It was 1996 and I was the not-so-proud owner of a lumbering GMC Jimmy. That will be the subject of another COAL, but suffice to say that once the new wore off on that car I had grown very tired of it’s SUV’ness, the jiggly ride, roaring 4.3L “Vortec” V6, and general lack of agility. A bad accident in the Jimmy put it out of commission, and I was hoping that the insurance company would total it. But no, it was fixable but it would be in the shop for weeks. And without rental car coverage on my policy, I needed a ride. So my plan was to scour the ads immediately for a replacement vehicle, and sell the Jimmy once it was fully repaired.
In the 1990’s, GM went through a series of chaotic reorganizations, renaming its car engineering divisions every few years. I was a young engineer at GM’s Milford Proving Grounds, assigned to work on the J-body Chevy Cavalier. But the name on my business card said Buick Oldsmobile Cadillac Group, or B-O-C (ironic, that a division derisively nicknamed “Big Old Cars” would be responsible for engineering GM’s smallest cars). That name soon changed to Lansing Automotive Division, and finally GM Small Car Group when LAD swallowed up Saturn’s engineering division in its final reorganization before bankruptcy.
Regardless of name, it was tough being part of the scrappy little engineering group that struggled mightily to make the J car competitive against our benchmark vehicles – Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, and yes, the BMW 3-Series. Saddled with an obsolete X-car derived platform, aging pushrod engines, and a shoestring product budget, it was a hopeless effort but as a new car-crazy college grad I still enjoyed the work, even if the cars were junk.
So when GM formed the super secret Saturn division and poured $5 billion into the new division with an all-new small car, jealousy raged at Lansing Automotive Division, like the troubled older sibling who is totally ignored when his parents give birth to a newborn and shower the baby with love and attention and gifts. To us, Saturn was the enemy, as hated as Toyota and Honda, made worse by GM deliberately partitioning off Saturn and not allowing any cooperation or sharing of resources between Saturn and its “competitor” small car division.
Nevertheless, I harbored a secret admiration for the Saturn. GM was finally fielding, on paper, a fully modern and competitive small car, boasting a fully independent suspension and a twin cam engine paired with an honest 5 speed manual transmission. I was very familiar with how Cavalier’s and their better-dressed cousins drove, and I missed having an agile, tossable, fun little runabout ever since I gave up my old Honda Civic. So when I found a lightly used Saturn wagon with the twin cam engine and 5 speed in the classifieds, I was instantly sold.
My car had the optional roof rack, which I never used
Compared to the big, ponderous Jimmy, driving my little SW2 was a revelation. It was light, quick, tossable, and fun. I enjoyed having a sporty little wagon, and the extra weight in the back due to the wagon body gave it a delightfully neutral feel in corners. But the sensory costs of driving a Saturn were considerable. The engine didn’t sing like a Honda VTEC, but growled. It rode like a skateboard, enhanced by it being so low to the ground. And not only was the engine noisy, the car boomed and rattled at all speeds and road surfaces. It was definitely an unpleasant highway cruiser and traversing Michigan potholes and frost heaves was brutal. But I loved how it could zip in and out of busy traffic with ease. I concluded that the Saturn needed more suspension travel, about 100 lbs of sound insulation, and balance shafts in the raucous 4 cyl engine. It also needed a serious interior upgrade, for the hollow plastic trim on the dash and console was cheaper than even the Cavalier. All fixable with some money, so it’s a shame that GM couldn’t find it in their $5 billion budget to address these things.
After getting the Jimmy back from the shop, I had to decide which vehicle to keep and which one to say goodbye to. My fiancé voted strongly to keep the Jimmy. She had spent many unpleasant hours in the front passenger seat of the SW2, enduring its aural punishment and getting tossed around by its go-kart like ride. It turned out that my SW2 had also been in an accident, and a poor repair job caused a cold draft to constantly blow into the front passenger footwell, making it a miserable winter vehicle for the passenger. She was not keen to embark on future road trips in this wagon, and she wanted the Jimmy’s perceived security of 4WD for winter in Michigan. So in the interest of future wedded bliss, I sold the SW2 after only about 1 year of ownership. During that time I had a brief but memorable fling with a car that I had once admired only from afar.
Big green back from the shop. Which one should I keep?
In retrospect, the SW2 just satisfied my curiosity about how Saturns drove, as we were not allowed near them when I worked for GM’s competing small car division. Would I have bought this car again if I got a do-over? Probably not. I really wanted a Honda Civic, but if due to your employment you were forced to choose between a Saturn and a competing J-car, I probably would have gone with the J-car. Although a J-car drives like a big clumsy car in a smaller package, in a Saturn you’re paying too big of a price for the driving fun. As you’ll see in a future COAL, I would get my wish soon.
