2002 Saturn SL n.a. review from North America

After owning the car for one week, I would day that it is more satisfactory than my '96 SL1 in almost every way. It seems to have the extra inch of legroom I always wanted in the SL1; the ride is far superior; and the seats and armrests are much more comfortable (I never understood why Saturn, a proponent of "continuous improvement", was still using rock-hard armrests after 5 years). The car has more attractive styling, as well.

My only annoyance so far is that, as another reviewer mentioned, the car needs a sixth gear (I have a 5-speed manual). My SL1, in 5th gear, was going about 58 mph at 2000 rpm in 5th gear; the SL2 is going about 43 or 44, which came as a disappointment, although I shouldn't have been surprised. No doubt the engineers felt that to exploit the full potential of the twin-cam they had to gear it more like a race car. But it ISN'T a race car, and I think they should have found a better compromise between performance and

economy. In town, the gearing is fine; on the highway, it's not.