Having faded to the point of looking almost as silver as the paint color, which is called “Silver,” the bumpers on this second-generation 1998 Saturn SL1 aren’t painted in the body color as they are on SL2 models. This Canadian survivor can be found posted here on craigslist in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and the seller is asking $5,000 ($3,620 U.S.). Here is the original listing, and thanks to Curvette for the tip!

The seller says this SL1 sedan was owned by a “very elderly lady,” who couldn’t drive anymore so the seller picked up the car and got to work. It’s the seventh Saturn they’ve owned. It sounds like a lot of deferred maintenance work was done, along with a lot of cleaning and detailing, due to it having been parked for some time. It was “covered in nature,” and that was cleaned up. It looks great now.

The second generation of this interesting line of cars was made from late 1995 for the 1996 model year, through 1999. They came in the ever-popular four-door sedan, a four-door wagon (the SW1/SW2), and the Coupe (SC1/SC2), which was available from 1997 through 1999 in this generation. Having traveled just 85,235 km (52,963 miles) over the last 28 years, it appears to have been well-preserved. I’m not sure if vehicles rust in Vancouver, at least as much as they do in the Upper-Midwest and Northeast parts of the U.S.

For the record, I know the body panels don’t rust, as they’re made of dent and rust-resistant polymer. That was such a great feature that I can’t believe all vehicles don’t have them today. Underbody bits can still rust on Saturns, so that’s what I was talking about as far as rust. We don’t get to see any underside photos, but the seller has provided quite a few good photos. The seats appear in great shape, and you can see the automatic on the console, rather than a 5-speed manual. Roll your own windows up and down here; this one doesn’t have power windows.

This super clean engine is a chain-driven SOHC 1.9-liter inline-four with 100 horsepower and 114 lb-ft of torque. Backed by the four-speed automatic sending power to the front wheels, it has a fresh oil change, and it’s said to start, stop, run, and drive as it should, and the AC is even cold. For $3,200 U.S., you’d be hard-pressed to find a better all-around commuter car than this SL1. I loved my 2002 SL1 for 150,000 miles, but then things started breaking on a regular basis: coil springs, wheel bearings, starter, alternator, random diodes, etc. Hopefully this one has a long time to go before it needs any major work.