The Tragic Rise and Fall of Saturn Cars
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- #Saturn
This is the tragic story of the rise and fall of Saturn cars....
From a study in the early '80's on how to design, build, and sell a car to compete with the imports...
To a new factory, an innovative labor agreement, top customer satisfaction and Saturn Homecomings...
To becoming just another division of GM, pushing out generic products from the GM worldwide family of vehicles....
After an estimate $5 Billion investment, GM squandered it by destroying the culture they built within Saturn, the loyalty of their customers, and with the economic downturn thrashed about trying to sell it before ultimately just closing the doors.
Please subscribe and if you owned and loved your Saturn, please let us know in the comments!
We bought a 2002 SL2 and drove it for 17 years! When we sold it the AC still worked! The car is still on the road as a daily work car. But we will never own another GM product because of the way GM dumped the Saturn.
I adore my 2002 SL1, 333,000 miles and 100K are my own.
AC still works! I get 30-40 mpg while driving like I stole it.
Best upgrade was PolyUrethane Inserts in the DogBone Motor Mounts.
My parents owned three SAABs and had the same feeling toward GM. After GM ditched SAAB he said that GM ruined the brand and he would never buy one of their products in the future.
GM gets good ideas sometimes, then drops them for unknown reasons.
Story well-told.
Two of my brothers-in-law are retired from GMC manufacturing careers in Michigan. In candid moments they have shared events and practices of GMC and the UAW Union that were stunningly short-sighted and greedy.
I feel that whether someone loves Saturn cars or not, they’ll have to acknowledge the extraordinary, unique legacy of Saturn.
I’m reminded of the old on-going saga of Free Enterprise vs. Communism.
I had 2 Saturns. The first one sucked (SL2) but the manual Ion was a good car. Don’t know how I ended up buying 2 Saturns, lol. I’ve always been a muscle car (Camaro, mustang, challenger) kind of guy. And when I wasn’t driving one of those, I bought Mercedes (which I own 2 of currently ) and have had 3 in past. How the Saturns slipped in I’ll never know. But the Ion was a reliable and fun to drive.
I worked for Saturn, I went to training in Spring Hill.. I have a 94 SC2 in storage, and a homecoming SL2 ,
Cherish those cars! Id offer to buy, but i recently picked up a cream puff Saturn! Cheers!
i still have my 5speed 1996 saturn sc2 my parents bought me for graduation. 435k and still on the road. while i was going through automotive school. i did a lot of work on the car. i pulled the engine,port&polished bore&honed had some forged pistons made polish the crank shaved the head. i also modified some coil overs from a impreza to work i converted the back breaks to disc. i replaced hood and trunk with a custom fiberglass. saturn will always have a place in my heart this car helped me learn and because i love it so much i feel like i applied my self more
I ALMOST went to work for Saturn when I got out of the Army in 95, They had an office in the community center on Fort Campbell at the time and were literally hiring anyone who showed up with a DD214 and even putting them up in a hotel nearby with-in walking distance of the plant for the first 6 month so we could save up money and get ahead to get a place and a vehicle. Having an interview with them was actually a part of clearing post, biggest and stupidest damn mistake of my life was not taking that job. 2 of the guys that I went to basic training with ended up going to work for them, One is about to retire and open his own paint and body shop, the other one is now one of the bigwigs at the Corvette plant in Bowling Green Kentucky, which is only an hour nd a half ish away from Spring Hill.
As a former Canadian Saturn dealer I remember one of my customers, a chemist engineer who drove 600,000 kilometers (360,000 miles) in his Saturn. This guy kept meticulous records and told me it was the most economical car he ever drove. That was the original Saturn. Yes, they could and they did. You also forgot to mention all the patents held by Saturn. Very smart people, North American people.
Thanks for the comment. Here's the thing, I think GM and Ford and all of them have tons of very smart people working, and absolutely tons of talented engineers.
From what I've seen, it's the "culture" that unlocks greatness.
I did a video about the GM Northstar system - a new modern, powerful, and smooth V8, transmission, ABS, and ride control. In approximately the time it took GM to produce this, Toyota designed the entire Lexus LS - frame, engine, and all.
The LS went on to be legendary for it's reliability.... the Northstar system gained a reputation for having the head bolts pull out and ruin the engine.
To me, the difference is a culture that allows greatness.
Then GM wonders why people switch to Toyota ,Nissan ,Kia , Hyundai
From the Documentary that I saw GM managers said Saturn you’re becoming to independent. Comply to your parents.
You all probably dont care at all but does anyone know a method to log back into an Instagram account?
I stupidly lost the login password. I would love any tricks you can offer me
@Walker Melvin Instablaster =)
@Maxton Asher Thanks for your reply. I got to the site on google and im in the hacking process now.
Takes a while so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
@Maxton Asher It did the trick and I now got access to my account again. I'm so happy!
Thank you so much, you really help me out !
If it works, let's break it (GM & UAW's corporate culture).
It wasn't Saturn or the UAW who killed them!!! It was the business model that killed them!! I know this because I worked Saturn Engineering for 15 years!! Don
@TcZ i'd love to hear more too!
Ok you want you'll get it! The first Saturn developed was the platform for both models ! When the decision to go with plastic body panels caused engineering to spend more time for development because of the structure integrity of plastid vs sheet steal !!! Huge difference and with a corporate d mandated 5 star frontal crash worthiness from the government and GMC it took awhile for this development!!! Also the SC1 coupe body design was done before the sedan which caused a rush in sedan design which was not a design I liked at but that's how it went !!!! Don
Ok one more bit of info on the collapse of Saturn !!! Shortly after the first Saturn President passed away his replacement was a little known Division President Skip Lefauve !! Shortly after this transition the production capacity in Tenn. Was cut in half !!! Do you know what happens when you have parts contracts for 500k per year to 250k per year !!??? Don
That’s GM for you. They stop making what everybody wants. Saturn, Fiero, Impala SS, Gran National, Monte SS, Caprice and so on.......
