Saturn Cars - Need Experience

**warramra** · 05-06-2008, 07:05 PM

DH and I are shopping for a used car for him to use to commute. We are looking to spend $3500 or less, so obviously are looking for sedans that are 10-12yrs old. We just need something that will give him better gas mileage (right now he gets 15-17miles/gal) and will hopefully last us at least two more years. He has been focusing on Honda & Toyota. I have been hearing good things about Saturns and have seen a number in our price range.

Does anyone have any experience with Saturns that have high mileage on them? If you have had Saturns are there pros/cons about repairs? The gas mileage just seems too good to be true on an older car, and it would be a very good affordable option for us.

TIA

**bluebird728** · 05-06-2008, 09:32 PM

I don't know anything about Saturns, but you may want to take a look at Subaru. They are great cars that will run forever.

**Lori Biever-Launder** · 05-07-2008, 02:20 AM

DH is a mechanic and he says to go with the Toyotas and Hondas. They are MUCH better cars and will last lots longer.

**warramra** · 05-07-2008, 08:20 AM

Thanks for the input guys. I like Subarus, always have, but unfortunately they hold their value so well that we cannot find one in our price range that isn't 20 years old.

My husband is really set on either a Honda Accord or Toyota Camry. We can find them in the range he wants to spend, and he has had very good luck with owning older/high-mileage cars from these two companies. Currently he has a Nissan Pathfinder with 260K miles that we have done nothing but basic maintenance since we bought it in 1998, and the only reason we are looking to replace is gas mileage. I just thought I might throw Saturn in their as an option, but didn't know how they hold up after the 150K mark and reviews are mixed.

**quiltingmommy** · 05-07-2008, 08:21 AM

I had a 98 saturn wagon. I bought it brand new and traded it in back in may 2005. It had 178,000 miles on it and the only thing I had to replace that wasn't normal (ie: brakes, oil changes, tune ups) was my horn. The tires that were on the car when I bought it new lasted till 102,000 miles! I got over 30 miles to the gallon and loved that car. I was talking to my mechanic the other day and we were discussing the fact that my dh bought a new car (another Mazda since the first 2 got over 200k miles) and mentioned my saturn. He started laughing and said that people tend to pick on saturns, but you just can't kill their engines. He said he used to travel for business quite a bit with another guy, and they always took the guys saturn. It had about 400k miles and you'd never know it.

Find a good mechanic you can trust and have them check out whatever car you are looking at. I still miss my Saturn even though I love my jeep (just don't love the gas mileage). Toyotas, Hondas, Mazdas and Subarus' are great also.

Good Luck!

**smk0817** · 05-07-2008, 01:17 PM

My mom and my neighbor both had Saturns and had nothing but problems with them.

Stephanie

**bluebird728** · 05-07-2008, 05:04 PM

One more thing... I highly recommend that you use CarFax.com to do a search on the car you are thinking of buying. I did this with my daughter last year while looking for a car for her. We found two instances where cars we were looking at had the odometer rolled back. Before that I had not realized how common the problem was. It was a few dollars well spent to save lots of trouble down the line.

**nerdbynature** · 05-08-2008, 03:49 AM

My husband thinks Honda is the only way to go and they are great cars! Also my aunt had a Subaru while I was growing up and it was still running strong with 600,000 miles on it when she sold it!!