A bit rough around the edges, though that isn't all bad
Written: Sep 01 '02 (Updated Jun 23 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fun to drive, responsive powertrain, sharp interior with leather, cargo space
Cons: Lacks refinement, less room than competitors, pricey
The Bottom Line: Rough around the edges but fun despite, and even because of, this lack of refinement. Tight inside. Look for one used to avoid high price new.
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| mkaresh's Full Review: 2003 Saturn L-Series |
I'll admit it: Where possible I like to patronize American brands. However, I will only do so when their products are competitive. Often, they are not (as many of my reviews conclude). When they are, it is often because a foreign subsidiary contributed to the development of the car. My own car, a Ford Contour, was developed by Ford of Europe and consequently has a German feel to it. Unfortunately, few Americans cared for the Contour, so it was discontinued in North America. Will my next car have to be foreign? Perhaps.
But perhaps not. I was intrigued when I learned that Saturn was basing its first mid-sized car, the L-Series, on the Opel Vectra. This seemed odd, since the Vectra was actually shorter in length than the small Saturn, the SL. On the other hand, the Vectra also served as the basis for the fairly large Saab 9-5. The wheelbase of the Saturn L-Series, it turns out, is virtually identical to that of the Saab. So the possibility emerged that the new Saturn would offer the dynamics and comfort of a European luxury car at American prices.
I first drove the Saturn L-Series a couple of years ago, and was moderately impressed. It seemed a decent enough car, with a touch of sportiness. An added bonus: Like other Saturns the L-Series has plastic body panels to prevent dings, though in this case the rear fenders are steel owing to the Vectra origins. Other reviewers were less charitable. An awful ad campaign more full of bare feet than cars aL-Serieso hurt, and the Saturn L-Series sold only half as well as GM expected. In its first year of production GM’s loss on the car exceeded half a billion dollars.
This led to a crash redesign of the car for 2003. I took the updated Saturn L-Series for a test drive. Last time I test drove the LS sedan, so this time I tested the LW wagon. A wagon is increasingly rare in this price class—Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan, and Honda now offer no wagons, and this is the only wagon available from GM. Another result of the Saturn’s Euro roots? Alas, it seems that when the L-Series is replaced in a couple of years it will be with something that is neither a sedan nor a traditional wagon, but a mystery something else. Probably another semi-SUV thing. So if a traditional wagon is what you want, this is one of your few choices, and it seems you’d better act soon.
Saturn L300 Reliability
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Styling
For 2003, the rear end has been lowered a bit and the front end has been raised a bit to reduce the extreme rake in the L-Series’s beltline. Sure, a wedge profile used to be fashionable, but that was twenty years ago. The entire front end has also been redesigned to incorporate much larger headlamps and a sizable grille in place of the slits low profile headlamps and grille slit that graced the original front end. Though the results somewhat resemble the front end of the Ford Contour after a similar crash redesign (must history so blatantly repeat itself?), the results are somewhat more attractive than they were for the Contour, and they do make the car appear more substantial. Market research much have found that people wanted to large Saturn to look large. In the rear of the L-Series sedan, the all-across tail lamp (another dated feature) has been replaced by more conventional lamps to each side of the painted metal trunk lid. Finally, the V6 Saturn now comes standard with 16” alloys with five thick spokes. I find them much more attractive than past alloys on this car, and also than the $595 chrome wheels (same as the 2002’s). The last I dislike because their design is less attractive and because they are chromed. Overall, the resulting car is even more conventional a design than before, but at least it has a vaguely German purposefulness about it now. I’d say it’s more attractive than the Camry or Accord, but less stylish than the Altima or Passat. White remains a bad color, and light shades are marginal, but a number of medium metallics suit the new styling well.
Inside a few detail changes have also been made. Saturn has jumped on the white gauge face bandwagon, trailing Nissan by only fourteen years. Metallic trim, a more recent styling trend, replaces the fake wood from last year’s car. The standard fabric is now a durable feeling cloth rather than velour. And the tan and gray interiors are now two-tone (the black remains a single tone). The second tone with the tan is brown, a combination popularized by the 1990 Lexus. I especially like the gray interior, which has uses nicely contrasting gray and black. Sharp. Usually I prefer tan, but in this car I think gray leather is the way to go. The leather package adds leather not only to the seats but to the steering wheel, shifter, parking brake, and door panels as well.
