When a co-worker offered me his SC for a pittance, I couldn’t refuse it. The ’90 Spirit had served well, but was getting well up in miles and was starting to feel a bit tired with some rust setting in. The Saturn had some issues, but I figured I could take care of them.
I had known the car for a while, and knew most of its faults. It tended to run hot, and there were some electrical issues as well. The hot running turned out to be the radiator. If I recall correctly, the issue was that the car was a “bottom breather” and the little grille in the bumper was just for show. It relied on air flow under the car to flow through the rad to keep it cool, but the fins in the core had corroded away, and even at highway speed the engine would heat up to 3/4 on the gauge, the fan would cut in, and cool it down. A new radiator fixed that issue. The other issue was that there was some electrical gremlins. One had something to do with the coolant temperature sensor- which was replaced with a sensor and wiring kit from the dealer. The other issue was when it would rain out, the engine would idle at 2,000 RPM. I didn’t keep the car long enough to figure that one out.
I liked the colour of the car.
The car had the twin-cam all aluminum engine, mated to a 5-speed. The engine didn’t burn any noticeable amount of oil, and the transmission shifted nicely too. Coming from the Spirit with its 2.5, this was a totally different animal. It really revved nicely and no problem hauling the car around. The car was pretty tight too, with 180,000 KM on it.
Not a bad place to be – but, man, those seat belts!
The interior of the car was quite nice. I recall complaints about the level of quality of the interior of these cars, but it really didn’t strike me as bad at all. It was way nicer than a Cavalier inside. Also something that struck me was that there wasn’t a lot from the GM parts bin used in the car aside from the Delco radio. The harness connectors, instrument panel, and switchgear all looked different. This was the first and only car I had with motorized seat belts, and they were annoying. We in Canada weren’t affected as badly by these – was the Saturn the only car sold in Canada with motorized belts? They sometimes had to be helped along to make sure they would go into place.
In the meantime, I was still travelling every so often from home to the provincial capital, Halifax for work. A job opportunity came up at home at an auto parts store for more money than I was making at the data centre. I duly moved back home in October of 2004, and the car came with me. I found I didn’t need a fuel efficient car any longer, so I decided to go on the hunt for a truck. I was never really in love with it, but a lady who came to look at it had to have it and it was sold.
I thought I knew American cars but never heard of Saturn
If you don’t know the history of Saturn cars, you might like this article by Jeff Nelson posted here on CC. I find the story fascinating.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-saturns-early-years-corporate-camelot/
In a nutshell, the Saturn experiment was an attempt to fix all the reasons GM couldn’t build a Japanese-quality small car, and fix them all in one fell swoop. GM built a special modern factory in Tennessee -far from Detroit-, made a cooperative deal with the unions, applied a new materials approach with plastic bodies, and sold them at new dealerships at no-haggle prices. They even held annual picnics at the factory for Saturn owners. The biggest corporate change was that none of the other GM divisions were permitted any input into what Saturn was doing. They had to sit quietly while the GM board showered gifts and money on the new wunderkind grandchild.
For various reasons, the experiment failed.
Jeff also wrote an essay on that part of the story for CC, found here:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-the-sad-final-years-of-saturn/
Great points. But the true reason that Saturn failed was the inferior product. Who wants a non-competitive and noisy 4 cyl. when Honda regularly sold smooth, high revving ones developed by F1 engine builders? All low cost cars at the time had plastic interiors. Yet the Asians’ were better. Why would any clear thinking buyer choose this crap over the well proven Asian competitors? Rah rah patriotism and dealership BBQs? No thanks. I’d rather buy the superior product. I remember a review of the new 2nd. gen Saturns and the question was asked: “We waited seven years for this?”
Like, never? They’re a pretty big part of 90’s America.
It might well have been but I am not an American or ever visited there.
Saturns existence would not have been considered newsworthy or of interest to ordinary Europeans if it was not sold over here.
It was only by finding this site that I knew some of your old brands such as Pontiac and Oldsmobile were no more, it never made our news that I recall, but why should it.
Few non car enthusiast Europeans know much, if anything about Packard, Cord, Auburn, Lincoln, Studebaker, Stutz, Imperial, Nash, Rambler etc, but would have heard of Cadillac from the rock and roll records.
Only old car and film noir enthusiast like myself know about the old US marques
I used to read Street Rodder and Road and Track magazines in the 70s when I could get them, and later, the excellent Collectible Automobile.
I had an image of US streets being full of old 40,50s and 60s iron; but looking at the snapshots of the US streets posted here they seem to be a rare sight, just ugly oversized SUVs.
If I lived in the US, I would have to drive a 60s Lincoln or Thunderbird, sympathetically updated with fuel injection and electronic ignition. If there happened to be an attractive woman in a 60s Pan Am uniform in the passenger seat, so much the better.
