When Saturn was first launched, it was never meant to be a rebadged Chevy, Olds, Pontiac or Buick. In the end, GM mismanaged it and axed Saturn when they went bankrupt in 2009. Saturn was different and like Honda/Toyota made reliable cars and cared about their customers. They used to design and build their own cars until GM decided to stop it.

@richardepstein3494

Жыл бұрын

typical GM!!

@joshualewis2367

Жыл бұрын

@Brian Lee Mitsubishi yeah I don’t no how they still makeing cars the only car that’s keeping them alive is the outlander but that’s it went from cool to uncool sad thing to her about them they need to go back to there rots

@Scotty_in_Ohio

Жыл бұрын

"A different kind of car.... A different kind of car company...." I had really good experience as a Saturn owner back in the early 90's - I never made it to Springhill but did make it to a couple dealership BBQ / Picnics.

@Scotty_in_Ohio

Жыл бұрын

@Brian Lee Ironically when Saturn dealers around me finally closed they became (at least the two in my area did) Mitsubishi dealerships ;-)

@churchboydz3275

Жыл бұрын

So true bro my favorite car from Saturn was the SL2 nd the Ion

I do agree @12:07 that Saturn is the saddest of the GM loss cut, because it was a new company with different ideas.. However, pretty early on they lost their way, even with this ION. It was only their SL1, SL2, SC1, SC2, and their wagons of the same ilk that were cool and ground up different IMO. after that all their cars were the same derivative sad GM badge engineered junk and they lost their identity.

@hakeemsd70m

Жыл бұрын

Pontiac's death was far more tragic in my opinion.

These where great cars, and gas savers. Also cool with the suicide doors. One of Saturns best creation.

Hey! This is my car! 😊 (not the exact one) but I have an 04 Ion 2 quad coupe with a Manual, not the CVT! Absolutely love the thing.

@user-zb9ny9en2h

7 ай бұрын

❤ i ha this car too my favorite car ever. We just fit. I regret not keeping it fixing it one more time...if i could rewind the time i wouldnt be talked into parting with it. ❤😢

Remember the Subaru justy's CVT? It was way back in 1989

Ions were great cars. I had a friend with 260k miles on his 2004 sedan and it still works. Also Kenda tires- he has put over 100k on those tires (and yes, he treats the rest of the car like those tires) and the tires still go. That thing is the best crapbox Ive ever seen. And im a Ford guy.

@radudeATL

Жыл бұрын

My partner’s 2005 coupe has 260k miles, and it’s still going strong. And super practical: we hauled a large file cabinet by folding down the passenger seat. I love to crap all over the car, but damn it’s a good car.

Saturn and scion give the same vibes imo

Years ago, I bought one of these used for $800 and had no problems with the CVT. I found the best way to get out of the back seat is to use your thumb to pull the latch. The one problem I had was that the previous owner had abused the motor so even when I bought it there was already foam in the motor oil but I couldn't afford anything else and it actually lasted me over a year before the motor completely died. I actually loved that car and even considered dropping in a new ecotec from an auto wrecker but sadly I let the car go to the wrecker.

Loved this. Thanks. I have an 05 ION 1 with 82000 miles on it, purchased new. Cvt (vTi in Saturn speak) was developed by GM with Fiat of which GM had an option to buy outright). The Cvt came only with the Quad. The four doors got a 5 speed Aisin automatic. 05 and later coupes and sedans got GM's four speed automatic. The VUE also used the CVT. According to stats, the Saturn CVT had a near 100% failure rate. There is even a massive thread on Saturn Fans website detailing the process for retrofitting the Aisin tranny in place of the Cvt. Saturn Fans is a great resource for these cars if you like them ION used the Delta platform first. The Cobalt came two years later and included 800 improvements shared with the ION which also retained the unique polymer panels of the S Series. Like the owner of your test car, if anything happened to my ION I'd find another.

@ImmortanDan

Жыл бұрын

Know what's worse? The Aisin 5-speed is a bomb too. It has a shitty reputation in every car it's been in, including *gulp* my S40 T5 Volvo.