One thing that hasn't changed enough is the name. Saturn is totally redesigning its small car for 2003, and the new car gets a real name, “Ion.” The new SUV is called the VUE. I think the big Saturn needs a real name, too.
Accommodations
Many American cars have been plagued with interiors of dubious quality. The L-Series fares better than any other American car in this price class that I’ve sat in. I originally drove this car a day after driving a Passat and Jetta, both of which have been rightly praised for the quality of their interiors. At that time I felt that the L-Series interior did not suffer in comparison. The Saturn steering wheel is a bit dowdy, but the curves in the center stack are more artful than the rather severe lines found in the VWs. The fake wood was bearable, but the metallic finish is definitely an improvement. Nearly all of the materials appeared to be of high quality. I wish that the interior in my wife’s Intrigue was this nice.
In my second test drive I noticed a few quality issues, and one positive characteristic. The seat upholstery, especially in the cloth interior of the wagon I drove, didn’t have straight seems. In multiple cars I noticed that the front edge of the seats was wavy. The glove compartment door feels cheap. On the positive side, the doors close with the sort of high quality, tight sound I’m used to from VWs.
One part of the interior deserves special mention. If you’ve read my Intrigue review (the second I ever posted here), you know I hate the hard vinyl armrest on the driver’s door. It makes my elbow sore on long drives. This is partly because I am used to driving a manual, so I tend to drive with only my left hand on the wheel. You will find a similar armrest in many American cars, even some expensive ones, and in many imports as well. I guess they're designed by lazy slushbox-only people.
What do I want? Well, the padded cloth armrest found in my Contour is a nice start. But what’s really nice is a padded leather armrest. One like you’ll find in a Lexus LS 430. I found one of these in the VWs. This is uncommon for an under $30k car. This is the sort of thing these VWs are praised for. Guess what? The Saturn has one, too. In an under $25k car. A very nice surprise. The armrest in the cloth interior is also padded, though it does not feel as comfy. This may seem a minor detail, but if you drive at all aggressively you’ll appreciate it. The front seats have very little lateral support, so you will likely be bracing yourself in hard turns with your left elbow.
Due to the L-Series’s Euro-compact roots, the cabin is significantly narrower than that of a Taurus, Camry, or Altima. This is not all bad, as it makes the car feel sportier. It will make it harder to carry three people in the back, but even among wider sedans few do that well. Both front and rear seats are positioned fairly low to the floor. With the front seat this can be a good or a bad thing, depending on your perspective. It lends to the sporty feeling of the car. But it totally lacks the semi-SUV feeling of a growing number of sedans. Visibility out is still very good, as the dash and door panels are low, but some people prefer to sit way up. The optional power driver’s seat has a height adjustment, so I guess some compensation is possible. Sadly, the seat adjusts only up and down. Unlike many power seats, its tilt is not adjustable. I guess they save one motor this way. But then they include power recline, unusual in a popularly priced domestic car. Maybe the team that developed the car had to choose between power tilt and power recline? I wish they’d gone the other way, but the market research must have found that I’m in the minority. The power recline does provide for infinite adjustment, so there won’t be the problem of a lever-actuated recliner where no setting is just right. A rotary control, common to European cars and thus likely standard in this car (I neglected to check), does the same thing, though.
This time around I had a severe problem with the front seats. In both the car I drove and another in the showroom, I felt like the driver’s seat was angled a bit to the left, and as if there was a bit of extra padding down the right side of the sseatback. As a result, I never felt entirely comfortable in the driver’s seat.
The low seating position is more of a problem in the rear. The sedan and wagon have the same rear seat. It’s too low to the floor to provide good thigh support. Worse, the corners of the seat cushion are severely rounded off, such that the outside leg is very much up in the air. Given the low seat, the leg would be in the air regardless, but this way it feels as if you’re sitting on a narrow ledge. Room in the rear seat is marginal, short of what has become the midsize norm. At 5ֽ”, my knees barely avoid touching the front seatback when the latter is adjusted for my height. With a taller driver or taller passenger, some knee to seat contact is likely. At least headroom is plentiful.
Safety is enhanced by a standard head-height side curtain airbag. Though some expensive cars include both a curtain and standard side air bag, most cars in this price range include one or that other. As the head is more fragile than the torso, the side curtain is nicer to have.
