I had a sw2 wagon I put 120k on before I got my 240d. I got the 240d and parked the Saturn for good. It was a good car for a twenty something me. Thin uncomfortable seats. OBD1. I used a Snap-on mt2500 to scan it. It had some issues like a bad coolant temp sensor, an it burned oil. It was a 5spd. My friend had an sl2 with way more miles. Everything that broke on his car I replaced preemptively on mine. I think my odometer was the last thing to go. But after owning a w123 I just tore it down and fixed it. Then I sold it cheap to a kid. He beat it hard and destroyed it.

It was then I realized I drive like a mechanic. I’m easy on my cars.

Get my currently 50yo self in that car and I’ll scream murder. My 300sd is afar better car.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles

How many have you owned? Full disclosure I owned zero, just never heard anyone complain about the SBC module going out because the brake pedal counter hit its limit, or "black death" or zero internal engine parts availability. Just saying.

I have two Saturn stories:

- Summer of 1989, the year I graduated high school, one of my best friends from school's dad was doing contract work at the Saturn plant in Spring Hill, TN. I got to visit the plant as they were wrapping up construction and working out production details. I remember 4 large buildings laid out in a line. The idea was to bring basic materials (rolls of sheet steel and giant blocks of aluminum and more) into one end of the complex and send cars out the other end. There were HUGE sheet metal presses in place. They were testing engine and transmission castings (lost foam in sand process). The conveyor system was being tested using Chevy Corsica chassis/bodies.

- A friend of ours from college bought a S-Series sedan in spring of 1996. It had a manual transmission, the least expensive model. She didn't know how to drive stick, so I drove it home for her and taught her to drive it over the next few days. It was a brand new car, charcoal paint and grey cloth interior, and I remember liking it but not wanting one.

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- Greg -
1973 220D, The Prodigal Benz
1974 240D

Saturns were uncompetitive. They didn’t make a lot of profit for gm in the 90s. I worked for a gm supplier back then and got to hear a lot of interesting stories about Saturn since I owned one it came up.

Apparently there was a lot of infighting at gm over Saturn. They took away a lot of good engineers and capital from the rest of gm to work on their project. By 2000 they didn’t have much to show for it in profits and the wrecking crew was sent in. Way before Saturn was closed. Apparently the management in 2000 was old Chevy people who lost resources when they formed Saturn. They sought vengeance once they came into power. Typical big company infighting.

I sold a bunch of test tools to the engine durability test lab. I learned more than I needed to know. The lowest cost SL1 had an engine cracking problem. The automatics had bad valve bodies but at least they were easy to replace as mentioned above.

The twin cam SL2 had a bad surface finish on the valve stems that chewed up the seals. Many owners didn’t check oil between services and destroyed their engines. They also had a stuck oil scraper ring issue not unlike those seen on recent Toyota and Honda cars.

Mine was fine but I really realized I was better than average Saturn owners at maintaining my car. The next owner of my car said it was the worst most unreliable car ever. It died because of easy stuff but he was a kid.

I owned a Honda Accord at the same time that was way better as far as just taking your eyes off it and driving it. Any idiot could keep that going. Tires, oil, brakes, fuel. That’s it. I even forgot to set valve lash for 100k or change plugs. Didn’t care.

My Saturn required a little bit more attention. Marginal smog tests because of oil burning. A very slow leak on my clutch master cylinder that would surprise me every other year. It also rattled a lot since the day it was brand new. I parked it for six years after discovering mb diesels. It came out for parts runs.

Back on topic you cannot compare my $16000 1994 SW2 with my $38000 1982 300sd. It’s apples to oranges.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles

I think the shift to SUV's is the main thing that killed Saturn. Toward the end, Saturn workers pushed for a small SUV since they felt the consumer winds blowing. Similarly, minivans were killed by SUV/x-over ads which emasculated them. The public is so gullible. I understand that GM's attempt to get away from the union also didn't quite work since many union workers relocated with the same "f the company" mindset. Consumers were Saturn's main salvation, attracted by the no-haggle buying experience. Some were as loyal as Tesla fan-boys, spending their summer vacations on a factory gathering, and poo-poo'ing reliability problems. GM's aren't always the most reliable, but parts are usually easy and cheap, due to high sales. I wish our old M-B's had that.

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1984 & 1985 CA 300D's
1964 & 65 Mopar's - Valiant, Dart, Newport
1996 & 2002 Chrysler minivans

In 1993 I was shopping for a new car (my baby...87 Grand Prix with T tops was stolen a few months before). I wanted a car that had some innovation/technology in it. There wasn't much to choose from in that category at the time. I narrowed it to Dodge and Saturn. The Dodge intrepid was new, with cab-forward design and shortened design-to-mfg timeframe. I liked that. What Dodge still missed was too much bundling of unwanted options, and horrible assembly quality.


I turned to Saturn. I like DOHC, plastic body panels, and the fact that they set up the factory transmission assembly line to run BOTH manuals and automatics down the same line. That blew my mind.


I bought a 5spd SL2. I wanted manual, and it was spirited if you wound it up. I used the entire tachometer every time I pulled away, and still got 33mpg all day long.


In 97 I got a job with company car, so no need for the Saturn. it had 70k or so on the clock and I had a very difficult time selling it. What I realized was that I apparently was the only person on the face of the earth that wanted a manual Saturn. The market was dad's looking for a car for their daughters. As soon as they saw a stick they passed on it.


I did enjoy that car. Fast forward to today, when I'm now a diesel nut and a Mercedes nut, and I wonder what I was thinking.

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Mark in MA
05 MB E320CDI 402k Granite Grey Metallic
05 MB E320CDI 267k Black
05 MB E320CDI 232k White
05 MB E320CDI 209k Tectite Grey
99 Dodge 2500 Cummins 5sp 148k
62 Jeep CJ-6 120k

I love my manual Saturn...although it's quite a bit different from a sl2

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth