After that, the car was wonderful; for fit, finish, comfort and handling, dollar-for-dollar it might be the best car I’ve ever owned. (I currently drive a 2006 CTS, which I would argue is not as well put-together as that Saturn was.)

Saturn was GM’s last chance, and they screwed it up. A shame, really.

Answer me this folks: isn’t the job of a CEO to make the company culture line up and behave just as the CEO wants? Maybe I’m naive but if I was CEO I would make heads roll until I got GM straightened out.

I understand their dealer network is a real problem though and that the factory caters the products to the dealer’s wants as much or more than the ultimate customer.

Saturn excited me for a few reasons. One was that they had come to little old TN to build their cars. I was just about out of high school when they came to TN. Secondly I hated (HATED) the domestic vehicles of the 80s so badly that Saturn seemed like real change for the better. The Saturn was really a long way from the Buick Phoenix our friends owned, the Chevy Citation my Mom drove, the Olds something my Dad drove (we called it the CASKET b/c of the interior styling. The door handles looked like casket handles). My parents’ Chevy S-10 Blazer 4WD was a bright spot. Still at 100K carefully driven miles the T-5 tranny had eaten itself to death, the hood paint at cracked oddly, and the truck was not very healthy anymore. Looked good, not as sound as my current CR-V is at 170K miles. Dad babied it for a decade and sold it to a fellow that wrecked it in a week.

I already admired the GTIs, the Merkur was interesting if a little weird, the Civics/Accords were good, my Dad’s ‘84 turbo T-bird was interesting, etc. Meanwhile I split my high school years between a ‘66 Mustang six cylinder (not enough brakes or gears, no handling, no heat, HUGE engine and no mileage or power) and an ‘81 Mustang (much more refined but same huge engine and even LESS power, not enough gears, etc).

An example was the Mustang 3.3L six. 90HP. It’s top speed was nearly 90 miles per hour. The speedo on this “sporty car” stopped at 85 and the odometer stopped at 100K miles. My next car was an ‘84 Rabbit with a 1.8L liter, same 90HP, WAY better mileage, and a top speed (confirmed several times on the Autostrada in Italy) of 125mph. Would cruise for hours at 100 mph. Sold it and it had 190K miles on it. Ready for alot more. Fellow here in town gets 400K miles on his 80s Rabbits. The Ford came with very, very little standard – AM radio, stiff controls. A Civic or the VW generally came with much more. They were real driver’s cars.

While we remember that these Saturns were marketted against the Toyotas – don’t forget people were replacing early Ford Escorts, Tempos, K-car derivatives, and even left over 70s cars (then only 15 years old) with Saturns. For alot of drivers the Saturn was a BIG step up the automotive food chain.

I’m not against basic or plain cars. Plain or basic but GOOD is important.

So with my background the Saturn was a HUGE step forward in the right direction. Of COURSE GM fumbled it. And they are JUST starting to make the right choices again (current Vue, Astra, Aura) but will likely let Saturn rot on the vine again or kill it off again.

Currently Saturn is the first GM products I’d shop. Holden/Pontiac is the second and THAT is saying alot since I’ve despised all of the Pontiac models since as far back as 1970 or so. The G8 is compelling, the previous GTO has alot of appeal, and my friend’s G6 coupe is NICE.

However my other friend’s late 80s/early 90s Firebird was AWFUL, my grand parent’s GrandPrix FWD was AWFUL, and I have pretty much hated every plastic clad Pontiac they ever made. “Rust catchers” a person once called those plastic panels…

For me it wasn’t that Saturn was that good – it was that they were to much BETTER than what came before them at GM. They really were something distinctly different. Surely they had problems that needed to be solved and they could have done that with a little time, encouragement and support from the mothership but like so many GM products before the they were 80% cars.

Everyone on my inlaws side has owned Saturns. My m-inlaw and f-inlaw still have a pair of Saturns. Outlook and 1st gen Vue. They offered me the Vue but at 80K miles the CVT is threatening to die. No, can’t afford to fix that even if the vehicle itself is cheap. Freinds of ours have a pair of 2nd gen Saturn cars – wagon and sedan. One needed a tranny and the other an engine. HUGE miles on both. Nearly 200K on one and over 200K on the other. They still look good.

The Opel Kadett Superboss.

Opel Kadett GSi

Perspective, please. Can anyone name a better small GM car than the first gen Saturn? I can’t.”

Come on, really?

’60’s – Corvair

’70’s – Vega and Chevette and Monza

’80’s – Citation and Cavalier

’90’s – more Cavalier and the Sprint

’00’s – Optra and Aveo

GM has consistently developed great cars in the past as import fighters. The above list proves that fact.

