Faults:

At thirty thousand miles, the gas tank imploded, causing a sudden and complete loss of power. As I was on an interstate, I had to struggle to get to the shoulder without power and without getting killed. Saturn replaced the gas tank under warranty.

Thirty thousand miles later, it happened again, again while on the highway. This time I had to pay $400 to replace the gas tank.

General Comments:

Although I await the next implosion, overall the car is a bargain - 27-35 miles per gallon tankful after tankful.

Faults:

Alternator died at 65,000 miles.

Driver's seat is showing some wear.

General Comments:

Good acceleration and performance for a 4-cylinder engine.

Love the polymer door panels. They were especially nice when I had the car at college.

Back seat is small and not comfortable for long trips, but OK for short trips and very useful for moving things.

Gets 32 mpg in city driving and about 37 mpg highway.

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong on the car yet.

General Comments:

I have had the car for six months, it runs good, and gets 42.5 mpg even though it has a 106,000 miles on it. The car has decent acceleration for a four cylinder. What this car lacks in power, it makes up in style. The two door coupe with the sunroof is a nice sporty style.

Faults:

I had to replace the 6 year old battery.

Sometimes the sunroof won't open on the first try, but will always close.

The alternator went out at about 60,000 miles.

The backseat is tiny, but cute.

There is a lot of road noise, but nothing unbearable.

General Comments:

I was shocked to read some of the comments made by other SC2 owners. I loved my SC2 and would still have it had a woman not pulled out on me on a major highway and totaled it for me. When I found the car was totaled I cried because it was an awesome car with hardly any problems. Even though the car was totaled, I will say that me and my passenger did not have a single scratch and the car held up better than expected.

I found the car to handle more than excellent.

Great on gas mileage, even with a driver like myself who likes to take off quickly.

Very reliable. I never worried about it not getting me where I needed to go.

The front seats were very comfortable.

The gauges were very easy to read.

The car would get warm in the winter and cool in the summer very quickly.

I never had any problems with the power features of the car, other than the sunroof.

The car was tiny, but being a college student, I could pack a lot into it... great trunk space.

The bright lights on the car were exceptional.

Good power on major highways.

Great visibility with very few blind-spots. Passengers never feel closed in.

I accidentally let the transmission fluid run out and drove it without any fluid for a very long time and the transmission held up like a tank and had no damage at all.

Overall I loved my car and can't say enough wonderful things about it. I'm shopping for a new car right now and I want another Saturn SC2. I was very proud of the way it held up in the wreck and feel very safe driving a Saturn.

Faults:

I've noticed that majority of complaints are about the 1996 Saturn SC2, which has a DOHC engine, different than the SC1.

I, well my mother, bought a 96 SC1 in Feb of 03. It's consumed oil from day one... And delays switching into reverse from Park, but not from Neutral??? If you're not paying attention while switching and happen to give it gas, it will make this loud thump when it engages... It scares me every time.

I do see a little oil around the engine, but it does not make up for the amount of oil loss.. (about a quart a week)...

This car is horrible with brakes... And even more picky about spark plugs and wires.

Even with all the complaints, I often push this car like a $50,000 sports car. Topping 100mph probably once a week.

I think it's a trooper for having all factory parts except the alternator (I think my new stereo killed it)... even at 170k miles.

I don't know why, but I really don't think this car will make it to see its last payment. Only $3200 to go.

Oh, it really could use an alignment, it shakes and shimmies over 70mph... and I think one of the injectors is bad, $100 a piece (not replacing) signs of a bad injector is really, really bad. Engine idling and shaking, and the computer reports cylinder misfire. I just put in fuel injector cleaner, worked like a charm.

The car rattles everywhere inside, and due to my stereo, outside also.

One more thing, when I'm sad about my Saturn, I try fitting adults in the back seat, always a riot...