Saturn: GM's New Bright Spot

[boydrive]

[quote]they need to at least match the service experience that you get at Toyota or Honda[quote]

Have you ever owned a Toyota, I have a 99 4-Runner, at 16,000 miles needed a new computer, service SUCKED!!!! So now I will not even walk into a Toyota dealership. My experience has been that Pontiac's service is Great!!!

[MNdudeswitz]

Service all depends on the dealership, unless its a lexus or a saturn!

[eaton53]

Saturn's CSI has always been up there with the top luxury makes, but without the luxury price tag.

My mom bought a Saturn SL1 new in 1994. Easiest car ever bought, but the car itself was rather mediocre, albeit reliable.

I don't know how often SaturnSteve has come across this, but here's a point... unless you have to have a car right now, IMO you'd have to be a dummy to buy a Saturn off the lot.

What is the incentive? You're paying sticker, no GM card points allowed so why not order in the car exactly as you want it? I recognized this in '94 and as a result, ordered my Mom's car. In the meantime we lined up a buyer for her current car, who took possession when the Saturn arrived.

Unless I'm missing something, you're going to pay the same, maybe less since you don't have to take anything you don't want.

[nsap]

Originally Posted by MNdudeswitz

Service all depends on the dealership, unless its a lexus or a saturn!

Or a Lincoln. They have the highest customer service rating in the industry.

[eaton53]

Or Cadillac... also ranked higher than Lexus.

[mjd1001]

I was at the NY Auto show this morning, and honestly the one GM brand I was the most dissapointed with was Saturn.

Now keep in mind I am one of the people on this site that is a "Saturn defender", and we bought an 04 Vue.

With that said, the Saturns there weren't totally awful, just I was expecting alot more.

On a positive note, the G6 Convertible looked better in person than I thought....the Solstice is really growing on me, the Cadillac Escalades look just as good in person as in the pictures (and GM really shouldn't have much to worry about from the new Navigator, it is pretty awful in my opinion)...and the Buick Enclave concept looks great in person.

As I said though, Saturn was a mild dissapointment to me.

The Aura was the one I was most dissapointed with. In person it was nothing special at all. When you glance at it casually, it looks just like a car that is very closely related to a 4 door G6, but just with worse wheels. With the news that the Pontiac G6 GTP is getting the 6 speed auto and the same engine as the Aura....I would easily take the 4 door G6 GTP over the Aura based on exterior looks alone. The Aura production just looks VERY watered down compared to the concept. If you weren't looking for it, people could easily walk by the Aura and not notice it..and many people did. Most of the morning and early afternoon, you could walk right up to it and sit in it because not many people were there checking it out closely.

The Outlook was a little letdown also. It was on an elevated platform so you couldn't sit inside of it but you could see it pretty well. I think part of it might have been the color (it was a light blue/grey), but it just didn't look as "sporty" as I would have hoped for. Other than the Saturn Grill, the lines of the vehicle looked rather ordinary....like something I would expect from Chevy rather than the 'new saturn'.

The Sky I still can't complain too much about. I think it looks great and they had a blue Sky Redline there also. Just one word about the Sky and the Solstice. It is a fairly small roadster, so you are going to expect to 'sit low' in it...but be prepared to really feel like you are sitting on the floor.

[zl-1]

Originally Posted by Mikkoo

How about GM spreading the great dealership experiance to there other
divisions. It is badly needed and in this age of intense competition
they need to at least match the service experiance that you get at
Toyota or Honda.

That's another of the things I don't understand about GM: Division A makes some kind of breakthrough or advance, and that breakthrough or advance takes forever to spread to other divisions.

Regarding the new Saturn portfolio, I think it has qualities that will allow the brand to expand its sales. The only thing that is missing is a decent small car (the next-gen Opel Astra should cover that). A highly succesful and profitable Saturn will help the realignment of Pontiac and Buick.