yep, thats right. they are amazing.
I witnessed a hit and run insident today at my local blockbuster parking lot. This silver 2004 accord sedan right next to me backed out and rearended the heck out of this saturn. So i just stood there with my jaw dropped, cause it was a pretty big impact. The driver was some white college kid with his girlfriend that probably goes to University of Maryland, (live in a college town). So I looked at the Accord, the rear bumper was pretty messed up, it had a dent the size of a WNBA basketball, then I looked at the saturn... a mid 90s model... and i was amazed to see the car appeared fine. The silver accord decided to hightail out of there with the quickness, but i managed to write its tag number on my cell phone. I gave it to the blockbuster people, and let them take care of it. So i then went closer to the saturn for a better look, and it was dentless, even the paint was fine! so thats why saturn rulez, well sort of.

 

NOT!!!! I bet if it were a higher speed impact results would have been alot different!

 

same thing happened to my wifes car at our apt. complex....while I was out front walking the dogs, you should have seen the look on homedude's face when I watched him try to drive off etc. it was priceless. the car had nothing but minor surface scratches, no damage.

 

I thought you were going to talk about the ION Redline. Oh well. Good story though . I suppose Saturns are becoming the new Volvo.

 

Yeah for plastic cars! You know...I bet you could repeat the results with a power wheels vehicle! For that matter, aren't Power Wheels and Saturns made by the same people? hmmm.....

 

I gonna have to disagree with you. Saturns are not cars, but rather a pile of random parts that transport people where they want to go by coincidence. I don't know...for some unknown reason I hate Saturns with a passion.

 

i hear saturns do have dent resistant doors and panels. but one of the most unique things i think they have is that gearless, continuous drive transmition.

 

My mom had a '93 SC1 and still drives a '98 SC2. Both were economical cars that my mom loved and even looked sort of sporty. The build quality was iffy, but the support and service were incredible. In those heady early days of Saturn, walking into a dealership was like being a temporary celebrity. Everyone would treat you like you were the most important customer that ever walked through the door. The service techs were all friendly and knowledgable. Whenever anyone bought a car, the ENTIRE dealership would drop everything, come out to see you, sing a song, present you with roses, and clap as you drove off.

Nowadays, Saturn is still comitted to service--but the cars have lost some of their unique personality, and Saturn sells too well to give each customer the royal treatment like back in the early nineties. The brand serves a purpose, but it's not creating powerful, capable, tunable platforms for performance enthusiasts.

Peace
policy

 

It's not that unique. In the US Honda had gearless CVT's on the Civic for awhile now. It's was on their Civic HX line.

 

I had a '93 SC2 and I know what you mean. It was really nice to go into the dealer for service and they'd be having a BBQ with free burgers/hot dogs...etc just like the commercials.

 

If only Mazda had BBQ's for their customers .

 

My wife had a 95 Saturn SC and while stopped at a red light another car (an Accord) backed out of an alley and hit her door. The plastic is dent resistant but in this accident the plastic gave way and there was a big hole in the door and lots of cracks. No serious injuries, just sratches from the window that broke.

 

But Mazda does have the Rev-it-up event! I live to go on those testdrives every year!

:D

Now if Saturn comes out with the Curve concept (blending the look of the RX-8 with a Ford Probe) – than we can talk...

 

saturn do have that little pocket rocket, the Ion redline lol ...
they say the factory hp rating is very underated.
not a bad little car for your average poorcollegekid, FI too :D, who knows? it might even make a dent in the SRT4, WRX sales.

 

LOL.

The Red Line has a little bit of go power, sure, but that's it. The platform is very tall, narrow, long, flexy, and FF, so there's really no handling potential whatsoever. There's potential in the Ecotec block, to be sure, but unless you're building a drag sleeper the platform is worthless. Plus, think about the price range . . . maybe it could steal some of the SRT-4's customers, but the WRX is too pricey and too much better all around for the Red Line to compete.

Plus, next year Chevy comes out with the Cavalier replacement, the Cobalt, and the SS trim of the Cobalt has the same powerplant as the Red Line, but the Cobalt is about 100,000x better/hotter/etc.

Peace
policy

 

Actually, according to Autoweek GM is discontinuing the CVT anyway.

 

Actually the new Ions are already on that Cobalt platform, and even if they were on the old platform they could still outhandle a Neon, srt4 or not. I know this for fact, my 04 Sunfire was basically the same car on the old plat, and my buddy got a Redline, and both cars handle the road quite well despite the body roll. I can take 20-25mph curves at 60-70 no prob with the factory macpherson struts. Those cars also come with Getrag trannies and other high performance stock items. They are not as ghetto as some japanese (honda) import enthusiasts would like to impose, plus they almost always have a 10-20hp base model advantage over the import competition due to larger displacement in the Ecotecs.

 

Well GM has also advertised offering the CVT in all the new alpha models (Cobalt, Ion, maybe Sunfire but probably the Solstice replacement).

 

Edmunds is also reporting the CVT will be no more from GM in 2006

GM CVT Goes Away in '06

 

wow, lol that CVT must really suck then if they are changing their minds...a Ford/GM co-developed 6spd???? Has anything like that ever been done as far as sharing parts between GM and Ford?

 

Yea, I thought the news was strange, particularly the bit about co-development with Ford. But the story was dated August 5th not April 1st so maybe it is legit.

 

I, too, have a 2004 Sunfire, and the chassis flex is so bad my trunk doesn't shut and my driver's door has nearly fallen off three times.

I agree it's a surprisingly capable car, but it has some severe flaws.

Peace
policy

 

I don't know if it's been done before.

Anyone know how difficult it is (or is not) to adapt a FWD transmission to RWD use? I imagine it's a big change...

The 6 speed automatic is going into the Ford 500, Ford Freestyle, and Mercury Montego, which are all FWD or AWD. It's a shame, but as far as I know Ford and GM don't have anything in the lineup that's supposed to get a 6 speed RWD transmission.

 

I don't understand your question on adapting the FWD tranny to RWD, wouldn't that mean the car has to be a rear engine vehicle??? If it was AWD wouldn't they use the conventional AWD setup with a RWD tranny and gearbox for FWD?? That Ford/GM sharing thing still bugs me...

whatever

 

I didn't mean to transverse mount an engine in the trunk with a transmission like that.

I was asking how much work is required to take a FWD transmission and set it up for regular RWD use. Is it just moving a few mounting brackets, changing how the driver's gearshift feeds in, changing the location of the fluid cap, etc... etc... or do you basically have to start from scratch?