Interesting, and relatable. That’s how I got the 1996 SW2 that I relatively briefly owned…as a must have immediately replacement for a larger truck-like vehicle that suddenly and dramatically failed. I too had mine for barely two years. In my case, the ride was acceptable, but everything you say about the interior noise and overly plastic filled interior is exactly my recollection as well.
It was a shame, because in many ways it seems like the Saturn was a half-finished car. But half-finished just wasn’t close enough to address the fact that there were much better cars becoming readily available every year around then.
I guess this explains why GM didn’t seem to learn anything from the things the Saturn S-series cars got right…
As I mentioned in my COAL series, I briefly owned a brand new 1995 5-speed gold Saturn SL2 sedan (like your SW2, just not a wagon).
It was a classic case of “it seemed like a good idea at the time”; alas it was not a good idea at all.
I actually believed their creative TV ads.
Totally my fault.
All the sad Saturn details are documented in “https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-1995-eagle-vision-tsi-all-the-fun-and-build-quality-of-a-1957-chrysler-without-the-benefit-of-torqueflite/”.
Long story short, after one week of outrageously poor build and inspection quality issues and even poorer customer service, Saturn gave me my money back (including the value of my trade in). Saturn’s 100% money back policy did not last long; clearly I wasn’t the only one to use it.
This was the last straw for me regarding GM. So much hope and hoopla; so much disappointment. There are too many other automotive options available for me to ever darken GM’s door again.
Like Gene Liu, you were downsizing to Saturn from something far more comfortable, capable and better appointed…a Mercury Sable wagon. That could explain dissatisfaction with the Saturn driving experience, but there could be no excuse for the abysmal build quality. Saturn was textbook GM masquerading as the Brave New World.
” Like Gene Liu, you were downsizing to Saturn from something far more comfortable, capable and better appointed… “.
That’s a very valid point Mr. Poon.
I initially thought the Saturn was a great idea as well. GM is finally taking on the imports properly. My wife and did not need a new car at the time but I watched with keen interest as the cars were sold. They even had a showroom in a building next to where I worked in downtown Minneapolis. You could take one out for a test drive with no obligation. I wanted to do that but had limited time for lunch.
A coworker of my wife bought a gold SC2 and really loved it. It was his first car and we all thought it looked really sharp. He was very happy until the engine made a very loud noise and dies, spraying oil all over the place. The dealer was insisting it was his fault and made him stand in the shop while they tore down the engine to see what happened. It turned out that a connecting rod had snapped and destroyed the engine. The dealer was all apologetic and gave him a new engine under warranty. But the coworker was very gun-shy about the car and sold it fairly soon after getting it back.
I have read elsewhere that GM had the right idea for Saturn but then did some major corner cutting and the final product was very poorly executed.
Thank you for an interesting article Gene. I would welcome any tidbits you have to share about your experience working for the big 3 in the engineering role.
On the Saturn side I will share my experience. 1992 I met and starting going out with “J” Who had just bought a 1992 sc2 4 door 5 spd. I am too lazy to look up the exact model number but it was the top of the line unit with the twin Cam motor and the stiffen suspension and good sized wheels. On our 2nd date she told me that this was one of the ones with the engine recall and was going to be replaced completely in about a month.” So you can beat the crap out of it if you want” . So I did. A lot. It definitely was the fastest, Stiffest Small car I had ever driven up to that time . That made for a lot of fun handbrake turns Into smokey burnouts. But I too noticed all those same complaints: gritty and noisy engine…adequate shifter…interior PiecesThat called to mind a plastic storage container not a Quality car. It Also made A sharp contrast To my previous girlfriend’s car , a new 1990 Honda Civic hatchback. It was more of a mid range Model. It wasn’t the HF super economy and it wasn’t an SI. But it had AC et cetera. That car was probably down 20% on power versus the Saturn. The suspension was basic and it had all season tires. But it Seem to handle as well as the Saturn And with the all season tires perhaps was a little more forgiving and predictable.But the engine! Smooth, glassy, sewing machin,Happy. The shifter was just as good.. And the interior Was just right with nice controls leather wrapped wheel …. You all know how Honda design is . I never beat on that car. Although one day I took her out to a freshly tarred parking lot and And worked on maximum breaking and maximum cornering. In my mind this is a very fun car for practicing. With those all season tires you had certainly adequate grip but the The breakaway and warning was less abrupt . I would take the Honda over that Saturn anyday. And I traded up to a much better partner in 1998.
