I'm still surprised that Saturn is getting spun off. They have this weird cult following and seem to get good ratings and reviews. And the cars look nice in the current lineup. Unlike Pontiac, which look like they've been kicked by a horse and are just rebadges of other crappy GM cars - save the G8, which is a Holden.

I have@downwithmonstercable: The Pontiac Vibe is a good-looking car that gets good reviews from Consumer Reports. I can't say I'm in love with they styling of the new Saturns however. They've lost that distinctive look of Saturns that was prevalent when they fist came out in the early '90s.

I never really considered Saturns to be a bad vehicle they just never did anything great. To me they have always just been alright vehicles that are a bit too expensive for what you were getting.

It's still good on my 1996 Saturn SL1? Good thing I only have 29,000 miles.

@sonneillon: They're extremely good appliance cars, and manage to keep running forever, although they're often very neglected and in poor shape... It's only been the last few years that they've been expensive, up until the Aura and Astra, they were some of the cheapest vehicles in their particular segments, especially when you look at actual out the door prices, not MSRPs. One of the problems I've had with GM and the domestic in general, is that they price their cars fairly similarly to the foreign competition, and then take off thousands more with incentives and dealer price reductions, so when people shop around, they don't see the price advantage.

While I had my Saturn from '03 to late '08 (RIP "Bentley"), I didn't purchase another Saturn but was quite happy with it ('03 L300, fully-loaded) until a nagging issue that nobody could fix. Didn't matter anyway - some jerk side-swiped me outta the blue and killed my Saturn.

It was my first car. We had some good times.

@Dafrety: Over 10 years old and only 29,000 miles? That is amazing.

@pgh9fan1: But the Vibe is just a Matrix in Pontiac badging.

As for the current Saturn styling, I personally love it, as the former owner of 2 SL2's and current owner of a Aura.

As much as I loved my SL2s, being stylish was not something it was. Reliable as hell, you could practically drill a hole into the engine and it would work, but no not even close to being stylish.

The current crop are actually derived from, created alongside, or actually are Opel/Vauxhal designs, which have some of the best engineered, best designed cars in GMs fleet.

Unfortunately Opel was also sold off, to Magna, with the stipulation they absolutely could not sell their cars in the US. Supposedly the Astra redesign will be coming to Buick now, as well as the Aura replacement (Insight) is the 2010 LeCross, but I dont except much beyond that seeing the light of day in the US.

@Vanilla5: Just curious what your issue was? My "DD" is an '03 LW200.

My first car was a 8 year old Saturn SL2 that saved my life (car was hit from behind at 60 mph while I was at a stop making a left)

Except for a Chevy before my current car (POS Cobalt i got a 3 year lease on) I have never not had a Saturn since 1998.

Even today with my Aura, my father in law, a devout Honda man who has never driven anything but a Accourd, looks at my car and tells me thats a GOOD looking car.

I am hopeful Penske will pull this off, but a I have strong reservations if his plan is Korean cars imported here. After all I could go buy a Hyundai and it will likely be cheaper.

I understand the reasons why GM had to let them go. The writing had been on the walls for years, since GM went out of its way to give it a great lineup then murder its advertising to prove it was a failure. Plus it was easier to splinter off Saturn with its indie dealer network unlike the other GM brands. But it really does feel crappy to lose such a loyal brand.

My Saturn dealer knew me and my family so well, they would ask about me to my dad when he stopped by for his maintenance or ask me how my parents are doing. They even remembered when I tried to get the stock GM iPod hookup in my car but couldn't because of the type of radio I had, and mentioned to my dad 7 months later during a routine repair how disappointed they where GM made it such a production on my iPod upgrade.

My wife and sister never got that kind of service from Honda or Chrysler.

@downwithmonstercable: The only two decent Saturn cars are rebadges of Pontiacs. The Aura is a rebadge of the G6 and the Sky is a rebadge of the Solstice.
In fact the only car from Saturn that is unique to North America is the Astra.

@Jim Topoleski:

Saturns, except until very recently, have had horrid reliability ratings. Saturns from the 90's had MAJOR issues with oil leaks, transmissions dying, window motors. Saturn used to make garbage cars. Saturn used to produce mass market garbage. The SL series was awful; major quality issues from rust, to transmissions to leaking valve cover seals. Even the later SL's, like the 2002 series, had major quality control issues with leaking gaskets.