In the sedan, the trunk is very large, and the rear seats fold down to create a pass-through (though the size of this pass-through could be a bit larger). The wagon has a good amount of cargo area even with the seat upright, unlike many smaller wagons, and a lot once the rear seat is folded. Two small lidded compartments are located beneath the floor, one on each side. A windowshade style cargo cover is standard. Sadly, a third seat is not available even as an option.
On the Road
Two engines are available in the L-Series, a 135 horsepower 2.2 liter four and a 182 horsepower 3.0 liter V6. A manual transmission is available, but only in the four cylinder sedan. This automatically rules the car out for me, since I’d want a manual with the V6 in the wagon.
Although the V6 makes 58 fewer horsepower than the 3.0 liter six in the 2003 Accord, it nevertheless accelerates the car vigorously. This is basically the same engine you’ll find in the Cadillac Catera, but hauling over 500 fewer pounds and requiring only regular unleaded. (The extra cost of premium isn’t worth the few extra horsepower it gets you in engines designed to only run on premium in my book.) More impressive than the engine’s power is the powertrain’s responsiveness. The automatic transmission kicks down at the slightest provocation, a rarity in this age of fuel economy standards. This puts the engine instantly into its powerband, and lends the whole car an eager nature. Too often I find a powerful engine is hampered by a transmission that delivers the gear I want only with a great deal of prodding.
The Saturn V6 is louder and rougher sounding than the typical Japanese six. I suspect the unconventional 54 degree V has something to do with this. Most people prefer smoothness, but some might find that a little coarseness, like some of the Saturn’s other shortcomings, adds to the sportiness of the car. I personally enjoyed the mechanical whine the engine made at high RPM. Not at all sporty was a slightly boomy, rough idle, strange with a six. This vibration disappeared when the A/C was turned off. Interesting. I also hate how my own engine feels with the A/C on, but because the engine is then much less responsive, not because of any additional harshness.
I was largely pleased with the handling of the wagon, finding it much more fun to drive than the sedan I drove two years ago. I believe Saturn has re-tuned the suspension since then, and at the very least the V6 now comes with lower profile tires. The car’s handling still has many faults, but some of these I found strangely entertaining, as they lent the chassis a lively nature. For example, although the front suspension was a bit skittish over pocked pavement, viewed charitably this seemed an extension of the chassis’s kinetic personality. I recall the Nissan Maxima feeling much the same way. A pleasant distinction from the dead, overly composed feeling of most family sedans—not to mention wagons—these days. Steering feel is pretty good at low speeds, but spectacular on the highway, quick and passing detailed feedback through my fingertips. I’m rarely a fan of variable assist systems; I’d rather the steering felt spectacular at all speeds. Torque steer under heavy acceleration is prominent, reinforcing my sense that this chassis wasn’t fully developed. In hard turns the L-Series leans a bit more than would like, though no more than the primary competition. A Passat behaves similarly. At least understeer is moderate, so it won’t kill the fun. The brakes are confidence inspiring, firm with a nice feel. All in all, a chassis rough around the edges but fun despite, and even because of, this lack of refinement.
Last time I drove the L-Series on South Carolina roads, and felt the ride was well-controlled. This time I drove it on my native Michigan roads, and with lower profile tires. And not just any low profile tires, but Firestone Firehawks. These also came standard on my Contour (continuing the amazingly long list of similarities), so I know they are just about the worst riding tires you can buy. They’re cheap, but I have personally spent more to get another brand, and suggest that Saturn do the same; for this time around I found fault with the ride of the car. Don’t get me wrong, the L-Series rides fairly well most of the time. But the tires clomp loudly over minor road imperfections, and the front suspension reacted sharply to some frost heaves. The chassis lacked the composure of many newer competitors, recalling cars a couple generations back.
Pricing
Saturns sell at sticker, so the prices are higher than they seem. For 2003, ABS is no longer standard. GM decided that for many of its cars, apparently including this one, many customers weren’t considering the standard ABS when comparison shopping, so they made it a $400 option. This price includes traction control, so it’s more than reasonable. It would be even more reasonable if the base price went down $400 for 2003 to compensate. But instead it went up by about $300, for a total gain of $700. GM must have decided that the way to lose less money on the car is to charge more for it, rather than to cut prices and sell more of them.
