A fresh face to entry level, the newcomer to economy class, and hardly any metal in its construction. General Motors developed a whole new brand of car with a whole new image, and a whole new way to sell cars to a different kind of people…now that is marketing. Saturn’s were much more than just cars, they blasted straight into the 90’s covered in curves just when other manufacturers were trying to knock down the edges, very efficient, and put people first…the only car brand to throw a party for its customers at the assembly plant! As time goes on, this dent resistant breed with soon be hard to come by, and clean examples might fetch a pretty penny. This pristine little red Saturn is up for grabs on here on Craigslist just outside Chicago, Illinois for $1,500 which is out of this world!
According to the ad, this SC is a family owned car and has just under 100,000 miles…and service records! All a plus in my book, a perfect Saturn coupe, one worthy of an award. Paint is in very good condition and 99%…bulbs and tires aren’t original.
The color of the interior is kind of confusing based on the pictures. Some of it appears to be dark grey, but there is also some blue in there. Other than questioning the shade of the material, it is in outstanding condition. And you have to love those safety restraints, the seat belts that hit you in the head when an occupant opens or closes the door… oh the 90’s!
So, does the condition and price make this one tempting? Or is it just too new for your tastes?
I had a 1997 sc with 5 speed it was a fun car to drive over 235kms on it and going strong. One of the best cars I ever had until it got rear ended. Minor damage but the insurance company wrote it off. All it needed was a replacement panal and a tail light lense. Those panels could be switched in 45 min flat. I was so ticked off with the insurance adjuster I felt he didn’t know what he was talking about. These saturns may have a palmier outer skin but the still have a steel inner unibody shell and are quite solid. To bad this one is an automatic.
Oh, I hear ya’. This was my daughters 2nd car, a SC1. Kind of a modern Opel GT with a trunk. It was a great car, many, many miles. I had a SL2 with 235K miles when the odometer quit. It still got 32 mpg. Not too easy to work on, however. Had to take the right front wheel off to get at the oil filter, and changing the starter was no day at the beach either. Saturns showed, America could do it,,,for a while.
I agree with you guys too, wholeheartedly. I bought an SL1 new in 92, back when I commuted for work. At 200k miles, I sold her to a college kid and bought an SL2. Sold that one a decade later and bought a 2004 Vue, 4 cylinder with 5 speed stick. Drove that trouble free to 125,000 miles, and sold that two years ago and bought a 2006 Vue 6 cylinder AWD. All of these have been excellent vehicles, and outside of oil changes (and a sensor for the fuel gauge in the SL2), I haven’t had any troubles.
But GM being GM, they had to go and ruin it. They ended independent, in-house development and design in Saturn, and rebadged their own junk, signing the death warrant for Saturn. I also agree that Saturn could’ve been the perfect platform for an all-electric/hybrid line for the General. After all, Saturn introduced the first GM electric car! (See “Who Killed the Electric Car”) But GM’s shortsightedness prevailed, as usual.
Of course The General found a way to nuke what was a sound business decision at the start. The platform would’ve transitioned well into electric.
Heck…this thing has as much visual appeal as a Tesla Model 3 even now.
I’ve said previously, the Saturn would have been a great brand relaunch as the ‘new Oldsmobile’. I guess recycling 1970s trucks is more profitable for GM…
These come up for sale from time-to-time as second-hand Japanese imports (right hand drive!) in NZ and I’m tempted to buy one just to preserve a piece of American automotive history.
For some reason, the passive restraints from this examples era always remind me of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8XeDvKqI4E
I’ve said previously, the Saturn would have been a great brand relaunch as the ‘new Oldsmobile’. I guess recycling 1970s trucks is more profitable for GM…
These come up for sale from time-to-time as second-hand Japanese imports (right hand drive!) in NZ and I’m tempted to buy one just to preserve a piece of American automotive history.
As a freshman college student who is avid about keeping “regular” cars alive (My 1965 Mercury Comet in highschool showed that) I’d snap this up once I got my first stable, grown up job and save it as an up and coming collectable. It’s a shame there’s an automatic, but what can you do? I’m keeping an eye out for 1990’s Saturns, Buick LeSabres, Lincoln Town Cars, and 1993 or older Honda Accords. (My first automotive memory is watching the automatic safety belts in my mother’s 1991 Accord with awe, so I hold a special place in my heart for them) I see all four above mentioned models on a regular basis, but in sorry shape from being passed down to increasingly poor owners who don’t care to or can’t afford to keep them up. I’m crossing my fingers hoping that they’ll be finds like this still out there by 2022.
I had a 1998 SL2. It was a darn good car, for the econobox it was, and pretty fun to drive, too. Only thing I hated was changing the oil filter.
I have owned three Saturn’s. Two sedans and one station wagon. Loved them all. The station wagon could get damn near 40 mpg on the interstate running at 80 with the A/C going. When will we make cars like that again?
Older brother had one [95 SL1 M] when I visited him in Salt lake City. Picked me up at the airport in it and apologized for it being so basic. I fell in love with it.
Also the fact that my brother and his family hadn’t managed to kill it like all their other cars impressed me.
Three days after I got home there was one in my driveway. Another 95 SL1 M. 116,000 miles on it and still solid.
Eventually I gave it to my little brother who has wracked up the miles to almost 200,000, essentially problem free.
Interesting backstory, first new domestic brand launched since Kaiser-Frazer, space frame, polymer panels, ease of service and simplicity. A perfect entry level hobby car.
And a still active online website with a lot of long term owners and new fans.
This one is very very nice.
As a police officer in the Greater Miami area, I ran into a very wealthy home owner on a private island who wanted to report some expensive lawn sprinklers that had been stolen from him. In his driveway was a gold Saturn just like this one. I was surprised to hear it was his! He said he had owned just about all of the high-end cars over the years but this was his favorite. Go figure.
I just snagged a 1997 SW2 station wagon with only 73K miles on it for $1300, to go along with the other ’97 SW2 with 180K. Between the two of them and the parts I took off the 2000 SW2 that got rear-ended by a medically-incapacitated driver while parked, I can keep at least one going for another 25 years!
I’ve owned seven Saturns over the decades, and four of them succumbed to other people’s idiocy, not wear and tear. People ask if I have a Saturn “fetish,” and I say “……….. better the devil I know than the devil I don’t.” By now I know everything that can go wrong and every problem that has to be watched for, and aside from the asinine oil filter and starter placement I’ve made peace with them. Like old Jeeps, if you keep the engine maintained they’ll last forever. There’s allegedly one down the road from me with 480,000 miles. We’re only just now getting into parts scarcity, and there are enough fans out there to keep up the aftermarket demand for now.
As for “plastic”–the last accident my older car was in was after a gang member was shot at an intersection while driving someone else’s car, rolled down the street out of control, striking other cars before finally coming to rest against my SW2;s back left fender. When the city Crime Sceme finally towed away the other car hours later and I was handed police paperwork for filing claims, I looked at the car, reached into the glove box, pulled out a spare pop rivet to replace the one that had snapped, buffed off in seconds the black rubber the other car’s bumper had streaked on my fender, and smugly said to the cops and tow truck driver, “What damage?” while the neighbors laughed. Postscript: the other car was, of course, uninsured……
*I* am the one who made us get that one… ;) –Alexander’s Wife–> Forever Searching for the SW2 Unicorn…
My aunt replaced her 88 Accord with a new 95 Saturn. I learned to drive in both cars. The Saturn embarrassed itself against a 7 year older Honda. I get Saturns idea, and it was a good one, but ultimately it was a noisy, ratting example of 90’s GM. And I went on to own several rattling, noisy 90’s GM’s