have some problems about 90k miles. It wouldn't upshift until 4-5k rotations per minute. When it does shift, it knocks very hard.

At 116k miles, it had shorts in the power door lock system, which come and go mysteriously.

The power window motor died at 100k miles, the dealer asked for $350 to repair it. I bought a motor from the junkyard for $25, but I now know why the dealers ask for $350; the door was the biggest pain to take apart.

General Comments:

A decent car up until 100,000 miles.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 21st February, 2004

2nd May 2005, 09:38

I agree with the comments made by this owner. I bought this car used and it has been a piece of junk from the day I got it. I am formerly a Honda owner and can't wait to get back to that manufacturer. What ever you do, do not buy a Saturn. I could have written this owners review and they would have almost read verbatim, with one exception, mine, now at 200k breaks down about 1-3 times a month. I am looking for another car now.

21st Sep 2006, 06:51

Say what you will, I had a 1992 Saturn and I happened to have loved it! Yes, there were some annoying problems - drivers side window wouldn't roll up, windshield leaked around the top, etc. but nothing major. I had the car for 4 yrs then lost it in a car accident a couple weeks ago. It ran well, looked great (fiberglass cars always do!) and it never let me down even in cold Maritime winters! This car had over 340,000 km on it - no shame there! I would definitely buy another Saturn.

14th May 2009, 21:57

I bought my Saturn in 94 and have replaced the clutch once, 1 alternator, and ball joints. For a car that cost me $10500, I can't complain about spending less than $2000 in 15 years.

To read what some people write cracks me up, cause if you have a car any amount of time, things will change like use of oil, and other minor things.