I bought one one of these in Sept. 1995 with 6 miles on it brand new and since they no longer make them, I am now here to tell you why NOT to buy it used!

I was in college and needed a car in a hurry to commute to school. I always purchased Chevy up to this point. I didn't care for the cavalier at that time so my only option was this sporty looking 2 dr Beretta. It had the basics, a/c, ABS, 3100 v6 with 165 horsepower (not the new edition with 175 horsepower and 100 k mile platinum spark plugs and 5 year radiator coolant... in the new GM cars) rear window defogger, am/fm cassette stereo, delay wipers. It was priced at $14,500 and I purchased it for $12,500.

Where does the headache start?

ok, I will try to describe my story in a bullet form. This is a run down of some problems of having the car in the shop 13 times, I repeat 13 times

JUST THE 1st MONTH OF OWNERSHIP!

- Water leak, entire trunk flooded out into the car. everything replaced from back window to ceiling liner, jute in trunk, seats, carpeting...
-water entering tail lamp (replaced 4 times and did not correct problem
-front bumper molding fell off and I drove over it!
-paint started bubbling and peeling
-engine stalled on highway
-hard to start especially in the cold
-wipers stopped working and froze
-brake fluid poured out into engine (can't explain that)
-abs failed and car spun out going 20 mph in the snow
-fan belt loosened up and caused alternator to fail
-heater core went
-engine would cut out on the highway and you would have to pull over to break down lane to restart in park
-few times car failed to start all together
-rattles that can be compared to a baby rattle everytime car hit a bump. Thought the engine was going to fall out.

SAFETY FEATURES

Drivers airbag ONLY
Daytime head lamps (high beams on at 80% of regular brightness)
At dusk the headlamps came on by themselves (including parking lights and all related lighting)which was indecisive and flickered off and on.
No side impact protection

OTHER
-Fuel economy 20 city 29 hwy reg unleaded
-0-60 in 9.7 seconds
-I had cyan (red-orange color) on grey interior.
-Controls in odd places
-Power packages scarce on these cars
-The 4 door corsica (sister car) is known for better quality for some strange reason
-ample leg and head room for a compact car
-model run from '88 to '96 and discontinued for quality control problems

If I saved or discouraged one person from buying this vehicle than my job is done. If not, I may need to update this review and add in more repair problems such as the fuel pump, water pump, and condenser going also within a 5,000 mile period.

This is what drove me to the Saturn family and the high quality of the Saturn product. Everyone has their own good and bad experiences. I think that the fact that consumer reports put up such a bad review based on customer polling and their own testing means something. Next time I will do better research like when I purchased my 97 Saturn Sl2.</b></b>


Amount Paid (US$): 12500
Condition: New
Model Year: 1995
Model and Options: 2 dr or z28