Saturn ION - The Most Disappointing American Car in a Decade.
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Saturn ION - The Most Disappointing American Car in a Decade.
Saturn owners are a loyal and fervent bunch. They have an owners' club, national meets at the headquarters in Spring Hill, Tennessee, chat rooms, T-shirts, you name it all in celebration of a company that has been selling economy cars for 12 years.
This level of enthusiasm is hard for us to comprehend, considering the cars have never stimulated our driving glands.
Saturns have always struck us as decent cars for the get-me-from-A-to-B crowd. So as a courtesy to you non-car-buff Saturnisti who noticed the Saturn Ion cover blurb and picked us up off the newsstand, we'll boil down the Ion's merits CliffsNotes- style, right here at the top of the story so you can spend more time gazing lovingly at the pictures.
Saturn's all-new Ion boasts one of the biggest and most powerful engines in its class. Its $900 automatic transmission boasts five gears one more than its peers generally offer. Its trunk is roomier than those in other econoboxes. There are loads of standard and optional equipment not traditionally found in the econobox class, such as speed-sensitive wipers, automatic headlamps, retained accessory power, and OnStar. Standard front-seatbelt pretensioners and optional curtain airbags offer greater crash protection than one feels entitled to in a car whose base prices range from $11,995 to $15,495. Plastic fenders and doors still guard against door dings, and best of all, you still get to buy it in a Saturn store, where the convivial sales atmosphere has ranked No. 1 with J.D. Power for seven years, and where customer service just earned the top honor for the first time. Go, Saturn!
Now, while our Saturn fans bask in the glow of all that adoration, we're going to talk nitty-gritty car-guy stuff with our regulars. Check out this lost-foam, cast-aluminum 2.2-liter Ecotec engine: It meets LEV standards without EGR; at 305 pounds it has a world-class weight-to-displacement ratio; the water pump is integrated into the block; there's an oil-life monitor; and the oil filter is a replaceable cartridge instead of the usual spin-on type. Peak output: 140 horsepower at 5800 rpm and 145 pound-feet at 4400 rpm. And to reduce NVH, there are twin counterrotating balance shafts, and all the accessories are mounted directly to the block.
There, that should be enough jargon to ensure we've ditched the visitors, so now we can level with our core readership: This is probably the most disappointing all-new American car in a decade. Not only were all our editors put off by its numerous missteps of form and function, but even our Gen-Y road warriors and their friends found little to love in the Ion.
The assault begins with discordant and unharmonious styling that comes together as an orgy of chamfers, cutlines, Royal Gorge door gaps (plastic expands more than steel), and kit-car panel fits that utterly offend the editorial eye. The gap between the hood and grille header panel could pass for a ram air scoop. The leading edge of each front fender comes to a pants-snagging point sharp enough to pick your teeth with. The A-pillar, roof-rail, and C-pillar trim panels can be ordered in varying colors and styles colorblind folks are even allowed to select silver on gold but they look tacked on, overflush, and by design they do not align with other character lines and the hood and trunk shut-lines.
The dissonant design theme continues inside, where materials with varying colors, textures, and surface sheens collide. Different typefaces are used on instrument numbering and various other controls, and plastic molding flash lines are visible everywhere. Particularly egregious examples include the lines around the inner and outer rim of the steering wheel, along the inside door handle, and on the gearshift lever all of which assault the hands repeatedly.
Some of the design offenses hamper the car's usefulness, such as the huge trunk hinges (gooseneck is an understatement swan neck? ostrich neck?) that eat into the class-leading 15 cubic feet of space, or the rear center console and cup holders that intrude into the space where the center rear-seat passenger's legs would go. Then there's the high, center-mounted instrument cluster. Saturn claims there's a visibility benefit in putting the gauges up there at the same height as the outside mirrors and that this setup permits the use of a smaller-diameter steering wheel that is easier to maneuver around. But we've spent lots of time in cars with center gauge pods, and we still find it unnatural to glance to the right. Ditto the dinky, insubstantial steering wheel filled with a gigantic airbag that makes it look like something straight out of a go-kart.
Even the seats are unpleasant. The driver and the front passenger teeter atop narrow, flat chairs that are unsupportive in all directions. A granite backrest, a low ceiling, and a short cushion render the rear bench intolerable for all but the most sweet-natured of children.
On the road, our feelings for the Ion improve slightly. The good news is that the global Delta platform making its debut here seems quite capable. The basic body structure is exceptionally rigid. A wide track and the grippy 205/55HR-16 Firestones, standard on our Ion 3 (base Ion 1s and midlevel Ion 2s make do with smaller rubber), provide admirable roadholding (0.81 g) and lend a stable, secure feeling at the limit. That grip is 0.02 g better than the best-in-test Ford Focus SE's in our recent 10-car econobox comparo ("Double-Dip Dreamboats," November). Braking is similarly impressive at 183 feet from 70 mph, 12 feet shorter than our test-winning Mazda Protegι LX could manage. Bumps and potholes are traversed even in curves quietly and with greater aplomb than one would expect from such a proletarian suspension as this strut and trailing twist-beam setup. The chassis hardware engineers all deserve a raise.
