Anyone interested in preserving a piece of automotive history might be well-served to look into buying this 1992 Saturn SC2, for sale here on craigslist in Roanoke, VA. With only 7,500 miles since new, there can’t be many left with so few miles. In fact, based on casual observation of the cars I see around me in traffic, I think maybe there aren’t many left in any condition. Thanks to Ian C. for the submission!
Beginning with cars produced for the 1991 model year, Saturn was an effort by GM to start with a clean slate to compete with the Japanese compacts that were selling so much better than GM’s traditional offerings. Starting with new platforms, new engines, a new dealership network and no-haggle pricing, Saturn was a clear departure from how GM’s older divisions had been making and selling cars. And if all those changes weren’t enough, Saturns were made with dent-resistant plastic body panels, making parking lot door dings a thing of the past for owners. Saturn was eventually killed-off by GM in 2009, but by then Saturn’s offerings were nearly identical to products from GM’s other divisions.
The seller doesn’t explain how this car survived all these years and only accrued 7,500 miles, but the pictures seem to support his mileage claims. Whatever the reason, this car definitely appears to have been well-cared for during its life. The body, interior, and engine bay all look nearly flawless. With a 5-speed and the DOHC engine, this would have been Saturn’s hottest offering in 1992.
A friend of mine had one of these back when they were new, and I remember it being a pretty decent car to ride and drive in. Given this car’s state of preservation, one could reasonably expect the same driving experience in this car today. But would you want to drive this car regularly, or should this example continue to be preserved?
I will do my best to get the spelling right. I had a 1997 sc1 I drove it daily for 5 years. It was on my list of favorite cars. Winter, summer, rain, snow, ice, and hail that little coupe never let me down. It got hit in the back and was written off or I’d still have it. I have nothing but good things to say about my little Saturn, whoever gets this car won’t be disappointed with it. Wow that was stressful getting through that without a mistake!!
So eh, eh? Try suffering through my chicken fried dialect. The Saturn was a car designed by GM to be recycling friendly. I never thought that these would ever be a collectable car. Wrong again.
I still think that I’m right about Airbus Industrie’s throw-away aircraft. Won’t see an A 320 at an air show 30 years from now. But it looks as though you’ll (I’ll be dead by then) see a 50 year old Saturn at car meets.
No, you are right. Not collectible.
We have two daughters, both drive small Saturns, darn fine little cars. Why GM killed Saturn and kept Hummer is beyond me. Same mistake the Big Three are making now, kill off small basic transportation to build big image driven trucks with more profit. When the next gas price shock or economic turn down comes, they will be all tearful on Capital Hill asking for more bailouts. I was in favor last time, but now I see nothing but pure greed with instant profits and stock bumps that make upper management richer, I see no clear vision for the future or common sense. When the bottom falls out of the present market, let them all fall with it. The Japanese have been making far better cars anyway for a long time, let them survive, they deserve it.
Miguel: you won’t be the one deciding that.
And given the enthusiasm for these cars on the Saturn Fans site, you’ll be wrong.
Space frame, polymer panels, a great back story, first attempt at launching a mainstream brand in years.
No one thought old Falcons, Valiants and Corvairs would be “collectible”, either.
Didn’t you post a couple of shots of cars that you have that many would consider ‘not collectible’ ?
No certainly not collectible but this particular one will definitely get driven (once I can get it to pass the Virginia Safety Inspection that is). The 7500 miles appears to definitely be accurate but the car is not nearly as MINT as the ad claimed. I bought it on Saturday anyway because I know how well these cars last, I have 293K on my 2002 SC-2, 58K on the rebuilt engine.
Congrats on the purchase David!
Here is my 1994 Sc2. Paid 500 bucks for it a year ago. Put in regular seat belts, cleaned it up, and my daughter has been using it for a daily driver. Really a fun, zippy car to drive. And you are correct about scarce…I have not seen another on the road since I got this one.
It defies gravity too! :)
Dang iPhone!
These, you are correct, rare indeed, but look for Saturn Ions, they are everywhere, at least here in Wisconsin.
If you are advertising a low mileage car, you are trying to imply it has no problems.
The headlights that are up show a potential problem which a low mile car should not have.
Miguel, what are you smoking? Lol There is a switch on the dash that you can turn on that leaves the headlights in the up position so in the winter time they don’t burn out when you try to raise and lower them when they’re frozen. Not a problem, that’s how it’s designed. We just sold our 91 SC2 last year, it was the twin to this car and was a great car!
I realize that but the first picture we see is with the lights up making us question if there is a problem with the system.
Maybe that was just the choice Lee made, but it is the first thing you see on this car.
To answer your question, I am not smoking anything. Pot isn’t legal in Mexico as of yet.
They posted pictures of the lights opened and closed in the Craigslist ad.
