Economy and Comfort: the two of both worlds

My first encounter with the Saturn Ion was a showroom brochure from a Saturn Dealer. My second encouter with this beautiful sedan has been rather unexpected: I have received a 2006 dark blue Saturn Ion as a rental for a weekend in San Francisco. Then I was convinced that this is a car for me.

First and foremost, I have to say in this day and age of gas prices topping three dollars a gallon, this is truly a vehicle to shop for. The fuel economy on this car is unreal: 32MPG in street driving and up to 36MPG on the highway with automatic transmission and slightly higher on the manual transmission which is even more peppy and responsive than automatic ( I test drove it). The handling is really of a small vehicle with sporty suspension. Despite its light weight of only about 2600 lbs it is solid and feels like a mid-sized sedan, it has a solid feel and touch to it and comes with more than enough to feel confident safety features. It has dual front and side airbags. The controls are laid out perfectly and yes, many have complained about the dashboard being moved into the middle with speedometer tilted towards the driver. I learned to get used to it and since it is quite different from traditional dashboards. I learned to appreciate it though and over time it became rather a distinguishing touch of Saturn design. The seats are comfortable enough to take it on a long trip and the trunk is big enough to move anything from suitcases to grocery bags. This Saturn is powered by a powerful 140 horsepower inline four cylinder, it feels powerful and strong although a bit noisy when accelerating uphill. As I mentioned above, the fuel economy is impressive and has been the biggest decision maker in my dedication to this vehicle, it pays for itself rather fast with the fuel economy of almost a hybrid vehicle.

The reliability on this Saturn is another plus. The Ion has been built in traditional Saturn style, its preceding S-series have been extremely reliable cars and there are still many of them on the road. The Ion followed the tradition with great features of highly reliable and efficient engine and smooth automatic transmission. There have been no warranty and no mechanical problems with this vehicle. Saturn does share GM cooling system and antifreeze and it does have an untypical for this class of cars, Transmission filter. I have to mention the Saturn dealership tactics worked for those of us who do not wish to purchase a new vehicle in a traditional bargaining and fighting process. Saturn dealerships are a very friendly and non-hostile salesmen environment.

All in all, this is a great value, starting at only $13,000 this vehicle proves itself as being one of the best economy cars on the market, I am a second generation Saturn buyer, having owned an SL2 before, I really recommend to purchase a Saturn for comfortable and satisfying experience.