Faults:

The alternator on this car is weak - the headlights may flicker at night when the driver takes their foot off the gas.

One of the plastic clips for the brake light circuitry melted and made the brake light inoperative. New light = $89 US.

General Comments:

Car has some little nagging problems - nothing that will ever leave you stranded - but just some little annoying things.

Car feels at home on rain/snow covered roads.

If I pull one of the rear seats down, I can fit several pair of skis inside.

Faults:

Nearly everything went wrong with this car.

It started with noise coming from the power steering (replaced).

Then, the electric door lock stopped working. (One door at a time...)

The driver's seat started to make a weird sound (squeaking). My dealer "patched" it with "Duct-Tape"!!!

The brakes worn out at the speed of light. Once, I almost lost control of the car when the pedal went to the floor while I was trying to slow down on a bridge. My brakes were "shouting out loud" a very acute noise, but not the one we can hear when the brake pads are worn out... In fact, one of the the rear pads simply disintegrated!!! When I told it to my dealer, they simply tried to find something with a flashlight... Of course, my front brakes worn much too fast since the rear brakes weren't working! I had to pay the complete amount for a brake replacement.

Lately, I had a ball joint in the front suspension changed.

Finally, a lot of bells and whistles are driving me crazy daily.

General Comments:

This car was supposed to be a nice piece of engineering at a good price. But unfortunately, it does not worth what I paid for it. In fact, I still owe twice the amount that it worths today on the used car market!

However, the design by itself is good, even if the car is not a beauty. The trunk is very spacious, the seats are comfortable, the noise level on the road is very acceptable. The radio sounds very good!

I changed the original tires for BF Goodrich Traction T/A. This improved the handling a lot.

Faults:

The ABS light repeatedly turned on. It took two trips to the dealer to have it fixed. The technicians said they did not know what the problem was until they contacted the national hotline. Repairs were covered by warranty.

A clip broke in the CV boot. The car was inoperable and needed to be towed. The clip was replaced along with the axle. Repairs were covered by the warranty.

When having tires put on the car at a store other than the dealer, a lug nut was miss-threaded. Due to the design of the wheels, repairs required replacement of the hub.

General Comments:

When the steering wheel turns to the left, there is an airy whistling noise. The dealer said that this is normal.

The headlights and dashboard lights often flicker. The dealer said that this is normal.

The seats are comfortable--one of the reasons I bought the car.

The trunk is roomy.

The car has depreciated much faster than I expected. I financed my car for four years at 2.9% interest and have paid extra toward each payment. Still, after two years, if I traded my car in tomorrow, I would owe $3000 more than what I can get for the car. The car is worth half of what I bought it for after two years--and it is in excellent condition.

The major redeeming quality of this car is the exceptional customer service provided by Saturn. However, I wonder what I will do when the warranty expires and I have to pay for the repairs myself.