Ha ha, sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

All the above cars were Chevrolet’s answer to import small cars. Is it any wonder why the General is in trouble?

the license plate on the civic sedan in the pic is not American. In any case, I was more interested in a sedan than a coupe, and had there been a civic sedan, I’m virtually certain I would have driven it. If there was, and I didn’t, it would be because it wasn’t at all sporty.

Re the Sentra–beauty is, of course, to some extent at least, in the eye of the beholder. And you are correct as far as I can remember taht car mags in the early ’90s liked the Sentra a lot.

Ci2eye,

Wonderful account, which fills in very eloquently what I left out of the editorial. Thanks!

“A google image search for 1993 Civic sedans revealed only 1998 sedans.”

Not trying to be a jerk, but I Googled “1993 honda civic sedan” and the first four hits on the image search were 1993 sedans.

Here’s a link to a bling’ed out 1993 sedan…

http://www.modmyride.com/images/cars/23518140_full.jpg

My parents’ friends owned a ‘94 sedan.

I cried a bit when you described the Sentra as a ‘downright ugly car’ – I thought the B13 chassis (1991-1994) was an awesome looking compact, especially in coupe form. I’m biased, of course, since I owned one, but if I recall the Sentra was well thought of in the car mags of the day (even the GA16DE equipped models were peppy and quite refined) and the SR20-powered SE-R is practically legendary.

Oh well, we both agree, GM screwed up Saturn royally.

As a car enthusiast, there are many great posts here and much that has been said that I think has been forgotten by many of us about Saturn.

I remember the build-up to the launch of the brand and how Saturn was going to send the Japanese back to Toyko. When I first saw the cars, I was impressed. I remember those first sedans I saw were all painted in deep, rich colors that were usually not found on small inexpensive cars which made them look more upscale than they actually were. They were an immediate success.

It’s easy to forget that initially the brand truly did succeed where GM had failed before. Although I never owned one, I knew a variety of people who bought the initial car and they were quite pleased with it. It was fulfilling its mission of conquest sales from the Japanese and keeping buyers happy with an unusual mix of good value for the money, no-haggle pricing, outstanding customer care and the sense of belonging to a club as some have mentioned.

While Roger B. Smith’s tenure at GM is generally regarded as a failure and as the beginning of the end for the corporation, it is important to remember that they did get things mostly right with Saturn at the launch. It truly was ‘A Different Kind of Car from a Different Kind of Car Company’. While it is easy now to dismiss Smith’s logic of starting another division at a company that already had too many, Saturn was able to do something the other divisions couldn’t and that was to establish a new culture within the organization.

Smith thought that new culture would take root at GM and revitalize the company. Unfortunately the opposite happened; the culture of GM took over Saturn and destroyed it. All that was unique, different and good about Saturn has largely gone away and today it is just another brand at a company with way too many.

When GM talks of eliminating divisions, Saturn always comes to mind as one that could go. Unlike Pontiac or Buick with their storied histories dating back to the infancy of the automobile, there is comparatively little history for Saturn. Saturn has no GTO or Riviera in its lineage. There are no real fan clubs and not much love among the public so it would seem the easy choice but one forgets that for one shinning moment Saturn did offer the promise of a new GM and there are many out there who fondly remember the little plastic-sided cars that boldly tried to change the automotive business in America.

If GM is to live another day, they must recapture the spirit that was Saturn.

The Astra is the best engineered small car Saturn has ever sold, and it is also the slowest selling Saturn ever!! Saturn can’t even hit the modest 15,000 annual sales goal for the model. I know one Saturn dealer that told me he liked the ION better because at least “it sold”. In its first year Saturn managed to move 101,000 Ions.

The Astra maybe remembered as the car that brought Saturn down.

Then I test drove the car… sorry it just didn’t live up to the dealership experience. I tried to like it, but there was nothing remotely special about it. I ended up with an Escort ZX2 which is still being used by my parents with about 100,000 problem free miles. I should have bought the Mitsubishi Mirage Coupe, it was more money, but was much more polished.

Very interesting account. If you have any more info, please email me at motorlegends@aol.com. Thanks! David

I know there have been Civic sedans for most of that car’s history, but I looked when I was car shopping in the early ’90s, and all they had was coupes. Those coupes did not drive nearly as nicely as earlier civic coupes (my sister had a ‘90), and they did not drive nearly as nicely as Saturn SL2s.

A google image search for 1993 Civic sedans revealed only 1998 sedans.

And the NVH was acceptable to me, though I didn’t really realize how bad it was until I was test driving an S2000, and it was quieter than my SL1!

Starting Saturn did soak up a huge amount of capital and talent which could and should have been used to keep Chevrolet on top of its game. Massive CEO Pet Projects almost always eventually come to a bad end.

