After 9 years and 100,000+ miles it was time to give up my old Saturn SL. I had seen the ION on the weird commercials and knew I wanted another Saturn so I went back to the same dealership I had bought the first from. There was a Black ION 3 sitting in front of the main doors and I had made my mind up to buy it before I even got into the building.

First if you have not bought a Saturn before let me tell you it’s really is a different buying experience than other dealerships. Without any fuss they put me into the very ION I had seen at the doors and sent me off for the weekend. Yes a whole weekend to test drive the car.

Any how, it only took one afternoon to realize this was to be my next car.

I will start with the bad things I have noticed over the last few months of owing it.

The visibility is not the greatest. Thick beams around the glass cause a few blind spots that require some getting used to. I have had to adjust my driving style a bit by looking more actively when changing lanes instead of relying on the mirrors and peripheral vision. I guess that’s really for the best I wish more people turned their heads when changing lanes. I have the ION 3, which has the 6-speaker stereo and the two speakers that are mounted where the dash meets the doorframe block a bit of your view. It’s not bad enough to loose a car in but I have noticed that pedestrians crossing to my right can occasionally be obscured.

Engine power is more than adequate but if your trying to drag race the hopped up Honda at the light next to you forget it. The little 4 cylinder is just not designed to peel out. With that said I have never felt that I did not have enough power. With the automatic I have a Passing gear that really knocks up the torque but greatly reduces gas mileage, so I only use it if Im merging onto the highway in fast traffic.

I have the leather interior because I just had to have but I did look at the color schemes for the non leather. Yeach! Im not sure what they were going for but it really did not work. I truly recommend that if your looking take the step up to the ION 3 with the leather interior.

That’s about it for the cons.

On to the pros.
The exterior design is fantastic. Very nice lines. The off color roof rails help to define the overall arch of the car and can be easily removed and replaced with “Fashion” styled roof rails in various colors and patterns even leopard spots. This car comes ready to be personalized. Inside and out. More on the inside in a moment.

The anti dent, scratch and fade door and side panels keep the car looking new for years. When I traded in the 9 year old Saturn SL it really did look new on the outside. They are also very easy to replace if you do get hit and greatly reduce the repair costs if you are unfortunate enough to get into an accident. They also have the benefit of greatly reducing the cars weight so you get more out of the little engine and better gas mileage.

Trunk space is beyond compare. It truly is bigger in there than many full-sized cars. Parked at the grocery store loading my bags I was able to easily fit 22 full bags into the trunk without having to pile them on top of each other. I got a bit of a laugh when I saw the guy two cars down having to pile bags in his giant SUV because he couldn’t reach any further in. The spare tire is stored under the carpet along with, to my surprise, the battery. This looks a little weird at first but its great for jumpstarting friends and truly easy access. Another nice thing is all the room in this spare tire area allows me to keep a full emergency medical kit, a big roll of duct tape, a full size umbrella, and a nice kit of assorted tools all neatly under the rug. Its like having a trunk under the trunk. Makes for a very clean and uncluttered trunk.

Inside.
Passenger space is adequate for a small car. Your tallest friend should probably get the front seat on any long trips but no one is likely going to be fighting over “shotgun”. The middle seat has a full seatbelt that can be disconnected and hidden behind the 60/40 fold down seats. The fold down seats work great on the cloth interior version but the plusher/firmer leather causes them to not fold down completely flat. Not a big problem unless you intend to be using this as a utility vehicle.

Inside everything is where you want it, even when you did not know you wanted it there. Once you sit in the ION you will immediately notice the instrument display is no longer in front of you. It has been moved to the center angled to face the driver. This does take a bit of getting used to. Once you do, however, you will realize that you never want to go back to peering through the steering wheel to see your gages. The hardest thing to get used to was putting on the left signal blinker and seeing the light on the right of the steering wheel. No I wouldn’t have it any other way. My view of the road ahead is so much better and I can see what I need to on the gages faster. Plus it’s far less distracting.

Driving it is a breeze. The all power everything makes life so much easer and the steering noticeably tightens up at high speeds. Very nice in conjunction with the cruzzzze control. Don’t fall asleep in those comfy leather seats. This is not a sports car so don’t expect any rails at the corners. You have to drive this like it was meant be, like a regular passenger car. It’s not that it is incapable of performing well just that if pushed it will fall short of high performance.

All in all this is really a great practical car. Nice looks, good mileage, reliable, safe and quite a bit of fun thrown in to make it all come together. My wife likes mine so much that this fall she will be buying the ION Coupe for herself. A two ION family. Cool.

Amount Paid (US$): 14,500
Condition: New
Model Year: 2004
Model and Options: ION 3 With the works.