Great video! I could tell he cared about Saturn the way I did. It was sad working at a Saturn dealership and see GM sink their claws into this brand and slowly tear it apart. I'll never forget when some sales staff and I were sent to see the new ION for the first time and drive it compared to the Corolla, Civic, and Jetta. There was no doubt in my mind every one of those cars was far better than ours. It was just sad. The original VUE was pretty darn good though and made us some money for a while, but the ION only sold with heavy incentives. It really killed us.
Saturn Dealers were one of the biggest success stories of Saturn!!! Without their Leadership and culture in making buying a car a great experience, Saturn would have been just another car !!!! Hats off to all ex Saturn Dealers and their people !!!! Don
Ions are pieces of shit.
My mom bought a SL2 new, I learned to drive in it. First car I bought with my own money was an SL1 as I wanted an early sc2 with popups and and late enough to have the gen 2 interior and couldn't find one for sale right away.
Finally found the sc2 I wanted with that was still a 1st gen, but the last year or 2 when they had already done the 2nd dash and seats. Really poured my soul into that car. Turbocharged it. Coilovers. Recaro seats. Turned it into a homecoming package clone. Projector retro fit.
Mom ended up wrecking hers in 2005 and getting an Ion because they didn't have the S-Series anymore.
That car is the biggest piece of crap. Its had the ignition lock cylinder replaced 5 times because of a recall, and it still doesn't work. We finally found a work around to get the key out by pressing a button inside the column. (they would replace it, and it worked fine for a few days, and then failed within a week or two every time). All 4 doors have had the window seal turn into bacon. All the seats were rock hard within 3 years. The radio screen barely works. The instrument cluster was replaced under recall. The power steering was fixed under a recall. The seat belts were all replaced under a recall.
The driver's window master switch has been replaced by gm twice.
Basically all the interior, stuff is just complete garbage. All the interior plastics. Are terrible.
The ion ruined saturn. Replaced a good cheap car. With a cheap cheap car.
Thank you for taking to the time to research and present the Saturn study. I was married in 1996 and our first car was a brand new standard transmission1998 SL2 constructed specifically for us in late 1997. We had two children who both learned how to drive with this car. My wife passed away due to glioblastoma as the last kid left the house and went off to college. I drove the SL2 long enough until I reached 100K. Then I dropped it off at the salvage yard in 2018 with the last kid begging me to retain the spoiler. Now that I am by myself, I have to admit that looking back, we were/are a Saturn family. No regrets…except for the interior noise. Ha ha ha!
Thanks for being here and sharing some Saturn-love!
I am terribly sorry for your loss.
Saturn was a good idea for a car company! It simply fell victim to General Motors corporate greed(all about profit)! Some companies never learn!!!
Well .. to be fair ... it’s bs,since between profit and good business practice / products & fair wages.
"Some companies"? How magnanimous of you...😁
I also took a tour of the Saturn Plant in Springhill Tennessee as a AFGE union member while working at a nearby military installation. The purpose was to learn more about and hear testimony on the virtues of "Team Management". We were told that Saturn was a partnership between GM and the UAW and that a union member was seated at every board at every corporate level throughout the company. The timeframe was a little after Saturn's corrosion vehicle recall, which was due to a coolant delivery tanker not being thoroughly rinsed out of it previous acid payload. To correct you, one thing we learned, the local "Tennessee" hiring in the plant was disappointing. The Saturn plant was what we called in Government Service the "Priority Placement Program" for General Motors. Everyone that we met and spoke with came from another GM plant and most often one that was either closed or idle.
GM killed all of their brands by rebadging Chevys
For years I drove a 1997 Saturn SC2 1.9L 5-speed manual transmission. It served me until more than 200,000 miles. Doing consistenly more than 35 mpg on highway. In 2005 I got my first GPS, and one night I drove 400 miles verified on GPS just to realize I did 41.5mpg. Drove great, surprisinly comfortable on long trips, and had low maintenance cost. And darn, I loved the logo.
Love your video. Im on my 3rd S series Saturn. As fate would have it.....i took ownership of my cream puff 2002 SL1....a few years ago. It now has 43,000 original miles. I love my cheap....no frills....no bells nor whistles car. Staturn DID really end with the 2002 year. But i get to continue to experience the Saturn mystique. The s series was a awesome car for the blue collar worker, Good job!
Thanks for sharing!
In 1993 we bought our first Saturn, to replace a 1985 Dodge Caravan that had developed some dependability issues after a fairly severe accident. It was a great little 4-door sedan that my wife loved. When daughter graduated we presented her with that car and bought a 1998 Saturn coupe SC-2. Absolutely fabulous. While we lived in Connecticut it averaged about 27 mpg. When we retired and moved to NC, it was getting about 35mpg. Unfortunately I fell in love with a Mini-Cooper convertible and it was goodbye Saturn. It had 108,000 miles on it.
The Saturn SC2 is still one of my favorite automotive designs ever.
Still handsome all these years later.
The first car I ever bought. And a good one for that purpose.
I had a used 1992 SC2 until 2015.
In 2014 I met some college kids visiting the U.S. We became friends and a few days later I went to pick them up in my SC2, kind of apologetically because someone was going to have to sit in the back, but when they saw my car the girl was like "WHOA! You have a New SPORTS CAR!?"
Mine too!! I was the guy who designed the first two 3 door coupes!!! Of course the manufacturing engineers changed its design for ease of manufacturing!!! Don
Greastest cars built and sold since the model T. I fell in "LOVE" with the Saturn automobile in 1995. I own 2 Saturns. 1995 SW-1 "restored". 1995 SL-2 "restored" That's how much I love my Saturns! Very sad to see the "S"series be dumped, then Saturn went away.......bad call on GM's part.....If you see a true Saturn going happly don the road....try and buy it on the spot from the person...won't happen. Love is priceless!!
Keep up the great vids.
