What if.....
 

Saturn had made a diesel sedan? Would you have bought it? Lets say, a diesel engine in the ion.

Just curious.

No -- not after the way GM rode in and f*d up Saturn

Plus if it became a big seller, they'd a killed it off cause they wouldn'ta known how to handle such demand for a vehicle

you're damn right I'm a jaded s-car owner with much ill will over what coulda been

Well, I probably woulda test drove it to see if they got it right..........:eek:

I hear you, I had a 94' s-series and it was my baby. But I like my 03' ion.

Why couldn't GM have gotten rid of some stupid brand like buick instead of saturn. :(

buick sells like hotcakes to old people in the US and is considered a luxury import brand in the orient.

$$$ and cents -- they stepped in too soon, complained saturn wasn't turning a profit, then hosed it to the point they couldn't

death by bean counter

hummer was obvious, pontiac was stale

No, I would not have bought a diesel Saturn. GM and the most rest of Detroit started making and marketing cars as if they were an appliance. Sort of like who cares what the refrigerator look like or who made it. As long as it keeps food sort of cold and it is made by me people don't care they will buy it.
Wrong,
Detroit taught off shore makes, marketing! And then forgot about the need for it. So who won?
I had some experiance with a Caddy Diesel, another example of appliance constructions. It and it's brethern were poorly executed, assembled and marketed. I guess the assumption was people are stupid and marketed as such.
Not that they could not do a good job with one, they didn't. When backed against the wall and forced into really dealling with it the engineers had the pieces designed to make it work well and pushing that button got them installed on one with a 100K on it under warrenty! It was a beautiful car. A day late and a dollar short. Put another 75K, trouble free.
GM Decreed the Saturn was going to work because marketing said it would. The engineers put together a nice car with the S series. Check the forums, the biggest hits are on it. The rest were for the most part a poor decision by marketing to put something in the show rooms. After not being able to market it.
The winners? Cars you never heard of that learned Detroit marketing. The loosers, those that forgot about it.
Yes this is a vent!
No I would not buy a diesel Saturn or for that matter, pretty much anything else.

Dang, im sorry I asked if anyone would buy a diesel Saturn! I was hoping it would be a light discussion but it is clear there are some very frustrated Saturn owners here.

I agree that the S-series was a great car, I owned one for quite a while. Toughest car ive ever seen! It had been in 6 wrecks before I got ahold of it, and it still drove strong. But the early s-series felt very disposable to me, great engineering, just basic design. It worked well though.

I doubt that I would have purchased a diesel version of any of my Saturns. Can't really hang a definite reason for my statement -- just doesn't 'feel right' ....... sorry

Heh, maybe they should have made the astra diesel, at least it would've turned some heads. =P

I guess Saturn and diesel engines just weren't meant to be.

I feel the same ........

SNIP
But the early s-series felt very disposable to me, great engineering, just basic design. It worked well though.
SNIP
Well I guess it all depends on how you define disposable. When the S series was announced it was in the 14-16 K $ range a competitive market place and for what it was worth a unique car in and of itself.
My second generation diesel Caddy was an almost $40,000 Eldorado on a corporate platform as either a Caddy or an Olds and the engine was a corporate diesel (Oldsmobile) available in any number of corporate cars. A euphemism for Badge Engineered which basically means the same damned car could be bought with slightly re-arranged sheet metal and different names (badges, thus badge engineered) and using ho-hum and some what boring styling, execution and performance. ALL exhibiting the same lousy characteristics that diesel engine had.
I would define THAT as disposable at least to me.
I liked my First Saturn in it’s market place. When Saturn as a GM subdivision decided that Badge Engineering was a corporate method of putting something in the show rooms, my personal desire for a new Saturn disappeared completely.
Was I the only one, or mistaken? Dunno, but Kia and Hyundai materialized out of no where and are still around. Saturn, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and many models of Caddy, Buick and Chevy are GONE. Many of them clones of each other and corporate GM subsidiaries.
I’m sorry, my definition of disposable has been met. Those cars no longer exist. They have been disposed of.
Great Marketing
Nope, wouldn’t have bought a diesel Saturn, never really liked following corporate models.