cliffn

Just a new person here been looking for some saturn boards as of late since i'm used to to many of my friends just mocking me and my saturn. However, my saturn car is a love hate relationship and here's the story.

First purchase started at a dealership not to be said in the metro detroit area, that sold me the car. I used to drive an old '88 camaro, which was trouble since the guy reminded me to change the oil every 12k miles. Not such a smart buyer, but again, it was cheap and I needed it for school back then. 2 Years and 4 radiators later, I was stuck in a rut. Sunday night, and my first career job out of college at a newspaper, which is deadline deadline deadline. While working part time, the few days i did work were very much needed to keep on living. No friends or family that were available to drive me there, and so far out that taking a taxi / cab would provide red ink profits at the days end. So panic stricken, I searched online from 8pm to 5am looking for a used car and it came down to a Saturn Ion 2 I found used with 17k miles for $9,999 at a local dealer, at the time the other one's I found were $11,999 - $12,999. So I thought I was getting a deal.

I was able to get a ride later in the day at lunch with a time frame of 2 hours to go there and come back. Online claimed automatic, however it was a stick shift. However, the salesman eager to sell it taught me on the spot how to drive a stick. Which I thought was very nice of him. In an hour, I was shifting like a pro. There was an oil and coolant warning on the entire time we drove, he said it wasn't reset, and stupid me not knowing much about saturns believed him. I then went through financing that over layed and took 3 hours, at which time I was stuck there and the only way to get home was the stickshift that I've been in for only an hour. So I sat in the dealership for a few hours hoping it all went through, luckily it did!

2 weeks later, I went to get my license plate, however the salesman wasn't there. And hasn't been there, however another salesman said my plate has been on his desk for 4 days. Why wasn't I notified? My suspicions of the dealerships false internet information and coolant light was added to with the fact I could of had my plate 4 days ago after making numerous calls. It was about 8pm that night my temp plate expired, and a full day of calling the dealership that was an hours drive away. Luckily, there was a small dealership in town 5 minutes away the owner also owned. The man himself took the plate and drove it all the way to the other dealership and was in my hands at 9pm. Meanwhile, something was leaking in my car in the lot while I was waiting. Turns out it was a leaky radiator hose that they repaired the next morning.

That's 2 weeks and 1 repair, trouble came 1 month later when I started noticing large amounts of white smoke coming out of my tailpipe and the engine itself, I took it back to the dealer. Claiming they didn't know anything much about saturns since it was a buick/izuzu dealership at the time. So they directed me to the great customer service people of Saturn of Southgate in Southgate, Michigan. After about an hour or so of diagnosing it, it came out with the final verdict. A busted cylinder head along with a few pumps that were ruined. Huge work, got it done in 2 days and had to use a rental car in the meanwhile. And that wasn't something I was down with, i'm quite a big guy, 6'5ft 250 and the ion was the best fitting car with lots of space for a guy my size that no other car in its class that can compare and fit me.

Down the line, it went into repair for mistimed this and thats, hose leaks and the like. Here comes 33k miles or so, and all of a sudden my car won't shift into any gear except 5th. I have to drive in 5th all the way home which was more to say, interesting. However, I only made it to the end of my street before it just stalled, and the clutch wouldn't work. Had to have my car towed all the way back to the saturn dealership. Found out the entire clutch system was shot and it need replaced.

At 38k miles I needed some new tires since my back rear has a slow leak. I'm at the tire place, and said my rear tires have been switched and that some heavy burnouts were done to my tires and I need to be careful. However, i'm a very cautious and careful driver that doesn't do burnouts, jack rabbit starts and any other thing that would put excessive unnecessary strain on my car. So I get them replaced. 2 of my tires had a patch in them, and the rear tire that had the slow leak was found to have 4 patches. Yes, count them, 4 patches in them!! Never having patched any tires my self, riding on 6 patches since I bought it made me wonder if they even bother checking for this kinda stuff.

Well here I am today, with a warranty that ends in March 2007 or 77k miles. Say the least, I travel a lot on the highways lately and I know I won't be making the 3 year mark, more like the middle of next year. Knowing once that's up, i'm pretty much screwed and my car won't be worth anything, except a debt.

However, I must say the comfort of the car and especially the way the dash is laid out, makes me love the style Saturn has to offer. I'm not to hot on buying a new Ion, but I'm really loving the looks of the new Aura. Here's hoping I can get my hands on the Aura before my warranty runs out. Phew, i'm long winded.

scottyr94

Wow, thats quite the story.

my99sl1

Welcome to the Spot!

__________________



The ride I drive. 2007 Toyota Corolla S

PurdueGuy

Welcome to Spot! Sounds like the previous owner treated that car horribly!

cliffn

thanks, and yes they did as far as I've been told again and again by pretty much anybody who has worked on my car, lol. Sure hope the Aura isn't to pricey. As of now, I could afford a $22-$24k car. With the whole lease then buy plan to start the payments low before doing the purchase. Smart thing? Or should I just drop my car losses now and get set with another ion until the time comes along?

PurdueGuy

What still needs fixed on the current one? I'd think you'd eventually have it in pretty good shape

cliffn

Random things happen to it. Everytime it's taken to the dealership, they see no visible future problems, not even a month later, poof. Problem. It's been at its longest not seeing the dealership, going on 2 1/2 months! I think i'm just being over paranoid about stuff happening in the future and need some sense slapped into me.

However, I do have stains on my seats. Not to mention when I got it, the dash and some sides were scratched to hell because someone decided to put a velvet cloth interior on top of the passenger side dash. So You can see all the crap that they tried to scratch off. I can only imagine how much it'd actually cost to have all that stuff replaced. There's a hole in the shifter cloth/leather/vinyl which turns me into a nut job when people are eating crumby food in the passenger seat in fear junk will get down into it and do some damage. Again, not sure how much that will cost to replace, but then again I'm afraid to be asking. Also have a wearing thin clutch do to my size 16 shoe that needs to be on the edge, otherwise it'll be on the brake. All this comes at a time where I'm going back to get a better degree in my field which means no real money. So in summary

- Scratched passenger dash
- Scratched passenger door
- Stained Front Seat
- Stained Back Bench
- Hole in Shifter Leather
- Wearing Thin Clutch


To add to that, any future problem I'm paranoid that I will encounter after the warranty runs out in 77k miles or in March 2007. To which I have 40,126 miles on it as we speak and I currently travel 1500 miles a month on average. At this rate, the warranty will run out in March 2007, but I'm a spur of the moment driver and could drive 1100 mile round trip to kentucky for no reason.... as I did 2 weeks ago to just pick up and see relatives.

PurdueGuy

when you say wearing thin clutch, do you mean just the pedal itself, like your shoe being where it is rubs one side of the pedal off?

cliffn

My bad, yes I meant to say the pedal itself I put my foot on. I know I can replace the pedals for cheap. I've seen some nice ones that were aluminum and not rubber like it currently is right now. However, would it be wise to buy rubber ones for grip? Or would it be alright to buy some metal ones that won't wear as much. Here's an example of what I'm talking about by aluminum http://www.spswebpage.com/store/inde...3518f702c2a6dd

Something more sporty looking then that if it can be found, but that's basically the kind of material I want for pedals if its even possible.

I did however just try the carpet cleaning solution expressed in another thread on this board. Now its some sort of faded mess. Back to the drawing board.

PurdueGuy

I'd go with metal pedals - with a size 16 shoe, grip shouldn't be a problem - you can't miss!