We bought a 1993 SL2. We liked the car very much. We really liked the no haggle buying experience. It got 36 mpg on the highway with an automatic transmission - which was the best gas mileage I had gotten on a car we owned. I liked how the transmission had a spin on oil filter - it made it so easy to change the transmission fluid. It was very reliable for most of its life. We had it for 17 years and put 180,000 miles on it. Later on, though the body did not rust and the car still looked good, the undercarriage became rusted from road salt. It had ABS and none of our other cars did, so we always used it in the worst winter weather. In 1996 my sister bought an SC1 coupe based on our good experience. It had the less powerful single overhead cam engine. That car rode better, was quieter, and had more comfortable seats. She drove that car for 17 years when it had 260,000 miles on it! She sold it to someone who drove it for a number of years more. As far as I know it's still around. I did think once the S series cars stopped being produced, they seemed to lose their way. They began offering cars (like the minivan and SUV you mentioned) that were rebadged Chevys or Pontiacs and became another regular GM division - maybe to replace Oldsmobile (?) which was being phased out right around that time.
In my youth, I was a die-hard GM fan... that changed. 1994, we bought a new Saturn wagon and loved that car. While living in Louisville, we often visited relatives in both Florida and Michigan ~ The Saturn perform like a champ on the Interstate. On one of those trips, through no fault of our own, the fuel tank was damaged... and even though the damage was no fault of Saturn, they replaced it free of charge. Eventually the wife and I divorced and the only bone of contention was that both of us wanted to keep the Saturn; through friendly negotiation, she got custody of the Saturn. I considered buying another Saturn, but by then it had become a Chevy. I bought a Honda
Thanks for sharing the memories, the positive ones of Saturn.
I do love the fact that it became "okay, you take the dog, but I'll take the Saturn". :)
LOL
Great video! I share your feelings about Saturn, having followed their progress from the beginning. The prevailing wisdom was that General Motors could NEVER have 'reformed' itself from within sufficiently to pull off what Ford was able to do with the Taurus. And it took an all mighty shift in perspective for Ford to pull it off. But then General Motors did something really bold and innovative with Saturn. From the design concept to the, "We're a car store and this is what it costs", everything about these cars inspired loyalty and confidence. The American manufacturers were tired of being punched in the throat by the Japanese car companies and, in my opinion at least, Saturn was smartest, most innovative response to that challenge. And who ever heard of a car inspiring so many owners to come together for a celebration?! Many thanks for a great presentation.
Thanks, and I agree. GM was too big and too-entrenched to pivot, so the brillance of the move with Saturn was creating something from the ground up that revolutionized how cars were designed, built, and marketed.... unfortunately it stopped there and I personally think GM is still chasing that dream.
@@AllCarswithJon I read everything in the automotive press about Saturn that I could get my hands on from beginning to end. I've come to the conclusion that a collusion of forces killed it. The old GM was far too top-down to really tolerate it, even for as long as they did. After the Corvair, the Vega, the Cavalier, Saturn was an attempt to address the factors turned a malaise into a renaissance.
@@AllCarswithJon again thank you for your insight and thought on Saturn and GM and it's tyrannical rule over Saturn. Which caused its downfall.
@@rodferguson3515 I think it is all there within the first four minutes of the video. "A wholly owned subsidiary" and "very top down" and "set up" by GM and managed too, right? It was THEIR baby and they OWNED it. I think right there you have described the biggest seed of its destruction, planted in the beginning. Probably so much more in love with their power and control that they could not ever fully embrace the potential. Isn't this the problem with most "employee owned" companies? It is employee owned in name only. The whole of the company is not really owned by the whole of the workforce. It is because the few cannot truly share an ownership stake in a company which is equal to all others.
So many "employee owned" companies are merely a sham by the couple of iwners if full account -- or whatever you wish to call them --- for PR, tax benefits, and to squeeze a bit more out of the workers. I believe a few "employee-owners" buy in, but I believe most see it for what it is: a relatively cheap way for the employers to get more from the workforce.
Hello, your video just landed in my recommendations. Touched me cause i was a manager waiting for Penske’s decision and left with a box in my hands. 2006-2009 worked there and even that was a the end i learned to respect the car. Had 4, SL1, L200, 07 Ion and 07 Aura. An observation in your video, the First VUE was a Saturn design witn a 2.2 l 4cyl and a 3l engine. In 2006 came with the V6 Honda Pilot engine, great vehicle. Panel were plastic. The one you showed came out in 2008. Thanks for sharing the video
I was a nurse at the Saturn plant in spring hill. It's now a GMC Cadillac plant. They are building the new ultium battery factory on the grounds now.
I worked at AutoZone 4 years and that's why I love Saturn. When I was working there we saw very few Saturn parts except tune-ups part and a couple other... very low maintenance.
Thanks for sharing What an interesting take on the make!
I miss my gold '97 Saturn SL2 _so_ _much!!!_ She was my first car EVER, and I drove her for over 12 years. I put nearly all her miles on her. She was soooo reliable. I sadly sold her at 150,000 miles in 2020. I am sure I could have taken better care of her while I owned her (in high school, throughout college, and beyond), but I took her for granted and hardly knew better. I've had so many "firsts" with her... Sigh. Her name was Goldie. Well, Sadie - but her nickname was Goldie. She's with great owners now, though!!
And I really miss that cassette player.
New comment on an old video Jon. I'm a recent subscriber, been in the auto service and repair business for over 30 years. I always appreciated any Saturn model that began with an "S". Thrashy and loud? Absolutely. But coupled with anvil-like reliability and ease of maintenance and repair, unmatched. Never owned one but highly respect once this brand once was.
Always wanted one, even though I worked with them... had a buddy with one and it was terriffic. :)
Interesting I came across this video.
I was at the Saturn plant during startup. Saw the first Vues leaving to be crash tested. They were painting a dull gray.
I learned that they spent more on blasting the bedrock to drop the plant below eyeshot from the nearby highway then on the actual plant. Was working with Carl Zeiss. Installing precision measuring machines. Resistant electrician wanted to get the wires pulled that night. He said: "If we don't get this done, the union guys will milk it out to two or three weeks!".
