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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  Fuel Economy - Awful - 2008 Saturn Astra
  By SM - April 14 - 6:33 am

  Fun to drive car. Awful fuel economy! I drive mainly on the highway and this car gets the worst fuel economy I have ever seen with a "economy" car. 8.6L/100KM mostly driving at 110-115 KM/HR and 50-60km/hr in city (90% of km on highway)

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  Frustrated - 2007 Saturn ION
  By Frustrated - April 7 - 2:43 pm

  Its a good thing that Saturn stopped making the ION. This car developed rattles after about 1000 miles, its gas mileage has gone from about 35 average to about 13. Its going to go to the wrecker soon if it keeps losing its solid "new car" feeling. It has some pep, but that just makes the fuel pump sound like someone knocking to get out of the trunk. This car is fun to drive, but knowing that each press of the gas pedal is costing a few dollars and listening to all the interior rattle and buzz makes me drive like a senior citizen.

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  sad - 2004 Saturn ION
  By Denise - March 22 - 8:06 pm

  I bought my Saturn Ion in 2005 it was a year old. I have driven it for almost four years. Really the only problem I have had with it was the CD s stick. This last Sunday however my daughter was hit on the passenger front end. After doing some research I found out that the 2004 had a recall of the body structure on the passenger side right where she was hit. she was driving about 20mph and was hit by a truck going about 55-70 in town. The Ion Airbags did not deploy. Thank God she was not hit severely. Though my car was totalled. I have found six other recalls on the car I bought and I have never received any type of notification...

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  Ignition Switch etc - 2006 Saturn ION
  By Gary - March 7 - 3:23 am

  Saturn had always held themselves up to be a "different car company" and well, they are. Ive owned probably 20 cars in my life and never seen a company ignore a known severe problem (the ignition switch failure) leaving consumers to pay $700 or more to have repair work done. I marvel at the prior reviews - people posting here after they bought their Saturns. The fact is after a few years (we now have 45000 miles on our car) the thing begins to fall apart. Windows falling off, ignition wont turn off, bearings failing, its a real piece of you know what. I understand things fail but what is irritating is that known severe failures should cause the company to recall or reimburse.

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  Troublesome VUE - 2003 Saturn VUE
  By Keith48 - February 2 - 10:00 am

  Ive had my VUE for 10 Months and have had it in the shop 8 times. I have kept all my cars for at least ten years but I cant see me keeping this one near that long.

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  transmission and timing chain failure - 2007 Saturn Outlook
  By ben2007 - January 22 - 12:47 pm

  I had my 2007 Saturn outlook Xe repair on 1/31/11 by GM dealer because of the timing chain and transmission cost $5626.08 Most mechanics stated that is unusually both at the same time. I had been getting a lot of recalls for this timing chain after the work was done. I found that this was an issue before by SUV needed repairs. Then i saw this notice: GM CUSTOMER CARE AND AFTERSALES DCS2552 URGENT - DISTRIBUTE IMMEDIATELY Date: February 9, 2010 Subject: 10287 - Customer Satisfaction Program Premature Timing Chain Wear - Reprogram ECM Models: 2007 GMC Acadia, Saturn OUTLOOK 2007-09 Cadillac CTS, SR Why would the dealer charge me, knowing the timing belt was an issue

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  Gray slug - 2008 Saturn VUE
  By Paul - January 17 - 8:53 am

  Purchased this auto late 2007 in hopes to help GM. Found out that our Vue was actually made South of the boarder. Had hopes that listed MPG of 22 was not correct, it was. Now Saturn is belly up and I own something which I should not of purchase, should have bought a Ford.