Showing that they work. Good idea for the ad.
Good reliable auto. Saturn in general.
Seen many over 300k miles and still going.
A friend of mine has over 600,000 on his Saturn.
I had a white one, black leather interior. Not a bad little runner. I remember bumping a car in front of me at a light. Went home and buffed out the 8 inch paint scratch.
He will trade it for a pickup in top condition. Sorry, 4500 doesn’t buy much in a pickup these days.
I was just thinking the same, having been looking for a good, clean (as in no rust) pickup for a while now.
Here in NH, it seems that every pickup less than 5K is rusty and/or over 200K in miles. I picked up an Explorer Sport Trac (I just needed something as a weekend hauler and winter vehicle for my wife) last year for $4500 – an ’02 (older than I wanted to go) but with only a little over 100K and no rust.
It was the summer vehicle of a guy from CT that had a place on Lake Sunapee.
I bought a GMC Canyon with 74K miles on it, 2 wheel drive, the bigger 240hp engine, flawless paint, full power everything inside, no rust, pristine interior ….from a dealer even, got it a few years back for 5 grand out the door. The pick ups that cost a lot are four wheel drives with loud exhaust that portray a certain macho image. I had put away 10K to buy a four wheel drive and found nothing but rusty high mileage wrecks for usually more then that. I settled for a much nicer machine at half my budget, by going 2 wheel drive, and in the winter, all I do is throw a few 80 pound sandbags in the rear and I am good as gold. All I use it for is to trailer around my UTV and go to the dump and big box stores for lumber and such, so it suits me just fine. Decent little trucks are indeed out there, just look.
Handicap plate… Could indicate why so little use?
I wonder if it was towed around behind the motor home in the background of two of the photos?
Clean car, could be a ton of fun as a DD.
Ooo, tempting! This is virtually a clone of my first manual that I ordered back in ’91, still have fond memories of it. Ruined the clutch after only 75k miles or so, but since it was the car I learned to drive a manual that’s not too surprising. Wish I had the money for it, but I’ve got two project cars to feed. :-)
Ah, it’s got the sunroof, which mine didn’t have.
I’d love to buy one of these and swap in the LSJ (supercharged Ecotec) drivetrain from a totaled Ion Redline.
SC2 was a good little car. Zippy handling, great gas mileage…Price seems very reasonable for the low miles and condition. Dual Cam was definitely the way to go with these
Back when I ordered mine in ’91, it was just the SC – there wasn’t an SC2 until they started selling it with the SOHC version of the engine as the SC1.
Fun little car, drove it all the way out to Idaho one year back when Montana still had the “reasonable and prudent” daytime speed limits… it gets rather light on the suspension above 100mph… ;-)
I’m in Australia but from everything that I have read in the past GM have almost always been the game-changer in American automotive history (and that is a really hard thing for a Ford man to say). Anyone who doubts this should consider the Corvette, the Corvair and the Saturn.
I quite like this, and for the life of me I will never understand why (General Motors) Holden here in Australia didn’t import these as a mid-sized car rather than rebadging the Toyota Camry. Maybe it’s decisions like this that explain why we no longer have a car manufacturing industry here in Australia.
Feeling your pain.
Have good friends in Melbourne, and they are sad at the loss of great, unique Australian-made cars!
A local used car lot in our area exclusively sold S series Saturns that they bought at insurance auctions. They rebuilt the totaled out cars and sold them with warranty where you bought parts and they supplied labor. I bought two and when I sold them they were approaching 300,000 each. We loved them and our area is still full of them.
NZ got a few Saturns as ex-Japan imports – yup, even right-hand drive! They pop up on our local auction site from time-to-time, and are usually at giveaway prices.
I always thought that Saturn should have been a relaunch of the Olds brand, as a sole model called the Cutlass and focused on a youthful image, as the marque did in the late 1970s.
To answer Billy007’s question about the H2 vs Saturn, I’m guessing that the latter was canned because the then current range had a limited production life and with the H2 being based on a GMC truck, whose technology was pretty much amortised back in the 1980s, it was the cheaper, easier option. Obviously, it was better to carry on with a known product than invest in further development.
Interestingly, Ford recently announced that it was only going to concentrate on trucks and the Mustang. My take on the move is that the company is trying to maximise short-term profits for its shareholders with an existing, already-developed and popular range of vehicles. Should the market change, it will simply import what it needs from Europe or Asia.
It kind of reminds me of when Willys pulled the plug on car manufacturing in the 1950s to concentrate on the Jeep brand.
I worry for Ford.
Although they have made great decisions in directional terms in the past couple of decades, this one has me baffled. IMO, it is rarely a good thing when the bean counters make production decisions for car companies!
