Hate Car Dealerships? Buy This Saturn. Love To Drive? Look Elsewhere.
Written: Jan 08 '04 (Updated Nov 30 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Saturn's customer service is simply amazing. The Ion's modern interior is also a plus.
Cons: Awful steering, vague clutch, irritating shift light.
The Bottom Line: What's more important to you, the buying experience or the driving experience? If you answered the former, the Saturn is your car. If you prefer the latter, keep looking.
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| drive571's Full Review: 2004 Saturn ION |
My Experience
I test drove a Saturn Ion 2 5-speed sedan at a local dealership. My test drive lasted over half an hour, and covered city streets, winding secondary roads, and the freeway.
Performance
A theme which you'll quickly notice developing in this review is that Saturn got all the big stuff right with the Ion, but tends to hiccup on the details. For example, the engine. The Ion's 2.2-liter four-cylinder is torquey and robust-feeling, and it provided plenty of low-end grunt for effortless around-town acceleration on my test drive. When I wound up the engine on a freeway on-ramp, it provided healthy midrange response and pulled the car up to speed with ease. But eager it's not--there's something about this engine that makes the revs climb and fall with sloth-like lethargy, as if the flywheel was two sizes too big. The power is there, but the engine doesn't zing to the redline like those in the Honda Civic and Mazda 3.
Transmission/Clutch
The Ion's transmission was also a mixed bag. On one hand, I loved the shifter. Its throws were short, and its gates well-defined, so the lever thunked from gear to gear with reassuring solidity and precision. But the clutch was a bit disappointing. It has a short throw, which should make it feel sporty, but its vague take-up makes it difficult to change gears smoothly. As much as I liked the transmission's shift action, the jerky starts resulting from the tricky clutch take-up were a bit embarrassing. Maybe it would get easier with familiarity, something I admittedly had little opportunity to build on my half-hour test drive.
Steering/Handling
This is the area where the Ion's "big stuff right, little stuff wrong" dichotomy reaches its peak. Good news first: the Ion's chassis is a solid and capable handler. Its suspension kept body lean well-controlled in tight corners, and the tires provided plenty of grip on twisty roads. Driven hard, the Ion felt more surefooted and confident than most of its economy-car rivals. But the bad news is that the Ion's steering is among the worst I've experienced in a new car. It's an electrically-assisted system, as opposed to the hydraulic systems in most cars, and the software needs some rethinking to give it the natural-feeling response of more conventional setups. Its weighting is feather-light, and its ratio is extremely quick--meaning that it takes very little effort or movement to turn the wheels. This is great for one-finger parking, but the system is also more than a little vague around the straight-ahead position, making the Ion feel touchy and nervous on the road. On the freeway, the steering required what I consider more-than-acceptable concentration to avoid zig-zagging in my lane. I'll admit that I'm a stickler for steering feel, so this flaw may not seem as glaring to most drivers as it did to me. But if I were actually in the market for another new car, the Ion's misguided steering would have been enough to prevent me from purchasing it. The silver lining here is that, since the system is electric and not hydraulic, it will be far easier for Saturn to reprogram it and make improvements to it in the near future.
Ride
Here's one aspect of the Ion that is unquestionably positive. The Ion had an excellent ride, with a suspension that managed to smother bumps effectively while maintaining good control of body motions. There was a bit more floating over dips and rises than you'd find in a Honda Civic, but it never became uncomfortably bouncy, and most buyers will appreciate the added softness. Road and wind noise were kept to a minimum, which gave the Ion a very quiet freeway ride. The engine became a bit vocal when I revved it hard, but under normal circumstances it was pleasantly muted. These solid, quiet ride characteristics gave the Ion a "big-car" feel that lent it a sense of quality.
Interior
The automotive press has griped at length about the Ion's youthful, forward-looking cabin, but I had no such complaints. In fact, I liked the Ion's interior more than those of most other cars in its class. Where most economy cars strive for a simple, familiar interior design that is unlikely to offend anyone's aesthetic sensibilities, the Ion surrounds its driver in funky, modern styling that may have less mass appeal, but is considerably more interesting. The Ion's dashboard is molded in warm sand-dune colors, and it was covered in unusual dimpled textures that were pleasing to my Gen-Y aethetic sense. The plastics felt hard and a bit cheap in places, but there was nothing egregious in evidence. The Ion's gauge pod is mounted in the center of the dashboard, instead of directly in front of the driver, and while some people dislike this feature, I appreciated the wide-open, unobstructed view forward that the relocated gauges provide. There were only two weak points in the Ion's interior. One is the seats, which were far from uncomfortable, but felt a bit short on padding and support. The other was the thoroughly aggravating shift light, which illuminated in bright orange every time I exceeded 2500 rpms. Driving that way helps save gas, which I'm all for, but sometimes acceleration is nice too--like when you're merging with freeway traffic. If I want to be told when to shift, I'll drive an automatic, OK? .
Practicality
The Ion meets or surpasses its competition in this area, as well. The interior felt roomy and provided plenty of space for passengers. The rear seat, in particular, seemed uncommonly spacious for an economy sedan. The trunk also provided unexpected capacity, and standard split-folding rear seats allow you to expand the cargo area for bulkier loads. One other feature I appreciated was the height-adjustable driver's seat, which is standard on the Ion 2 trim level.
Reliability
Consumer Reports rates the Ion's reliability Above Average, and did the same for its predecessor, the S-series. Saturn's small cars seem to be pretty trouble-free machines, so you're not likely to get into trouble here.
Overall
Despite the negativity of much of my review, I really wanted to love the Saturn, and give it my whole-hearted recommendation. The simple reason was that the customer service at the Saturn dealership was hands-down the best I have ever experienced. Being a car-obsessed college student, I go to a whole lot of dealerships to drive new cars, and put up with the same shtick at each and every one. A salesperson accosts me within seconds of arriving on the lot, rushes me through a test drive, and upon returning to the dealership, sends me into the manager's lair for a more thorough interrogation. These have been the tactics at nearly every dealership I've been to--except Saturn's. At the Saturn dealer, what I found was a lot full of unlocked cars, without a single prowling salesperson to be found. I poked around the interior of the car I drove for at least fifteen minutes, with no harassment. When I was just about to start looking for a salesperson--can you imagine?--someone walked up and asked if I needed any help. When I asked for a test drive, he said, "A test drive? Sure. Here's the key. Take your time, just call if you're going to be more than a half-hour. Oh, and while you're out, try to take some city streets and some freeways, too, so you really get a feel for how it drives." I was stunned. And I certainly had plenty of time to get a feel for the way the Ion drives, although the unfortunate answer is, not spectacularly. The onslaught of aggravations from the steering and drivetrain dooms the Ion to automotive mediocrity in my view, despite its strengths in other areas. So it comes down to this: what's more important to you, the driving experience or the buying experience? If your biggest concern is avoiding pushy and confrontational salespeople, Saturn is the way to go. If you're more concerned with the car itself, you may want to keep looking.
Feel free to check out my reviews on some of the Ion's competitors:
Chevrolet Cavalier
Dodge Neon
Honda Civic
Hyundai Elantra
Kia Spectra
Mazda 3
Mitsubishi Lancer
Nissan Sentra
Scion xB
Suzuki Aerio
Suzuki Forenza
Suzuki Reno
Toyota Corolla
Volkswagen Golf
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $13,735
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Epinions.com ID:
drive571
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 in Cars & Motorsports |
 - Top 200 |
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Member: P.J. McCombs
Location: Berkeley, California
Reviews written: 138
Trusted by: 70 members
About Me:
New baby at home: a 1999 Mazda Miata in British Racing Green!
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