It was a cold December 2006 (60 degrees) by Vegas standards. We had sold our Jeep Cherokee that had transmission problems and sold the Kia Sephia that rattled and stopped working a few weeks after making a trek across the California/Nevada desert. We went almost a year commuting to work with one car. It was time! For us to buy a new car.

When spending upwards of $20,000 at a time I do not enter into agreements casually (no matter how good the sales person is). Along with my wife we thought about and looked into cars within our budget that included, a(nother) Ford Focus, the Honda Fit, the Nissan Versa, and finally a Saturn ION. The Fit and Versa were ultimately unavailable in sedan designs at the time of our purchase and we already had a small Ford Focus. In the end, we purchased a Saturn ION 2007 2 4DR.

Throughout the next few months we greatly enjoyed our new car. We took it on two trips from Nevada to California to visit family and enjoyed its comforts and excellent gas mileage. It offered pep and purpose and made a great casual and comfortable car to own.

The smiles on our faces could not have been greater!

That all changed May 21st 2007.

Still, I have a good faith (trying as it was) relationship that our purchase was a good one.

WHY WE BOUGHT IT:
► Base model with air at $12,999
► On Star (detailed below)
► Sleek design
► A 6 foot 3 person like myself can drive it comfortably.
► Saturn's Reputation (?)
► Monthly Cost

WHY WE SHOULD NOT HAVE BOUGHT IT:
► Base model with air has no power windows including side windows.
► Small tires that deflate a bit over long distances.
► The 2007 model is the last.
► May 21st 2007

Overall, during our test drives we enjoyed the pep the mere 4 cylinder engine had, the huge trunk, and the feel and comfort that we decided to purchase one. It helped that our monthly price was not only within our range but below it including all oil changes and maintenance bumper-to-bumper throughout the cars 30,000 mile mark.

► Our monthly price is: $267.00

Here are additional reasons to consider (or not) to buy a Saturn ION 2007.



EXTERIOR:
Our Saturn has a very sleek silver smooth feel, the windows came tinted which is a nice touch here in Las Vegas however the exterior fuel cap is very flimsy. It can be opened with your pinky finger and feels like it could be broken off with too much force.

Our car came with four standard 15" ION wheels. We could have upgraded to 16" alloy wheels but that would have cost more – and our last car had its alloy wheels stolen off of it so getting alloy wheels was not a high priority. The length of the car according to brochure is 184.5" with 103.2" from front wheels to back wheels. The car is 67.2" wide and 57.4" tall.

The one thing missing from any brochure (airbrushed off I presume) I looked at was the annoying radio antenna placed to the right of the front windshield. Perhaps I am just too used to driving a car where the antenna is placed on top of the hood so that it is out of view but on the ION it seems to stick out and take away a bit from the cars overall sleekness.



INTERIOR:
As soon as one starts to drive the car the very first thing you'll notice missing is the instrumental panel normally located directly behind the wheel. It is not there! Instead the panel is above the radio panel to the driver's right slightly skewed to the left. When driving you have to move your eyes to the right and left to see your speed instead of up and down.

The instrumental panel is very basic for an entry level car. It shows the current RPM of the car, speed, a digital display of mileage – and a handful of lights one of which includes a rather annoying seat belt reminder. The turn signal sound will also annoy you if you leave it on for a long period of time, as it beeps faster to alert you that you still have it on. The digital display of mileage will also indicate low fuel and when the oil needs changing.

The radio is very easy to use utilizing a large center button that powers the unit on and off and turns the volume up and down. The volume is not sensitive at all. On Level 1 you can hardly hear anything. In fact, typical volume for listening to the radio or a CD is around the 18-22 volume range. On our other car if you have it above 8 you are blaring the speakers. The radio comes with 6 station buttons that can be set – and with two FM tuners so that a total of 12 stations can be set. The only thing that sets the radio apart from other standard car radios is a jack located on the bottom right so that one can plug in an IPOD or external MP3/CD device and use the Auxiliary button to listen to it. There are four speakers in the car. Two are housed in the front doors and two are slightly hidden behind the backseat.

Finishing up the instrumental panel are standard A/C functions. Front, feet, defrost controls, 4 speed fan, cold/hot control, interior circulation, defrost, and rear defrost. Standard, nothing special.

Rounding out the remaining interior features: there is a front cigarette plug (but no cigarette lighter included) to power anything you might need like to charge a cell phone and a plug also located in the backseat for backseat passengers. The glove box is rather small and can only hold a few loose papers. There is no room under either of the front two seats and the doors have pockets but they are very narrow and hug the door quite tightly. This means that the car is lacking a place to put CD's out of view when parking the car. We keep some of ours in a small zip lock bag and squeeze them into either the doors pockets or try to find some space in the glove box. The steering wheel can be adjusted up and down – but it cannot be extended out nor in.

