I've owned a 2001 Saturn LS1 in the past and it was the best car I ever had, unfortunately a semi hit me back in 2018 and totaled it. I'm currently looking at a 2006 Ion 3 and wondering about how the reliability is with those. It only has 128k miles on it and the pictures look pretty good, no body rust on it anywhere. Going to be taking a look at it in person soon. I've heard some horror stories with the 2.4 ecotec engine and was wondering what kind of things I should look out for when test driving it, or if I should stay away from it. The guy wants $1800 for it. Thanks in advance!

 

You won't see rust on the body because the body is all plastic except for the hood, top, and rear deck lid. But do check underneath at the 'frame', especially where the rear suspension mounts to the body, and where the engine cradle mounts. I have a 2004 Ion with the 2.2 L engine and am very happy with it. I checked the timing components as closely as I could (removed valve cover) when I bought it, and always change oil at 3,000 miles or less. I have no personal experience with the 2.4L Ecotec, but have friends who have later versions (2010 - 2014) who have had serious problems with the timing system (variable valve timing) and oil consumption. Ask the current owner about any work having been done on the timing sytem if it has VVT (I think the Ion 3 came with VVT), and about oil consumption.

 

Welcome

 

Welcome to the forum. I'm not at all familiar with the ecotech engines. I can't help you. Oldmarine gave you the best advice. DO YOUR RESEARCH!!

 

I did end up getting it after talking him down to $1600. It drove well, frame wasn't rusted out, but it did have a code which was for the pre cat o2 sensor. Got that changed and it's running great. No unusual engine noise. But I found out it was the 2.2 ecotech instead of the 2.4. Only issue with it now is the airbag light is on and the odometer doesn't work, but I'm fine with that, the other guages work fine. All in all I'm happy with it compared to my last car which was an 06 fusion that had many issues.

 

A robust enough scanner should be able to feed you the reason for the airbag light. I find most times that it's a front end sensor that goes bad. Very simple fix.

Ion dashboards need to be married to the vehicle to function properly. I don't remember what all doesn't work if it is not properly married. I'll leave that to Ion folks on here