1993 Saturn SL SL2 from North America - Comments

Since I purchased the car in February of 2007 I have replaced the thermostat, because the car would take almost an hour to come to normal operating temperature, $10 to replace if you do it your driveway, not a big deal, however, within two weeks of replacing the thermostat the cooling fan motor died, the coolant temperature sensor and switch both gave out, costing about $120 again if you do it yourself. At 145,000 miles. the valve cover gasket began severely leaking, I replaced it as per usual. Things went relatively fine if you disregard the automatic seat belts that don't always pull forward and cheap, rattling interior, until 152,000 miles. where the engine seized. I checked the oil level and to my surprise, it was FULL! I have yet to discover the cause of this, so naturally I have come to the conclusion that it seized for no reason.

The interior is cheap and uncomfortable, the automatic seat belts often choose to lack you into the car, the air conditioner is hopeless, and it is very unreliable. Gas millage is decent until your in a hurry, then it sucks gas almost as quickly as a v-8.

What do you expect from a car with 160,000 miles?

I have had the car now for 180,000+ miles and it drives good. This is all that is wrong with it:

1. Broken trunk (won't close properly if opened) - reason: my mom tried to slam it closed on a pan :P, the latch is loose and I can't find someone that knows how to get it into proper position and firmly place it without it coming loose again - not a Saturn problem.

2. Temp indicator goes to H rather fast n car gets poor gas mileage - reason: probably thermostat I gotta fix, but it has YET to overheat on me (to the point of smoking or anything, it always runs fine) I drive with heat on and it stays good. It's an old car so its bound to be off.

3. Broken seat - reason: the last owner (oh yeah I'm the 3rd owner by the way) got it with the seat broken and he replaced it, but he used a passenger side seat so when my fiance accidentally broke it a little, it broke completely again. Quick fix once I can find a new seat, right now I drive with a sit and spin behind it lol.

4. Rust - reason: what can I say, it's old... oh and I lock my keys out of my car so much that the rubber housing/sealing corners of the doors aren't sealing so well, so water leaks around the edges (not into the car, but to the foot area where the door meets the frame, that is where it rusts.

5. Seat belts - I don't know why but the middle seatbelt in the back has never worked so I can't drive my nieces in the car. Also if my battery is running low, the belts won't go back sometimes, leaving me with no protection, which is weird.

6. Exhaust is noisy - reason: probably a leak but its not from the Saturn build, last owner went to replace muffler but it was still linked as a whole exhaust system so he cut it and soldered (dunno if that is the proper word) on the muffler and I think he didn't do a complete job, it doesn't hurt the performance, there is just a noise like a little combustion is going on right before the muffler.

Again, what do you expect from a car with so many miles? I love this vehicle because it has survived so many miles and as long as I fix the little things, it'll survive longer. I mean I have had the car for 3 years now myself, and I have only had 2 oil changes!!! that should tell you it can really take a beating.