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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  Best Built GM Vehicle to date! - 2008 Saturn VUE
  By Maria - May 7 - 3:43 am

  I visited my local Saturn dealership to test drive the new 2008 Saturn Vue and was simply amazed! The build quality was right up there with Lexus! This Saturn is modern, stylish and a joy to drive...it is amazingly quiet! I traded in my 2004 Buick Rendevous and drove home in a Polar White Saturn XR FWD V-6 with gray leather interior. This vehicle is absolutely gorgeous!

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  Saturn Vue - Customer Service - 2008 Saturn VUE
  By tlf713 - May 6 - 4:13 pm

  Gets great gas mileage. Customer service not so great. Car seems to have design flaws that no one wants to admit to. Had to take it in 5 times to get the door handles fixed. Inside door weather stripping kept coming off, they ordered and replaced wrong parts and damaged other part in the process. Had to take back 2 more times for that fix. Now the sunroof is leaking, they say theres not a problem, but Ive had several GM cars before and the sunroof never leaked from the drainage tubes. Will be glad when my lease is up, grateful I did not purchase.

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  This car is fun - 2007 Saturn Sky
  By BRW - May 6 - 11:16 am

  Fun to drive. Great to look at. It is beautiful. Fun to see other folks turn their heads when I drive by. It is not a muscle car. I describe it as peppy.

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  Excellent product from GM but... - 2007 Saturn Outlook
  By Dave - May 4 - 11:36 am

  Hard to believe this is a GM product. Looks and drives more like a Honda or Toyota. So far after 8100 miles the car has been solid with no problems. Steering feel is very good, handling is nice for a SUV of this size, and acceleration is good once you know how to goose the transmission. There is a significant issue with the design. The doors and rear window are high. Visibility out the back is very bad and makes backing up safely a challenge. My real world fuel economy has been around 17 city/21 highway. At 75 MPH plus, the transmission does hunt in and out of 6th gear.

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  Serious design flaw - 2002 Saturn VUE
  By Bentley - May 3 - 10:00 am

  I love the car, BUT the engineering department needs to come up with a fix - and fast for me- to the REALLY aggravating noises coming from the front struts. I have had the dealer "repair" them three times and, in the last instance, we had someone from Tenn. come up to look at the car. This is NOT an isolated problem, they have reported numerous cases of this noise. The "fix" entailed packing the "dry" strut housing with marine grease until the engineering department can come up with a permanent fix. I called Saturn USA and got the hear no evil....... Its a shame because other than that the car has performed flawlessly in the 9,000 miles I have put on in three months.

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  Way to Go Saturn - 2007 Saturn Outlook
  By cherdis - April 30 - 7:16 pm

  I had heard about the Outlook coming out for about 6 months before we saw it. It only took a test drive to know that this is what we wanted. We are having our 4th grandchild and this has the room for all of us, but yet a class act also. The drive is so smooth that you really have to watch your speed, if not you will be hitting 80 or 90 and not have a clue. Everyone who sees it is so impressed. My grandson whom is 10 is finding all the extra features and it is great. Thanks Saturn

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  Saturn VUE awd 3.5 - 2006 Saturn VUE
  By R. Miller - April 30 - 12:26 pm

  I have owned a Saturn Redline AWD VUE for a year now and have had nothing but great dependabilty and driving pleasure from it. My average gas mileage is between 26-28 mpg. Handles real well for a SUV. I highly recommend this SUV.

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  New Saturn buyer - 2006 Saturn VUE
  By linda - April 28 - 3:36 am

  We have been looking at many midsize SUVs. Once we looked at and drove the VUE we just loved it. My husband has been a truck owner for years but decided to go SUV because of the price of trucks lately, and the mileage of trucks is pretty low. This SUV is so easy to get into and very comfortable. With the chrome it is very classy looking. This SUV is a best kept secret. We get second looks a lot going down the road.

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  Fairly good vehicle - 2003 Saturn VUE
  By johnkentucky - April 28 - 2:00 am

  So far after 1 year, I have had no major problems. I do feel that the vehicle has high road noise level. I feel that it should get much better gas mileage for a 4 cyl. I average about 20/gal. I have a 6cyl pickup that gets that. It is a fairly comfortable and roomy little SUV. It does very well in the snow, even on the hills in the area I live. I had trouble with the gas gauge, for awhile, but it has seemed to fix itself, I figured it was a "float" or something in the tank. Oil changes are easy for the do it yourselfer.

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  I LOVE MY ION! - 2004 Saturn ION
  By VBDOT - April 28 - 2:00 am

  I LIKE THIS CAR A LOT. I GOT IT IN JULY AND SO FAR SO GOOD. ANYTHING BAD IS FROM MY OWN MISTAKE (CIGARETTE HOLE) ALL IN ALL ~ GOOD CAR FOR PEOPLE WHO WOULD LIKE A NEW CAR ~ VERY AFFORDABLE!