saturn ion review from local paper (long post)

07-07-2002, 08:56 PM

this article was in our local paper, thought some of you may enjoy it, i found the part about the interchangeible roof skirts interesting, dont know how many people will opt to change the colors on a whim like that but interesting nonetheless.
here goes...
if you were looking for out of the box thinking in a compact car, your search is over
the arrival of the all new ion later this year promises to finally fullfill saturns original mandate of providing a breakthrough alternative to the mundane,the every day and the norm.
it was roger smith who said things would be diffrent at saturn.
back in the 1980's and amid great fanfare,smith,then head of genral motors, vowed to creat a division that would blaze a radically different trail for the rest of the automotive industry to follow.
however, the first saturn branded veihicles were downright conventional,in fact the orignal sl four door resembled a shrunken version of the olds cutlass supreme (side note, what the hell is this guy smoking, thats when saturn WAS cutting edge, damn sure didnt look like any olds, IMO).
aside from its ding proof panels, the most radical thing about the saturn was the friendly, no haggle approach exhibited by the people that sold them.
still, saturns have continued to sell reasonably well over the years, despite more intense domestic and import based competition.
(side note, man, the ion is the first thing saturns doing to get me excited again, im really hoping for a reliable car with a good launch, the vue, while one damn good looking truck was delayed far to long with to many excuses then still, after YEARS of being told they were testing, re testing etc it still had as much problems as the l when launched)
the launch of both the mid size l series sedans and wagons a few years agao and, most recently the new vue sport utility vehicle have given buyer smore reason to stop on for a look-see. however, its the ion that will have everyone sitting up and taking notice. replacing the original s series sedans and wagons the all new saturn will come on two distinct flavors. one is a neat looking 5 passenger sedan and the other is a four pass, quad coupe design that features rear doors that are hinged just ahead of the rear wheels.
these doors are designed to allow easy access to the back seat ( theres no pillar between the front and rear openings to get in the way) (sidenote, knowing a little about how cars perform in collsions, having designed my own convetible cars , theres one on my website, and knwoing how much flex the 3d coupe had i hope they engineered this one to not have flex problems.)
a feature orignally offered by the 3 door saturn coupes back in 2000.
the quad coupes (side note, quad coupe, 3 door COUPE, isnt that an oxymoron? coupe means TWO DOORS, a catchy name like maserati did quatro porte, which means four doors in my native language, would be cool)
front and rear seats can be folded flat, allowing a variety of bulky itmes (oddly, including a kayak according to saturn) to be stored inside.
(ok, another side note, lol, WHO THINKS UP THIS CRAP? exactly how many people will buy the car cause their KAYAK will fit?! four? ten poeple, in the WHOLE COUNTRY? cmon saturn, lets not bungle this one, im rooting for you again for the first time in 5 years, want a kayak? get the good looking vue!)
the two latest saturns have gms new , but enlarged delta small car platform that will show up on furutre vehicles produced by other divisions (sigh, ie, the crapolier, and i like l-300 boys name, the sunfart! LOL, we'll save that discussion about the platform sharing later).
as a result the ion is significantly more spacious thatn the outgoing sedan and has more length, width, height, and wheelbase ( sidenote, and AMEN, MORE HORSEPOWER!).
the exterior styling of the ion takes the long hood short rear deck approach thats currently in vogue with more distinctive creases and angles then the s series cars.
inside the insturment cluster has been relocated to the middle of the dash for a couple of very sound reasons: to keep the drivers eyes on the road, and allow him or her to tilt the steering wheel at the most comfortable angle without worrying about obstructing the veiw of the gauges.
under the hood the ion (sounds to much like peon, but im liking the car so far<grin>) will receive its version of gm's 2.2 liter dohc four cyl ecotec powerplant.
this gutsy little motor (sidenote, the old alero, pumps 150 hp stock, the 2.2 is a stout litle motor but i feel, and i hope,t hat companys like sps give us lots of things to up the hp in these litle boogers) generates 137 hp, 13 more then the optional dohc engine used in the s series.
completeing the powertrain will be one of three transimissions. the base 5 speed manual can be upgraded to either a continusly varible unit on all sedans while a 5 speed autmoatic, another compact car first, will be available only on up level sedans and quad coupes (sidenote, this is FAR from a first, volvo and MANY OTHER MAKERS HAVE BOTH 5 SPEED AUTOS AND EVEN HONDA HAD A CVT OFFERED IN IS SMALL CARS, so far i like the review but it sounds like the writer was coached by flash cards from saturn).
a host of unique options will be offered for the ion, including interchangeable roof rails (the curver band between the roof and the doors)
(sidenote, the current s series has these removeable, and they fit from one car to anotehr so if noone has expresed interest in doing this now, while you allready can, how many people are going to opt for this?!) that can be color coordianted wuth the trim around the gauges and control panel.
also optional will be a head curtain airbag system, a small car safety itme pioneered by saturn ( again, WHERE ARE THEY GETTING THIS INFO, volvo has had these in their small cars, the s-40 since god knows when, surely not pioneered or exclusive to saturn).
an assortment of of dealer installed options will further tempt potential ion buyers (sidenote, i can see the ads now, ZERO FINANCING, AND YOU CAN FIT YOUR KAYAK IN! very tempting, lol)
all told, the dramtically diffrent ion siblings could be just what roger smith had in mind all along (sure, i like the car, but some of the concepts and advertising agencys they use have gotta go!)
and what will draw even more folks into the saturn camp.
wow, my fingers hurtm, hope you enjoyed it, melissa pointed the article out to me last night, feel free to cut copy and paste to any newsgroups.
joey

imported_admin · 07-08-2002, 03:10 AM

lol, sounds like you should have written the paper. It doesn't seem like the guy that wrote the article really knew anything about what he was talking about.

