Overview & Reviews

The Saturn brand, which was part of General Motors, has been discontinued as of the 2009 model year. Though popular in its early years, Saturn suffered from poor sales and was shuttered as part of GM's bankruptcy reorganization.

Despite its sad end, Saturn started with a bright future. After losing market share to Japanese imports during the '80s, General Motors launched Saturn, a new division that began selling small, low-priced cars in 1990. The division promoted itself as "different," with Saturn dealers offering no-haggle pricing and friendly customer service.

Saturn made its debut with the S Series line of vehicles. Available in sedan, coupe and wagon configurations, these Saturns differentiated themselves from other GM products with all-new platforms and flexible plastic panels meant to resist denting. Additionally, the brand was granted its own plant, with all Saturns being built at a dedicated facility in Spring Hill, Tennessee. These first Saturns weren't exactly built to burn rubber; they were powered by engines that offered from 85-124 horsepower. The payoff, though, was that these were among the most fuel-efficient vehicles of their day, offering up to 40 miles per gallon (when equipped with a manual transmission).

Just after the brand's conception, GM boasted that Saturn vehicles would benefit from rapid evolution, but in the early years, this wasn't the case. The brand's vehicles saw only one redesign in their first decade of existence. The revamp took place in the mid-'90s, and for the most part, it was only skin deep. Exteriors were spruced up and interior room saw a slight increase.

The Saturn brand enjoyed some success in its earliest years, fueled by buyers who were in love with its unique approach to customer relations that included "no-haggle" pricing. By the turn of the century, though, the novelty had worn off. With dated platforms and a limited range of products, the marque was neglected by GM, and disappointing sales figures showed that buyers had taken note and chosen to spend their dollars elsewhere.

GM responded by ramping up its commitment to the Saturn brand. In 2000, it rolled out the L Series; sharing a platform and an engine with the Opel Vectra (one of GM's European products) the sedan was the opening salvo in GM's ultimately futile fight to resuscitate the struggling brand. An SUV, the Vue, was unveiled, as was a minivan, the Relay. The S Series was replaced by the lamentable Ion, which was available as a sedan and a coupe. GM also added a hybrid to the lineup, with the introduction of the Saturn Vue Green Line.

Later, Saturn included the sporty Sky roadster, the midsize Aura sedan, the compact second-generation Vue crossover and the full-size Outlook crossover. For a brief period, there was also the European-sourced Astra compact hatchback.

Despite the increase in product quality, however, the Saturn brand effectively collapsed in 2009. As part of GM's bankruptcy proceedings, Saturn was offered up for sale. Initially, it was believed that the Penske Corporation would take over Saturn. But the deal fell through at the last minute, thereby spelling the final end for GM's import-fighting experiment.

User Reviews:

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  please dont waste your money on this car - 2009 Saturn Aura
  By judyann1 - January 21 - 7:20 am

  Please choose another vehicle, I gave my son my 2002 BMW for college graduation and purchased this car 3 months ago, What a mistake. The ESC traction lights keeps popping on and no one seems to know why. The dealerships are out to get your money, they say, let me do this, put this on, reset this, its a waste of your money. They dont know, but they gladly will take your money. I hate like hell I wasted my money on this piece of junk. GM ought to be ashamed of themselves putting this junk together. Im going to trade it in and take whatever I can get for it. I will take the loss, but you can bet for sure, I wont be buying another GM product. I should have kept what I had. SAD

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  Death Trap - 2004 Saturn ION
  By Corey Arnold - January 15 - 5:06 pm

  This car is a DEATH TRAP! It locks up when driving. Can not shift in and out of gears, especially when driving in rush hour traffic. Has been taken in a total of 36 times to dealership, and only when the warrenty was expired did they know the problem. The vehicle locked up while my little brother was driving and caused a horrible wreck, which landed him and the other person in the hospital. So long story short if you value your life and personal safety BOYCOT SATURN and their death trap vehicles.

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  Transmission Failure ~ so far GM not doing anything - 2008 Saturn Outlook
  By Jessica Hudson Dostie - February 3 - 5:48 pm

  -25 f, 2 hours away from home, 7 pm at night, two kids in the car, and treacherous road conditions ~ transmission fails! This problem is widespread & it isnt hundred of cars affected, its thousands and probably tens of thousands . So far GM is doing nothing ~ apparently it takes people dying to issue major recalls, and even then it takes many years and investigations by various agencies. UNACCEPTABLE and CRIMINAL ! I will certainly jump on the class action lawsuit wagon, if it exists, or when it does come to fruition. This is certainly the LAST GM product I will EVER buy! Furthermore, I will take to social media so I can to tell my story and make sure others know about these cars!

