swiftnet

Has anyone on the forum purchased a Sky Redline or know someone who has? Are you/they happy or regretting it? Don't worry, I'm still keeping '8, but my wife wants a ragtop, and so do I...keeping both my bikes too ; )



Any comments or suggestions? The Elise is our alternate choice, but it is damn uncomfortable for a daily driver... The Mercedes SLK 350 costs too much for what it is, I like the 8's handling better, the Sky costs half as much as the Mercedes, so I don't expect it to handle like the '8. The Miata styling just doesn't do it for us. If we do purchase the Sky, it will be against our current American made car bias. Actually that is my biggest reservation, buying American...

Thanks for any info

swiftnet

Screw Saturn. We will never buy a car from them unless it is an extraordinary deal, even then I may say 'no' out of spite. Read on for my story.

My wife and I go out specifically to buy the Sky Redline at an auto tent sale, since that is where the dealer is on Labor Day. We find a saleman. He has fake teeth (poor oral hygiene should've been a warning sign).
The salesman asks if we are looking for a second car, I tell him 'no this will be a 4th car not including my two motorcycles' Right there he should have known we have the means to buy the vehicle.
I inquire about the gas mileage 20/24 - while the Miata gets 25/30. The salesman tells me the car weighs 4000lbs, I correct him and he holds his hand up like - stop, I'll prove you are wrong, he looks at the paperwork and says 'oh it is 3000lbs'...What an ***! Knowing your product goes a long way when you are selling something.

The car jockey asks him if he should get the keys, the salesman holds up his hand again in the universal 'Stop' - I guess he's still feeling us out. We are all just standing there, so I open the door to let my wife in, to see if she likes the layout of the controls, the salesman didn't even suggest it. I tell my wife the trunk is non-existant, then the salesman shows us the trunk which is virtually non-existant. Notice I'm showing the car more than the salesman is.
The car jockey again asks if he should get the keys, once again the hand comes up. Then the salesman takes a phone call. My wife and I look at each other and just start walking away - he's already blown the sale. He comes jogging up to us saying that he didn't want people taking the car out too much and the tent sale is closing in two hours..blah, blah. I tell him no problem, don't worry about it, we are going to Ft. Myers Saturn (his only competitor within 100miles). Funny thing... we were ready to just buy the car - that is why we went out to the tent sale - if we liked the way it drove, it was a done deal. Fortunately, the salesman sucked so bad, my wife is totally turned off from Saturn. We are going to wait for the turbo'd Miata, coming out in 2008. I trust Mazda workmanship way more than GM. I didn't have the best luck with RX8 techs (although the St. Pete Florida techs were good), but I love the '8 and its workmanship. I think it is worth more than it cost.

My wife and I were wearing T-shirts and jeans - we are both in our early 40's but we look much younger - late twenties to mid thirties is what we usually hear. The salesman was an idiot, he judged us from what we were wearing, he even did a poor job of that, since our wardrobe was new - no tears, no fading, my RonJon black T-shirt was out on its maiden voyage. We were both clean, I was freshly shaven (head and face). We pulled up in out '02 X-Terra. I'm a business owner (IT services), my wife is a licensed psychotherapist with a doctorate in educational psychology. She is a college professor who also practices therapy when needed by local offices. Any decent saleman knows to ask what a potential customers occupation is. Our salesman was so bad he didn't ask anything of us. At least he and both his sister dealerships will not get a cent of mine.

I had no idea a lowly Saturn salesman could **** me off so much...

Cheers,

Alex C.

DeViLbOi

iTrader: (1)

If your wife is still into the design take a look at a Solstace. Same car basically...Saturn did a little better on body design...but I would find out who wired it first. Pontiac has a running issue of bad wiring and constant recalls on them.

swiftnet

The solstice is cool, but its appearance doesn't move me or my wife. I think it is the front end, just doesn't do it for me. The Sky has longer rear wheel travel and more soundproofing. The workmanship is about the same, although the sky exudes a higher quality feeling. I'm hoping the Miata turbo will come with an updated front end, maybe something along the lines of the rx8 ; ). Thanks for the suggestion though.

ZoomZoomH

iTrader: (1)

good call on waiting for the MS Miata, it's gonna be a sweet ride, and it's definitely gonna have a much more aggressive body kit to make it look nice

sucks for the bad Saturn dealership experience though, Sky Redlines are very nice looking cars

Galaxy Gray

I know it's kind of expensive, but have you given any thought to a corvette?