This was just before 9-11 happened! Because of that event, things shut down. No body flying. Airline not buying their supplies.... Yep, I could continue...
We've had 8 Saturn's over the years. The current and last one we have is a 2000 SL2 with 328000 miles. It runs and yes the a/c still works. We've enjoyed them all. Sad to watch Saturn fail in the end.
Another nice job on what was GMs red-headed stepchild. Having worked on many GM car & truck programs as a concept tech illustrator, I saw the constant battle for funds that resulted in the car vs truck divisions. Roger Smith tried his damedest to create a new corporate culture thru Saturn, but was sabotaged by the GM elephant-in-the-room that is Chevrolet. One must remember that the Chevrolet division was as large as all the other GM divisions combined. And they had tremendous internal corporate clout with the bean counter
s. As tier one contractors we saw this clearly from the outside. Chevy was not about to be upstaged by a new small car startup. Saturns advertising at the time was original & very focus-ed on the customer. Just as creative as what was done for Volkswagen. I felt the Saturn mid-size SUV, the VUE
was a cutting-edge stylish vehicle ahead of it’s time. But as you pointed out, once the corporate claws snared Saturn, things rapidly went downhill. Had GM recognized what Saturn was doing (most likely they did & were in-sanely jealous) they could have applied those lessons to all divisions.
Thank you Jon for you research and preparing this video on the Saturn. We owned a 2001 Saturn SL2 and it was a very good little car. We bought it to pull behind a motor home, it had a five speed manual transmission which was perfect for what we needed. I a saddened to learn about the demise of Saturn and the corporate greed of GM in closing down Saturn. We now drive a Lexus and have owned it for fifteen years.
Thanks for the kind words and for stopping by!
I own and still drive an 02 sc1 love that car love that third door.
Great video the feeling is mutual! I’ve been a proud Saturn owner since August of ’97. I purchased the SL-2 model in white and after 268K miles It’s still my daily driver. I have repaired and replaced many a parts, tinker with it and dread the day that I will just have to let it go! The attachment I have with my car is truly uncanny. I’ve owned many cars in my life, but only two cars stand out far above the rest. My 1972 agave green BMW 2002 and my Saturn SL-2. I love my Saturn and always will. What GM did to Saturn was heartless , inexcusable, and unconscionable! Thanks again for the video…
What made me really hate GM is how they killed Pontiac instead of Buick and GMC.
There was one person I knew of that worked for Honda that had high-praise for Saturn back in the 1990s. That guy was a service manager for a Honda dealership I took my new Civic to for servicing during the warranty period of the vehicle; where he said to me that given the choice of any compact vehicle out there among all manufacturers, if he could not own a Honda, then Saturn would be the best choice.
Saturn had excellent service along with knowledgeable sales and service personnel. I owned an "L" series and liked it very much after driving it for a number of years and putting over 100 thousand miles on it I gave it to my son as his first car He then drove it for a few years without any problems I did need tp replace a headlight assembly when a deer ran into him good thing the body was plastic it sustained next to nothing in damage we finally traded in the car when it had around 140 thousand miles on it we still got what I thought was a good trade in value for it. he then bought a Honda Civic and moved on to Ohio State to work on his PHD. After passing along the "L" series I bought an Aurora and that car was probably the best car I ever owned it was a definite winner. room enough for everyone and still got 34 miles to a gallon.
Thanks for the comment and the memories!
I had a white Saturn sc2 it was a very good car. Leather, sunroof, 5speed , fully loaded. not one problem ever. i was young so i put some rims on it and exhaust. I kept it mint . id love to have this car back . Great company when they were young.
Thanks for sharing and I agree. :)
This was very thorough and well-done. I always imagined Saturn was meant to be GM's answer to Asian cars, and they weren't all that bad I don't think
Now that you brought this up, I realize that Saturn philosophy was actually close to Toyota's. Nowadays Toyota is a great innovative automaker while Saturn is gone, killed by stupid GM management and UAW politics.
Nice point. I think both companies came from the same 'place' and developed similar approaches, certainly at the manufacturing and design/engineering levels. Saturn was far more customer-focused than Toyota was or is, and the dealership experience just doesn't compare.
I have to agree with the responder !! Saturn Dealers were the best and stop with the UAW thing !! It was NOT the UAW who killed Saturn!!! GMC exes did !!!! Don
I had a 1992 SL2 for 20 years with no major issues. It was the best car I ever had. My odometer stopped working after approximately 250,000 miles, and I drove it for approximately another 100,000. It was still running when I donated it. The sales experience was outstanding, just as you said. It is important to also recognize the service teams in the dealership. The service records were available electronically in all the dealerships. I had regular maintenance done at several different dealerships, and the service was consistently excellent. You could trust people who work there. They always looked out for the interest of their customers and treated you like you were a part of the Saturn family.
Great video - really like your research and insight. A friend of mine who was a zone/region exec with Chevy said simply - GM corporate couldn't help itself - they couldn't let the thing operate independently and had to stick their hands in it. Culture was the killer as much as the other factors you discussed.
Hi my name is Nicholas Borowy and I'm a fan of Saturn too, I had a Saturn station wagon I bought from a co-worker who put over 230,000 miles on it and when I got a hold of it I didn't baby It, in fact I beat the hell out of it and I put almost 300,000 miles on it until I was driving down the high way and the front wheel came off. lol so you can say I literally drove it until the wheels fell off. when I got it it had a small coolant leak from the over fill tank and sometimes I let the temp guage bury the needle "not really on purpose" and that engine would never quiet onme!
Thanks for the memories!!
I am still driving a 1997 SL-2. Love the car, it is simple, reliable and economical. Sad the brand is no more.
Bought my Dad's 1992 SC2 off him for a couple grand, around 2003..When I sold it, it had over 300,000 miles on it (odometer quit working Years before at 280k) . I had to sell it due to under carriage rust.
