Car Bias Question

[Blundar]

one word:
PLASTIC
there isn't any metal on a saturn. Do the magnet test sometime. It's scary.

 

[Thegonagle]

The hood, roof, and trunk lid are all steel.

 

[CKDragon]

<< one word:
PLASTIC
there isn't any metal on a saturn. Do the magnet test sometime. It's scary. >>



The sides are some time of fiberglass material, but the hood, roof and trunk lid are all metal. Saturn's spin on it is that the non-metal sides make it safer. In all honesty, without looking at reports I couldn't tell you whether or not that's just propaganda.

CK

[EDIT]Added Trunk Lid, thanks Garfang[/EDIT]

 

[Yuto]

Its absolutely true that Saturns are priced above what other cars are priced in the same class. Because of Saturn's 'no haggle' policy, Saturn is NOT an option for most people (it IS overpriced).

But if you're uncomfortable haggling at a dealer, it might be for you. Consequently, that's why Saturn has the 'image' of a woman's car (because they don't have to haggle).

Aside from that, I know that Saturn's are very reliable and economical cars.

BTW, Edmunds is a dealer friendly website (as is Kelley Blue Book). Everyone should be able to purchase a car at around invoice price (sometimes much lower) which is usually below Edmunds TMV price.

If any Anandtecher is looking to buy a car, carbuyingtips.com is a MUST READ! Guaranteed to save you thousands!

 

[vi edit]

Really, plastic door cladding isn't going to be doing much of anything saftey wise. Even if it was steel, that relatively thin sheet metal isn't going to make a difference when a 3400 pound vehicle slams into you at 40 MPH. The saftey is all in the frame of the vehicle.

What the plastic does is save you from annoying and EXPENSIVE parking lot dings and dents. The plastic rebounds, while sheetmetal dents.

 

[Ns1]

sorry i'm not reading this thread, but a friend of mine had a saturn

dent proof doors eh? well that's because it's made outta bloody plastic

dent proof =/= break proof

somehow he ended up with a hole in the side of his car :Q

 

[cmdavid]

<< imao, saturns are just too ugly >>

 

[CKDragon]

<< somehow he ended up with a hole in the side of his car >>



That sounds like more than just a minor scraper he was involved in. I don't know the specifics, only the perceived durability of my own car, so there's not much I can comment on, but I can't imagine the damage would have been minor had that been steel, either.

CK

 

[dirtboy]

For me it was the image the company portrayed. I remember an early Saturn commerical where a guy stopped the assembly line because a screw was loose or something stupid. That's not realistic and I doubt their attention to quality is that great.

I'm also not a big fan or their styling.

 

[iamwiz82]

<< For me it was the image the company portrayed. I remember an early Saturn commerical where a guy stopped the assembly line because a screw was loose or something stupid. That's not realistic and I doubt their attention to quality is that great.

I'm also not a big fan or their styling. >>



that commercial was showing employee empowerment, which most auto related companies are just starting to do now. I should know, my company has started using it.

 

[LAUST]

<< OK,here are the changes on the Civic, starting with a completely new design, outside, inside, and underneath, in 1988.

[*]'88 - New model with great handling. The car is so refined that it makes Car and Driver's 10 Best list. They had new 16 valve SOHC engines in most models. The 1.5 L had throtle body fuel injection and 92 HP. The 1.6 L had multipoint fuel injection and 108 HP.
[*]'90 - New bumper covers and tail lights, and unfortunately, motorized seatbelts on the 4 doors.
[*]'92 - Completely new body and interior, and they reworked the existing suspension. They increased the travel, softened the ride and slighly dulled the handling. The 1.5 L engine gets multipoint fuel injection and 102 HP. The 1.6 L SOHC gets VTEC and 125 HP. The effect of VTEC is like swapping from an economy cam to a performance cam instantly and automatically at 4000 RPM. Cool, huh?
A 92 HP VTEC-E engine is also introduced on the VX hatchback. The effect of this VTEC engine is like switching from an 8 valve engine to a 16 valve engine at 3000 or so RPM, resulting in excellent fuel economy if you keep the revs low and adaquate performance when you need it just by revving the engine. Even cooler!
[*]?93 ? 2 door version introduced, making rice boys drool.
[*]'96 - Again, an all new, larger body and interior. The platform is basically the same, but they made some improvements in the details. The 1.5 L SOHC engine grew to 1.6 L and 106-108 HP. The 1.5 L VTEC-E engine also grows to 1.6 L and power is vastly improved, bumped up to 115 HP. They also introduced their CVT, optional with the VTEC-E engine in the HX.
[*]?98 ? New bumper covers, tail lights, etc.
[*]2001 ? Completely redesigned body, interior, suspension, platform, engines, etc.
[*]2002 ? Minor tweaks to the suspension.

So, the previous Civic platform was with us for 13 years, with major changes after 4 and 8 years. The current Civic is an all-new design. >>


Yes it has an all new desighn, that not only looks worse but has a worse ride then the previous TWO gen's.... DON'T FIX WHATS NOT BROKEN

 

[Zenmervolt]

Saturn does have a few things going for them, they are fairly reliable, and plastic does not rust. However, they lack the "spit and polish" of a Honda or a Toyota (ie, the engine is buzzier, stuff like that). Granted, the "spit and polish" is not really important from a functionality standpoint, but if you're like me and habitually spend 3.5-4 hours in a car at one sitting little things start to become annoyances. However, the biggest thing against Saturn is the "no hassle, no haggle" policy. What that really is, is a "let's take the customer for an extra $3,000" policy. Most of the time, a person can bring the price of a new car down by almost 20% by haggling (for example, my friend who just bought a brand new $25,000 E-250 work van for $20,000, or my father who bought my mother's $26,000 Maxima SE for under $21,000). To me, this is a tremendous amount of money that is needlessly spent because people don't know just how much they can save by haggling.

ZV

 

[CKDragon]

<< For me it was the image the company portrayed. I remember an early Saturn commerical where a guy stopped the assembly line because a screw was loose or something stupid. That's not realistic and I doubt their attention to quality is that great.

I'm also not a big fan or their styling. >>



I've heard a lot about the Saturn commercials, but I've only seen very few. Maybe that in itself says something that Saturn is not marketing to my demographic. I mainly watch just sporting events and the occasional Conan O'Brien and Saturday Night Live re-run...

If I judged a company just by the commercials, then I'd have to hate Microsoft, Intel, AOL... hey, wait a minute...

CK

 

[KokomoGST]

Well, some car buffs aren't anti-Saturn... they're just realistic in looking at the potential of the car for performance applications...
ie autoX, circuit racing, drag racing...
There isn't too much aftermarket _performance_ support for the Sat right now. There's a ton of ugly "show" mods for it though. That doesn't mean it can be a good commuter car that's reliable and cheap to maintain or that it's ugly, even though I think it's very blah. But if it makes you happy, more power to you. It's people with attitudes that their car is the best thing since sliced bread that scoff... and a lot of those people are jerks regardless.

Don't knock the Plymouth Neon, my Dodge Neon had been incredibly reliable (gave it to my bro) and it has a very strong aftermarket and good power potential. It's very easy to tune and maintain as well... Hondas may be more reliable overall, but they're much more costly to maintain or fix. And now the Honda Civic's current version is pretty much geared toward the average commuter... and the Neon & Proteges still handle better.