Faults:

Seats became hard & uncomfortable by 30,000 miles -but they were never great even when new.

Typical for Saturn's, I think.

Original tires (Firestone's) had squirrelly handling; new Goodyear's @ 40,000 miles solved the problem.

No mechanical problems at all.

General Comments:

Manual shifter & clutch were crisp, very nice.

Fine handling, especially after the new tires at about 40,000.

Instruments are well thought out; all that you need and nothing more.

Excellent cruise control.

The driving position is fair, seats not so good.

Decent power - with the cruise set at 60 mph the car regularly managed 38 mpg.

My wife's similar 1998 (also a manual) never could make 34 mpg. No cruise control on that car.

My SL2 was totaled in a nasty collision with a deer; the vehicle went endow and rolled twice.

The little Saturn held up very well - I walked away with a split lip and sore arms from the death grip on the steering wheel!

Faults:

I'll start with I love my car. However, the customer service at the local dealership is completely awful. Suddenly I had water in my floorboard. My regular mechanic charged me $50 to tell me he didn't know what was wrong. I took it to the dealer THREE times before they finally got it right. In the mean time, my carpet was completely ruined, molded and smelled to high heaven. They gave me a lousy $100 for my trouble. Their estimate to replace the carpet...$780!!

Faults:

The check engine light came on at about 50,000 and it needed a fuel filter (not surprising it was a city driven car for first 30,000 so it had carbon build up)

General Comments:

This car was bought new for my mom in 1999 for her to drive to the store and other short trips. After 5 years and 30,000 miles, there were virtually no problems at all. An oil change every 3,000 is all we did. NOTHING ELSE! In 2004 my mom got a new car so my step dad started driving it to work when his 1999 corolla 's lease was up. He disliked the bare-bones car, no power windows, door locks, 5 speed trans. He treated it badly for the next two years. Example-when he parked it in the garage he would bang its mirror against the trash cans. when it started to have trouble starting I suspected it needed a fuel system clean-out. He stopped driving it in 2006 when he got a Hyundai tuscon. Now it is scratched up, but has no dents thanks to the plastic body panels. we still own it now because I (13 year old son) will drive it as my first car. it needed a new battery at 52,000 as it would not start at all. over all, it takes abuse very well and gets great mileage. I am someone who looks down on domestic cars and likes hondas and toyotas, but this car is rated better than average in consumer reports. you know, the half filled in red dot. pretty good for a saturn.

Faults:

I only had an ignition panel failure, I could still drive to the nearest service and got it replaced.

General Comments:

Suspension is a bit hard, but at least it gives more stability to the car. Otherwise the car is very reliable, economic. I was regularly doing 33... 35 MPG on highways, once I even got 43 MPG behind a truck (might not be the safest place to drive though). The price to pay is a bit more laziness than with some other cars. The car always started, never left me on the road, didn't drink oil, didn't knock. I was looking for a reliable and economic solution, and this one proved to be an excellent choice.