The wagon I drove had only the convenience package, so its price came to “only” $23,680. This is nearly $2,000 more than the sedan. (It’s also nearly $2,000 more than a comparably equipped four-cylinder LW200, but such is the price of two cylinders when the competition is imported.) Maybe because there is far less competition with wagons? I’d personally buy the car with the leather (which requires the comfort and convenience packages), ABS, and six-disc premium audio system, which bring the sticker to $26,170. I’d like a sunroof as well, but that’s only available on the sedan. Even without it, the price is getting high. But what are the alternatives? A six-cylinder Outback or Passat wagon is thousands more. For example, a 2003 Passat GLX wagon stickers for $31,200 ($800 more than the sedan), and according to Edmunds dealers provide little if any discount off that price. The only similarly sized wagon that costs less is the Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable. It’s larger, but much less fun to drive. So then it comes down to priorities.
The sedan has more direct competition. The L300 sedan with the same equipment plus the sunroof comes to $24,915. This is well below the next least expensive German-flavored sedan, the VW Passat. The Passat is a much better car in many ways, but five grand is a lot of money. As for the Japanese, a comparably equipped 2002 (2003 prices not yet available) Toyota Camry SE stickers for $28,115, but Edmunds suggests that with the typical dealer discount it should run around $25,250. So roughly the same price for a car that is smoother, quieter, roomier, and likely to be more dependable. But will discounts on the 2003s be nearly as large, as it won’t be the end of the model year? Of course not. The 2002 Accord EX V6 is even more competitive, stickering for $25,760 and likely rolling out the door for around $23,500, albeit with a bit less equipment than the others (15” wheels, no CD changer). A 2003 Nissan Altima stickers for $28,738 comparably equipped, and here Edmunds suggests dealers are charging at least sticker. The Altima has a more powerful engine and is roomier, but has an especially cheap interior and despite the engine isn’t all that fun to drive. A Maxima shouldn’t run much more, as dealers do discount those. Finally, among domestic brands the Pontiac Grand Am GT and Dodge Stratus ES come closest. (The Oldsmobile Alero is more similar, but on its way out.) The former stickers for $23,530, and dealers generally sell the car for about $22,300. (No CD changer, though.) The Dodge runs a few hundred more than the Pontiac.
Overall, prices for the L-Series seem a bit high, especially since Saturn dealers don’t dicker. Sure, the customer service is widely regarded to be best in the business, but that can only compensate for so much.
One interesting feature I haven't yet mentioned is a rear seat DVD-based entertainmment system. Increasingly common in SUVs and minivans, they remain a rarity in wagons, and among sedans are available in only mega-bucks models. Yet such a system is optional in both the sedan and wagon here. The entertainment system package includes the premium package (but necessarily deletes the sunroof), adding about $1,000 to the price of the car. Quite reasonable considering others tend to charge much more.
Ultimately, used is the way to buy the L-Series, as it is for most American cars. It might cost a lot new, but used it should offer a lot for the money, especially if an entertaining driving experience is high on your list of priorities.
Last Words
I really want to like this car, and did enjoy driving it. Currently, it doesn’t quite have what it takes to be a true sports sedan/wagon. A manual paired with the six and better seats with much more lateral support could do wonders, though, at least as far as I’m concerned. The problem is, Saturn’s image is cute and friendly, so a hard-edged sport sedan/wagon, which the L-Series in many ways aspires to be, doesn’t quite fit. Hence the half-hearted effort.
Unfortunately, as a standard family car the L-Series falls down in many areas. It lacks refinement, and it's tight inside compared to the similarly priced competition. So this clearly isn’t going to work for it, either. Makes me wonder why Saturn bothered to spend a ton of money adapting a German platform, when they really want to compete with the Japanese.
As a wagon, this vehicle might be defensible. After all, there are few alternatives that are not much more expensive. As a sedan, however, this car will only appeal to a few people who want a car with some German feel but can’t or don’t want to spend more. Either way, I strongly advise checking out a nearly new as opposed to truly new car.
To learn more about my reliability research and sign up to participate in it, or to perform thorough up-to-date new car price comparisons, visit www.truedelta.com. A link to this website and alphabetized links to my other vehicle reviews can be found on my profile page.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 23,680
Model and Options: LW300 with convenience package
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