@anduuhar

Жыл бұрын

Love my 05 This guy Saturns.

This car has always been so interesting and elusive to me because I never see them and they have weird doors

@hakeemsd70m

Жыл бұрын

These cars are quite common in the Ohio Valley, to this day. I love the Ion Red Line, my favorite Saturn!

Dude, totally agree with your comment of Saturn dying before GM ruined them too much. I feel the same about Pontiac. I’m glad they’re gone because they wouldn’t just be another brand of bland and boring crossovers.

There was also the Saturn Vue SUV which had the 3.5L V6 from Honda

@hakeemsd70m

Жыл бұрын

I love the original VUE. It was actually the final new Saturn not to be based on another GM vehicle at the time of it's release in 2001.

@DaveGreg100

Жыл бұрын

@@hakeemsd70m It spawned the first Equinox and Pontiac Torrent, actually. The first to use GM's Theta platform, like the ION was the first to use the Delta that spawned the Cobalt and Pontiac G5 [And Pursuit in Canada IIRC]

@hakeemsd70m

Жыл бұрын

​@@DaveGreg100 True, that's why I said at the time of its release in 2001. Those variants came much later, but nobody at that time knew that GM was going to use the platform again.

@DaveGreg100

Жыл бұрын

@@hakeemsd70m No. You are mistaken and making an assumption that no one knew there were plans for the platform. From GM Authority: 'Engineering for the Theta platform was mostly performed in Korea by GM Daewoo/GM Korea as well as by Opel in Germany.' GM was not going to let Saturn again have an exclusive product like the S Series. Not after after dumping billions into Saturn to little benefit. Theta was not developed just for use by Saturn, but with the idea of spreading the cost of development of an entirely new platform across multiple brands. The Theta was never going to be exclusive to Saturn, that's just a guess. n

Another banger! I love my 01 sl1 5spd. Even though it's got 218k miles, no exhaust or headliner, the shifter is a screw driver and it slooow. But for a $600 delivery vehicle it just eats miles and does it reliably. Also weighs less than my nb miata so it's tossable lol

@darthdarthbinkss

Жыл бұрын

Do you ever kick the plastic body panels when you get mad? 😂😂

@alancrook1745

Жыл бұрын

@@darthdarthbinkss I definitely kicked the fender to show a friend how they just bounce back and don't break, but of course it broke and I laughed cause who cares lol

6:08 Looks like you are missing a seat belt holders that the car came with originally.

I’m an original owner of a 2004 Ion and she’s still going strong. A great little car.

More Saturns! I had a '94 Saturn SL with a five speed manual. It was mind-bendingly slow and had the turning radius of a dump truck but it went 190K with only a few problems. It had dent-proof plastic side panels and when I got the car detailed prior to selling it in 2005 I was blown away by how perfect it still was!

The S series was a nice car!

You should try finding a Justy eCVT you'll be blown away haha

I have a 2007 ion 2. Low mileage 48 grand still running fine. Had it since 2009.

My dream used car!! Terrific content Zack.

Fun fact, another vehicle that had a strange center gauge cluster is the earlier years of the second generation Nissan Quest.

@damilolaakanni

Жыл бұрын

The third generation, not the second. The second generation was very similar to the first because of the partnership between Nissan and Ford (Mercury) to develop and produce a minivan for both brands.

@DaveGreg100

Жыл бұрын

Center clusters were very common in the 20s and 30s, even into the forties on some cars

The car is very beautiful, and I just love old cars like these. Wish they kept making it like this haha The new radio is nice, but I just love it when the radio is the original from factory. That’s why I also kept mine.