I have a friend who bought this same wagon in the same color and kept it for over 400k miles! He worked for years as a traveling salesman, and the Saturn served him well. He loved this car so much, that after it got stolen (with over 300k miles on it), he went through a huge ordeal to locate it and buy it back from a sealer auction (as insurance had already written it off and paid him out). I encouraged him to write up his story for CC, but that never happened, unfortunately.
My understanding is that these were solid, if crude cars. They were not Corollas or Camrys. But they were built for the long haul.
I owned a 1994 SL1. The interior was plasticky, and the driver’s seat was so uncomfortable that I swapped it for one out of a wrecked SL2. But other than that it was a great car. I owned it for 11 years and put 153K on it. Very reliable, never failed to start while parked outside through all those Minnesota winters. Many long distance trips with the wife and 2 small kids… the 85hp/5 speed always provided enough go, and up to 40mpg was a plus. Dealer always treated me fairly. I suspect the smaller wheel/tires on the SL1 meant I did not have the ride issues mentioned above. I sold it to the son of a friend when my sister gave me a low mileage Taurus. If that hadn’t happened I am sure my Saturn would have gone 300K.
Saturn certainly had its problems but back in the day it seemed most people were happy with them (well, normal “man on the street” types of people, not us CC freaks), they can be tough little critters as the first generations are still fairly commonly found in the junkyard, including the one I found a while back with over half a million miles on it.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/junkyard/curbside-recycling-1992-saturn-sl1-typical-gm-crapped-out-after-only-556016-miles/
The wagons were/are decently attractive, especially in SW2 trim and sure, obviously built to a price point. I’m always of a mixed mind when any car that has been in what seems like a kind of severe accident previously is faulted (i.e. could some of the faults be due to a poor repair?).
Saturn’s legacy is probably that of a missed opportunity for GM, especially as concerns teaching lessons (or not teaching them) to the rest of the organization as you alluded to, and shows how difficult it is to turn a big ship, especially one that does not want to seem to want to turn. Institutional inertia has a lot of momentum even if an iceberg is dead ahead and usually results in a direct impact.
I loved my 1996 Saturn (the planet) SL2. Used it as a daily driver and shop rig. Apparently I’m not as spoiled as the rest of you. And the AC was meat locker worthy.
It’s funny you mention that, because I believe GM named Saturn after the rocket, not the planet. However, they didn’t use a rocket logo because they already had a division (Oldsmobile) whose logo was of a rocket.
A brief test drive in a Saturn CONVINCED me to purchase a Civic for my daughter’s going to college car! I told one of the owner’s of the Honda dealer that if he wanted to $ell more Civics, he should insist that the prospect drive a Saturn b4 driving a Civic.
His sales’ numbers were bound to increase using that process! The “state-of-the-art” Saturn felt and drove more like a 1890s buckboard than it did like a modern car. The jarring difference was truly amazing. 🙁 DFO
Interesting, I appreciate the insider perspective on that especially the comparison with the J car. I share your opinion of chaotic corporate reorganizations.
When I had to visit Mopar Twinsburg stamping in the early 2000’s I remember the special foreign car parking area was a long way from the building entrance, you were wise to keep driving GM, if only for the reduced walking experience.
For some reason these cars seem to have their fans, mostly from people who owned one in the past. Strangely those who never owned one seem to have the most hate for these.
Personally I think these were decent, even potentially good cars let down by poor management decisions.
I think there’s a quite reasonable middle ground, as I (and magazine reviews at the time) been saying for a long time: These cars had some good qualities (durability, sporty handling, decent performance, very good fuel economy) but they were also less refined than comparable Japanese cars (Civic, Corolla, 323). They had a harsh ride, the engines were not refined (NVH), and aspects of the interior were decidedly lower quality in terms of materials.
It’s hardly surprising that someone who got 300k miles of good service out of one would sing its praises, despite its shortcomings, right? And for those that drove a Civic or such, those issues where the Saturn was relatively deficient, it’s not surprising that they would point them out, right?
My family had an 02 SC2, I always found the car to be fun to drive. Saturns we’re never as luxurious as their competitors, but they were reliable. Good cars.
“… GM was finally fielding, on paper, a fully modern and competitive small car …”
And now, no more compacts. All the hand wringing of “when will Detroit build [small] cars to compete with imports?” was for nothing. Want a car? Pay $$$ for a Corvette.
What’s really funny about that is that when they finally did start building small cars that were wholly class-competitive, they each relied heavily on global engineering to do it…since that’s where things had gone. GM’s (South Korea), Ford’s (Germany) and Chrysler’s (Italy) foreign arms had a huge hand in their good small cars.