Short term profits is a big part of what is wrong with this economy and the crazy stock market. What ever happened to slow and steady long term growth and ten year plans? Blue Chips used to mean something, they meant predictable reliability and safety. I fear with this kind of thinking, we will have no more American car companies very soon. Don’t get me wrong, I have had several foreign cars, and I like them very much but the American companies provide a great deal to our economy and quality jobs. I wish I had the money to start my own car company, and I mean, just cars. No trucks or huge SUVs, just good basic transportation for us average folks. Make them in large numbers and make the profit from volume like Henry Ford did. Heck, why not bring back the Omni or Escort.? The tooling must still be around, update the drive train a little, then offer them for 10K and see them fly off the lots versus a used car. Not everyone is foolish enough to take a 7-10 year loan out on a 60K truck that will be rusted long before it is paid for, not to mention that young people soon will not be able to afford this anyway, seeing how wages for them are plummeting. Do the big three even see this at all?
I’m going to avoid making any comments on the US economy’s current situation that might be construed as political.
However, I would like to remind everyone that the reason the Japanese whooped Detroit’s (and Kenosha’s) backside back in the 1970s was that the car makers in the Land of the Rising Sun had a 25-year horizon on developing the US market, not just the next quarter or Financial Year. Add to that the two oil shocks of that decade and Japan had the right cars at the right time.
Like you, Alan, I worry about Ford’s decision and its effect on the brand’s long-term survival in a *very changed world.
*Buick’s largest market is China and the brand’s models have been manufactured there, for years. I have ridden in a few Government-owned Le Sabres when I regularly visited the country during my career.
HI, to be clear, Ford said they were going to concentrate on trucks and SUVs in America only.
The car production will continue and those products will be sold in other markets.
Ford is just the first to make an “official” announcement about discontinuing making traditional sedans, but they all are going to do it. Just look at all the ads – TV, print, etc – coming from the manufacturers, and it is all about trucks and SUVs.
There are a few exceptions, of course. Audi (A3, A4) and Kia (Stinger) come to mind.
As I know you know, you’re whistling past the graveyard. Common sense is no longer part of the American lexicon, especially the corporate world. Business exists generally speaking for the shareholder and not for the customer. Get the stock price up by increasing profits ( big trucks, suvs) and the Chairman makes 20-100 million in stock options.
I agree with most, Saturn’s were good cars. Not the easiest to work on, however. I had a SL2, with a ton of miles ( odometer quit at 235K) , not without it’s problems. Starter a pain to change, had to take right front tire off to get at the filter, serpentine belt pulley wasn’t day at the beach either, but it still got 35mpg. My daughters 2nd car, was a SL1. Kind of a refined Opel GT I thought. Also great car. I think it was the Ion that put the final nail in Saturn’s coffin, the poster child for recalls, and it was clear, American’s love their Asian cars, and not much will change that.
Bought a 95 SL1 5M because of the one my older brother had. 116,000 miles.
Eventually gave it to my little bro who has driven it for years, even to SC and back. Nearly 200,000 miles now.
That SL1 was so solid at 116,000 miles I bought a new 05 ION [had the manual trans been as fun to use, I would have chosen the manual over the automatic, but hated the noise and jumpiness of it].
And BTW Hummer no longer exists either and was part of GM’s purge of Saturn, Pontiac and Saab, so GM did not dump Saturn and keep Hummer.
Hummer now belongs to a Chinese company.
In the early 2000s I would buy crashed Saturns from the insurance auctions. I started when no one who went to the auctions even knew what they were, mostly immigrant dealers who only wanted Japanese and European cars. They were easy to fix and sold very well. To this day, I’m still friends with some of the folks who bought my cars, Saturns people were like that. I raced an SW2 in SCCA autocross and did well. GM, made its usual mistake of taking a good thing and ruining it. Saturn was super successful because it was different. GM bean counters couldn’t understand why you needed a completely different car that was the same size as cars already produced by the main part of GM. Hence, Saturns became rebadged cars just like Saabs, another different car that GM didn’t get. Sad.
Looks like I’m going to need help from Saturn afficionados like you with this “MINT” example. It failed VA inspection and looks like the turn signal combination switch and everything else up under the dash where you normally cant see is seriously corroded. The seller brought it out of a nice clean and dry garage to show it but it definitely was not kept stored in a good environment like that.
Anyone know if an airbag car switch will work on a non-Airbag car because it is still available? The correct Turn Signal combination switch from a non-airbag car is no longer available at all.
Wish I could be of help, all I can offer is moral support from one who has been there.
Is this Saturn SC2 still available.
Got an email notice of your comment. Actually I’ve bought it and put a few thousand miles on it. Be happy to give you details on it but while this site still sends me emails, it does not recognize my email so that I can log in so send me a separate email at dakrisnit@gmail.com.