This will cost us billions of dollars, take needed money away from product development for our existing divisions

But what else were GM doing ? What products suffered because of Saturn ? By the mid-90’s GM were inebriated on profits coming from just about every other division with trucks and SUVs, and the “small car” unit, Saturn, were left to rot until eventually handed a half-heartedly rebadged SUV too. GM spent billions on the GMT900’s which hit the market with a thud just as the buying public were requesting the type of cars Saturn was originally set up to build and sell.

If I had it to do over again, I definitely would have bought the Integra, mainly for the much greater reliability, and because the NVH of the Saturn’s engine was so overwhelming. But as far as I was concerned, the SL2 had plenty of power; my previous car was a 1.2 liter Toyota Corolla. I was also much more interested in handling than power, so some of the cars you mentioned just weren’t on my list. I would have at least driven the CRX had they still been making it. I did drive the MX-3, and wasn’t thrilled with it. I still think the gen 1 Saturn was far cooler looking than any of the cars you mention (the Sentra was a downright ugly car), and as I indicated in the editorial, I think I was driven far more than I realized at the time by style.

In total agreement about the Fall and Rise… Way premature.

The quote I recall best describing early Saturns is “cars for people who don’t like cars”.

How’s this for perspective – other cars available in early nineties: Integra, SR20 equipped SE-R, Honda CRX (at least for the first year of Saturn), Mazda MX-3 (how about a 1.8L V-6!!!), Toyota Corolla GT-S with the 4A-GE engine. I can’t fathom picking the Saturn over any of these.

Funny you mention the book Comeback: The Fall and Rise of the American Automobile Industry. I read that in the early 2000’s. Methinks the book a little premature.

In my opinion, it was never really the cars that sold Saturn. Back in the day, people bought Saturn because of what it stood for. Now it is just another GM brand judged by its price and quality. I know quite a few families who were repeat Saturn buyers, but they’ve since moved on. In the early 90’s, Saturn represented hope in the American auto industry and they gave customers what they wanted….sales proved that. This was until Saturn left its roots.

Saturn was revolutionary at the time in their manufacturing process; such as the foam casting of their engines, dent resistant side panels and the dealerships that treated you like a human being.

The whole Saturn cult is real. I’ve had strangers wave at me who were driving a Saturn. I’ve had Saturn owners chat with me about my experiences with my car in parking lots. I’ve even had members at saturnfans.com offer to drive 3 hours to help me replace my clutch….just for covering their gas money as payment.

The Saturn story is a sad one. In my opinion, Saturn was the last glimmer of hope the American people would ever see in GM. It proved that you don’t even have to build the greatest vehicles to be successful…but people will buy vehicles that make them feel good along with the comfort of knowing they will be treated fairly and with respect. Seems GM never picked up on it. With Saturn, it wasn’t the same old story of, “give us your money and good luck.”

Good afternoon Mr. Phelps.

It is increasingly apparent that our company is losing market share to nefarious foreign automakers. It appears they have convinced car buyers that our products are unreliable and lack quality and that their products are better. We must stop this and reclaim our market share.

Your mission: Create a new company without apparent ties to us. The new company will produce cars at the entry-level end of the market where margins are small. The cars will be manufactured in a new plant with union labor and utilize new production techniques. This will cost us billions of dollars, take needed money away from product development for our existing divisions and ensure that money is lost on every unit sold. The cars will be sold through franchises sold to our existing retailers but the facilities will be separate to further the illusion that we are not connected. The cars will be marketed by fostering a codependent relationship with the insecure buyer. The code name for your mission is Saturn.

If your mission is unsuccessful, we will self-destruct.

“Re pricing: my recollection is that the Saturn was competitive with the Corolla. The Civic of that era was smaller, available only as a two door coupe.

Ummm, the Civic has been available in the US as a 4-door, 3-box sedan since 1980.

The coupe models were wildly popular (justly so) but clearly the Saturns were meant to take on the Civic, Corolla, and Sentra.

GS650G:

“And the Saturn was a better car. Handled better, great ergonomics, nice shifting transmission, 38-40 MPG, dead simple engine (compared to the rats nest of hoses on the Civic) and I happened to love those plastic body panels. Even today you don’t see door dings on them.

I just don’t get it. I’m not saying the Civic of the era was perfect, but it was clearly a more refined compact offering than the Saturns, I’m not sure that’s even possible to debate. I’m not sure the ‘rat’s nest’ of hoses has kept the Civic from being a very reliable car, either.

I hear you on the door dings, though, I’m appalled at how many folks just don’t give a dang when it comes to opening their doors in a parking lot.