Overview

OK let's start with the first question everyone asks .... Your trick'n a Saturn Wagon? What, are you nuts? After we get past the first moment of disbelief, I try a brief explanation, only to have them wander off with a confused look on their face. So here goes, for the record.......

I bought my Saturn Wagon new in November of 98 because I needed a work car. I am a local service technician and need a car to move around the city. The criteria was this:

• Needed to get close to 30mpg.
• Price cap of $17K (I got really close).
• Needed to handle well out of the box.
• Needed to be durable - I have been told I drive cars hard.
• While horsepower was not a primary concern, it had to be able to move and pass at freeway speeds.
• I wanted something that not everybody was buying, something different.
• Had to have an automatic - I am talented enough to use a cell phone and drive a stick, but drinking coffee at the same time was a little tough. A man must have his priorities you know.
• It needed to be able to carry larger boxes to/from client sites.

The Saturn SW2 Wagon has meet those needs well, and after 65K miles I am still extremely pleased, however, I would like to improve the car in some areas. I am far more interested in chasing someone down through the twisty's than stop light drag race. Leave that to the young......

What I like

The car performs and handles well. It's conventional enough that it does not get noticed much by ........ It can carry a bunch of stuff, even 10' pipe and lumber for the house projects (OK, it sticks out the passenger windows about a foot). Its pretty light and just loves to meet the entrance of a turn well above recommended speeds. Laugh if you want, but the plastic door panels are killer. I am in downtown parking structures all the time. You know, the ones that you can barely get a Mini-Cooper in and the only empty spaces have an Expedition on one side, and a 735iL on the other. 3 years of that and you will be hard press to find one nick in the paint on the sides.

What I don't like

I have never had a car rattle as much as this one. It took me 50K miles to figure out it was the windshield washer stick rattles. The front speakers in the doors rattle (there is a Saturn service memo about this one, but missed the warranty before I found out), there is a rattle under the dash that sounds like a support member hitting something substantial. There is not a lot you can do about horsepower. For a modest investment you can get about another 25%, but that's about it. The rear springs are a little soft. The front seats recline too much in their upright and locked position. And why are we still putting drum brakes on the rear of cars? The angle of the windshield is a rock magnet. I don't think I have a rock chip anywhere on the hood, but the windshield.....

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