Then I hunted for another S-series, this time I got a 2000 SW2 with manual transmission. Still have it. 212,000 miles and I'm dreaming of rebuilding the engine to keep it for another 200k. It can get 40mpg sometimes and I can fold down the seats and sleep in it!
Thanks for doing the Saturn video. Still have my 1996 SL2 which is the only car I ever purchased new. It still runs!
Good to hear!
I bought my son a 1997 Saturn SC2 with the 5 speed manual and he loves it. I love it! I'd really like to find another SC2 for myself!! I have no idea how the automatic transmission Saturns are, but the 1.9 liter 4 cylinder engine paired with the 5 speed manual transmission is a lot of fun to drive!!
2002 Saturn SL2 here, 260k miles and a buttload of problems! Yeah, I know there's alot to fix, but you gotta hand it to the old girl, she still starts up every time! Still drives like a dream.
Thanks for sharing!
After watching this, several Saturn training programs came up. I watched those too and learned a lot about the differences between the SL1 and SL2 engines and transmissions. I knew the SL2 had the DOHC and different gear ratio on the trans. I didn't know the pistons and compression ratios were done different.I didn't know that Saturn had their own electronics, wiring,ABS systems and much more but, it explains why Saturn was more durable and reliable than any GM product.
My family had auto parts business that sold evaporator cores to the Pontiac dealership in our town. So I will never buy a GM product.
Not usually into videos with, very little pictures. But great job on this. Very pleased and learned some stuff..
Glad you enjoyed it!
God, I remember how much people loved their Saturns! I think Saturn was the only domestic car brand (after AMC) which had such a cult following. How GM handled the demise of Saturn and SAAB will always leave a bitter taste.
I leased a 1999 and then a 2002 Saturn SL2 when the 1999 lease was up. To this day, they were two of the best cars I ever had. Even the dealership experience, from leasing to servicing has never been duplicated; easily the best and most satisfying of all. The 2002 was the last of the really good Saturns. After that, Saturn ended up coming fully under GM's control; one could see the changes, and they were most definitely not for the better. Very sad; when the lease on the 2002 SL2 was up, I ended up with a Honda Element. It was an excellent vehicle, but the dealership experience was not the same.
Agreed. Our local Honda dealership is pretty darn good, but it's not as good as the Saturn retail center we had back in the 90's and 2000's
I respect early Saturns for the very things you mentioned! Excellent video!
I work with a fellow who put seats in the Chevy/GMC trucks back in the 1980s - 2000's. He told me that he'd been to Spring Hills before and that you almost couldn't tell it was a GM subsidiary without knowing it first.
Thanks for the comment!
I still drive my 95’ SL1. Stick shift, roll down windows and a great mechanic! Penske tried to save the brand.
I never knew what happened but,the 1997 Saturn with a little 1.9l was one of the best and most reliable vehicles I ever owned. I let someone borrow it and they massively overfilled it with oil,.breaking the rings on number 3 cylinder. If it hadn't been for that, I probably would still be running it getting 40 mpgs.
Desde que compré mi saturn ion me enamoré mucho de mi carro, es el carro con el que comencé a aprender sobre mecánica, es el que me ha sacado de apuros, lo compré con 226 mil millas y ahora tiene 247 mil millas y sigue teniendo potencia el motor, yo pienso que hubiera sido una gran compañía, espero seguir el legado que quisieron dejar a los que nos gusta mucho la marca Saturn
Had a 96 SL2 given to me by my Stepfather when I was 18. It had 223,000 miles on it at the time. At 350k I swapped in a new motor and drove it into my 30's with 478k miles until I was forced to move and sell it (I drove a lot for work). In its life the car had been wrapped around a tree, and lightly T-boned but each time we fixed it and it kept driving. The damn thing WOULD NOT DIE! I miss that car so much. I had other cars as I got older and the Saturn was my spare but even after sitting in a garage for 2 years untouched, it started and drove on old gas for 2 hours to its new home. Saturns of that time were not the most luxurious things. But they were reliable and super easy to work on and maintain, and to this day every time I see one, I smile.
BTW I swapped the motor because the original was burning more oil than fuel, but it still ran. After I installed the '99 motor I drove it 4.5 hours to visit family (literally a day after I bolted the hood back on). I got 49.6mpg hwy on the way there. The trip home was 46mpg.....and I was hammering on it the whole way because I wanted to get home.
Great channel..keep it up!
i bought a 2005 Saturn Vue in 2017 with 42K and love it. My Girl friend turned me on to them. (She has owned every version except the Sky, which she drove and didn't like). Now with 70+K and nothing but oil changes on the V6 I'm thinking of adding a trailer hitch to haul my less reliable car (a '77 fiat). Her 3 door, which you didn't mention, is very cool with about 190K and going --well OK, but she does almost no maintenance...So Love the Lack of rust, here in the Salty midWest were other cars 1/2 the age are rusty....Did I say, Love it.
Thanks for the comment. I'm curious what's your '77 fiat? doesn't happen to be a Spider does it?
I have a 1999 sl1 Saturn , I just bought it from a used car dealership it’s pretty ruff looking but so far drives great , I love it and the info u provided was very knowledgeable thanks for sharing your love for Saturn 🙂
I hope you enjoy it! I'm a big fan of the car!
I'm still driving a 1994 SL2 with a manual transmission that I got back in 2015 that a repair shop fixed up. While Bruce (yes I named it) has had a few major repairs over the years, he still runs pretty well and is in overall good condition.
I have a 2004 Saturn Vue with 411,000 miles, and it's still going strong. I had to replace the clutch on the 5 speed transmission, the starter, and the ignition module. Those are the only major items I had to replace. It still has all the original parts including the exhaust system. I'd like to rebuild the engine and the 5 speed transmission, and drive it for another 400,00 miles. It's a really good car/
I just discovered your video and I share your sentiment. I owned and SW2 and SL2 in the 90's loved the cars. Then I went back in the early 00's to look into buying another Saturn and I found the cars lacking in style and feel and did not purchase another Saturn. I felt bad too because I developed a good relationship with the dealer.
