Hello
#1
05-19-2013, 11:24 PM
Hello
Hello, I own a 2001 saturn sl1.
I commute 140 miles a day, in northwestern MN,ND along the canadian border.
Deer have hit my poor saturn 6 times, I have not had the airbags go off, have suffered hood damage (dented in badly on the drivers side but opens) completely shattered and destroyed drivers side front fender (took multiple deer hits and 50 below weather did not help) my front nose cover is cracked a bit, my headlight on drivers side is replaced off of ebay, my a pillar cover has a crack, my rear bumper cover was completely torn off (I think a large animal went under the car at 60, and caught the bumper cover so I stopped picked it up threw it in the backseat (thank god its a 4 door), then later re-attached it with plastic zip ties (which you can not see (I ran out of those plastic body rivets)) I also had to reattach the front passenger bumper cover to the front passenger fender with galvanized chimney wire. hahaha uhm
I never would have bought a saturn, I drive fords, mainly trucks (a f250 diesel, I have had 3 1 with 900k miles, 1 with 400k miles both those were extended cab longbox automatics with 7.3's also a gas f150 with a straight 6 that went 560k miles with 2.5 ton springs a manual tranny and I also have a 93 bronco fullsize with 250k miles former sherrifs department truck all my trucks are 4x4),,
I like ford cars, currently have a mercury sable which had a symptom of losing power steering, and power windows for no reason randomly took me a while but I figured out this was from a tranny safety switch (the car was not sure if it was in park or gear or in between so this cut power steering,,,very odd but fixed and a example of ford weird).
I never would have bought a GM car, I owned a porsche, and a cadillac,,when I had car troubles ,,porsche was like polite and encouraged me to troubleshoot, the caddilac however,,,I called and was told,,,if you can afford to buy a caddilac you can afford to have it properly serviced,,,
So GM is not fine with me,,,rude service and bad trouble shooting,,,
(I do like the older carbed 350's and such though, used to have a chevelle, 350 ,turbo 400 tranny 12 bolt posi rear w a Band M shift kit,,metallic blue,, a Monte Carlo 86 black T top with a pinnifarina LS front on it,,, (kinda rare oddball) , built a caddillac coupe De Ville which was clocked to a top speed of 160 mph by local police,, haha (I got no ticket, was told hey turn around and do that again!) uhm so I have had others,,and love cars and trucks,,
I worked as a Military contractor helping to build OshKosh armoured off road vehicles, and at Arctic Cat, and Polaris (I am right now, as a Welder and alternate robot editor).
I Fabricate, and program, Degrees in Electronics (so I like tearing things apart alot). (Also worked for railroad for a awhile).
I never would have bought a Saturn but a woman I was with, in Alaska they used a saturn station wagon as a ambulance, and she had had 3 which she swore by, a couple coworkers had them, they looked like throw away cars,, but I got a deal on one, and the woman I was with she liked them.
When I talked to the dealer, I liked plastic body panels (rust is a huge issue up here), I like no power options,,, I like manual trannies,, and gas mileage,,, I took this car on a test drive, my brother in the passenger seat and I driving,,the dealer woman in the back, took it out on the interstate to above 80,, the woman in the back a bit portly my brother later told me she was bouncing around like a ping pong ball,, :-)
Well the car used a bit of oil (about 1/2 a quart every 1500 miles) not too bad but has actually gotten better with routine service.
I recently replaced bearings on the front and now that car is tighter handling than most 2010's
I have fought quite a bit with the passkey.
I found the car would not start, security light blinking, and learned to reset it,,, but at 50 or so below zero this is terrible!! I installed a "new rockies module which for about 2 years almost 3 worked well untill this month.. now I read about people cutting the "white wire" under the steering column (on newer saturns) so I opened up the dash and cut the yellow wire on the BCM which I had connected to the New Rockies unit,,, this appears to be working now,,,
though the service light is on and security is now on, but hey as long as the car starts, runs, and drives,,,
I like this car, 6 deer, many skunks, and other things, I also had a near miss with 2 cows, I am happy with this car, and would swear by it! I have around 240k miles on it and think it may see 450k miles ,,, no troubles cept that passkey crap, handles awesome for any 4 door,,and killer mpg,,,and replacement parts are cheap,,, (I hate having a driver fender of different color but this car is a veritable tank!),, I might even weld up a brushguard for it,,, and on a hit with deer noticed the hood bent down a bit and seems to have protected the headlights,,,
I confess my other annoyance is the ac, the front cooler seems to have had the ends break loose and no ac ,,,sucks,,hahaha
But almost the mileage of a geo, but enough room for 4 fullsize guys to stretch out, and great on ice and snow,,,, and cheap,,,hahahah
I like saturns, and am always looking at them in car lots,, cheap fun runners,,, (nearly unkillable!)
I commute 140 miles a day, in northwestern MN,ND along the canadian border.