But just like Hyundai and Kia back in the day, anyone can get better. Ford is significantly better now than they used to be (Ford focus is a good example, that car was trash when it came out, now it's rated much better and no recalls unlike the 99 focuses).

Modern saturns are much higher quality because they are GRAY MARKET IMPORTS from Belgum, Poland and Germany. Case in point, the Saturn Skyy is actually an Opel GT. It's not made in the us, and has large import part content. Some Saturns, like the Vue, are made in the US but have large import part content. This is part of the reason why Saturn has become much higher quality. My girlfriend's newer manual Ion3 is actually a pretty good car and a HUGE upgrade from her previous Saturn. It was based on the Opel Astra, with allot of foreign parts, assembled in TN.

Pontiacs are mostly made in the US. Poor quality control and much higher break down rate. My Grand Prix was the biggest piece of shit ever; I spend $8000 in repairs on a car that I only spent $7000 on. I bought it with 70K on it and it failed at 180K with major transmission failure. That's why I bought a civic, because the reliability rating on a civic is superior to every other small car out there.

If someone put a gun to my head and said buy GM only I would buy a Saturn because it's not an American car. It's the best stuff GM has in terms of reliability. Whether or not Penske will improve on it when they start rebadged imports from France, Korea or Japan remains to be seen.

@Dafrety: my 96 SL1 had 130,000 miles on it when i sold it, as far as i know it's still kickin!

i am a big saturn fan, i've had an SL1 (1996) and an SL2 (2001, my current car) and they've been very reliable.

i hope this penske thing works. i'd like my next car to be a saturn, too.

Oh don't worry...Obama will be your mechanic.

@Black-Cat: ... Penske Automotive Group != GM | US government

I just lost my SL1 to an idiot who cut a turn too close (huge freightliner truck, ripped the back end completely off, thankfully, I wasn't in the car).

I miss is terribly, first new car I ever owned (2002), and I never had a major issue with that car. As a matter of fact, before I got hit, I was about to get a few things fixed (normal wear and tear) to bring it back to its former glory.

I'm driving a Focus right now, but I can't wait to get a new Saturn again.

As for the cult thing, I remember the dealership where I purchased the car had a barbecue every Saturday for all of its owners and families of owners. They organized trips to various theme parks a few times a year, and the service writers always remembered my name.

I <3 my Saturn Aura. I get compliments on how nice it looks all the time

@techstar25: The aura is a redesigned Vectra, not a G6. The G6 and Aura share platform, but the G6 is considered the worst of the bunch currently being sold (Malibu, Aura, G6, Insight, and 9-3)

@Michael Yockey: The biggest issue with the S series is oil, which is easily repaired if you are aware of the problem.

Transitions where never a issue with the S series but where with the Ion because it used a funky variable tranny and not a standard auto. Since the Ion was a testbed for the platform, the Cobalt and G5 never got that transition.

Also the Ion was NEVER based on the Astra. It was its own car and was the first car that used the platform that went on to be the platform the current small cars from GM use including the Astra. Saturn does have the Astra proper though, but it lost a lot of the good engine options the Euro car had.

@techstar25: Interesting, I didn't know that. Well, at least they take the kicked Pontiacs and make them look nice.

@Dafrety: That's awesome! My aunt/uncle still have their 1990 Accord with something like 33,000 miles on it. My uncle has a work truck and my aunt works from home, so she drives maybe once a week to the grocery store. And when they drive anywhere together it's always in the work truck because the company pays all the expenses, including gas and maintenance.

I quite miss my SC2, t-boned by a drunk driver at 60mph, walked out without a scratch. Hopefully Penske can bring back the cheap fun of the S-series and fix the whole failmatic transmission problems that plagued the entire line for over a decade. :(

@Michael Yockey: Saturns are not gray market imports - as a grey market import owner, these are cars that are never officially sold in the United States through an official dealer car network. I believe the law allowing this was shot down in the late 80s, which is why you never see any 90 or later gray market vehicles.

