Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests Saturn ION

Well, I have my new car, which is a 2004 Saturn ION 2 QC loaded with the "Special Sport Package" with the 5 speed manual transmission. This is what I have to say...

1st thing I did when i sat in the car, was get a good feel of the seats. They do feel ok, but lack lower back support. Still satisfying. The car has a large interior, considering its a sub-compact car. To be honest, although its a 4 seater, it provides more leg room up front, and about the same room in the rear as the Contour. Actually, it seems a bit more up front.

The center mounted console took me really quick to get used to. It's very easy to take a quick look with a small arc down, and right, than to look directly through the steering wheel (which is a bit smaller than normal in the ION, than most cars). The steering is responsive, and has an automatic speed adjust. When traveling at low speeds, its loose, and easy to spin. When going at higher speeds, the wheel tightens up. It feels un-natural, but it does work wonderfully. The car suffers from some under-steer, but not much to say its bad. I think it actually handles quite well. The throttle response is very good as well. In my opinion, I think this car performs better than my ex-gfs 2002 Focus Sedan.

Overall, I feel this car is a lot better than what magazines have rated it. When compared to the Mazda3, it scored almost perfectly even. The overall value gave it a 5, while the Mazda got a 7. I think that they have something against imports vs domestic cars.. especially something like Saturns.

I think for $16,700, loaded with AC, P-windows, p-doors, p-sunroof, remote trunk, spoiler, 6-disc changer, 4 coaxial speakers, and 16" rims.. it's a pretty darn good deal.

Ren

why didnt you get the Redline????


IMHO the ONLY saturn that I would even look at - not to mention test drive

thats cool, my dad has always liked saturns

The Ion Redline Coupe was at the KC GM Autoshow in Motion. A nice ride, supercharged, Recaro seats (they even say Recaro) and nice rims. What bugs me is the center mounted cluster. I just don't like that. But the quad doors were nice, easy to get in back.

Yeah it's better than a focus sedan, but who cares about the sedan, it's all about the zx3/zx5.

I love the redline, very nice... I almos thought about one, but I would prefer a scion tc.... Congrats on the car, its a said day to hear you sold your contour.... GOod luck to you.

Congrats. I'm not a big fan of Saturn's body styles but I have a cousin who manages a Saturn/Honda dealership and from what she's told me and from what I've heard from other saturn owners they take very good care of thier customers when/if there are problems with the car...oughta be a nice change from having to deal with some of the not-so-caring Ford dealerships out there. Enjoy the ride.

yup...i remember back in the day when my dad had a saturn, whenever he took it to the dealer b/c of a problem or whatnot, he had nothing but good things to say about them! and they always washed the car when they gave it back...

I only hear good things from saturn owners about their cars and the service that comes with them. The only thing anybody can say to my friend about his saturn is "it's still a saturn" because they can be pretty quick cars.