I am sure my image of the US is completely outdated
P.S. I even had to Google Rodney Dangerfield to understand the reference, but I do have the complete set of Sgt Bilko on DVD
I would have thought the direct importation of the Astra as the small Saturn, the direct use of the Antara as the Vue, and the repackaging of the LWB Epsilon platform with Vectra-like styling into the Aura would have registered in Europe. Not to mention, the Insignia was due to directly replace both the Vectra and Aura.
Of those you mention, only the Astra, Vectra and Insignia are familiar and quite frankly they are not highly rated, the Astra is quite common as a cheap car bought by youngsters, Insignias are not common or desirable
As for Vauxhalls and Opels being sold in the US, most people do not know that the Ford capri was sold in the US.
Cars do not have the same impact on the psyche of Europeans so what happens on another continent is not of significance; and sorry to say, US industry is almost never reported in a positive light, its either presidential tweets, protectionist tariffs, or tax dodgers like Google and Amazon
Although my interest in US cars ends around 1972, I was simply surprised by the existence of a relatively new make other than Tesla.
KalapanaBlack – I don’t understand why GM rebadging Opels for the US market would register in Europe. If they had rebadged Saturns as Opels then yes, maybe.
I imagine most Europeans could name very few US car brands . Good luck finding someone who knows what a Mercury is or anything AMC related except Jeep. Jeep, Chevy, Cadillac would be it for most. Ford doesn’t count and I’d bet most would forget Chrysler despite their recent presence.
Admittedly things might be slightly different in Scandinavia or the Netherlands, but in UK/Ireland no.
I’m sure most Brits would think Crown Victoria is a pub.
A GM experiment that failed.
I remember period surveys that revealed many Saturn drivers did not realize they were driving a US produced car. Marketing for Saturns worked hard to distance them from domestic compacts–GM ironically confirming the disasters associated with Vega, Citation, Cavalier and the rest.
Humorously, my neighbor came to associate Saturns with homosexuals. When her bachelor brother bought one, she teased him about it. Following week he showed up in a Mustang GT.
I’m pretty sure I knew Saturns were American when they first came out. Didn’t their marketing emphasize that they were built in Tennessee? However for a long time I had no idea that they were part of GM. I, rather naively, thought they were a new independent car maker. In my defense I was around 10 when the brand was introduced.
I went to a pick and pull junkyard that had Saturns in the “import” section, around 2006. So some still thought of them as such.
These cars were known as the Rodney Dangerfield of cars….they don’t get no respect.
Saturn never should have existed.
The IDEAS, I think, would have better served GM by implementing them through evolutionary improvements to existing models or as replacement models appeared.
I know the dealer component was part of the whole Saturn experience and I’m not sure how that part of it would have been addressed.
But what IS beyond dispute is that instead of Saturn lifting GM, GM dragged Saturn down to where the brand was simply cannibalizing the other marques.
Agreed. Saturn initially kind of recreated the kind of autonomy that all GMs car divisions used to have, down to its own assembly plant. Unfortunately that didn’t last. Once Saturn became just another sales outlet for GM products from elsewhere in the company it lost its reason for being.
“Saturn never should have existed.”
Thank you! I’ve been saying this for years now. Every time someone comes back with “Yea, but I had one and it was the best car ever!!”
That’s not the point.
All GM had to do was build a better product. Instead they built a brand, factory, supply chain, management structure, and on and on..
Seriously?
I think it probably would have been a fine J-car replacement. Sure, it was no Civic, but it was a much nicer car IMO than any J-car I had the displeasure of driving.
Great quotations from the Saturn brochure:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/147108383@N02/40140174084/in/album-72157694224899525/
I always found these intriguing and this ones color combo is a favorite of mine.
I never owned a car with automatic seat belts and like to think that I never will.
I had a 1990 Honda Accord EX with them, which was the first year of the fourth gen. In 1992, they added a driver airbag and began using conventional seatbelts.
I had a girlfriend with a 1990 Honda Accord. She opened the door with the sun visor against the door window and the electric seatbelt broke the sun visor right off!
I’ve never owned a car with automatic seatbelts and I’m quite sure I never will.
My 1990 Civic LX had the automatic belts. I adjusted to them though they startled a few people in the passenger seat. However, I learned fairly quickly how to properly hold a Big Gulp so it didn’t get dumped in my lap.
I had a1990 Dodge (Mitsubishi) Colt, bought new. It had auto shoulder belts. At the time, Florida didn’t have mandatory seatbelt usage laws. I rarely, If ever, attached the lap belt. One year after buying the car, I was involved in a smashup on I-4 going into Tampa. Some A-hole drifted over into my lane, The fast lane, no signal and about 15 MPH under the speed limit. The Auto shoulder belt saved my life! I, at the time, would have not even thought of using any seat belt. So there is that.
