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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  I live at the repair shop! - 2003 Saturn VUE
  By Ricky Reynolds - October 11 - 10:00 am

  2003 Saturn VUE has had serious engineer flaws, to include suspension problems times two.The vehicle has 3 onbaord computers that do not function well & as a result will not report problems such as transmission slipping & completely going into a neutral state. The computer that controls the dash panel cause many of the warning lights to malfunction but never registered. No register, not get fixed says Saturn, unless they see it happen. I was luck on the way out it malfunctioned. The computer never registered a problem. Same thing with the transmission. Computer never registers an error.

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  Not so happy - 2006 Saturn Relay
  By tee - October 9 - 9:26 pm

  We have owned our Saturn for 9 months now and are not satisfied. We have been in and out of the dealership with so many problems : electrical ( abs and traction tire system needed to be serviced every other 3 weeks) front tires squeal like a 50 year old car. The darn car beeps at you for no reason while driving down the road. The engine light goes on and off and dealership cant find a problem. Lost cruise control while driving on freeway, just cruising along and bang lost speed no warning just shut itself off. So not happy wish we could get rid of it.

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  Amazed. And its a Salvage. - 2005 Saturn VUE
  By janell26 - October 9 - 4:45 am

  I bought my Vue with 60k miles from a private seller for $2k due to a Salvage Title. I was a little hesitant going into it but since it was so cheap I figured why not. Ive had the car 2 years and it is now nearing 90k miles and I have absolutely NO problems with it whatsoever. Ive never had anything go out/stop working on me. The car has never stalled or done anything suspect. It needs brakes/rotors right now, thats about it. Im pretty impressed considering the salvage title, not to mention I was in a major accident with it about a year ago also....runs as if nothing happened even though its had the crap kicked out of it.

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  Great Vue! - 2005 Saturn VUE
  By shawn - October 9 - 4:03 am

  The Saturn Vue is a great American SUV. 1 of the best I think. Great lines and looks and lots of standard as well as optional equipment. Give a Saturn a chance. They are great cars to own and American as apple pie.

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  Converted Volvo owner - 2008 Saturn Outlook
  By jtweiss - October 8 - 4:03 pm

  We were looking for a vehicle that wasnt a minivan and could comfortably seat 5. Weve owned a Volvo for many years and looked at the XC90 first. The drive and room of the Outlook made far surpassed the Volvo. Drove a the big Toyota SUV and a Yukon- GM got it right with this crossover. This summer, a 1200 mile family road trip was the most enjoyable car ride in memory. Kids were happy with room, headphones, and plugs for games. Seats were comfortable, and we averaged about 20/gallon. I was hoping for a little better gas mileage (EPA states 24 hwy), but other than that, no complaints.

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  Packed with Power, Loads of Fun - 2008 Saturn Sky
  By RedOne - October 8 - 12:10 pm

  I shopped for several months before deciding on the Sky. I love it! Its a head turner, for sure. Its fun to drive and does not leave anything to imagination. Ive owned sports cars before and the Sky is awesome. The gas mileage is about 26mpg. Nothing but the turbo would do for me! I havent gotten a speeding ticket... yet. Driving with the top down is great but I bought a rear wind screen and its even better. I am a middle aged woman who just earned a Masters degree in Education. I am the coolest teacher on campus. My teenage daughters think its pretty cool to drive moms car!

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  I Love This Car! - 2003 Saturn VUE
  By lemianillo - October 7 - 3:23 pm

  This is the best car Ive ever had. It has a lot of space, gas lasts a long time (compared with other cars Ive had), and there is nothing better than driving the manual version. I really love this car and I recommend it to everybody.

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  Finally got a well made car. - 2003 Saturn VUE
  By jkb3852 - October 7 - 2:00 am

  Bought a 2002. 6 mos. old, 11,000 miles - PERFECT. No trips to the dealer for repairs. Love it.

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  Saturn - 2007 Saturn ION
  By Justin Swift - October 5 - 5:46 pm

  This makes my 3rd Saturn and I love it. Smooth ride and low interior noise. Not a whole lot of shift shock from the auto transmission and it also has very good acceleration. The power steering is excellent, and it seems to really hug the corners. The suspension is very nice also, you dont even really notice going over RR tracks. Also very roomy for a smaller car. Excellent head room. The sunroof leaked early on, and Saturn gave me a loaner car and fixed it right away. So great service on their part. Also the low pressure approach of their sales team made the buying experience great.

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  Design Debacle - 2007 Saturn Outlook
  By justdontdrive - October 5 - 6:26 am

  Writing in after being outraged at a $3000 timing chain replacement, most of it 17 hours of mechanics labor. Come on GM, timing belts and chain replacement are as given on a car as is the tires. Why would you approve a design that requires dropping the engine to replace them! On a Honda or other Japanese car, its $400-500 event. Not so for GM. I bought the 07 new. I havent had a great deal of trouble, like some here who have all kinds of failures. But there were some: the lift gate which has a complicated motorized latch, failed so that it remained unlatched while driving. There was simply no way to hold it shut. Dangerous! Then it was $400 to have that fixed. All electrical.