1993 Saturn SL SL1 review from North America

The muffler has been replaced 4 or 5 times.

The air conditioner stopped working at around 170,000 miles due to a leaking evaporator.

Everything else has been regular wear and tear (oil, brakes, tires, filters, etc.) Very occasionally something a little bigger has been required (i.e. struts), but never anything major.

This car has been terrific. For all of the negative comments people have posted with the SL1 engine, I am convinced that many of them did not take care of the car properly. This car gets 37 mpg on the freeway and 25-30 in the city with 210,000 miles on it. It starts easily on the coldest Minnesota winter nights (sometimes temperatures lower than -20 F). It accelerates and shifts smoothly, never burns oil and has required no drive train work other than maintenance. All I have done is keep up with all of the recommended service (I do most of that work myself), and I fix problems as soon as I notice them while they are still small. The car is pretty slow and fairly noisy to ride in, but I bought it for economy and I simply could not be happier. Keep in mind that most people only post on sites like this when they are having problems. I doubt that I am the only happy Saturn owner out there. I hate to see so many negative comments about such a great car.