Faults:
My engine completely seized up at 95,000 miles. My mechanic was unable to explain it or fix it. However, he said he has had several Saturns come through where the engine died at 80,000 miles.
The car interior began rattling a lot at about 70,000 miles.
The power window motor died. It cost $450 to replace because they had to take the door apart from the outside due to the way Saturn's doors are made.
I basically can't open the trunk because it won't close again. It isn't the lock, it is the cheap metal that the lock is bound to. The only way to fix this is to replace the entire trunk hood.
The pop up headlights don't go up and down any more, although you can crank them by hand. I just leave them up.
General Comments:
I never had a mechanical problem with the car the entire time I owned it until it died. However, 95,000 miles is awfully early for your car to completely die for no reason. I will definitely never buy another Saturn.
The "auxiliary" problems I listed above have been extremely inconvenient and expensive. It is ridiculous to have a car where you can only use the trunk by folding down the seats. Not to mention the problems greatly reduce the chances that I could have resold the car even if it hadn't died. To fix the auxiliary problems would have been so pricey that the money I would get for selling it would barely cover the expense.
3rd May 2006, 02:55
Well I personally think its how the owner treats their car because my Saturn sc2 is at 130,000+ miles and still running strong, and I abuse the car to. the only major thing I had to change is the rack and pinion because of the hard canyon racing I do which caused my rack and pinion to just give up. I had other friends with Saturn sc2 that still run, we give it regular oil changes fluid changes and maintain it very well!