Where do I begin!
New alternator, front brakes twice, catalytic converter, the windows are hard to wind up due to shoddy Saturn workmanship and materials!
The car burns a quart of oil each 600 miles!
The seats are uncomfortable and way too small, I am a big lad.
The windshield cost $800!
It is now in the garage because there is a horrendous knocking noise coming from the front suspension!
The motor mount needed replacing - this I was informed by the dealer was a design fault by Saturn! The Saturn dealer even sold me the wrong size bolts for the mount!
This car had a full service history when I got it/I wish I had read these reviews prior to my purchase!
I baby my cars and have followed all the maintenance schedules, yet it is still an unreliable heap of junk. It is the kind of car that is in the garage every other month for something major.
The transmission also pops out of 2nd and 3rd gears from time to time!
These cars are junk/stay away, warn all your friends.
The air conditioning is very poor and the automatic seat belts have locked and tried to strangle me on many occasions. The car is too low and very awkward to get in and out of.
The dealers are totally useless. I have my emergency repair work, lots, done by a decent mechanic who does not rip anyone off. Luckily he is quite reasonably priced although even he scowls when he sees me returning the Saturn for further work!
These cars are pure junk, stay away.
Too true. Everyone knows these cars are absolute junk.
I agree with the review and indeed the above comment. These cars are horrendous.
That's so weird... I had an SL1 for over 5 years and 100000km, and it has been the most reliable car I ever had (I reviewed it here).
Maybe it's because it's a "plain" SL1 and not a "loaded" SL2?
Very odd.
I agree, anyone who buys these cars now after reviews like these all across the Internet will be laughed at. You think you save money buying a cheap Saturn as opposed to a quality import, but really you are fooling yourself. Saturn's image is currently at toilet level.
You must be my twin because you described our Saturn experience perfectly!!! We warn everyone every chance we get... Stay Away From A Saturn!!!
I bought my Saturn SL over a year ago. There have been no problems with this car. In fact, I saw other,"better" cars of the same year stalled and smoking by the side of the road when it got to 110 degrees here (as it invariably does every Summer).
True, it is not a high performance car. It isn't going to have the cachet and resale value of some FOREIGN car. However, the fact remains, It does what the manufacturers promise it will do and I did not have to deal with some predatory sleaze/salesman when I bought it.
Gas mileage is excellent. It seems like reducing our oil use is the right thing to do these days. Don't you think?
Man you make me laugh. How many miles does your little saturn have on the clock. I am sure I can speak for many mnay many other saturn owners when I say any day now your car will start to consume oil like gasoline. Most of us would like an oil tanker behind us. but hey do not take my word for it. you will soon find this fact out for yourself. believe me driving a saturn will increase oil use. thankfully I now drive a nissan. good luck.
You're not wrong.
Hey man, I guess you people all have had some serious problems. But, if you knew how to take care of a car from the beginning then you probably wouldn't have to be so mean to them. My car has a lot of kilometers on it and it is just fine. It does burn oil, but not even enough to worry about.
I have a 93 Saturn SL2 with 181,000 miles on the clock. The only thing that needed fixing so far was the alternator at around 120,000 miles. Other than that we had no repairs. It burns about 1/2 quart of oil per 3,000 miles, not enough to worry about, and it gets 35 miles per gallon. For a car that's almost 10 years old it's great!
- Markus.
Not a very reliable car, but like any vehicle was excellent in the beginning.
For the people who say their Saturn is running great, I say, so what (I think there were about two good comments). The car running great, is not an accomplishment, the car should be running great! Saturn's job, for the most part, is to sell a product that works properly (in this case, runs properly), is reliable, does not burn a quart of oil for every 500 miles, and does not need an engine replacement after 50,000 miles (I am on my 3rd engine in less than a year and the AAA diagnostic says that this engine should be replace too, rings bad, blah, blah, blah - and for the record, I change my oil every 3,000 miles, despite having to add 4 quarts between changes). It appears that there is a problem with a car when the majority of consumers say the car is a piece of junk - as the majority of people on this web page have stated. Because one persons new car works properly (and again I say, "that's not an achievement, the car should work properly - at least for 100,000 miles!), one should not negate the fact that another person is having serious, erroneous problems with their car. There are just too many of us burning oil in our Saturn and it is not our fault! I can't wait till I can replace my Saturn with a reliable car - at Saturn's expense!
I currently own a '93 Saturn SL2. I have both good and bad comments about this vehicle (Mainly good). This Saturn is my second Saturn. I previously drove a '93 Saturn SL1. When I purchased the used '93 SL1 in August of '99, it had only 60,000 miles on it. I drove that vehicle for 3 years 30,000 miles more until I wrecked it in August of 2002 and it did fine. The only complaints about that car was the two times I had accidents with it, the air bag did not deploy. So if your looking at safety, this is a major problem. The oil did burn, but it seemed that this just happens with increasing mileage. The current Saturn I have now has 180,000 miles on it and it really drinks the oil. If you are complaining about reliability, I would have to say that with both Saturn's I have had, nothing has gone severely wrong. My Saturn is still running strong at it's current miles and I would say it is doing just fine and will do fine for another 50,000 miles. Most cars (especially ones this cheap) don't last that many miles. So I would have to say you definitely get what you pay for, if not more.
I have had my 93 SL2 since March of 1996. It currently has 131,000 miles on it. I bought the car with 46k on it, of the nearly 100k miles I have put on it my problems have consisted of the following: 2 Alternators, 3 batteries, one temperature gauge, and of course brake pads. Not to mention misc items like light bulbs and tires. My SL2 is not burning oil at an alarming rate yet. I have kept the oil changed on average about every 4k miles, and since mile 106k I have been putting in synthetic oil... My SL2 is an automatic and is also getting 35 mpg highway. I could not have hoped for a better investment when I first purchased this vehicle. It is a shame that the majority of comments have been negative on this page, I just thought I'd add a positive one..
I've had a 1993 Saturn SL for 10 years now, bought new in 1993, that has 105,000 miles on it. I've had to replace the headliner and repair the drivers seat, which started to rip. As for the engine, I've never had a problem. It doesn't burn oil. Maybe I'm lucky. Or maybe everyone else is talking about the SL1 or SL2, whereas mine is a plain SL (as in the first car they ever made). Considering the low initial price, low maintenance cost, and great mileage, this car has been a serious bargain.