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  Dont ever buy a Saturn Hybrid - 2007 Saturn VUE
  By pdberry - October 7 - 6:26 pm

  We bought this car a year ago. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Hybrid, fuel efficient, American made too. We made a huge mistake. This has to be one of the worst cars ever made. The handling, ride, power, finish are all lousy. Plus, the bottom line is, our year old car is broken, and Saturn do not know how to fix it, nor do they care. Run in the other direction from this vehicle, and from Saturn in general. Never, ever, ever again will we buy a Saturn.

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  An Abysmal Car Nothing But Problems - 2004 Saturn ION
  By johnnysmith1 - August 14 - 10:00 am

  At 530 miles, my right window malfunctioned, at 580 miles, a sound started coming from the dashboard. The locks would suddenly open and then lock, all by themselves. At 1305 miles, more rattles from the rear left window and door panel. As soon as the lease is over, this car is fired.

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  I hate my Saturn Aura XR - 2008 Saturn Aura
  By Monica from WV - August 9 - 11:53 am

  This has been one of the worst cars Ive ever owned!! Major electronic issues -(blows fuses, radio speakers quit working randomly, none of the onboard computer info works properly, alarm goes off without being set) - Transmission - will not downshift normally, ex: must hold throttle completely to floor on a hill as car will be in 4th gear at 800rpms, will shift in neutral (while in drive), redline, then downshift to 2nd gear, car takes off backwards while on any slight hill as if it were in neutral - Horrible gas mileage (11-14 mpg) - Dealership is horrible...they always tell me theres nothing wrong, its completely normal for these things to happen & its too complicated for them to explain.

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  Worst Car I have ever owned... - 2007 Saturn ION
  By Rich Anderson - July 5 - 12:51 pm

  I bought this car only 7 years old with 95,000 for my daughter. The shocks and struts had to be replaced, and even after that it made horrible creaking sounds from underneath. It had 6 or 7 factory recalls. One was that the key could be removed from the ignition even when the car was running! Crazy - but when I took to the dealer they refused to replace the ignition switch because they said it had been done 1 year prior. If so they put another bad one in! Next the gas tank leaked - and had to be replaced - $300. Never had that happen to a car before! Replaced a couple sensors and check engine light came on again a couple months later. I have owned 15-20 cars in my life and this was by far the worst - even worse than an old MG Midget I had. I will never buy any GM product again - I should have known better. I only have 1 good thing to say about this car: The battery is in the trunk, so when - predictably - I had to replace that it was super clean. Yay!

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  $6000 in repairs, stay away. GM makes bad cars - 2007 Saturn VUE
  By Fedup - March 12 - 3:57 pm

  Bought car with 20,000 miles. At 70,000, hybrid battery crapped out. At 90,000, engine needed to be replaced. At 107,000 transmission. At 110,000, fuel pump and now at 119,00, $1200 GM only alternator. Biggest headache and GM wont do a thing.

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  Worst Car Ever - 2004 Saturn ION
  By cc - September 4 - 10:56 pm

  This car is the major reasons GM should go out of business. Within a month of driving the car off the lot I began having problems. I had to take the car back to the dealership every month that I owned the car for the first year. Every month was a different problem, and since it was not the same problem twice I was unable to file lemon law on the car. Problems include but are not limited to the electric steering failing, central computer glitches, anti-theft device would lock car ignition upon inserting key in ignition during cold weather and so on. Not only were there endless problems with this car but the dealers were even worse to deal with.

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  This care is unsafe. Ticking time bomb. - 2007 Saturn ION
  By solofreerunner - July 11 - 2:42 am

  this car is unsafe and terrible. problems since day one. inside falls apart, had a gas leak (could have been fatal), steering problems, brake problems. my wife was driving her 2007 saturn ion on november 5th 2010 on the way to work when the steering wheel locked completely and the brakes did not work. she had no choice but to roll through a stoplight and was almost hit from both sides. sounds like a lawsuit to me. all these cars should be destroyed. i am embarrassed to drive this car. my wife deserves better. saturn went out of business probably because their customer service is terrible, and so are their cars. they charged us one hundred dollars "just to look" at the brakes when they...