Well, I’ll say the Neon was a good homegrown effort, but that’s the only one that comes to mind.
On the face of it, it was interesting to see GM field a well-built affordable car, even if they essentially had to get away from themselves and spin up a whole other company under which to do it, and even if the car was relatively crude compared to the J-body cars.
(That GM also sold lightly-reskinned and rebadged Toyotas that were better than both the Saturn and the J-body…is a humorous aside)
But Saturn was doomed, in the long run. GM’s considerable investment in starting a whole new company and whole new dealer network meant the company was never going to be profitable. It was already hemorrhaging money by the late 90s, when GM realized some of its customers might want to grow into larger cars, of which it had none. The GM board members and executives had a fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders, and could not in good conscience justify throwing more money at the Saturn project to develop a full line of its own cars, not when GM had other divisions that could turn a profit if they got that money instead.
And so it was that the S Series received a facelift circa 2000, instead of a redesign. At that same time, it got its first corporate product, the L series, which was an Opel Vectra with the exterior panels redone in Saturn polycarbonate and with a different interior, built in Delaware.
The VUE, their first SUV, was on the same corporate Theta platform as the eventual Equinox and Torrent, albeit with a shorter wheelbase and also with polycarbonate panels. Likewise for the ION, which had polycarbonate body panels and the interesting “Quad Coupe” body style, but was mechanically not meaningfully different from the other US Delta cars (Cobalt, G5, HHR).
The Relay was where things really sank. That “sport-crossover” van was the first outright rebadge wearing a Saturn logo (really, the entire project was egregious), but it was the most troublesome for Saturn as a whole. Ditto its successor, the Lambda-based Outlook. It probably brought Saturn some much-needed cash, having a fashionable three-row crossover, but it really reinforced that Saturn was just another GM division at that point, competing for resources and the opportunity to sell the same cars.
The Sky brought us another rebadge, in this case, the Opel GT Roadster. It was also mechanically identical to the also-Kappa-based Solstice. It was the first and last RWD Saturn.
And then there was the Aura, which was by all means a version of the Epsilon-based 2008-era Malibu with a different roofline and a slightly different flavor of swagger. It failed to distinguish itself from that car or from the related and similarly-sized G6.
The Astra was a straight-up rebadged-and-imported Opel, with no commonality with other US-market cars in terms of electronics, despite it sharing the aforementioned Delta platform with them. Saturn tried to market it as a premium alternative to the Golf, Civic and MAZDA3, but most people just didn’t understand it.
The second-generation Vue was a rebadged Opel Antara, but at least it had more commonality with what else GM was selling here. It eventually got a reprise as the fleet-only Chevrolet C(r)aptiva Sport.
Had Saturn not been folded, it probably would have continued rebadging and selling Opel/Vauxhall product for American shores, a strategy that eventually went to Buick. And even that wouldn’t have lasted, because GM sold Opel and Vauxhall within ten years.
By all measures, GM probably would have made more money keeping the “Saturn” as a car or line of small cars under Chevrolet–as was the original intention–and just working extra-hard to combat the goodwill they’d lost on Chevy’s own small cars in order to sell it. If they’d done that, perhaps by now, “Chevrolet Saturn” would have as much equity and value as “Honda Civic” or “Toyota Corolla.” As it was, Saturn lost billions over its abbreviated existence, and I’m not sure GM got any lasting benefit out of the brand.
***
One bright spot I’ll highlight for Saturn is that its dealers’ customer satisfaction was so good, it got the honor of retailing the only production car ever to wear a GM badge, the groundbreaking (but ill-fated) EV1. That the EV1 bore some design commonality with Saturn’s own cars didn’t hurt matters, either. That car’s history and eventual cancellation is a whole other story, but it would have been really cool to work for a Saturn dealer and get first-hand experience with it.
That’s a nice condensation of GM’s Deadly Sin with Saturn (which ended up costing it over $10 billion).
My take:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1992-saturn-sl-gms-deadly-sin-4-the-eulogy/
Several things come up for me with your article. First, how stupid I feel GM was to waste so much time, effort and resources on Saturn (and Hummer) when that money should have been invested into the rest of GM lines making good cars better.
