L200 / 300 owners - would you buy another one again?

I'm looking for a new car & am considering Saturn L200 due to its roominess
and plastic side panels.

Consumer Reports has mixed reports on Saturn - my impression is they are not
all that happy with it due to owner dissatisfaction complaints / reliability
issues.

I tend to keep my vehicles for an average of 15 years and drive them 30,000
km / 18,000 miles a year so I want a good car that does not spend much time
in the shop or on the hook of a tow truck.

Could I get comments back from L200 / 300 owners on their experiences?

Thanks

 

I have a 2001 L300 with 36000 miles on it. I love the way it handles! I
have had a few problems during this time, which have been corrected:

Road noise. Dramatically reduced when I replaced the OEM tires.

Leak in the oil cooler. Fixed under warranty.

Defective right rear tail light assembly. Fixed under warranty.

Sluggish door lock actuators (especially when cold). Worst offender
fixed under warranty.

All in all, I am very satisfied with the car and its V6 engine.

 

I don't have that model, but this newsgroup should leave alot to be
considered. I have an SC1, 1996 and the problems are endless. Once I've
fixed one thing, another goes down. Probably the worst problem is cabin
noise from plastic parts and a thin firewall. Now, I'm dealing with
overheating, oil burning, rotor warping, a suddenly-dead electrical system
(happened last week, then it suddenly came back on???,) and a plastic
radiator that cracked after 50,000 miles and is again showing signs of
leakage (the new one is 2 years old.) My car has 116,000 miles on it. My
Toyota Tercel has 122,000 miles on it. I've replaced the water pump, changed
the oil and timing belt (twice) and had 3 tune-ups. I would NOT buy a
Saturn.
Joe

 

I had a 1993 sl1 no problems replaced the tires changed the oil sold it one
year ago got a 2001 sl2 no problems with it either I think the l series are
great just out of my budget when I bought my sl2. My 1993 had 230k on it
when I sold it and I still see it around town on occasion.

 

We have an '01 L300 - we like the car, but have had a laundry list of
problems - here is what I can remember (there are probably others)

1. wheel alignment issues (countless times they said it was a balancing
issue, finally a tsb with replacement parts came out - all 4 tires replaced
under warranty)
2. coolant leak at oil cooler (fixed under warranty)
3. coolant leak at water pump (replaced water pump)
4. battery cracked (replaced under warranty)
5. countless misfire problems (come and go - ecu was supposed to be
reprogrammed)
6. driver power seat rails failed (replaced under warranty)
7. windshield seal pulled off at base of windshield (repaired under
warranty)
8. weather stripping on B-pillars cracked/failed (replaced under warranty)
9. high pitched squeal when turning left (dealer says normal - not repaired)
10. hesitation and noise when turning (repaired under warranty)
11. both foglight bulbs burst like flashcubes when we got the car (replaced
under warranty - no issues since)
12. high pitched squeal/groan when turning on AC - sporadic - dealer unable
to reproduce - still an issue
13. leather stains ver easily (recently found some stuff which works really
well, though - Lexol cleaner and lexol protectant - made it look new again)
14. mass air flow sensor failed (replaced under warranty)

Saturn has always been good about repairing things, and they extended our
warranty to 5yrs because of the issues we have had.

overall, we like the car - not sure if I would buy a new one (the fact that
we don't like the front or the dash in the current version doesn't help,
though) - it's comfortable, has plenty of power, and handles well -
reliability-wise, it leaves a little to be desired, though (should point out
all of the repairs have been for annoyance things, though - the car has
never left us stranded)

 

Dave and Caroline, I can't believe they extended your warrantee! Lynn, the
service manager at Loma Linda Saturn gave me some spiel about me not
bringing my Saturn in to THEIR place for wheel rotation and that I voided my
warrantee. I had 30,000 miles on it and something died (I can't remember
because there have been so many things!!) Lynn said, "No way, you gotta
pay." They have been kind to me in other ways. I've had my shifter cable
replaced 2 times in 1 year. The second time, they apologized and replaced
it. Every time I fix something, else dies. I am religious about car
maintenance and can change out moderately difficult items ( water pump,
gasket, seals and belts.) I have had 2 fords, a Toyota, a Chevy van and a
dodge van. I've never witnessed such self-destructive behavior in a car.

 

I have had numerous quality/design issues with my 2002 LW300, but it is an
excellent vehicle otherwise. Aside from the issues mentioned elsewhere in
this post, the car handles like a dream once you get rid of the OEM
Affinities. It is very quick, but falls well short of the advertised fuel
efficiency regardless of how easy you drive it. It could use more rear seat
legroom considering the size of the car.

