With the redundancy of parts between the GM brands (with the exception of the Hummer products), there is little reason to avoid the orphan children.

Neighbor bought an Olds Aurora on close out. The car gets repaired at the local Chevy dealership.

That all said, there are still some risks to the consumer (inconvience of repairs for example) which dictate the consumer should demand and receive substantial discounts on the purchase of the orphans car lines.

Key word: SUBSTANTIAL. You want me to buy the orphan, you better damn well make it worth my purchase. Can anybody say 50% off ?

I tried to buy a hummer yesterday, but I spent the night in jail.

Hummer? Thanks but no thanks. Can you imagine the quality of Chinese replacement parts?

Saab? I don't know if there's a wide enough dealership distribution to make sense for this. I haven't looked at AutoZone or NAPA for Saab parts but if they're readily available, why not?

Saturn? It's basically a rebadged Pontiac or Chevy. Crash parts may be a problem but mechanical parts should be readily available. And the Penske organization has a good reputation.

The Hummer is sort of a reminder of the excessive and foolish consumer spending that contributed to the current financial mess. I don't think anyone wants to be seen in a Hummer, for fear of being associated with all the fools that used the equity on their house to go on a spending spree.

It's probably different in other parts of the country, but here in LA, I've only seen a few Hummers on the road in the past few months. A couple years ago, I would see them all the time.

CR might be right with Saab and Hummer, but they are absolutely wrong with Saturn.

Right now Saturn STILL has the best lineup of all of GM. The Astra is the best small car of in their lineup, and the Aura is as good as the Malibu but can be had for cheaper (and personally I think is styled better, since it took its cues from the Vectra) And the Vue has always been GMs best designed CUV.

All I know is that I bought an Oldsmobile right before they shut them down and it lost 40% of its trade-in/resale value immediately. I will never buy a car from an in-trouble car company again. Not worth the risk.

@RandomHookup: Then you're not quick enough ;)

Actually i just bought another Saturn. This time I went for the Astra. If things start to break, I can always look overseas for the Opel/Vauxhall/Holden parts.

@H3ion:
That's a good point. If a Chinese company is buying Hummer (and subsequently making its parts), I suspect I might start seeing dilapidated husks on the way to work as the number of abandoned Hummers by the roadside quietly overtake the few remaining on the road.

Yes you should buy a Saturn. Saturn is going independent with Penske at the helm. There is no reason not to be buy one of their cars. Anything you get right now will still be backed by GM's warranty. Saturn's are reliable and some of the only "GM" cars that actually look good, save for some Chevy cars.

If you won't buy from an "in trouble" company then don't by a car at all, period. All manufacturers are in trouble financially, domestic and import.

@taylorich: ALL cars lose 30-40% of their value the minute you drive it off the lot. Just because it was a Olds didnt change that.

And truth be told, if you are buying a car to hold its value, you shouldn't be allowed to buy cars period.

@Jim Topoleski: THANK YOU X 1000!

Resale value is a fool's figure. ALL cars depreciate in value. So what great incentive is there to pick one that depreciates 'less'? And should you trade it in after your warranty/loan ends, the salesperson isn't going to treat you any differently if you have a '04 Intrepid with 200 miles or an '04 Accord with 200K--he/she is going to try and lowball you, regardless.

And for all of the money you save by 'not-losing-as-much' resale value, you'd save more by putting off a new car purchase until you actually need one! Put the $300+ payments you no longer pay into basic car maintenance, or toward saving for a new car.

Cars are not investment vehicles.