Article: A LOOK BACK AT SATURN'S PERFORMANCE CARS OF THE 2000S

[GumbyJarvis]

https://www.drivingline.com/article...t-saturns-performance-cars-of-the-2000s/ Good ole Saturn. My grandma had one as did my sister and dad. None of them had "redline" trims though. Does that mean when you hit redline, the oil burns faster? I kid, but all three cars did burn quite a bit of oil after awhile

 

[Lolvoguy]

Pfft, if you wanna go performance for Saturn, ya gotta go further back. Like the first gen SC2, SL2 and SW2. Those were some amazing looking vehicles for their time! I remember thinking "Man, why can't Volvo have a wagon that cool looking?!" Then they brought out the Volvo T5-R in canary yellow!

 

[tahoe_hybrid]

LS2 swap?

 

[Trav]

Why would you want to put that much weight up front when a properly built boosted Ecotec can develop well over 350 HP reliably with much less weight. http://gmauthority.com/blog/2011/08...ec-opel-ceo-karl-stracke-likes-the-idea/

 

[atikovi]

Had plenty of Vues and they are quite understated. Not like every other SUV box on the road. Weighs 1,000 pounds less than an Explorer so pretty quick too.

 

[Andrew1972]

The Saturn VUE had a Honda's V6 option that stepped up its power over the GM standard fare. It had a sub 7 second 0-60 time. That all being said the cars were so outdated and excluded a feeling of cheapness that I don' even think standard GM had.

 

[Pew]

Originally Posted by madRiver

That all being said the cars were so outdated and excluded a feeling of cheapness that I don' even think standard GM had.

But it was nice changing out the headunit by just popping off the bezel trim and 4 screws lol.

 

[Andrew1972]

Originally Posted by Pew

Originally Posted by madRiver

That all being said the cars were so outdated and excluded a feeling of cheapness that I don' even think standard GM had.

But it was nice changing out the headunit by just popping off the bezel trim and 4 screws lol.

I found exposed sharpish bolts in my MIL VUE, impressed they had a bezel in it!

 

[DriveHard]

Had a Vue Redline, and LOVED IT! For its time, it was decent handling, had good power, and tons of room on the inside...oh, even with AWD I could average over 25 mpg on a tank. Was a great car!

 

[RooflessVW]

What a bunch of plastic-fantastic junk

 

[Driz]

Originally Posted by rooflessVW

What a bunch of plastic-fantastic junk

Oh some of that plastic body panel action was wonderful. Far more resistant to bumps and knocks and best of all NO RUST. Too bad they never really got up to par with the main stream. My buddy bought one. He had it back numerous times to fix the 55 mph + shake. Brakes wheels tires rotors driveline even tranny switched out never went away. He had to trade it..........

 

[racin4ds]

I don't think I could ever mention Saturn and performance in the same sentence.... All I ever seen was plastic junk that burnt tons of oil! Certainly another failure at GM...

 

[atikovi]

People here seem to bash plastic but the body on a 25 year old Saturn can look better than a 10 year old Honda or BMW, especially in the rust belt where the latter can have rust you could poke a finger through.

 

[GZRider]

Agreed LS2 swap would be too heavy for this car, though it was a great engine. Boosted Ecotech or 2jz would be the best forced induction options I think, and maybe a 2GR-FSE or VQ37VHR swap (if you have the time talent and capital to sort the harness and custom engine mounts and drive shaft ect) would both work nicely for punchy NA engines with the option to add light boost to later.

 

[RooflessVW]

Originally Posted by GZRider

Agreed LS2 swap would be too heavy for this car, though it was a great engine. Boosted Ecotech or 2jz would be the best forced induction options I think, and maybe a 2GR-FSE or VQ37VHR swap (if you have the time talent and capital to sort the harness and custom engine mounts and drive shaft ect) would both work nicely for punchy NA engines with the option to add light boost to later.

A 2jz is heavier than an LS2 and a VQ/2GR is only 100lbs lighter with way less power potential.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Too bad Saturn never gave the Astra the 2.0T which was available in other countries (260 hp, the same as we got in the Cobalt and HHR SS, and also the Sky Red Line and Solstice GXP) The European-market Opel Astra OPC/Vauxhall Astra VXR would've been a hit as the Astra RedLine

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by GZRider

Agreed LS2 swap would be too heavy for this car, though it was a great engine. Boosted Ecotech or 2jz would be the best forced induction options I think, and maybe a 2GR-FSE or VQ37VHR swap (if you have the time talent and capital to sort the harness and custom engine mounts and drive shaft ect) would both work nicely for punchy NA engines with the option to add light boost to later.

The 2JZ (especially with the extra weight of the turbo/ancillaries of the GTE version everyone droolz over) being an iron block could actually weigh MORE than an alloy LSx V-8.

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by racin4ds

I don't think I could ever mention Saturn and performance in the same sentence.... All I ever seen was plastic junk that burnt tons of oil! Certainly another failure at GM...

ICY Racing (Dave Rosenblum as team principal) campaigned them with some decent results in SCCA Showroom Stock, and the latter T-2 classes though.

 

[JustinH]

Had a 2003 Ion Level 1 (base), with five speed getrag trans. It was one of the best cars I had growing up. The best part was it was a full plastic body panels, and it wouldn't rust in the NY winters. Always wanted a Red Line ion, but never found one. Friends had the Cobalt SS clone. My wife's first car was a Saturn SL sedan. For what they were, they were decent cars. My Ion didn't even have power windows or cruise control.

 

[oilpsi2high]

I always thought the Ion Redline was cool with the third door. I still have my 07 Cobalt SS Supercharged. 149,000 miles and still reliable as ever. Probably could use some tie rods though, lol. Front end has been clunking for years. https://youtu.be/54k7GOP6GPo