2nd Oct 2010, 17:55

I have a 2000 Saturn SL1, it has 277 000km. I have had good luck with it. In ten years I replaced the clutch once, shocks once, and the oil pan last year due to hard winters and never undercoating it.

As the car aged, I had some minor problems, such as the rear door latch sticking from lack of use, and the auto down button stopped working on the driver's window.

It has held up well, considering how hard I drive it. Best car I have ever owned.

I should see 300 000km by the end of the year.

6th Oct 2010, 17:56

My Saturn SL1 has had only minor repairs. I've replaced the two front wheel bearings (a common problem apparently with these vehicles) as well as the TPS. Other than this, nothing.

It is very good on fuel. I videoed the mileage on one full tank of fuel and refueled at 741km. This was one trip there and back at 90kph. I know of a few to have hit over 500,000 km with minor repairs and one red coloured 2001 SL1 to have reached 750,000km.

I truly believe that if you do proper maintenance (oil changes, oil filters, air filters, and gas line filters etc.), you will get the best that this little vehicle has to offer.

18th Jul 2011, 15:07

I have a 2000 Saturn SL2 that I got from my son. He bought it from the Saturn dealer about 2006 with approx. 70,000 miles on it. He replaced the water pump at 79,000. He sold it to me in 2009. At that time it had 137,600 miles on it. I replaced the water pump last year (it lasted approx 75,000 miles). I have recently had all struts replaced (it was not necessary) as I knew it was about time. One strut bearing plate was broken.

The original owner, before my son purchased, it had "blown" out all the speakers due to blasting the once used to be great Dolby sound system. I just keep the sound level down and it works OK for me. Ha! I have had the "kick plate" problem too, but it has been resolved.

I love the way it handles, and the power (V-6) it has. I get very good gas mileage. I get 30 on the highway and 20-21 around town.

I now have 159,780 miles on it, and I go 5,000 miles between oil changes. The level never goes below "full" mark. No transmission fluid has ever been added.

All-in-all, I would have purchased a new one this year, except for the US Government intervention into private enterprises, and basically shut them down.

12th Oct 2011, 18:15

I am still paying on the loan for my 2000 Saturn SL-2 (3 more months baby!!), but I really REALLY want to trade it in... Here are some of the problems it has had in the almost-4-years since I got it... And it came as a one-owner car with about 70,000 miles on it, so I thought I'd be in good shape...

The first thing to go wrong was not covered under the warranty (of course!). Apparently, a nut came loose inside the transmission. Thank goodness I was home at the time, because I shifted into reverse, pulled out of the driveway into the street and could not get the car out of reverse. I had to scream for my dad, throw it in neutral, and we pushed the thing back up into the driveway. SCARY!! That one cost me $700.

Several months later it needed all new tires, new shocks and struts, and all 4 brakes/rotors replaced. That was a doozy, I think about $900... I thought something like that would have been taken care of by the dealership... apparently not.

She did fine for a long time, then various little things happened like the driver's side window not going down all the way like it should. We replaced the center console with the window switches ($300) and that fixed the problem. The headlights then started to get moisture inside of them, so I replaced both headlamp units (another $300). The driver's side mirror is cracked in the middle, not a big deal since the controls still work, but it gets annoying sometimes... that one will cost me $250 when I get it replaced.

In the past 18 months, I have replaced the O2 sensors (both of them) twice now, and put on a new crankshaft sensor, a new exhaust system from the convertor back (that one wasn't cheap!) and a new control module... UGH!!! The check engine light is still on, I have a "small evap system leak", which will cost about $75 just to diagnose which hose is leaking...

Today I took it in to Defer Tire because the steering wheel was vibrating. Turns out, both my rear tires needed replaced (they were 3 years old so that's fine, they don't last forever), but if you could see the wear pattern on them, it was so odd... completely worn in the middle of one tire and the other one had bald stripes going diagonally across the whole thing! They said I need to have the tires rotated more often, I guess lesson learned... Tires rotated, balanced, alignment done, and 2 new tires for $350.

AND NOW the left front wheel bearing is "noisy" according to the technician. On the way home, it was pulling hard to the left... coincidence? Probably not. I will be getting that replaced this weekend I suppose...

Also, the CD player is on the fritz; I can listen to 2 or 3 songs, then it gets really fuzzy, then stops playing anything at all. The CD comes out burning hot, but the radio works fine so I'm assuming it's the actual CD player...

I swear so far I have paid MORE in repairs than I have on the loan... When I got it, my dad paid the $2000 down payment, which left me with a $4500 loan. If I tried to sell it now, I'd be lucky to get the down payment back...

All in all, a crappy car. I will NOT be getting another used car if I can afford not to... With the money I've spent on repairs, I could have afforded payments on a newer car!!

Thanks for listening! Hope this helps...