The first few years quad coupe had the CVT while the sedan had a 5 speed automatic Aisin. Then they moved them all to a reliable 4 speed automatic GM transmission. The CVT had horrible reliability. It’s a jatco.. Some of the improvements over the years made: - After several revisions, the timing chain tensioners was made reliable. - more sound insulation. - new seats. - optional 2.4 ecotech (not as stout as 2.2 but still decent) - the larger steering wheel of the red line was made standard. 13:27 The bad: - the massive GM coverup of the ignition switch and power steering issues. - front suspension issues, especially lower control arm bushings. I miss the plastic panels and simplicity of the car. The later models in particular were quite reliable.

@DaveGreg100

Жыл бұрын

True, but the CVT was a joint collaboration between Fiat and GM not from Jatco.

I think it's simply because they don't exist here in Australia, but I've always loved Saturn's! Especially the older ones 😍

My exwife has a Saturn SC Coupe and we ended up trading it in for a brand new, fully loaded 2004 Ion Sedan Level 3 with power everything including a sunroof for $18k. Honestly, as a 22yo enthusiast with a heavy foot, admittedly that was a great car especially when traveling for what it was. I always wanted the “red line” coupe of that model there since it looked so sporty … good times. LOL - I always refer to the Ion coupe in discussions when people bring up thinking the Veloster was the first car with the atypical coupe door setup.

Some of the 2003 and 2004 models came with a 5 speed automatic made by Aisin - the same manufacturer that makes Toyota's transmissions. That 5 speed auto was - as you can imagine - high tech for the day. Ironically though, it lacked overdrive so your cruising rpm in top gear was the same as the 4 speed auto, but hey, you had lots of torque in the lower gears.

I picked up a 5 speed manual, acouple weeks ago I can't wait to play with her. Beautiful video bud

It's funny how I used to "lust" after one of these - the Sky was the impractical one that I really wanted but being more practical the ION would have been a better choice at the time. I owned a 1994 Saturn SC2 with 5 speed manual - it was the only new GM I've ever bought and my experience in buying, servicing and driving it was nearly flawless - the ONLY issue I had was one of the fasteners (a rivet) became loose on one of the pop up headlights and the dealer took care of it during an included oil change. I still remember filling out the owner surveys and only marking lower than 10's around items where Saturn didn't offer a type of vehicle that would be right for my life at the time (i.e. a truck or a minivan). When GM began to re-badge other products I think everyone knew the brand's days were numbered.

Well done! I miss Saturn terribly.

What a cool looking car. Saturn was on my list of cars I was interested in when I was looking for my first car 17 years ago. There were still plenty of them out there back then. I was almost going to look into getting a 1991 SL1, but when we went to the dealer, someone was already out for a test drive in it so we moved on.

I've had 6 Saturns previously my driveway, and currently have 4 of them here. Big fan and i miss the company.

The white lighter reference was brilliant

I have this exact car, but it's a 2006 with a beige interior rather than black. Same exterior and features though. Sadly also had to replace the radio, but on the bright side I got a nice wireless carplay/auto Alpine to replace it. ................ of course, that is, it would be nice once it's actually hooked up. Whoever designed the fusebox location for this car is a maniac

Detailed video and history of the company pretty cool..

awww RIP. My first “nice” car was an 02 Saturn SC2 with the sui-door on the driver’s side. Loved that little thing, I had it through college until a Toyota Tercel t-boned it lol

I think it's crazy the quad coup and 4 door have different headlights

If you’re ever in Cali hit me up, I have an 06 Ion Redline competition package, AND a Saturn Vue Redline.

The wheels super neat IMO 😲😲

When i was somewere around 5-7 my dad used to have a saturn, it wasn't that modle, forgot the name of it, it was a sedan, im 18 now, brings back good times

@forza4l833

Жыл бұрын

It was a mid 90s

My neighbors have two Saturn's. 2000s models. One is a sedan the other is a green wagon. Both seem to have a good bit of issues. The wagon looks really cool though.