Also, those plastic body panels sure did rust out pretty badly... You should learn that platform sharing does not mean that one car is "based" on another. You might as well talk about how the Focus is based on the Mazda 3 or Volvo V40. Most companies these days use global platforms, so if you want to claim that Saturn is not "American" then there's virtually nothing that's really American anymore (Pontiac G8 is Australian, Pontiac G3 is Korean, Pontiac Vibe is Japanese - still convinced that you wouldn't ever drive a Pontiac).

Good luck getting 180k out of the transmission on your civic, btw.

The reliability of GM today is actually pretty good as a whole, and you'll find that Buick (not Saturn) is actually tied for top spot on JD Powers 3 year reliability study.

At first glance I read this as "Satan reassures you..."

@sonneillon: Yes, they were incredibly affordable, entry market cars that ran well. I drove a Saturn for 7 years. After it died, however, I tried to find a more upmarket sedan and didn't like its offerings. Bought a honda accord.

@nataku83: 180k on a Civic tranny is nothing. My first car (now my little brother's) is still going strong at 240k. It's an 89 Civic.

@downwithmonstercable: There is the difference. I would buy a 89 Civic over a new one any day.

In the last 5 years Honda's reliability has gone down the tubes (even if CR likes to keep trumpeting how reliable they are)

My wife's FIT has gotten 2 recalls since 07. Even my Cobalt Sedan which was a utter POS, never had one recall in the 3 years I had it. Considering the US FIT at that time was a already produced Japanese model changed for US use, thats pretty bad.

@downwithmonstercable: Yeah, I agree with Jim. I've known 2 people with early '00s Accords (so, maybe Civics are a bit more reliable) whose trannies went in the low 100ks. I don't know many people who drive Hondas, but most of them have had some issues with them, with head gasket failures being fairly common on the Civics. Honda builds light, sporty and simple well - unfortunately, there cars don't really meet these criteria much any more, and I think that's somewhat responsible for their waning quality (although, I would still take a Honda over a Toyota in the reliability department)

I just had the transmission on my 2007 Ion 2 start acting up. Called the local Honda dealer that took over the Saturn dealership; they referred me to the local Chevy dealer for all warranty work. (Only has 14,000 miles on it.)

I was treated excellently, I must say. They ended up having my car for a week (ordered a sensor, then had to order a clamp of some kind). They paid for a rental car and kept me informed the entire time.

Thinking beforehand that it was going to be a major hassle, I was all prepared to have to write a letter to Roger Penske (a la Consumerist). I was pleasantly surprised!

BTW...writing a letter to or calling the office of the CEO has already been successful for me with my B of A card interest rate & my Citibank card interest rate...and GMAC actually gave me a loan modification for my Fannie Mae-backed mortgage that cut my payment in half. (Our hours at work have been reduced.)

@techstar25: You have no idea what you are talking about. The Solstice didn't get created first, followed by the Sky later as you make it sound. The Solstice is actually a rebadge of the Sky/Opel GT. The Sky was originally designed in Europe as the Opel GT. The Sky resembles very closely the Opel while the Solstice looks like a fat Mazda Miata.

@techstar25: Also the Aura was built on the same platform as the G6 but looks nothing like the G6.

@downwithmonstercable: techstar25 is speaking out of his ass, so to speak. Saturns are not rebadged Pontiacs...

The Aura and the G6 are built on the same platform as are the Sky / Solstice. The Sky is actually a European design, known as the Opel GT. If you look at pictures of the Sky and the Opel GT you will notice the resemblance. The Solstice looks like a fat Mazda Miata. The Sky is NOT a rebadge of the Solstice.

I have owned 3 Saturns. 1994 SL1, a 2004 Saturn Ion Redline, and now a 2008 Sky Redline. All great cars for their own reasons. I sold the 94 SL1 only because it was a second car and I didn't need it. It was still driving just fine with 130k+ miles on it. The 2004 I traded in for the 2008.

I bough a 2008 Saturn Outlook last year and love it. It's the same car (basically) as the GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave (luxury) and Chevy Traverse. It was the first American car I ever bought.

I always thought the Saturn "cult-like" following was weird...but we liked the interior of the Outlook better than the other GM models. It's the same car and with GMC, Chevy and Buick sticking around, I am not worried about parts, etc.

After buying all Honda's my entire life, I am glad to have purchase an American car...that runs great and is built as well as the others.