Faults:

I am a twenty year old female and this was my first car, so needless to say I could have taken better care of it and so could have the previous owner.

The headliner is coming off, but it was already torn when I purchased it. I just have used a spray glue to keep it up.

I have replaced the starter, the alternator, and the head gasket. Although all those replacements have been after 100,000 miles.

General Comments:

I absolutely LOVE my Saturn and I highly recommend them to anyone! Besides, all the problems I have had, the majority of cars have these problems much before I did.

Although the car has been the result of 3 speeding tickets because of it's great get up and go.

It also gets great gas mileage!

Faults:

My "96" Saturn SL1 Sedan has been a very decent car, it has only needed an alternator, battery & front brake rotor, up until now. Recently I noticed oil leaking from it on the passenger side near the coolant tank... Oh No!!!. The oil was in the recovery tank. I e-mailed Saturn about the problem & was informed that my extra warranty for this defect had expired last year (6yrs. or 100,000 miles). Well I'm looking at $2700.00 in bills & crossing my fingers it will still run at least a couple more years.

Faults:

Alternator replacement 2 times, EGA valve. Rotors, front right caliper assemble, Front Brake pads, and Oil consumption although it passes emissions just fine, can't find the oil egress. Sunroof stopped operating, dealer replaced the Motor and then it worked 2 times, now it is locked shut and I am tired of screwing with either of them.

General Comments:

Car is almost all original and seems to keep going. My goal is 200k. Drives predictably and has great driver ergonomics. Visibility is outstanding. A V6 would have been the ticktet if the dependability was as good as the 4 cylinder.

Faults:

Nothing major has broken on this car in six years. It does have an appetite for mufflers, but I live in an area where the roads are heavily salted in the winter so this isn't necessarily a Saturn defect.

I'm still on the original battery and the car fires right up on the coldest days, though this is probably pushing my luck.

There is quite a bit of rust on the bottoms of the doors. Again this is from salt, but there should be better sealing here.

The passenger seat belt is jammed and needs to be replaced.

There are many annoying rattles inside from various plastic parts, which get worse in winter.

The syncro for first gear is going; it's increasingly difficult to shift into first and it requires several tries sometimes. Annoying, but livable.

Saturns are "known" (urban legend) for burning oil. Mine does not. I think people who have this problem did not maintain their cars properly.

General Comments:

This is not a sports sedan, but I tend to drive it like one. Handling is decent and the 24V engine pulls nicely through 4500rpm (dieselishly, there's no point in revving it higher as all you get is more engine noise). Speeds over 80mph are tiring and loud from engine and wind noise, but the car is very nice at 75mph.

Consistent 30-32mpg fuel economy on the highway with the manual trans running 87-octane cheap stuff.

The seats are decent and I have driven 12 hours at a stretch without too much discomfort. Interior materials are of high quality (not the case with new Saturns) and there is no wear of the carpet and upholstery. However the assorted plastics do buzz and rattle especially in the cold.

This is the most reliable car I've owned, but I am ready for something new. I chose "no" about buying another Saturn because the current models are 1) extremely ugly 2) are a poor value and 3) seem made of the cheapest materials.