The seats are comfortable yet flat. The backseats can be folded down by releasing levers located in the trunk. However, the backseat that you actually sit on cannot be folded up so that the seats can lay completely flat. And since the shelf behind the backseats cannot be removed (as it houses the stereo speakers) you can only put something long and not too high into the car. We were able to put a bicycle but only after some pretty tense and annoying moments.

Saturn markets the car as a family sedan and although we do not have a family – I would image that two adults and three kids in the back would fit nicely. However, it is quite cramped if the load consists of five adults. Being tall, I have to have the drivers seat all the way back making leg room for the person behind me extremely narrow.

The trunk is very large for this car. Two large sized traveling bags can fit back there. The size of this trunk is great for families taking a long trip or for anyone looking to spend several hundred dollars on food at Costco.

There is one very interesting thing about the trunk. Hidden underneath the trunk area is not only the spare tire but also – the battery. Yes, the battery for the car is in the trunk. Put there to balance out the car, Saturn says, but also to keep the battery away from the heat of the engine. This is very interesting since here in Las Vegas we have to change our batteries at least every 2 years because the hot summer months just burn them out. Maybe this feature will make the battery last even longer! This is also very interesting because I would assume that if the battery ever needed a jump, the second car would need to be positioned at the rear of the car instead of at the front.


ENGINE:
I don't know a lot about engines. The only thing I need when looking at our new one was the blaring absence of the battery. According to the specs, our Saturn came with a 4 cylinder - 145 horsepower engine with maximum RPM of 5,600. To keep our price down we elected the standard 5-speed manual transmission. The manual transmission allows us to get up to 26 miles per gallon in the city and 35 miles on the freeway a bit lower than our Ford Focus. The manual transmission is very easy to switch gears through. Unlike other cars we have driven the gear shift does not have any preventive measures that could cause the car to be put into reverse while downshifting. The engine hood was a bit cumbersome the first few times we tried to open it. Oil dip stick, coolant, and windshield wiper valves were clearly marked and easily accessible.



DRIVING:
The Saturn ION Level 2 is quite a perky engine for the price. At 145 horsepower it has 10 more than our Ford Focus and enough to get going good at a green light. My wife took across the desert into California and thought that the car handled quite well up and over the mountains. Driving up mountain ranges with the A/C on does drag the car a bit but not as bad as we expected.



ON-STAR:
This is our first car with On-Star. For those that don't know about On-Star it is simply a paid service built into your car that monitors your car's health including if any accidents occur. If one did, the customer service representative at On-Star would attempt to contact you and if they failed – they would send emergency help to your location. The service also offers the ability to assist if you are locked out of your car or lost while driving your car. A built in phone is nice but extremely expensive to use. On-Star operates using satellite technology (GPS) offering a much greater range of connection that a cell phone just cannot do. The service costs about $100 a year for basic coverage. If you want to use the built in phone (you speak out loud and hear the other party through your stereo speakers) expect to start paying a lot more. As a consumer I think that is mostly where On-Star makes its money.



MAY 21ST 2007:
Okay, I alluded to this at the beginning – so finally here is the tale of May 21st, 2007.

The day after returning from a week's vacation and while driving back to the office – the car crapped out. Various electrical components of the car like windshield wipers, rear defrost, stereo, and instrumental panel lights came on at random and then the car died. After pushing it off the road and into a 7-Eleven, the car had to be towed back to Saturn, and a rental (Saturn Outlook) was given as a temporary replacement.

At first they said that the car's PCM or on-board computer had died but later they changed it to a massive short in the fuse box that had to be completely replaced.

Saturn kept the car for 10 days before fixing the problem. Or so, we thought. They called us to come pick up the car. After taking the time to return the renal I went to start the car – and found nothing. Nada, no power at all.

I was given another rental for the night only to learn the next day that whoever moved the car out for pickup left the lights on and killed our battery. The next day we received an apologetic phone call and they let us know we could now pick up the car, again. We did so and drove it home.

Story is not over yet! While driving to work the next day the car started to exhibit the same problems it did the before the dead battery (possessed wipers, rear defrost, odd statements by the panel display). I made it to work this time before it crapped out – but it took another tow and three more nights at the dealership (enjoying a Saturn Vue) before they claimed they found the root of the problem and have fixed it for good.

All in all, our Saturn spent several days in the shop and I was in a rental (granted it was free, except for extended insurance protection from Enterprise) and so far the new/fixed car has worked without incident.


OVERALL:
Overall, Sam the name my wife has given the car, is a good Saturn. The car you may buy may be different than our own and will impress you with its handling, gas mileage, sleekness, and overall comfort for an inexpensive family sedan. Our car, Sam, got sick far too early for comfort. There is no reason in my mind that a car would exhibit problems after a mere 5,000 miles and although we are committed to keep the car, the Saturn brand is tarnished. Repeat business will be hard for us to swallow.


Amount Paid (US$): 16999
Condition: New
Model Year: 2007