The 2008 ones are supposed to be improved in terms of drivability and interior comfort.

swiftnet

I really hope the Miata looks cool - I like the way they handle. The 'vette is cool but gas mileage is a concern, we are trying to be more earth friendly - the '8 and Xterra are our gas guzzlers, the next vehicle must do better. The Tesla - http://www.teslamotors.com is so very cool, but 100K is too much for me. The $40K T-Rex - http://www.go-t-rex.com is in the running if it can be driven in the rain. My wife is very cool ; ) I just think the T-Rex will be too rough as a daily driver, for her, not me 'cause I'm a manly man ; ))

Ike

I don't know why one idiot salesman at one dealer makes someone judge a whole brand. Anyhow, I stopped by a Saturn dealer to size up the Sky Redline as a possible new car for my fiance. The dealer was great, the sales manager and sales person sat down with me, told me exactly what they had coming in and what was available. They even had one there but it had the wheels stolen a couple days prior. They offered to take the wheels off another Sky just so I could testdrive it even th9ought I told them I was just shopping around at the moment. IIRC at the time I was unshaven, had a backwards baseball cap on, and made it clear to them I wasn't ready to buy that day. Despite those facts they were very friendly and helpful. Give another salesperson or another dealer a try is you think the Sky is the car you want.

ivory8

i saw u mention a lotus...the elise is cool, but like you said...its a rough daily driver. there arnt many luxury options to the elise but you can get a exige S. which is a bit more expensive, but it has all the luxuries of a normal car (i.e. power doors/windows radio, nice looking interior) ive seen a nice used 1 at local places go for about 44k (2-3 years)

delhi

Bmw Z4?

swiftnet

The exige is getting a bit out of my comfortable price range, plus it is supposed to be stiffer than the elise - I love that car, but not for my wife. My wife doesn't like the Z4 appearence, she does like the Z3. She doesn't like the S2000 appearence either (I think the Z4 looks alot like the S2000).

swiftnet

My Saturn experiences in southwest Florida have been awful.
Initially I used the telephone to speak to salespeople.
Here are some things I was told about the Sky Redline by Saturn salesmen (three different dealerships, two are operated by the same company).

The car is supercharged, when I corrected the salesman (it's a turbo), I was told that it is both super and turbo...
The Sky Redline does not come with cloth seats...
Ordering a customized Sky Redline would push back arrival anywhere from 5 to 6 months....
Ordering a customized Sky Redline would push back arrival anywhere from 6 to 8 weeks.....
The car is a limited edition...
Gas mileage is 30mpg...
Gas mileage is 19 mpg...
Gas mileage is 19-26mpg...
It 'blows the Miata away' in terms of handling...
Venture to say that it will outhandle the Miata...
Fastest roadster available...

It would be cool to have super and turbocharged Sky Redline, but that isn't what is offered.
Cloth seats are available (I don't eat animals, so I don't want to sit on their skin).
Half a year to get the car....BS
2 months I can believe
Limited edition...BS
Salesman should know gas mileage of the vehicles they sell.
The Miata has exceptional handling, no car under 100K is going to 'blow it away' as far as handling goes.
The saleman at least left some wiggle room with 'Venture to say that it will outhandle the Miata'
The Sky is decently quick but the Mercedes, Lamborghini, BMW, Lotus and Tesla roadsters would all smoke the Sky...

Add this crap to my 'face to face' experience plus the differential oil leak complaints I've read about and I can say I will never purchase a Saturn unless the deal is extraordinary - like half price.

BlueEyes

Umm, WTF?

Sounds like you're looking for reasons not to buy it, and a place to brag about you and your wife.It appears you have the internet, and know how to use it, so the only thing you should be doing at a dealers is test driving and talking numbers. Why you're getting into a battle of stats with a car salesman is beyond my comprehension. You know them all.

Flash some cash, drive the car, if you like it, talk numbers.

Sephiroth

You have many other options too:

S2000, used Boxster S, used Z4, another dealer for the Sky. Why don't you go try those out?

KoHC

Maybe OP doesn't want an idiot salesman to earn the commission? I know I did that before... Walk out on the salesman because he has no idea what he's selling. To me, if a sales didn't even do his homework (learn & understand the item he's selling), it means the sales isn't interested in his work and more than likely won't take care of me if there's any problem. If the sales isn't going to learn his products, he doesn't deserve my money.

DeViLbOi

iTrader: (1)

^^ I passed on my first 8 because the salesman was a tool for that reason alone. Second attempt got a great salesman and didn't even take the car for a drive.

John Corbitt

The C6 Corvette gets 18 city and 27 hwy. The way my wife drives hers, she gets 20 in the city. When we were coming back from Bolling Green, my RX-8 was always the one stopping for fuel. She will sell the Vette for $52,900. It has 6200 miles on it and an extended zero deductible warranty for 7 years or 80k miles.

John

swiftnet

What I am ranting about is the sucky salesman I encountered at Saturn. I spoke to three different dealership's salespeople, and they all sucked. I hold Saturn at fault for not training their salespeople. I understand sales and knowing your product is what determines your worthiness to make money. If a salesperson sucks I'm not going to give him or her one red cent. When I went to purchase the '8, I asked for a different salesperson because the first guy didn't have a clue. The second salesperson knew enough about the car, so I bought it from her. She made the money not the lazy idiot who didn't bother to memorize the literature.
I can't believe the 'vette gets such good gas mileage - According to the mfg's, It gets better gas mileage than the naturally aspirated sky and solstice. It's is within 2mpg of the miata. Chevy's site says 18/28mpg for the corvette... 20mpg like what Mr Corbitt mentions is probably more like it, even that is damn good for such a performance monster. My wife and I are looking at cars that get high 20's to 30mpg - we don't need another car, we want one. What we want is a nice looking, good handling roadster that gets very good gas mileage. I don't even care about straightline speed, I have motorcycles for that. I'm fine to wait for the mazdaspeed miata in '08 - not too long to wait.

