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wrote:
My daily driver is a Saturn. It's just like the 'Japanese' vehicles
except...it's made in Tennessee and they are built in Ohio or Kentucky.
It doesn't burn any oil, it starts reliably, if the experience of a
half generation of Saturn owners is a guide it will run two hundred
thousand miles with only some CV joints, brake rotors and pads and a
heater core or something. But then it's done for. It will go to the
crusher intact.

I got rid of my 2001 Saturn last year, and my wife can't wait to get rid
of hers. We bought them thinking that they would be as good as some of
the other cars that we'd owned (both imports and domestic), but we were
very disappointed - they wound up back in the shop (both during and
after the warranty) more than any other car I've ever owned. I'll never
own another.

Saturn is just another division of GM, making the same basic cars from
the same basic parts. The Saturn "mystique" is pretty much just marketing.

Unfortunately, the Saturn's resale value is so low that we'll have to
have the car nearly paid off before we reach the break-even point on the
loan. So we won't be able to sell it for perhaps another year.

As far as not burning oil and starting reliably, that's not much
criteria to go on. None of my Mazdas, Hondas, or VWs have ever burned
oil or failed to start. For that matter, neither have my wife's Dodges.

My current Mazda 3 is a delight. The Ford/Volvo/Mazda partnership has
created some very nice cars - all three companies are reaping the
benefits.

And just to give a tip of the hat to our topic, the Mazda's stock radio
sounds a lot better than the Saturn's did.