SaturnMotors94SL2 · 07-09-2002, 11:00 PM

Yeah sounds like that guy was reading from cue cards like joey said, but I'm looking foreward to seeing the Ion, maybe if i was older than 15 and had a job I could buy one when they came out, but maybe in a few years. Kinda hesitant to buy the first of the crop, wait a little bit and let them work out the little kinks and stuff. I'm not quite sure why everyone has to bash the Ion though, i think it looks good. Guess thats just my opinion though. (everyone doesnt apply to anyone in perticular)

Joeybagodonuts · 07-09-2002, 11:33 PM

94sl2, i absolutley agree with the wait and see attitude, Im happy as all hell though that the ion is both fresh and classy looking, bout time saturn stepped BACK up to the plate.
footnote though the 2.2 is allready to be proven as the best of the l series motors, its stout and if the rest of the car wasnt such a ... lol
but, if saturn gains anything by being under gm and this launch goes good with the 2.2 powering it, well, this could be the break saturn needs, that much I agree with, also, it will be AWESOME to see some ions done up, turbo's, ported, the motor has LOTS of room to build upon, i say bring on the ion! the vues a damn fine looking suv, lets hope saturn doesnt give us the "its NORMAL" line as it comes time to correct its little bugs!

**Ssicarman** · 07-10-2002, 03:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joeybagodonuts

94sl2, i absolutley agree with the wait and see attitude, Im happy as all hell though that the ion is both fresh and classy looking, bout time saturn stepped BACK up to the plate.
footnote though the 2.2 is allready to be proven as the best of the l series motors, its stout and if the rest of the car wasnt such a ... lol
but, if saturn gains anything by being under gm and this launch goes good with the 2.2 powering it, well, this could be the break saturn needs, that much I agree with, also, it will be AWESOME to see some ions done up, turbo's, ported, the motor has LOTS of room to build upon, i say bring on the ion! the vues a (word banned) fine looking suv, lets hope saturn doesnt give us the "its NORMAL" line as it comes time to correct its little bugs!

We've been told at various training courses that the 2.2 was/is the best engine the GM has produced to date. It apparently holds the test bed torture test test record. From what was said they load the engines on the test stand and run them up at full trottle under load and run them until they die. The 2.2 is apparently the record holder. The thing that all the Saturn performance guys get to look forward to on this engine is that it's also in the rest of the GM lineup with performance goods just waiting for it.
Joe as for the Vue "bugs" I think that alot have already had solutions (TSB's) put in place. Alot of times it's just a matter of getting the TSB's out to the stores and getting every one there aware of them and that is the hard part.

Joeybagodonuts · 07-10-2002, 01:24 PM

hey tommy, thanks for the tips, i didnt know that i thought the northstar had that record! but i agree, that 2.2 is BUILT TO THE HILT, overbuilt.
they should give us 150 hp like the alero though IMHO.
you speak of performance goodies allready out there? can sps gett heir hands on them and start retailing them? when you get a chance tommy Id like to ehar of anything you have seen, heard or even rumored thats out there allready, my company goes through changes every couple of years, first it was the huge demand for twin cam motors, then it was the second gen twin cams, now wee are building more and more motor and establishing our name as THE place to have a conversion or built motor done, it would be nice to see whats going to be out there for the 2.2
Joeybaggs

craigmpak · 07-11-2002, 05:31 AM

I've driven my brother's VUE with the variable tranny and man, she's gutless down low. Like really gutless. I can see where trying to pass someone on the highway could get a little scary, I find it very slow to react. On another note, the engine is rather smoooooth.

Craig

Joeybagodonuts · 07-11-2002, 02:41 PM

hold on here your brother bought a vue? and umm, how come I have no pictures of molson jumping over it? no reviews? oh yeah! cause after buying the l against my advive you learned not to tell me certain things!?
what gives, know a guy 5 years, takes 3 years to find out he has kids, 5 to find out he has a brother, hell, i only found out he was GAY 3 months ago!
MUHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHA

CelticShadow · 07-11-2002, 09:13 PM

Joey, if I may ask, what is your overall opinion on the ION in comparison to the S series, and what do you think it will do for a business like yours or any "aftermarket" business as well?

Joeybagodonuts · 07-12-2002, 12:08 AM

honestly celtic, im not happy about it being shared with a crapolier, first, its a diffrent kind of company with the same kind of car? but, i do belive it is , one good looking enough to bring saturns styling up to par with the rest of the industry, and two, it will be good for saturn both in sales and in how people view saturn.
with my business its like this, when I opened in 95 there was a strong demand for low mileage 91-2 motors, then it was 95-6 motors, another couple years go by and now are biggest demand is 97 and up motors, so like anything else, as some fall off warranty my company will have a demand.
(a little sidenote, now that the cars are really aging we are seeing a big resurgence in demand for early stuff, but now its mroe like wiring harness's for 91's, pcms for 92's etc) you can absolutley see a pattern.
as far as the aftermarket im hoping for exciting things for the ion, being that its platform shared there will be more in it for companys like sps to make products cause they can reach a far bigger market, so if you are thinking ion and we hear from folks like sps that yes, they will be making parts for them, then hey, after the first year bugs are worked out we should have a solid, good looking platform to modify eh?