Howdy fellow oilers -
Former Saturn owner here as well. (Well, really, I still have the Saturn, it's the big, purple potato chip in the backyard).
A little over a year ago, I bought a '95 Saturn SC1 for my daughter - her first car. When I bought it, it had 120,000 miles on it. It now has 135,000 miles. At the time, I knew nothing about Saturns except they are made in Spring Hill, Tennessee. I asked the woman I bought it from, "Does it burn oil." "Not at all," She replied. What I discovered is that Saturn's are famous oil burners. The purple people eater drank one quart every 700 miles. During the year I owned it, I replaced the clutch, pressure plate, throw-out bearing, master and slave cylinder for clutch, (I should say I had a shop do all this work at two different times - clutch stuff one time, master/slave cylinders another - total bill was $1,100 bucks). I personally replaced the top motor mount, new plugs, wires, PCV valve, changed the oil, changed the oil, changed the oil, (did I mention I changed the oil?) Did a Marvel Mystery Oil soak, a combustion chamber clean with both water and Seafoam. Used a coffee can full of screws to re-attach the interior panels where they had come loose. Stuffed foam insultation between the windshield and dash to cut down on rattling noise, (previous owner had used cardboard). I had to jury rig the trunk latch as the metal is so thin, it finally split at the latch point so that the trunk would not close. All this and more - then my daughter wrecked the car a week ago today, (I praise God she is okay).
As this is an oil forum, I will add that changing the oil is a breeze on a Saturn, provided you are one foot tall, as thin as typing paper and have three hands that are triple jointed. The oil filter is on the backside of the motor between the motor and the firewall. Pulling the oil filter is a bugger to say the least. The position of the filter causes oil to run all over the CV joints every time you change the filter. Having said all of that, I will probably buy another Saturn, simply because I now have a wonderful parts car with plenty of new parts. Egads! Whoever said life was easy never owned a Saturn!