Deer have hit my poor saturn 6 times, I have not had the airbags go off, have suffered hood damage (dented in badly on the drivers side but opens) completely shattered and destroyed drivers side front fender (took multiple deer hits and 50 below weather did not help) my front nose cover is cracked a bit, my headlight on drivers side is replaced off of ebay, my a pillar cover has a crack, my rear bumper cover was completely torn off (I think a large animal went under the car at 60, and caught the bumper cover so I stopped picked it up threw it in the backseat (thank god its a 4 door), then later re-attached it with plastic zip ties (which you can not see (I ran out of those plastic body rivets)) I also had to reattach the front passenger bumper cover to the front passenger fender with galvanized chimney wire. hahaha uhm
I never would have bought a saturn, I drive fords, mainly trucks (a f250 diesel, I have had 3 1 with 900k miles, 1 with 400k miles both those were extended cab longbox automatics with 7.3's also a gas f150 with a straight 6 that went 560k miles with 2.5 ton springs a manual tranny and I also have a 93 bronco fullsize with 250k miles former sherrifs department truck all my trucks are 4x4),,
I like ford cars, currently have a mercury sable which had a symptom of losing power steering, and power windows for no reason randomly took me a while but I figured out this was from a tranny safety switch (the car was not sure if it was in park or gear or in between so this cut power steering,,,very odd but fixed and a example of ford weird).
I never would have bought a GM car, I owned a porsche, and a cadillac,,when I had car troubles ,,porsche was like polite and encouraged me to troubleshoot, the caddilac however,,,I called and was told,,,if you can afford to buy a caddilac you can afford to have it properly serviced,,,
So GM is not fine with me,,,rude service and bad trouble shooting,,,
(I do like the older carbed 350's and such though, used to have a chevelle, 350 ,turbo 400 tranny 12 bolt posi rear w a Band M shift kit,,metallic blue,, a Monte Carlo 86 black T top with a pinnifarina LS front on it,,, (kinda rare oddball) , built a caddillac coupe De Ville which was clocked to a top speed of 160 mph by local police,, haha (I got no ticket, was told hey turn around and do that again!) uhm so I have had others,,and love cars and trucks,,
I worked as a Military contractor helping to build OshKosh armoured off road vehicles, and at Arctic Cat, and Polaris (I am right now, as a Welder and alternate robot editor).
I Fabricate, and program, Degrees in Electronics (so I like tearing things apart alot). (Also worked for railroad for a awhile).
I never would have bought a Saturn but a woman I was with, in Alaska they used a saturn station wagon as a ambulance, and she had had 3 which she swore by, a couple coworkers had them, they looked like throw away cars,, but I got a deal on one, and the woman I was with she liked them.
When I talked to the dealer, I liked plastic body panels (rust is a huge issue up here), I like no power options,,, I like manual trannies,, and gas mileage,,, I took this car on a test drive, my brother in the passenger seat and I driving,,the dealer woman in the back, took it out on the interstate to above 80,, the woman in the back a bit portly my brother later told me she was bouncing around like a ping pong ball,, :-)
Well the car used a bit of oil (about 1/2 a quart every 1500 miles) not too bad but has actually gotten better with routine service.
I recently replaced bearings on the front and now that car is tighter handling than most 2010's
I have fought quite a bit with the passkey.
I found the car would not start, security light blinking, and learned to reset it,,, but at 50 or so below zero this is terrible!! I installed a "new rockies module which for about 2 years almost 3 worked well untill this month.. now I read about people cutting the "white wire" under the steering column (on newer saturns) so I opened up the dash and cut the yellow wire on the BCM which I had connected to the New Rockies unit,,, this appears to be working now,,,
though the service light is on and security is now on, but hey as long as the car starts, runs, and drives,,,
I like this car, 6 deer, many skunks, and other things, I also had a near miss with 2 cows, I am happy with this car, and would swear by it! I have around 240k miles on it and think it may see 450k miles ,,, no troubles cept that passkey crap, handles awesome for any 4 door,,and killer mpg,,,and replacement parts are cheap,,, (I hate having a driver fender of different color but this car is a veritable tank!),, I might even weld up a brushguard for it,,, and on a hit with deer noticed the hood bent down a bit and seems to have protected the headlights,,,
I confess my other annoyance is the ac, the front cooler seems to have had the ends break loose and no ac ,,,sucks,,hahaha
But almost the mileage of a geo, but enough room for 4 fullsize guys to stretch out, and great on ice and snow,,,, and cheap,,,hahahah
I like saturns, and am always looking at them in car lots,, cheap fun runners,,, (nearly unkillable!)
Last edited by jstavene; 05-19-2013 at 11:38 PM.
#2
05-20-2013, 04:16 AM
Well there is a bit of humor that can be taken as a product endorsement. Obviously driving in extreme weather takes as extreme out look on things. So other than look out for large animals if driving a small car. It is hard to come up with a possible suggestion to help her with.
But I did like the idea presented for the use of the back door on a 4 door car since for a variety of reasons I have never bought one and don't ever plan on doing so. The idea of taking fat friends for a ride or planning on picking up pieces knocked loose when passing over large animals at freeway speeds seem to make some sense
But I did like the idea presented for the use of the back door on a 4 door car since for a variety of reasons I have never bought one and don't ever plan on doing so. The idea of taking fat friends for a ride or planning on picking up pieces knocked loose when passing over large animals at freeway speeds seem to make some sense
#5
05-21-2013, 07:45 AM
Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing your story with us. I hope you've gotten to at least keep some of the venison you've taken off the roads!
