Saturn must hire an awful lot of very good advertising people. We've all seen the commercials about happy fuzzy warm Saturn drivers who love their cars. We get sucked into the promise of easy, friendly buying experiences. It all sounds like automotive nirvana.
I wish I'd been a little more skeptical
before I purchased my Saturn...
I've been driving a 1999 Saturn SL as a commuter vehicle for about 2 years and just over 20,000 miles. In that time, I've realized that while it's not a
bad car, it's certainly a far cry from nirvana.
Economy
The reason I bought this car was to be an economical commuter vehicle. Nothing more. In that role, the car has done fairly well. At about $13,000, it was among the least expensive vehicles I could buy. It's been fairly reliable -- I haven't had to do much beyond normal routine maintenance, but then again, it's only got 20K on the odometer and any car that can't do well for at least 40K is probably not worth owning. Ask me again in 5 years and I'll give you a more accurate view.
If your true motivation for buying a car is to save money, the Saturn is a reasonable choice, but probably not the
best buy. In my opinion, the best vehicle on the road in terms of low long-term ownership cost will be the Honda Civic. In today's market, I might also seriously consider a Kia, given their 10 year, 100,000 mile warranties -- probably the best guarantee you'll get from any manufacturer at any price.
Comfort
If you're going to be driving long distances, I don't think you'll like the Saturn. It's not a real comfortable car to drive.
The seats have cheesy, rough feeling upholstery and there's not a lot of front-seat leg room if you're tall. (I'm 6 feet and I feel a bit scrunched.) The back seat is okay for kids, but forget about putting 4 adults in it for any more than a short local trip. Again, I compare the Saturn to a Honda Civic and I feel that the Honda's seats feel more comfortable -- they have better lateral support and they go back far enough that my knees don't have to bend as much.
Dashboard Ergonomics
Generally, the dials and gauges are easy to read and everything important is easily visible. I also appreciate that there are both driver and passenger airbags standard.
The biggest complaint I have with the dashboard is the dangerously inadequate horn. There are two
tiny little buttons located partway up the arms on the steering wheel-- the center is occupied by the airbag. It's impossible to honk the horn quickly in an actual driving situation -- the button location is far from the usual "10 and 2" position of your hands, and the location is unpredictable because it moves if you are in the process of turning.
Even after driving this car on a daily basis for 2 years, I can not hit the horn button quickly when an emergency situation comes up. Whoops! Is that guy going to step off the curb without looking? Better slam on the brakes quick because I'm sure not going to be able to find the dinky little horn button fast enough to warn him!
The horn buttons are so badly designed and so impractical, that I consider the design just as dangerous as a car with no horn at all. Other companies do better...
I can just hear the sorry excuses of GM's engineers at Saturn..."the airbag takes up most of the steering wheel area." So what. It does on my Plymouth too, but the engineers at Chrysler figured out how to make the entire center area of the steering wheel honk the horn when pressed -- I would expect at least equal competence at GM when it comes to safety features.
There are some other things I don't care for with the dashboard, mostly concerning fit and finish issues. Some of the controls just don't feel real solid to me. The windshield wiper lever shakes a bit and feels flimsy. The gear shifter feels solid enough, but it doesn't click into position as crisply as other cars I've driven. The clutch has an odd clicking sound as it releases.
Ya Call That a Radio?
If you're thinking about getting a Saturn with any kind of stereo, I recommend trying to get it deleted, or at least don't pay for anything more than the absolute bare-bones minimum that comes standard. Then go out and buy a real aftermarket stereo.
I made the mistake of paying the Saturn dealer for an upgraded stereo with a cassette deck -- the sound was absolutely abyssmal. If you put the
least little bit of volume on it, the speakers start sounding like vibrating paper cups. I think they must be rated at about 1/2 watt per channel...
Within a month, it was clear that the stereo was an utter waste of money. I took the car over to a Circuit City and shelled out a couple hundred bucks for a halfway decent sounding JVC stereo with fairly inexpensive Jensen speakers. Night and day the improvement. At least now I can turn up the stereo a bit...
Don't Get a Flat...
Like most U.S. cars, you get a flimsy, fake tire that's utterly worthless. I really wish car makers would stop making up excuses for this silly effort to save themselves $20. The jack is also a royal pain to use. It's flimsy and you have to crank
forever to get the car elevated enough to pull a wheel off. I also don't like the screws built into the wheel cover, which make tire removal more of a pain than it already has to be.
Buying Experience
Saturn runs a lot of commercials about how easy their buying process is. Take the ads with a
huge grain of salt.
The buying experience is no better than at other dealers. Smart car buyers can almost always do better by reserching the market and negotiating than they can by going to any "no haggle" dealer. Besides, Saturn dealers are just as likely to try pulling a fast one on you when it comes to contract clauses and add-on charges as are any other dealer.
When I purchased the Saturn, the dealer's business manager tried his utmost to pull one over on me by sliding a "standard" contract over that included credit life insurance pre-printed on the contract.
What utter nonsense! When I objected, the guy even had the audacity to claim that "most customers appreciate it being built in there". Yeah right. We all know that no smart consumer has ever purchased credit life insurance. I don't appreciate shady business practices, and this sure qualified in my book!
For the record, it was obviously not too uncommon to demand that it be removed since the business mangler managed to get another contract without the offending fluff on it printed up in about 15 seconds, saving me $390 just for being moderately observant. My recommendation:
Be just as alert to scams when dealing with a Saturn dealer as you would if you were buying from Big Bubba's Discount Used Cars and Video.
Bottom Line
Don't believe Saturn ads. The cars are average at best and the buying experience is no more likely to be "easy" than at any other dealer. The Saturn strikes me as an acceptably average vehicle with average performance and an average number of problems. As for me, my next commuter car will be the same as my last one -- a Honda Civic. I should never have strayed...
Amount Paid (US$): 13000
Condition: New
Model Year: 1999
Model and Options: SL