I was wanting to see that CVT on action 😭

The ion was the first car on the GM Delta platform. I’ve got 2 quad coupes both had the CVTs and have been converted to the 5 speed automatic from the 2003-2004 ion sedans. One is a fully loaded ion 3 and the other is a pretty well loaded ion 2. The ion 3 has almost 211,000 miles and the ion 2 has almost 173,000

i have a 2006 saturn vue its a great suv please do a review on 😁😁👍

These are actually large coupes 185” but the supercharged one is rather interesting. Saturn deserves credit for thinking outside the box for interior and exterior design

7:50 That door handle to exit and the issue with the seatbelt retainer breaking easily are huge safety issues!

@anduuhar

Жыл бұрын

No they arent. The belt retainers on my 05 are fine. If you break them you are being clumbsy and/or careless. As for the suicide door handles they are easy enough to get to. Might be a little awkward for a six foot dude but doable as he demonstrated. Also what six foot dude is going to choose the back seat of a compact anyway? Stop being so dramatic.

My Saturn Ion is a 2007 Ion 2 with 166000 plus miles on it. Still drives like a champ and I totally blame GM for the demise of the Saturn and will never own another GM vehicle unless it is another Saturn. SCREW GM and all they currently stand for because of what the bastards did to Saturn.

This is great looking car for the time.

This was my first car but the sedan loved that thing

when showing the interior, the steering wheel to be exact, I can't unsee the lazy sleepy face in the steering wheel with the saturn badge as the big red nose and the horn markers as the eyes.

I had a had a Saturn ion coupe . Red exactly that car . I LOVED IT SOOO MUCH. FAVORITE CAR EVER. I WOULD REALLY LOVE TO FIND ANOTHER ONE EXACTLY THE SAME.

My roommate's Scion Xb also has the center instrument panel this. He says that you don't notice it after a while.

@rushnerd

Жыл бұрын

Lol he's wrong. the company car at my work is an early model XB (only 44K miles) and it completely drives me insane. At least on that car, the gauges are quite small and hard to read anyway (the gas meter is smaller than most and the RPM is the same size) It sits so far away from you at an odd angle that It's seriously distracting to use. I actually noticed at night when it lights up, it's quite a bit more useable. Then again I hate how uncomfortable the seats are in that thing, how you sit, the city bus steering wheel placement, and the handling is hilarious.

I genuinely loved mine. I've actually owned 2. My ion tho has about 250k miles now tho and stopped running-I can figure out how to change my alternator & what not but I don't have enough experience to figure out how to get mine running again!

I got a Saturn ion redline I would be down to let you drive/review! I’m going to check out your site soon.

It should have rear door handles inside of the rear doors.

I literally just bought this car and was looking for more reviews… this was posted a day ago lmao

You should try to find an Astra. I heard they turned out to be good cars. Totally forgotten today. I almost bought one 1 year old...if only it were a manual...I couldn't get past the doggy feeling of the automatic.

Please do more Saturns like the Aura XR with the peanut butter seats

Love these quirky little things

My NA Miata does the same thing to my neck that this ion’s seat belt is doing to you.

Yikes, didn't know these came with a cvt. Glad I'm getting a stick

Hey Zach! I may be buying a 1980 Datsun 200sx! If I end up getting it I'll be letting you know as I'm in the area. I hope I can get it and share it with you!

@ShootingCars

Жыл бұрын

That would be great! I haven’t done one of those but always wanted to!

@skytheguy0438

Жыл бұрын

@@ShootingCars The owner isn't in state right now as he's got Parkinson's unfortunately. His sister in Tennessee is taking care of him but we've spoke before and he'd like to sell it to me as I promise that I'd take care of it. It was a southern car for a while before coming here to Illinois so it's actually pretty solid! It's at 300k miles but starts right up with no issue! Hopefully his health gets better so we can talk some more as he's a really nice guy. It's not just a car, it's part of a story and this guy is the original owner and has driven it all around America! I promise I'll let you know if I get it Zach!