Thanks for sharing!
I bought a brand new 2002 Saturn SL that lasted me 14 years. Aside from it burning oil, which all Saturns did, it was a decent car AND it was a stick shift. My issue was I didn't really start to take care of it until about 8 years down the road. But I always said that I was gonna drive it til the wheels fell off and I did so no regrets. Finally lost a cylinder so had to junk it. Funny story was that I had worked at Saturn of Augusta GA BEFORE buying the car. My experience working there is what made me want to buy one in the first place.
Great 👍 review ! I used to own a 1993 Saturn SL sedan and my car was pretty well built and lasted me a long time .
I own a 2004 Saturn Vue. Though the engine and transmission are not Saturn (GM engine and Getrag transmission), It has plastic panels and all of the standard Saturn interior touches- steering wheel, door panels, seats, dash etc. Made in Spring Hill, I consider it the last Saturn.
Loved our Saturn SL 1 manual with dealer installed passenger side outside mirror and cruise control (that replaced the steering wheel)…
This video confirms what I've heard about Saturn's being good cars at first and then starting making junk. My father gave me a 2007 Saturn Ion and it didn't take long before it developed major problems. WORST car I ever had. It got horrible gas mileage - about 12 MPG on average. It bounced all over the place when driving it. Maybe the sway bar was deficient? It developed major electrical problems and had to be completely rewired. Unfortunately didn't solve all of the electrical problems. The power control module was another story. Made the car do some very weird things including not accepting reflashes or updates. Quick accelerations made the whole car shut down. The traction assist always completely locked up the transmission. Not a good thing when trying to drive on snow covered streets. Complained to GM numerous times. GM turned a deaf ear to me every time. As soon as my father paid off the loan, I traded this hunk of junk in for a Ford. Believe me, it was the dealer who got the short end of the stick when they accepted that Saturn Ion for a trade.
Mine hasnt any problems got the same make and model with the 2.2 chevy 4 cylinder with 176k on her shes been pretty good to me
Everything is perfect in my 2002 SL1.
No fooling joke, it is the most EGRONOMIC car I’ve ever touched.
Example is while my hand is on the shifter, I can reach the radio & the HVAC controls with my fingers. It’s perfect.
A first time waterpump replacement took me under an hour. Unreal freaking real.
My favorite normal car I’ve ever had.
I guess GM executives could screw up anything. They were on the right path to create a cult of car buyers. They could have been the Saab, Volvo, and VW bug, with loyal buyers. But NO, they dropped the ball, on purpose.
I bought an SL2 in 1992, a total mixed bag of excellent and terrible. The problems started the evening I bought the car. The car was clean, but the dealership insisted that it go through cleanup. After washing the car the guy grabbed a totally dry/dirty chamois (how in hell did he have dry one at the end of the day) and started drying the hood. I screamed to high heaven and he stopped, but not before leaving some fairly deep scratches. The next day I polished SOME of it out, but every day that I looked at the car I had a silent curse session. How could a dealership have someone so poorly trained? That was on Friday evening and Saturday night it rained. The car was not in the garage, it was on the driveway. Sunday morning, got in the car to go to church. Sat down in a seat full of water. The front left sunroof drain was not attached. That's when I thought about the money back guarantee on Saturn at the time. My wife talked me out of that. So called the dealership and explained my problem. They said no problem, bring it in and they would attach the drain. I said, hell I can attach the drain, I need a new headliner. They didn't want to replace the headliner. I said you're lucky I didn't want a new seat. Things after that were pretty damn good, beautiful green, tan leather, faster than a comparable Honda, much better looking layout under the hood, and handled like a gocart. That is until the front motor mount went completely to hell, motor laying on frame, just as warranty ran out. Then the alternator shortly thereafter. Satun had a TSB about valve stem seals leaking and causing oil consumption. I had no oil consumption. Somewhere after about 50,000 miles it started using oil at an extraordinary rate. I just kept putting oil in it, and put over 100,000 miles on it. My son needed a car and I gave it to him. The engine finally died at well over 200,000 miles.
Positives: great plastic body panels, fast, corned like on rails on dry road, good gas mileage, looked good.
Negatives: certain parts of dog shit quality, stem seals, crappy leather upholstery (should have used the quality vinyl that VW, Mercedes, and BMW used), tires too wide for wet roads.
IF, big if, GM had stayed true to the original idea of Saturn, they could have hit a home run. All the problems I had should have been handled by the dealership under warranty. Rebadging Opel cars was a big no no. I knew the history of GM, the Vega, the Chevette, the Geo, but I thought maybe they had changed their ways. How wrong I was.
Purchased 2001 LW200 Wagon after seeing my daughter in law's clean 2001 Saturn L200 Sedan. Engine compartment room is very generous. I liked the plastic door panels because they don't dent or rust. Still looks very good after 200,000mi! Biggest disappointment is mpg which mostly is 17-22 town/highway. Second disappointment is room. Very tight and in addition rear of Wagon should be few inches longer than Sedan. Reliability has been excellent however because of mileage and lack of roominess I'll be selling.
A few months ago I had to let go of my beloved 2006 Saturn Vue. It was an AWD model with the Honda V6 under the hood. It was one of my favorite vehicles in recent time. I unfortunately had to scrap it due to severe rust issues, electrical problems, and finally it blew the head gasket. It got me through a rough point in my life and I only paid a mere $1,000 USD for it. All problems considered i still did not want to scrap it but was not road worthy any longer.