Second, I too had a similar accident story. I Leased a brand new 1998 Cadillac Catera just to rear end someone a month later. I totaled her car out (Buick Skylark) and did extensive damage to the front of the Catera. Since only certain dealers could sell and work on them I had to tow the car 100 miles to the dealer. I was informed a week later that the parts coming from Germany would take some time and some were on back order. So I called the dealer I used to work for and they had a clean but high miles 1992 Lincoln Continental. I went there, paid cash and drove the car away for $2,300.00 with tax! I actually liked that car better than the Catera and the Lincoln had about 110,000 miles on it. Good thing I purchased htat car because once they finally had the Catera fixed and they went to start the car, they realized the timing belt had jumped and the engine was trashed. Now instead of totaling the car, they decided to order a new engine for the freshly fixed car. In total, my Catera was there for nearly one year.
Lastly, a few years later, I was working at my old dealership again. They traded in a very basic Saturn SL1 sedan (maybe around 1995 to 1999). It was really dirty and in need of a headliner and tires. I picked it up really cheap, had a new headliner put in, new tires put on and a super nice detail. Drove it for a few months and sold it for a small profit. It was actually a nice little car, but still preferred the J-cars.
Saturn certainly was a lot of pomp-and-circumstance surrounding cars that were, as a whole, fairly rough (but reliable). It’s a good exercise in how you can sell anything if you get the marketing right.
The problem was the *cost* of all that marketing, especially as it related to setting up a whole new brand with its own factory and dealer network, and taking painstaking steps to completely quarantine Saturn from the rest of GM.
I’ve owned three SC2s as beaters. I’m currently on the lookout for another.
I think you were not the only one within GM to consider Saturn “the enemy”. Saturn was really GM’s last attempt to recreate something like what it had with the old divisional structure. That they had to go rogue in an attempt to compete in the segment says something about the rest of the company by that time. It wasn’t, of course, the ground level engineers like you that was the problem. GM’s management structure (like Chrysler’s in the mid 70s) had simply become poorly suited for building high quality, competitive cars.
At one point everyone owned one or more Saturns in our extended family. Wife and I were (are) Honda owners.
There were details I didn’t like about the Saturns but they were always overall good cars.
I remember a day trip in the back seat of a sedan and won’t forget how bolt upright the seat was and thus uncomfortable. Another relative’s recent GMC Acadia has lousy uncomfortable rear seats too. How hard is it to build seats that an adult is comfortable sitting in? Sees important to me…
Either Saturn made some significant improvement in NVH in the 2nd generation S-Series or my threshold was pretty low. I thought the twin cam in our 97 SL2 was acceptably smooth compared the 1.9 CVH in our 95 Escort which an absolute paintshaker.
That said the mid 90s Escorts had better ergonomics and more comfortable seats. I was grumpy about the way the seatbelt in the Saturn destroyed cell phone belt clips, unlike the Fords. This was solved in 2004 when I got a pocket sized phone. The Saturn was also a great ride in the Santiam pass on our regular trips to and from Bend.
I’d agree that the second generation was much better than the original in that regard. Our ‘98 SL2 wasn’t exactly sewing-machine smooth, but it was noticeably ahead of the earlier model we test drove. I enjoyed that car quite a bit until reliability issues hit with a vengeance around 40,000 miles.
John ;
There’s a clean no rust Saturn awaiting you in Southern California….
I know several people who had these and after a year or so they always sold them on ~ now I know why .
Too bad as far too few cars are capable of trouble free long term ownership .
-Nate
I gave a millisecond or two thinking that maybe I should test drive and maybe actually buy one, which is more than I gave to the rest of their GM brethern. Their initial reviews were pretty good. But it didn’t take long for the good reviews to turn ugly, so by procrastinating I was saved.
But I do have a story. Our office manager, C. 2007, and an absolute prize, not, once declared, almost in the same sentence, I drive a Saturn, with a haughty laugh. After which she often went into saying she hated to drive. Hmm, might there be any connection there?
Michigan’s got nothing on Wisconsin frost heaves. This one has got to be the record.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DZMf3YmOfgak&ved=2ahUKEwj36Ivd8dL8AhXvtIkEHW7PBv4Qo7QBegQIBxAF&usg=AOvVaw0HbUkPiB9Bodf5M8dQ4Fib
Eek! Eek, I say! Much eeking.
Schrnnnnnk! Ow, my sides!
That sounds like a giant saving grace, otherwise I don’t know how you’d’ve carried on going to work every day.
Ah. Yes. The reorg by car size. I have had a second-row seat for stories that have made my beard stand on end about, er…well, differences in philosophies, values, and priorities between Midsize Car Group and Large Car Group at GM.
Yeah, eh! Why in the name of kiwi-lime Slurpees was that engine so unreasonably loud for such a stupid reason as a schlock radiator fan that sounded like it belonged on a garbage truck‽
I feel like the toxicity between the J group and Saturn tells you a lot about what was wrong in the organization top to bottom.