What mars the driving experience is a variable electric power-steering system that usually provides too much assist and in which the variability is disconcertingly noticeable. On the highway it's nervous just off-center, and the gain feels nonlinear. As a result, the steering feels unintuitive and demands that the driver make constant course corrections when negotiating a series of esses. At least the system is electronic, so there's hope for a future software upgrade that could simulate the feel of a simple, well-designed conventional steering unit.
And although the 140-hp motor and five-speed automatic look impressive on paper, their performance is just so-so: 10.2 seconds to 60 mph and 17.7 seconds at 79 mph over the quarter-mile, all of which are accompanied by a buzzy, Bass-O-Matic sound track. In that 10-car comparo, all cars had five-speed sticks, but most of them carried more weight per horsepower than the Ion does and still their speeds averaged 1.4 seconds quicker. We suspect the Ion's performance would improve if the transmission upshifted at the tach's 6500-rpm redline as the driver would in a manual-transmission Ion. Unfortunately, the officious box shifts out of most gears at 6000 rpm, just 200 revs past the power peak. Neither will this control freak of a slushbox relinquish gear selection to the lever. Stir as a driver might through the mystifying D, I, and L gate positions, upshifts and downshifts still occur at the transmission's whim
Bottom line: The necessary ingredients for a great small car exist deep within the Ion. Its chassis refinement, sophisticated electrical architecture, advanced safety systems, and value for money are impressive. But uncomfortable seats, funky ergonomics, cut-rate materials, and low-quality engine sounds send the message, "You should have spent more if you wanted a real car." The loyal Saturnisti and the spectacular dealer network that serves them deserve better.
THE VERDICT
Highs: Composed chassis, friendly dealers, sweet stereo.
Lows: Pigheaded transmission, anxious steering, bar-stool seating, muddled styling, cyclopean dash.
The Verdict: We waited seven years for this?
COUNTERPOINT
Strange. I don't know how else to describe the Ion. For starters, it's named after a charged atom. The exterior looks as if it were designed with an Etch A Sketch game. The steering wheel frames what appears to be a frozen chicken potpie. The seat fabric is more a medley of swatches than hip upholstery. Inside, there are enough hues of beige, brown, and taupe that you could lose a box of See's assorted chocolates. The center-mounted instrument cluster these aren't dead yet? must have been the answer to, "How can we make this car weirder?" All this bizarreness actually makes the polymer panels seem normal. Strange car, indeed most peculiar, mama.
Ron Kiino
When you're 22, the decision on a new set of wheels usually comes down to looks, looks, and uh, oh, yeah, looks. Although the Ion may be easy on the bank account, it's a burden on the eyes. Its body is composed of harsh angles and lines that seem to be confused about where to end. The silver plastic roofline moldings battle the gold body for color supremacy rather than blend in with subtlety. The interior's plastic has the look and feel of Playskool, and it's topped off with a steering wheel from a bumper car. The Ion may be efficient transportation, but it's not sexy enough to separate me from $15K.
Robin Warner
The Ion seems more like a work in progress than a finished car. The styling is unresolved. Its interior has more shades of tan, beige, and cream than desert camouflage. Major design elements such as the center-dash instrument binnacle and exterior roof-arch moldings appear to be different merely for the sake of being different. Interior details don't quite cross the line between cheap and inexpensive. And its performance and handling are less than okay for a car of its class. This muffin needs to go back in the oven till it's done.
Fred M.H. Gregory
faux Leopard skin dash
Joined: Jun 2001
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From: Long Island, New York, US
Rep Power: 397 That has got to be the ugliest Saturn Sedan made....I actually think the coupe is nice looking...but i would never buy one. The thing that really grosses me out about that car other than the faux leapord dash board skin is the different colored pillars on the side of the car...There is a gold saturn with grey pillars on it near my house....Its so nasty.
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From: 909, Socal
Rep Power: 432 i mean car is just UGLY . steering wheel. seats. dash kit. guage cluster. cheap interior parts, everything you can think of. what are they thinking seriously
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From: Zulu Alpha Tango Foxtrot
Rep Power: 312 Nothing new there - same quality as other GM cars.....In other news - why do manufacturers continue to experiment with center mounted gauge pods? It seems like they are trying to appease the nervous wife / GF sitting in the passenger seat (slow down honey, I can SEE you are speeding!).
Really, I don't quite understand the ergonomics of a center mounted gauge pod - it doesn't make sense, it seems as if form DOESN'T follow function.....
Really, I don't quite understand the ergonomics of a center mounted gauge pod - it doesn't make sense, it seems as if form DOESN'T follow function.....
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From: Phoenix, AZ
Rep Power: 0 Originally posted by cdmx
hahaha, I cant wait to laugh at every saturn owner i see.
hahaha, I cant wait to laugh at every saturn owner i see.
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Rep Power: 0 I think the center gauge is interesting, but I would not want one. Maybe I should try and sit in one to see how that feels. The rest are just yuck.
Yeah.. Pretty much. Haahaa.
Originally posted by VTECTypeR
kennisonxgs I hope you were seriously joking lol
kennisonxgs I hope you were seriously joking lol
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