As for me bragging about our careers, that is a laugh - I am impressed with the hell my wife went through for her phd, but she is a teacher and I'm a computer guy - not much to brag about, but we are professionals, what gets me is the idiot Saturn salesman didn't even think to ask us what our professions were.

Cheers,

Alex C.

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

Ferrari salesmen look at the shoes that a person wears, not at the clothes, to evaluate a potential buyer.

saturn

I don't understand why so many people go into dealerships expecting to be swooned over. This is a purchase -- not a day at the spa. People need to remove their emotions from it and treat it as business.

Why do you need the salesman to know anything about the car or show you around? If he knows every detail of every aspect of the car it's not going to change the price of the car. If he has false teeth, it doesn't change the price of the car. Do your research before going, go in, and set a price. End of story. If all you want is a test drive, be honest and say "I'm interested in buying this car, but I need a test drive." If they say no, go somewhere else.

I just don't get this whole ego trip thing people have when it comes to buying cars.

Red Devil

Except we're talking about a major purchase. This isn't a toaster oven. The salesman *should* be more educated, and have a certain amount of respectability.

Do you accept shoddy treatment like this from the wait staff at a restaurant? Or maybe the emotion should be removed from that also, and you should just eat your food and keep your mouth shut?

I think the individual salesman needs the individual consumer - especially with a major purchase - way more so...so they should act accordingly.

shaunv74

I'm with Swift. The bottom line is I wouldn't give my money to someone that pissed me off or sucked at their job. I'm not in to rewarding that kind of performance. Maybe if he and a few other perspective buyers walk out on ol' wooden teeth he'll end up at the bottom of the sales ranking and either shape up or get shipped out.

You should reinforce good performance and penalize poor performance. It that happened more often you'd work with better people.

saturn

My point is what difference does it make to you if the salesman knows anything about the car? What difference does it make if it's a major purchase? My only concern as far as the salesman goes is what price he's going to give me as well as whether I can trust him to not deliberately rip me off. If he's a moron or smells bad or looks funny it doesn't affect anything at all.

Your example about the restaurant is interesting because it's exactly the same. If the server didn't know all the details about the food I wanted to order I wouldn't care at all -- it doesn't change the price or quality of the food. If a car salesman didn't know all the details about the car I wanted to buy, again, I wouldn't care at all -- it doesn't change the price or quality of the car. If a server takes 2 hours to get to me I would leave. If a car salesman takes 2 hours to get to me I would leave. This is not rocket science. This is basic stuff here.

Your last paragraph shows exactly how much ego is involved. The fact that you even contemplate that the salesman "needs" the consumer is indicative of the ego trip many people go on when buying a car. As though they're doing the salesman a favor by allowing them the privilege of serving them. The fact that some people who have bad experiences will actually swear off an entire brand is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard.

Look, if a salesman gives you a bad vibe because he looks at you funny then leave. But if you do it for any other reason besides a perceived trust or price issue then I feel sorry for you.

swiftnet

I totally disagree with you saturn. Going with the restaurant analogy, if a server at a restaurant can't answer a question like what is the base of the soup (shellfish/beef/vegetable/other) or does the seasoning have msg, or is peanut oil used then the customer should leave. If the server lies, then the customer may become ill.

When I bought my '8 the saleswoman told me about the flooding problem, she said always let the car warm up before shutting it off. This was excellent advice from a well informed salesperson. If I followed saturn's thinking, I would've stuck with the first salesman, who told me the automatic was faster because the transmission was computer controlled, even though I knew he was wrong. I also would have ended up flooding my car and thinking the '8 had major problems, I bought mine in Oct. '03 so little info was available then.

Shaunv74 has got it right, imo. We've all worked with idiots, if we all demand better performance, we'll get it. If we are fine with idiots, then why hire educated, seasoned professionals, just hire the drooling idiot at minimum wage. Remember that when your car is being serviced.

Cheers,

Alex C.

Red Devil

Nope, you're wrong. Ego has nothing to do with this subject. And wanting someone to act "accordingly" within their profession is anything but outrageous.

I can go purchase a car at numerous dealerships. If I don't like how the salesman is behaving - like for example swiftnet's reasons - than that's my decision. And considering most consumers probably only purchase a car every few years, if that, then you get to make that certain potential sale infrequently.

So the salesman chose to treat swiftnet one way. And he chose to react by giving his money/his commission to a salesman that did his job and earned it. The salesman "needs" commission. He "needs" to meet quotas to keep his job. Swiftnet, like any other consumer, needs neither. But he can go down the street and purchase from the competition instead.

The guy is a saleman, not a porter. The salesman's success is tied to how well he can relate to the customer.