Also, I always liked the style of this generation Saturn. Never owned one, But test drove, and was impressed at the time with the performance. Oh, what could have been if GM hadn’t lost interest.
You did not miss much. They were a novelty here. I can’t remember seeing another car with electric belts like these. We did get GM products with the belts mounted in the doors, but with regular latches on the end.
Though Saturn is often considered a failure, let’s not overlook that they sold well over 2 million vehicles. And the ones with the plastic bodies (most but not all) still look dang good, decades later. They weren’t perfect and I can’t call myself a fan but in general, it wasn’t a total dud. GM starved them of new product. That doesn’t work in any business plan, so there were obviously a cycle of challenges leading to their demise.
The problem is in selling “well over 2 million vehicles” at a profit. GM lost a total of some $12 billion on Saturn overall. I’d call that a very big dud.
GM didn’t starve Saturn of product, in fact the proliferation of models only increased the losses. Moving to having a line of multiple models didn’t increase overall sales of the brand, but it did dramatically increase the overhead.
If you ask me, that’s what really brought Saturn down. In my opinion, the original experiment was at least a partial success in the sense they established a new car brand that was distinct, had its own identity, was popular, and in many people’s minds not associated with the old GM. The vehicles themselves seemed to be decently put together and were competitive. In many ways, from a 90’s perspective, they had managed to accomplish what they had set out to to.
Now whether it was worth the billions of dollars invested and whether Saturn was actually taking back sales lost to Toyota and Honda or if it was just cannibalizing Chevy and Pontiac was another matter. Nevertheless, they had established the brand at great cost, and then proceeded to undo everything they had accomplished by quickly turning it into just another brand under the GM halo with all the baggage that entailed. Once I saw the Saturn Relay (a cynically rebadged Chevy Venture/Pontiac Montana minivan with no attempts to disguise its origins), I knew Saturn was done.
You are correct that virtually nothing is out of the standard GM parts bin and that is at the root of the reason that Saturn was doomed from the start.
The edict that every bolt needed to be a Saturn bolt meant the amortization load on each car was huge and that it would take that much longer before the car saw the light of day.
The fact that they spent so much time designing all the Saturn “bolts” meant that when the car finally made it to market the competition had moved on from the models GM had used for bench marking.
So you had a car that was outdated before it hit the showroom that cost way to much to produce, with the need to leave it as is to have a hope of amortizing its development costs.
My first car was a 98 SL2, if it had the 5-speed I’d probably still have it. They are surprisingly well handling cars, . Definitely don’t miss the interior too much rattling. It had 140,000km when I sold it could’ve gone another 140,000 easily
I have NO respect for Saturn after owning one.
I needed an economical car for work, found a ’94 SL2 with automatic, 71,000 miles, clean carfax, $1600 (this was in 2011, I think). It only needed a few minor things when first bought.
First, the #$%^ing motorized belts on the driver’s side. FINALLY was able to pull the fuse that KEPT it where it’s supposed to be when worn.
Next, it started drinking oil like it never heard of a fossil fuel shortage.
The front end needed lots of work, off and on.
It ALWAYS had some nagging thing wrong with it. But it WAS reliable.
And I have never been happier to donate a car to charity.
Family member had a ’95 SL2 manual trans that gave good service. Timing chain went at 267k miles and it used oil, but never had any major issues up until then, and was junked at that point. Had airbags and proper 3 point belts.
I always liked these. I never saw them in quite the same class as a Celica, Eclipse or Probe, but I was always curious as to how they performed and handled. I’m pleased to learn that aside from the “mouse belts”, their interiors were more nicely finished than other GM products of the day.
What killed it was economics. Took roughly double the amount of time to make them compared to competitors…
I had four Saturns and they were all decent cars.
2000 SL2
2003 VUE
2003 SW2
2004 Relay 3
Friends of ours has a 1998 SL1 that has been an excellent car and they are still using it as a work vehicle.
That said – the dealership I dealt with was excellent and first rate. The folks working there were like friends. Yes, I paid more than I could have, but I never had a bad experience with them or their cars.
Reliable they may be, but these Saturns were terribly unrefined with an extremely buzzy and loud I4, uncomfortable flat seats, and the chintziest interior plastics. I experienced two different SW versions in highschool (one a 1993, the other I believe a 1998; virtually no difference in quality, but the newer one was slightly less noisy).
Chrysler’s 2.5 and 3-speed automatic were much smoother and refined… In my 1988 Dodge Aries LE America.
Atrocious to experience little cars representing a huge waste of money by GM.
Got told I am posting comments too fast. Actually I type slow, so I’m actually posting too often, at a slow rate. This one will probably appear, not the good story that took me an hour to distill and edit.
Silly website…