Thank you so much Zack. This is a nostalgic feeling for me. This would be my dream Saturn next to the Vue and Sky Redlines. I too have had my neck sawed off many times by that seat belt. I didn't even know that the earlier Saturn ion had came with a cvt. I thought it was always manual or a 4 or 5 speed automatic. Definitely made my day. 🤩

@DaveGreg100

Жыл бұрын

@@jonathana3253 Yes. And only on the Quads for 03-04

@DaveGreg100

Жыл бұрын

@@jonathana3253 I never said it had a quad 4

@DaveGreg100

Жыл бұрын

@@jonathana3253 Quad coupe as the ION [4 door] coupe was called [Quad for short]: Quad Coupe came only with the CVT for 03-04. I never mentioned the Quad 4 engine.

@DaveGreg100

Жыл бұрын

@@jonathana3253 it's all good. Thanks. I wondered. Best to ya.

@DaveGreg100

Жыл бұрын

@@jonathana3253 PS I could have worded it better as well, so yeah. I get it.

Reminds me of the toyota which makes sense cause of the Pontiac vibe at the time

I've been looking for youtube reviews of this car for weeks! Now I finally found one! It seems like this is a pretty ok car to buy used. Not a whole lot of features, and kind of cheaply built, but other than that, a pretty decent car.

Doorsides are like Mazda Rx7 Interior is like Toyota Platz Front design looks like something else. But overall good car for 2004👌🏼

it looks just amazing design wise i love it already. minus those safety issues of course

How do you get that view from behind of the car? Drone, what? Please tell.

@bwofficial1776

Жыл бұрын

360 degree camera on a suction mount stick. The camera's software can remove the stick.

There are rumors with techs at work (i work at the proving grounds for GM) that they actually were trying to make a retrofit 4 speed kit for these and the Vue because of how horrendous the trans was lol

@ShootingCars

Жыл бұрын

Hey I got a buddy that works there!

@DaveGreg100

Жыл бұрын

Check out Saturn Fans. Gigantic thread in the Vue and Ion forums of people replacing the CVT with the Aisin 5 speed. See: VTi to AF23 transmission swap in the ION forums.

I have an Ion 3, trying to get a passenger fender and hood maybe a front bumper. Help me out guys 🙏. I'm in Shabbona IL. Right on hywy 30 😅😊

Would you recommend this car for a first car?

@user-zb9ny9en2h

7 ай бұрын

❤

A cobalt coupe has the same belt holders. It's weird as the seat belt easily comes off

cvt will break?

1 year younger than me

9:10, one thing I didn't like about the trunk in my ION was the battery vent could be damaged easily (like with groceries rolling around), and once it did, it would suck in water when it rained. Came out to a dead battery one day because turns out the battery sits in almost a water tight cubby in the trunk and the rainwater just collected in that cubby.

@anduuhar

Жыл бұрын

Maybe you should have replaced the panel that covered the battery/spare area. There is no way stuff just gets down there. Water should not be getting in there either. Negligence plain and simple.

A GM CVT is the only CVT I'd trust less than a Nissan CVT. If GM had left Saturn alone and continued to let them develop their own cars they may have survived even with a little platform sharing. Rebadging mediocre Chevys and Opels killed the brand. This is a cool looking car and the suicide doors are almost completely unique (save for the Mazda RX8). No inside door handle is typical dumb GM. The offset gauge cluster is weird but as a Jeep CJ and Prius driver I'd get used to it quickly. This shows that cheap can look sporty too.

Do a saab review same engine (kinda) better car

Early Saturns are great, Like SL/SC/SW series cars. The Ion and first gen Vue are in that weird in-between phase where I still appreciate them for being unique among their GM counterparts but have no desire to really own one (outside of maybe an Ion Redline or an Aura Greenline). Saturn's later life is just sad, the Relay (rebadged minivan), Astra (rebadged Opel), Gen 2 Vue (rebadged Opel/Captiva), etc. Vehicles that weren't saturns, had no real reason to exist or appeal to Saturn's customer base, and ultimately show why I dislike GM

@Black-Villain

Жыл бұрын

@Jonathan A yeahhhh I don't like those, the L series (especially V6s) had some reliability issues, the chassis isn't that good, suspension isn't that good either imho. I've owned two 9-5s, The only part shared between the L series and the Saab is the rear suspension subframe. Other than that they feel and drive completely differently, the saturn being the significantly worse/ cost cut one

@hakeemsd70m

Жыл бұрын

That first gen VUE is arguably the best vehicle Saturn ever built, besides the Ion Red Line!