I had a Saturn SL 4 door manual transmission purchased new.....sold it for $500 with over 250,000 miles on it. Had a VUE Redline that I had for over 5 yrs. My wife had L series, and then an Aura... I still have my Saturn Sky Redline (2008) with only 17, 000 miles on it. All original. Agree totally with you.. it was all about the people of Saturn. The retail associates, the management, even the mechanics who always would check over the whole car even if you were just in for an oil change. As I recall Saturn did not even refer to themselves as a car dealership but rather a retail automobile outlet. I was so comfortable going their that i would go and just hang out in the showroom to look at the new models. When Saturn came out with the prototype drawing of their Sky (which the drawing looked more like what became the Pontiac Solstice) I knew I had to have one. I was so happy when the actual Sky was built that it had, the angle lines that more favored the old Stingray. I was so very disappointed to see the demise of Saturn and I still get looks when I drive my Sky around with the top down looking as good as always. Thanks for a wonderful video.
thanks for the comment... I miss Saturn!
Love my Sky Redline as well. Truly one of a kind classic. I get the same looks too. Can’t touch this today without spending a bundle .
We loved our 95 SL2 with 169k miles - until we were rear ended and it was totaled. Keep up the great work sir!
I had a 1993 SL and loved it (except for the powered shoulder belts). It was practical, reliable, economical, all I needed it to be. Living in western NY, rust eventually became an issue, so I had to let it go. My mother bought a 2001 SC1, which I still have and enjoy immensely. If someone were to ask me why, I'm not sure if I could explain it, but I just do.
Your not wrong. I had a 1995 Saturn SC1, and two 2007 Saturn Ions that I still drive. The Ions are just rebranded Cobalts. I still miss the 95 SC1
Hold on.. my sky redline is a very Capable vehicle it has factory coil over suspension a 260 hp turbo engine it’s really basically a baby Vette still had a true space frame.. beautiful transmission solid like original Saturn
Have a 2000 SL-1, 4 door. It's got over 250k miles on it now and is still running great! Best, most reliable, and affordable car I've ever owned! Greed always destroys good things and the consumer always loses. We never learn.
They killed the Saturn in 2002 when they Killed the S-Series.
The L Series, was mediocre. And the ion was carbage.
I had 3 saturn sl-1’s, liked them reliable, affordable, beat them up over 200k miles on two, best commuter car no frills,
I had a thirty mile commute from my home to my duty station at Fort McPherson, Georgia, this is circa 1990. My wife coveted my BMW 740i. Anyway I’m an early adopter and I was I intrigued by the sales model. Best car buying experience of my life. In fact the dealership staff line up and applauded as I drove off the lot. Yes the SL1 was noisy, but the car was one fine A to B car. I taught my daughter to drive in it and upon getting her license I gave her the keys and picked up a loaded Toyota Previa. She beat on that Saturn for years with no issues and drove it through college. Great memory.
I believed in Saturn products. I owned 5 Saturns: a 1997 SL1, a 1998 SL2, a 2000 SL2, 2005 Ion 1, and a 2007 Vue. I more than loved all five of them. The SL models were easy to work on. I did everything from oil changes to changing belts, hoses, and spark plugs. The biggest problem I had was when a valve had to be replaced on my Ion’s engine (a 2.0 liter GM engine). When I read that Saturn was finally dropped by GM, I promised myself I would never by another GM product. That was 11 years ago and I’ve kept that promise. Nowadays, General Motors builds bland, unreliable cars and that’s enough to keep me away from their lots.
I leased an SL2 from 93-97. Great car that I still miss today. At that time there was no dealer inventory and a 2 month backlog. That also meant I got a car that was basically "custom built" with only the options I wanted. When it was finally delivered, it was held up due to a pending recall. As the lease was up on my previous car, they rented me a Chevy Corsica at their expense until the recall issue was addressed. Some people thought the engine was rough, but I thought it sounded great.
I had a 73 Opel Manta Rally which GM swapped to an Isuzu brand. This killed my favorite brand in the US. I feel your pain of betrayal by Government Motors of Saturn. The Ion was also built as an Opel with the same huge flopping sound.
Great context & perspective. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks!
We sold our 1998 Saturn SL1 to a mechanic in 2006. He still driving it . He works for Honda.
I loved the Saturn philosophy back in the 1990s I wanted one but with their no haggle pricing I could not a afford a car from Saturn and felt they were a tad over priced. but today I believe they were priced right I was young looking for the cheapest new car to buy which I did end up with a Chevy Cavalier in 1991. anyways back to the Saturn I followed and loved the culture my only regret was not buying one of the originals 1990 to 1995. I truly believe they were and still are a great car.. though not many are left.. by 2011 I came across a Saturn,, a 2005 Ion. I know its not a true Saturn I finally owned one.. but as I drove my Saturn I learned that the engine is the same as the Chevy Cavalier, Pontiac Sunfire later the Cobalt then the Cruise the platform was the Cruze platform. which I thought it was okay but the quality of the car was lacking that Saturn quality. When the Aurora came out I thought it was nice but it was not a Saturn by then.. it was a rebadged Buick something I can't think of it or the rebadge Malibu. size but I can vouch that GM did screw the Saturn over big time.. if they had left the company as is I can only imagine what kind of cars we would have today.. but GM killed off more then the Saturn. by 2010 Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Hummer along with Saturn were all dead.. removed from the market. one of the mistakes they made was dropping the Camaro and Firebird in 2002.. but later in 2008 brought back the Camaro by popular demands now the Camaro may not survive after 2024 from rumors I am hearing.. as they have not spoken about any new models after the 2022 model run.. I still have my Saturn caps and Tshirts and sadly lost my mug to accidently dropping it and shattering it.. Will we see another cult like Saturn in the future.. hard to say. Thank you may Saturn live long and prosper in our minds, hearts and soul.
I felt the same back in the '90s. It's with great regret I never owned one of the originals, but with that 'no haggle' pricing they were always just a *bit* more expensive than we could afford at the time. Years later my first wife and I owned a Relay (the minivan) which was, as you know, simply a rebadged "GM" minivan. There are few vehicles I've ever had the misfortune to own that made me wish I'd bought a Dodge. :)
I remember people making fun of the way the gages were on top of the dashboard. I thought that was the perfect placement, since you didn't have to look down to read them. And look at the many designs today, placing the screens up there. But nobody is knocking that now.