Would I buy another? Not without a free extended warranty for the troubles
I've had with this one! If it had been trouble-free, I surely would.
However, it has never left me along the road - just spending time in the
Saturn lounge. At the time, it was one of the few larger wagons I could
afford. My understanding is that the L series will be replaced in the next
year or so, so you may want to wait. I have my eye on a Malibu Maxx at the
moment - the Chevy garage is much closer than the Saturn garage!
--
Dana Rohleder
Port Kent, NY

"This case has had full analyzation and has been looked at a lot.
I understand the emotionality of death penalty cases." G.W. Bush
--Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 23, 2000

 

Well - first thing is that you don't get the warrantee extended by the
dealership - we called Saturn directly and presented our case (you want it
officially extended by Saturn so that you aren't limited by which dealership
you bring the car to) - basically, they listen, present the info to the
powers that be, then call you back and tell you what the deal is. Voiding
the warrantee over not letting them rotate your tires is complete crap -
basically, nothing voids the warrantee - about the only thing that can is if
you abuse the car, or if you install aftermarket parts which cause a problem
(in which case, that problem wouldn't be covered, but everything else still
would be). We have had nothing but pleasant experiences with service
departments at the dealerships we have gone to (three different dealerships
in two states).

I will say this - we have not had anything fail twice - once the initial
issue was officially addressed, all was well. I am also pretty anal about
maintenance on the car - I haven't had to do anything to it other than
change the oil+filter, cabin air filter, and regular air filter, though
(it's still under warrantee)

 

It sounds as if you live at the Saturn service department.

 

Here is another data point for what its worth: We purchased our brand new
01 LW300 about 2.5 years ago and it had stranded my wife, who is the primary
driver, 3 times. Two of which were from faulty shifter cable. The other
time was the dead battery. All fixed under warrantee. We also had coolant
leaks from the oil cooler which was also repaired free of charge by the
dealer.

My wife still likes the car and will keep it for a while. She does not know
if she'll buy it again. There are more factors in the decision process than
just how reliable Saturn is.

 

The Loma Linda Saturn senior mechanic said, "You've lost 2 shifter cables in
10 months. I don't understand how that could happen."
Joe

 

My 2001 LW300 with 39K miles. For whatever reason, I still enjoy
driving this car. However, its reliability leaves a lot to be
desired. All the problems below were fixed under warranty. Most
problems already had service bulletins or otherwise were common
problems, and I have not had any problems in the last 8 months.

With the exception of a SUV, there aren't too many choices for a
regular wagon in the price range of the Saturns. I'll probably go
with a Subaru next.

Off the top of my head, the issues have been:
Oil cooler seals failure, coolant leak.
Power steering pump seal failure, pump and rack replaced
Failed sensor resulting in hard shifting (don't recall which
sensor)
Failed O2 sensor
Sticky/sluggish door locks
Front seat cushions constantly come unhooked in front
Allignment problems, new tires after suspension additions
Turn signal handle getting hot when head lights are on
Driver's seat frame was bent

This is my second Saturn, the first a '93 SL2 was a good car. A few
alternators and an engine mount, both VERY common. Otherwise, no
issues for 8 years.

Our other car is a '00 GMC Jimmy and it has been rock solid--I just
wish it handled better.

 

I've had a 93 SL1, which I sold a couple years ago. I replaced only the
alternator, but it did have 250,000 on it at the time, and I had installed a
fairly large audio system in it.

When I sold the 93 SL1, I bought a 98 SC1, and just had my first problem
about a week ago. The idler pulley spring broke, so I put a new pulley on,
easy install, took about 40 minutes. I've put about 50,000kms so far on
this car. I've even bought a wrecked 97 SC1, and have repaired it and about
to put it back on the road now. They are a really easy car to work on, and
so reliable.

I plan on buying an ION 3 QC in the next couple years, can't wait to try out
a Redline when they come available in the spring, that may be my next
car....

My original 93 SL1 is still around. It has 340,000kms on it now, and
haven't replaced/repaired anything since they bought it from me, it had
280,000 then.

 

My bad for not being precise about the two shifter cable failures.
What happened was the first time the park nutural switch failed, the
dealer replaced the switch and adjusted the shifter cable at that
time. About a year later, the shifter cable acted up again, the
dealer replaced it with a new one. What is unclear to me is if the
first adjustment had anything to do with the second failure.
Nonetheless, the dealer did say that the shifter cable problem is
uncommon with the LW300.

 

Same problems on 2001 - oil cooler leak and slow auto door lock on drivers
side. Otherwise, great car.

 

hi,
i have a 2001 L300 with 40,000 miles. i've had a few small issues.
excellent car. i'd buy another in a heartbeat.