I still wish GM was still building cars now

The 90s Saturns were the best built vehicles before GM took full control.

That's one of the nicest Saturns I have seen. They are almost always beat up . But man is it spartan inside. The Scion XB has the same center dash gauge cluster thing going on, it seriously bothers me. No matter how you look at it, it's not driver-centric and requires you to take your attention off the road to use.

The seats look very worn for the mileage. I prefer the older Saturns before the Ion.

shit if u where on the west coast id let you review my 1992 sc

Find a Redline

Don't see these anymore, but still see civics from the same era.

@anduuhar

Жыл бұрын

You just arent looking. I still see lots.

@Mr.Corinthians

7 ай бұрын

@@anduuhar How many is "lots"? And are you talking about Ions specifically, or Saturns as a whole? I drive 8-10 hours a day, six days a week, and the only Saturns I see on a daily basis are the VUE, and to a lesser extent, the Aura (rebadged Malibu/G6). I see more Pontiac G5s, Cobalts and HHRs than any Ions. I have seen more Saturn Skys in the last three years than any Ions, come to think of it. And don't say I am "not looking" since one of the ways I break up the monotony of driving everyday is looking to see which car model I see the most each day. (Usually ends up being Camry, Civic, Impala and Malibu.)

@anduuhar

7 ай бұрын

@@Mr.Corinthians First off I WILL say you aren't looking. Now that you have seen this video I bet you will start noticing them. Please note that before I bought my Ion a couple years back I didn't even know they existed. Lots for me is at least a couple a week. I drive through a major Canadian city daily. Also there are a couple besides mine in the small town I live in and a couple the next town over that I know of. Also also there a a few auto wreckers in my general area and between them I would say a couple a month turn up.(I am always on the lookout for good spare arts...) Also also also...Of course you are going to see more Cobalts,G5s etc as they were more popular. Anecdotally I can also say that in all my years I have only seen 2 HHRs and 3 Skys so I highly doubt the voracity of you claiming to have seen more of them than Ions.

That is a 4 in air quotes that is 2 and 2 half doors that is a 3 door car

Saturn was the saddest “. Lol

The fuckuing CVTs bro…istfg

@WildWildWeasel

Жыл бұрын

I used to own one btw, a Nissan Juke, that’s why I hate them so much

One thing about GM, as soon as they discontinue a model or brand it seems like they disappear from the streets altogether, basically overnight. That says a lot about their “quality”.

@anduuhar

Жыл бұрын

Actually it speaks a lot about their customers attitudes to maintenance. My 05 is well maintained and is rock solid.

Day 2 of asking Shooting Cars to review the 2007 Kia Magentis

If the statement is "GM gave up on Saturn", the Ion is the exclamation point. It was offensively bad, as if it was deliberately designed to disappoint anyone who laid eyes on it or, worse, convince anyone in the market to review their budget and see if they truly can't afford the Honda or Toyota alternative. Every Ion (even the Redline) needs to be crushed, and the executives who directed its design need to return their salaries and banned from decisioning roles in other organizations.

@johndarrow1995

Жыл бұрын

My ion coop has 138,000 miles onto it and has never given me a problem yet. I love The suicide door . it’s cool and convenient

@doug6191

Жыл бұрын

@@johndarrow1995 Reliable as it may be, the vehicle was nowhere in the realm of the contemporaries at Toyota, Honda, or even Ford.

These are garbage. I live in flyover country and people didn't drive these unless they had too. When you lost that market, you're done.

Just an FYI having power accessories doesn't necessarily make it a Level 3. My 05 has them but is just a Level 2 It more has to do with the combination of options. For instance mine does not have ABS or traction control

Day 3 of asking Shooting Cars to review the 2007 Kia Magentis