By far the Saturn Sky was and is the best looking of the two sport coupes between Saturn and Pontiac.
I own a 2008 Aura XR. It's a re-badged Malibu or G6, but it has a 3.6 vvt v6 that was unavailable on other platforms. I love it. Sad It's not a "real" Saturn. But it's very nice inside and moves.
Although I have never owned a Saturn, I have always been a fan, so much so, I took a tour of the Springhill plant in that tour, I learned that workers took turns leading the tours, and each and everyone one of those workers conducting their portion of the tour was expounding how proud they were as UAW Union people to help redesign how a car was built from the ground up, even telling how the UAW rescued GM, by showing them how you can efficiently build and market and sell a car. They described how UAW approached GM and said if you fund us and let us create from the ground up a car line, and after 10 years of success, you can take ownership and use the knowledge to apply to current lines of vehicles. How much do you know about this, because I don't see anything anymore about this, but I used to find that information everywhere?
I had 2 Saturns. Was sad to see it go. I will never buy a GM product.
i have a 1996 saturn SL2, it’s my first car and i bought it a year ago with 88k miles on it. i love this car and honestly all saturn models. my next car honestly might be another saturn because i love them so much. this one has kept up so well even though i’ve honestly driven it to the ground now with 116k miles on it to date. very reliable, eye catcher for sure, and i’ve sort of suped it up with some upgrades to make it special. this was a great video and very informative on something that i’m sad ended. thank you!
I always liked the Saturn never owned one but they came in pretty colors 👌
I had an eggplant purple station wagon.sw2 .loved that car but it couldnt get out of it's own way.
What was shocking to me about Saturn is when the finally did revamp the line up and the cars were Beautiful GM pulls the plug WTF
I grew up in the next county over from Maury County, TN where Spring Hill is. Everybody in Middle Tennessee was beyond excited about Saturn. It changed Spring Hill from a town you could miss if you blinked into one of the fastest growing towns around. When they finally unveiled the Saturn product line, most people I knew thought they were a touch ugly. Nobody was expecting a Corvette, but the styling was a let down. However, you still kinda liked their cars. Now, everybody I knew who had a Saturn loved it almost to a cultish level. The cars were very reliable. A friend of mine beat the ever living crap out of his and it kept taking it. I'd still like to have an S-series station wagon.
The people associated with Saturn had tons of pride in what they were doing but when they started selling badge engineered cars, the Saturn pride deflated. As long as GM let Saturn do their thing, they seemed to do well. I feel like if GM had let Saturn develop their own cars instead of foisting badge engineered offerings on them, Saturn would be the GM sales leader. I'm not even sure if they were even building Saturns in Spring Hill at the end.
Imagine if they were allowed to keep developing the S series like Honda has the Civic. Surely, they could have developed their own Accord fighter that could have underpinned a minivan also. They still could have brought in one or two badge engineered cars like the Sky and still kept the Saturn pride.
Now it takes a damned hour to go from Franklin to Columbia by way of 31!!!
The first gen vue did in fact have plastic panels and a Honda v6 it was special despite being on an equinox platform
A lot happens behind the scenes in the decision making process, like you said we probably will never know. Nobody is going to admit to sabotaging their company for their personal gain, they will spin that and claim they are a "super genius" and turned things around. One of the best quotes from a coworker describing management decisions, "They hand me the football and ask me to run a touchdown, not only is the opposing team trying to tackle me, but my own team is trying to tackle me also, and the coach is throwing burdens on my shoulders, and trying to trip me". George was a good mentor during those days, and enlightened me in many ways. As you climb the ladder, there are views and perspectives not seen from lower rungs of the same ladder.
Have owned countless Saturns in the past 10 years (real Saturns...S series). Love those cars. They're simple, reliable, and get fantastic fuel economy. Sure they're not great long distance highway cruisers and a little noisy, sure they have their quirks (what car doesn't?). Makes me wish I was old enough in the 90s to have bought one new.
I had a 2000 SWP. P was for Postal, as it was a right hand drive. I bought it of a mailman at 152,000. I replaced the engine at 200,000 and got rid of it at 324,000. It is back to delivering mail now.
Wow. That is surely a future collectible. Makes me think of some of the oddball special purpose stuff Studebaker did half a century before...
Loved our 2007 Aura XR and loving my new to me 2008 Aura XR
Great video, I really wanted Saturn to make it, but GM just screwed it up. I wanted one, we were broke and it was just a dream. Still few on the road every once and a while, the wagon looked pretty good too.
Went to buy the ion red line. Never got to test drive it cause there was only 1 and my credit wasn't good enough. They offered to put me in a base 4 door for an unbelievable amount of money down and per month. They also offered me 50 dollars for my un wrecked sc2. There was noting wrong with it. So I took 2k of my down payment went to autozone and bought every part they had. Rebuilt that car and it went to over 600000 miles on the engine. Never opened it up. Original valve cover gaskets, timing Chain. She got hit in a parking lit and was totalled for 600 bucks
I appreciate your knowledge of automotive history. Please keep it up!
Thanks, will do!
I currently have a 2005 Ion, great little car, only 84K miles, most of which are from being towed around by a RV when the previous owners went on trips. Never really noticed before, but after getting my Ion, I have noticed quite a bit more Saturns still on the road
I owned a Saturn SL In steel blue and a manual transmission. I loved changing the oil in it. Saturn made it so easy to do. It had manual wind windows too. I actually cried when I donated it to a nonprofit agency after putting 132,000 miles on it. I just needed something bigger for the family. Great job on the video.
Thanks for the view and for sharing some memories!
I bought an sl1. It was the absolute best car I ever owned. My wife suggested I upgrade so I bought an ion. Absolute worst car I ever owned. Every day I would get up and it was a crap shoot whether or not it would start up in the morning.
Between replacing turn signal bulbs, fishing door locks out of doors when retaining clips failed and the ignition switch problems I was playing mechanic at least once a month on my ion