"Saturn Was Supposed to Save GM." (Newsweek articl

[Jim_75Sahara]

Very interesting read. However, they forgot to focus much on the cars & the people who built them. (not to mention why people bought them) I bought a new Saturn SL-1 in Feb. 1998 and it has been very reliable and economical to own. (a significantly better car than our previous '89 Corolla -- now on its 5th owner & >300K mi. itself) Our Saturn has just under 150K mi. of use and the only major repair was a clutch replacement. No rust anywhere! The stainless steel exhaust is wundebar & so is the timing chain. For you rust-belt folks: it makes a great winter-beater w/Blizzaks on it and plastic panels in the rust-prone areas. Today's cars are not beating it for fuel economy either. I have gotten 42 MPG from it on occasion. It has a much better crash safety rating than the old Corolla did. Also, it has dual airbags, while the Toyota had none. I am itching to sell it and get a used 3-series, but it works so well that I cannot convince my wife (or myself) that it's time to part with it yet. GM walked away from a rare success story. (Ford in its wisdom, let the Taurus die on the vine as well.)

[dubois]

I worked on a few Saturns, and I was impressed by their design and workmanship. I don't get it, but it seems that the public did not respond and I am of the opinion that GM was at fault because they did not market the vehicle correctly. I believe it was targeted for old farts with conservative taste. They should have taken advantage of the innovative design, lightness, reliability, performance and fun to drive characterisctics to broaden their audience to include younger people, it could have become a cult car then.

[Jim_75Sahara]

Saturns did not catch on with young people as much as with an older, slightly nerdy crowd. Kind of like a mini-Volvo. Mary would occasionally borrow a co. car (Cavalier) which was so crappy, that my kids made fun of it. Though made by GM with similar dimensions, they were reviled by the staffers who used the Chevys on assignments. With cutbacks, the loaner pool of Cavaliers is gone now. BTW: the Saturn plant in Spring Hill was a very nice place when I toured it. I had toured the Norwood (OH) plant which produced Camaros and Firebirds in 1978. It was out of Dante's Inferno -- a nasty, noisy, dysfunctional plant. The UAW basically dared GM to close that plant; thinking that GM wouldn't be so bold as to tear down an obsolete facility with slackening demand. Yup, GM tore that place down -- no trace of it now!